Drakos7 http://drakos7.net Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:06:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Kitchen Math & Pi Day http://drakos7.net/2010/03/kitchen-math-pi-day http://drakos7.net/2010/03/kitchen-math-pi-day#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:05:10 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=265 Pi Are Squared.

I had a fun time trying to explain the concept of Pi to my daughter. Not sure it took. If she remembers 3.14 tomorrow I will consider it a success.

Special thanks to Jennifer Hampton for the pun.
]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/03/kitchen-math-pi-day/feed 0 Accepting Counsel http://drakos7.net/2010/03/accepting-counsel http://drakos7.net/2010/03/accepting-counsel#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:46:17 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=260


We live in a culture that does not accept the possibility that we may be wrong. “Have it your way” is the rule of the day. “Everyone is right”. “That is your opinion”. There is always another voice we can listen to that will declare what we want. It is easy to gather a group of followers to side with us against the wisdom of God. Kind of like the saying in statistics, “if you torture the data long enough it will confess to anything”, we can always find a sympathizer if we look long enough or sow enough discord. Ultimately, we do not want the objective truth because it may just conflict with our desires. In regards to dismissing pastoral advice, Deuteronomy 17:9-13 has a very interesting solution.

Some may think it a bit strong to say that “if I don’t listen to my pastor I am rebelling against God”, but scripture is pretty clear on the subject. It is difficult for us to even comprehend the fact that when the apostles told people to obey the civil authorities it was those authorities who were hunting down and killing Christians. How much more so are we to obey the spiritual authorities God has given us. We are not really at liberty to question the creator of the universe why He has chosen our under-shepherds. God, in His providence, has ordained these people to shepherd His people, and that includes us.

Our position of disobedience is on even less solid ground if we elected them to church office. If we have voted them into the positions we are even more responsible to take their advice. By voting for them we have affirmed that they are worthy to be honored, respected, and listened to. Furthermore, most denominations, when installing a leader, will have the members take vows to pray for them, listen and obey them. These are not just vows to the leader or fellow congregants, they are a covenant with God. We break that covenant to our peril.

But what if we know the leader is wrong? Why should we listen to someone if we think their advice is bad? Some will submit out of fear of church discipline, but that is rare these days. Many people will submit out of false humility, secretly praying that God will vindicate themselves. We “rest” knowing that God will hold them accountable (yet somehow forget He will hold us accountable for our sinful attitude). Alas, very few will submit out of true humility in worship of our Savior. The majority maintain a sturdy self-righteous rebellion against submission.

At the core are two issues, a defective view of God’s sovereignty and an unwillingness to submit ourselves to God. We make ourselves to be wiser than God. We do not believe that He is working in this situation, and it is up to us to fix things. We think we know better than Him, revealing the fact that we have already placed something else on the throne of our lives.

Is there any positive to submitting to our leaders? Of course there is! Listening to our leaders is not only the responsibility of a church member, it is also God’s grace and advantage to us. We are freed up to live in faith that God is working all things out to His glory. We do not need to worry, fret, stress over the details because God has chosen faithful people to fulfill His plan. As such, submission is actually a form of worship.

Worship? Accepting a leader’s counsel is worship? That’s right. By submitting to God’s righteousness (and righteous plan) in faith, we offer an acceptable spiritual sacrifice, confessing that God is God, and ascribe the worth due His name.

Well, it is late now, and I must sleep. A lot more could be written, but I hope that gets some of you thinking.]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/03/accepting-counsel/feed 0 Highway Battery http://drakos7.net/2010/02/highway-battery http://drakos7.net/2010/02/highway-battery#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:32:38 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=258
Ooo, look, Amazon has a 10 pack for $6.40 with free shipping. And I can get 20 for $9.75 at http://24hourbatteries.com (including shipping).

No wonder RadioShack is in the dumps, and changing its name to The Shack is not going to help.]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/02/highway-battery/feed 0 Digging Out http://drakos7.net/2010/02/digging-out http://drakos7.net/2010/02/digging-out#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:03:34 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=251 The snow stopped yesterday around 3pm and the plows came at night. Unfortunately the snow plows decided to not even bother plowing out our section of the parking lot. Around 4pm today we finally dug out the the Civic.

I calculated that I shoveled over 320 cubic feet of snow, not including the snow cave construction. No wonder my whole body is sore. As you can imagine, the kids had a blast jumping into piles, throwing boulders around, and dumping snow on the paths that I had just cleared.

The snow cave can now fit the whole family. The most recent addition is a spot for me to sit upright, and a separate kennel for the dog (though we do not have one). It is more of a storage shed for the sled right now. The schools are closed for the next 2 days so I am sure the kids will enjoy it. Ok, I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/02/digging-out/feed 0 Still falling http://drakos7.net/2010/02/still-falling http://drakos7.net/2010/02/still-falling#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:31:54 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=245 I still have to clean off the lower sidewalk which will add even more bulk to the cave. This is more snow in one storm than I can remember, even compared to Ithaca.]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/02/still-falling/feed 0 Snow snow snow http://drakos7.net/2010/02/snow-snow-snow http://drakos7.net/2010/02/snow-snow-snow#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:55:55 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=240 ]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/02/snow-snow-snow/feed 0 Quote of the night: Gateway Drug http://drakos7.net/2010/01/quote-of-the-night-gateway-drug http://drakos7.net/2010/01/quote-of-the-night-gateway-drug#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:47:49 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=238 -Al Mohler]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/01/quote-of-the-night-gateway-drug/feed 0 Mug http://drakos7.net/2010/01/mug http://drakos7.net/2010/01/mug#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:41:49 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=233 http://drakos7.net/2010/01/mug/feed 0 More deceptive practices http://drakos7.net/2010/01/more-deceptive-practices http://drakos7.net/2010/01/more-deceptive-practices#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:28:05 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=229 Why do the Mormon’s go around carrying King James version Bibles which they appeal to for [...]]]> You will often find that cults use deceptive practices while they attempt to sway you to their point of view. The slickness of the presentation often blinds one from what is going on. Here are some things to think about.

Translation

Why do the Mormon’s go around carrying King James version Bibles which they appeal to for support of their religion, while at the same time say that the Bible is not translated correctly? Shouldn’t they carry around their own “correct” translation instead? They do see it as “a thousand times over the best Bible now existing on earth.” Ask them the next time they come to your door.

More Translation

Lets say an angel came to you, an American, and told you to translate an ancient document. You get out your pen and paper, and start writing in old English: “Thus saith the Lord”. Well, not likely. It would make a lot more sense to write in the common language of the day: “The Lord says”. This brings us to the point: Why did Joseph Smith “translate” the “golden plates” into 1600’s English when he wrote it around 1830? By 1787 the American English language had eliminated most of the flourish of the KJV, as evidenced by preface to The American Spelling Book by Noah Webster. Go ahead and ask them why their chief prophet translated into a language 200 years previous to himself.

Importance

So the Mormon’s come to your door and start trying to convince you that you are not a true Christian because you do not keep the law and that you could experience true faith and a burning in your bosom (another rather old word that people rarely use, but if you are stuck in the 1600’s…) if you trust them as they try to convince you from a KJV bible. Like I mentioned above, they do not consider the KJV to be the best translation. They conveniently fail to mention though, that the Bible is not even their highest authority. They have The Book of Mormon, “another testament of Jesus Christ” which isn’t pulled out until much later. Isn’t this bait and switch? But it gets better. The majority of their doctrine does not even come from the BoM. Instead it comes from the Doctrines and Covenants, where you learn that God was once a man and became God, and that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan (yes, you read that right). It is rather deceptive, just like in Scientology, to have to jump through a series of hoops, after you get sucked in, to find out what the core beliefs of the group are. But I guess saying “Did you know that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan?” will not steal as many sheep as saying “Can we talk about knowing Jesus?”]]> http://drakos7.net/2010/01/more-deceptive-practices/feed 0 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year http://drakos7.net/2009/12/merry-christmas-happy-new-year http://drakos7.net/2009/12/merry-christmas-happy-new-year#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:46:05 +0000 Greg http://drakos7.net/?p=224 Wilson FamilyAnother year comes to an end, but in many respects it is just another day. For all the resolutions that people make (lose weight, read more, spend more time with kids, have more fun, …) do our resolutions get in the way of the true resolution we need to make? Can we set aside these (usually “good”) things that control our lives and make sure Christ takes primacy? Are we willing to daily live for the glory of God? Not an easy “resolution”. Why not try some of these resolutions to start with.

edit: here is another good read on resolutions.]]> http://drakos7.net/2009/12/merry-christmas-happy-new-year/feed 0