Headed to Blogger!!

Bear with me as I move my blog to Blogger.   My next post includes a step by step process for fruit leather!!! 

 

Here is some nice soft music with a message while you wait. 

 

Everything WSU

WSU 1916 Rose Bowl Champions and National Champions…

 

Action from the game

 

 

 

 

Old school pictures from the most beautiful campus in America.

Fate of the Disciples

Here is a glance at the fate of each of the 12 after the resurrection of Christ

1. John died of extreme old age in Ephesus (the only one not die in some way for his faith or in betrayal) 

2. Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, hanged himself.

3. Peter was crucified, head downward, during the persecution of Nero.

4. Andrew died on a cross at Patrae, in Achaia, a Grecian Island.

http://www.chrysostom.org/firstcalled/life.html

5. James, was thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple, and then beaten to death with a club.

6. Bartholomew was flayed alive then beheaded in Albanapolis, Armenia. Present day Turkey.

7. James, the elder son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem.

8. Thomas, the doubter, was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel, in the east Indies.

9. Philip was hanged against a pillar at Heropolis (Abyssinia).

10. Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows.

11. Simon died on a cross in Persia (now Iran.)

12. Matthew had a unclear death..martyrdom or old age…

 

Have you ever witnessed a lie and decided to cover for someone?    Would you have gone to death by your skin being peeled off your body then your head chopped off?   ME EITHER!   Lets suppose Jesus was a lie and hoax.    What would his disciples have to gain from continuing the lie?    This was not some Kingdom with power, money and lands.    This was a church with none of that…a belief in someone who had come to die for them and do away with the law of the old testament.   This belief had no friends!        This is the second reason I believe Jesus is who he says he is.    First hand witnesses to the miracles, death, and Resurrection which are all very important tenets of our faith died for this belief.   Not just died but where crucified, beaten, flayed (skin peeled off) for this faith.    They had no reason to go through with this unless they had seen it as truth.    This was not some long term cult where years of brain washing can send someone to their death for 100 virgins in the sky.   This was less then 3 years of first hand experience combined with the first hand eye witness of Jesus after his resurrection.     I find it impossible to believe these ex-fishermen and tax collectors would live out a lie until they died these horrible deaths.   IMPOSSIBLE.

Between the women at the Tomb and the fate of the Disciples I don’t see how anyone could claim this Belief to be a fabricated faith.  Some type of fable that grew over the years with each and every passing telling.  Any of us could sit down and find a more palatable, feel good story to get people to believe in something.     This is a story of tragic deaths…and people going against local tradition to the point of scorn.     This is not a fable.   Its just does not fit the blueprint for a good fable.

Post death visit to the tomb.

I don’t claim to be any sort of philosopher or theologian but I do enjoy reading about it and love to question it.     I have had times of crisis in my faith and during these times I seek out others who have had these questions and see what they have come up with.   IN 1998 during some struggles I noticed a new book that came out called “The Case For Christ” written by Lee Strobel.     I read the back of the book and within an hour was at home soaking it up.     Lee was a journalist whose wife found Jesus and set out on a quest to disprove the Bible.    On this quest he wrote a list of issues he had with the Bible and sought out leaders in the Christian world to interview.    By then end of the first book he became a Christian.    This book and ”I don’t have enough faith to be a Atheist” by David Limbaugh both enlightened me on the following subject.   If you question anything in the Bible take a look at these two books.    They both take objective two sided looks at the subject.

The first Witnesses at the Tomb

In any great fiction novel or fairy tale the author will try to be as believable possible or we all lose interest.   They make their characters believable, they try to use language of the era and try to fit their story into a segment of time.   The writers of the bible did not seem to get the memo.    The Bible states that Mary and Mary Magdalene were the first people to see the empty tomb.    In America with our very politically correct perspectives this is a great story and most never have second thought about it.     This book was written 1980 (or so) years ago and what was considered dependable witnesses has changed quite considerably.    In 0-30A.D. women where not allowed to be legal witnesses…to make my point I will insert some rabbinical sayings in first-century Palestine.    “Let the Laws be burned rather then delivered to women” and “Blessed are those who children are male, but woe to him whose children are female”  (Case for Faith pg 217).   In addition, Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute and in Luke 8:2 Luke admits she had been demon possessed.    Not really a very creative way to convince people in that day and age of Jesus’s Resurrection.    If you are going to make people in 30 A.D. believe a hoax you don’t start your Resurrection story off with these two characters, but they did.     They based our entire faith on the witnesses nobody would have believed in 30 A.D.     I don’t about you but I am guessing they never went to any church building conferences.  :)   I think this shows us quite clearly that the writers of this book were giving us the story straight up without any deviations.    I am sure they where not putting it in there thinking, “Man, sometime in the next 2000 years some people will finally let women have equal standing and when that happens our mega churches will explode….”  I would say they wrote it and took scorn for it.    This leads me into my next reason…..   Coming later.  Scorn and the fate of the disciples.

I have asked people about their objections to the Bible and on several occassions they say (it’s a sexist book for old white men).      Pretty funny to come back with the above point and the fact that the book was written by Jews and ultimately helped to elevate the status of women.

Jesus and why I believe

I am going to start the post with a little information on my religious background so you know where I have been and where I am coming from.   My first religious memories include a pastor accused of having affairs with several women in our church.   It was very hush, hush and my parents tried to shield the topic from us children but not all doors are very thick.    The church sent him on his way and on to another church to hurt more people.   Apparently they where more afraid of scandal then what he would do next.    My next memories include a church split.   My parents with others were tired of the Old Guard at the church running things and decided to go with the younger people to start a new more charismatic approach to God.    This started 6 long years of confusing, heartfelt attempts at knowing God on my parents part but a very scary and confused introduction to myself and my  siblings.     Everything from casting out demons, 5 hour church services, satellite viewings of Robert Tilton and Marilyn Hickey (early word of faith preachers), new pastors from the South (yicks) and a small private school..      The church recombined with the other side after this and a new batch of southern preachers marched through adding more confusion.   We left that church and went to another church with the same big issues.      The thing these churches all had in common “Topical preaching”.   This type of preaching is derived from the pastor getting an “unction” and deciding on a topic.    The problem with this type of preaching is how they support their message by pulling random verses out of the Bible to support their topic.    Throw context and caution to the wind and boy was it windy.   During this time I met my wife and went through college.   My wife and I then left the Pullman and blindly picked a church in Boise that fit the mold as we knew it.    BUT…at this point we were both starting to look at the Bible and starting to question what was coming from the pulpit.    When the “super giving Sunday” (you give 90% and keep 10% to live on) came from the pulpit we finally had, had enough.   Twenty- six years of the same lies and deceit from people who were either ignorant (most) or just plain evil.    In 2000 everything changed.  Friends from my wife’s work invited us to attend a church that was being held in a tent…I reluctantly went thinking “great here comes a tent revival”.    I walked in and within 30 seconds was felt completely at home.    The peace of God that surpasses all understanding existed and I melted into my seat.    We had landed at Calvary Chapel Boise.    This church was so different from the staunch, overdressed, pious churches we had endured.    There were bikers, hippie’s, lawyers, drug addicts you name it.    It was like walking in the park.   We finally felt like we fit in and had found a church that Jesus would go to (real people).      When pastor Bob got up to speak he did not waive his arms around and yell….and when he said we would be covering verses 1-14 today I about fell over.     For the first time in my life a pastor did not have an agenda.   He was preaching straight from the word of God and boy was it good.      

Now that you have heard of where I come from I want to address why I think the word of God is real and true.   I am going to use two stories from the Bible that are my core reasons I believe.   I am very suspect of anything religious at this point but these two topics are beyond question for me.   

Next Post   Post death visit to the tomb

Next Post  Fate of the disciples

Ever see the 1990’s bumper sticker “Question Everything” ?    I recommend you do that.   Look at both sides of the topic and get your facts together before making your decision.

A world with no words

Well folks I have gone through 5 days of silence.      I wish I could say it was some spiritual cleansing of my soul but the reality is it my teeth are wired shut.     I am sure if I felt so led I could take a vow of silence lasting at least four maybe five minutes maybe longer.    I have gone through what Doctors call a lower myofascial release surgery which includes the cutting and removing of my lower jaw in two spots to correct a lifelong issue of TMJ.    I hope to get my wires removed today but doubt I will be willing to say very much.    I get to have a liquid diet for the next few weeks and for all of us who fear age, Boost and Ensure aren’t that bad…I promise (snickers to self knowing most of you won’t figure out I am a bald face liar until later in our lives when I can feign a hearing problem or tell you I don’t understand that whistling coming from your dentures).    Now that you all know the real me we can now move on to subjects which will enlighten me and probably bore you but alas its my BLOG!   Coming up next will be a delving into why Joel believes the Bible is true…it’s not as deep as you might think.   It’s really simple and thats why it makes it easy to believe.    After that I plan on filling your mind with Crimson and Grey.   If you don’t know what that means you will soon be throwing all your schools colors away for the one and only WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY.   After that I will convince you to never shop at Walmart again.   How is that for confidence?

Profile

After very little thought and lots of hounding I have decided it’s time to enter the world of Blogging.     This blog will include topics that range from family, farm, politics, WSU and religion.      It will be random, unorganized, and fun.      It will be wrought with spelling errors and grammer malfunctions so if you are the grammer police try to keep up.      I am an avid Dad of two monsters, owner of a ten acre market garden in Idaho,  a voter without a party, a WSU (Cougars) sports fanatic and a Christian.     I think that about sums it up.    

I will post about being a dad when I am not chasing them all over the house.

The blog will focus a lot on the Market Garden and I will soon have a link if you are interested in ordering produce locally..     My wife’s blog Hilty Sprouts has taken the torch thus far and I think its time to let her get on with things she enjoys and take care of my own dirty business.   

The yearly run of the “dashing of hopes” starts in two weeks so you will get to hear about WSU football.   

 I gave up on my policical party so if anyone knows of a party that is conservative and green let me know. 

I dabble in philisophy and when inspired I will try to pass it along. 

This blog will be as much a diary for me as a blog for people to check out.   I don’t read other blogs and dont care about formats and hits.   If you like it, read it…if you don’t thats fine.