People who sin or sinful people?

Our biggest problem is ourselves, I guess you do not need a PHD to figure that one out, but maybe you do need a whole lot more education to acknowledge it. It would seem from cultural advancements and technological savvy that we have arrived at least for the most part, but I think we may all admit to some point that we do not have it all together. The age old question of course is to what point do we have it together? I mean I do not hear anyone really saying that they are perfect, in fact in this day and age a little fake humility goes a long way, but we are also admitting to some extent that maybe we are all doing ok. Of course we could be better, right? Billions of dollars on self help and exercise, diets and smiets, all to get, well, better.

Most church services I hear about today are teaching our need for Jesus as supplemental, you know like a pill you take to sleep better. I slept ok last night, but I will need to take something if I am ever going to sleep better.... I will take Jesus. Some times this comes from a misunderstanding of the Gospel. Starting with the Gospel in Matthew for instance, allows one to hear about Jesus, but misses out altogether on why he needed to come and save us. When one begins a study of the Gospel or even builds a theology on the Gospel beginning in Matthew or the NT for that matter, we miss out on why we really need Jesus. He becomes supplemental. On the other hand when you begin to see that the Gospel starts in Genesis not Matthew, you begin to see that God and man are perfect and something happens, and that something is sin.... God begins his plan of redemption to fix what we have broken and to offer us another chance (prefix re- again or second, like restore, renew, resurrect, rebirth, etc) , If you take the sin out of the Gospel you do not need a Savior, you simply and accomadatingly only need a suplement to make one who is not all that bad, maybe even good, a little better.

But that is for another blog. What I am referring to is the essence of our humanity. I have been teaching Leviticus to my college class, it is crazy, we are on week 15. Anyway it is easy to grasp why all the sacrifices were made for sin, I mean ok, we are good right? but not perfect? So when we sin we need to sacrifice(or I should say the Israelites), a deliberate sin left one unclean and unable to participate in community or being able to worship God. That makes sense if you believe that your a person who just sins.


But then Chapter 11-15 hit you. Uncleaness for things like a girl's period, emission of Semen, yeah I typed it "semen", having sex! Are you kidding, having sex makes you unclean, menstrual cycle!!! Try teaching Lev. 12 "purification after child birth" to a bunch of college girls, NICE and Awkward. But come on God this is a little much, you held it against these people that even in the emission of semen in a dream perhaps, a man was considered unclean! It does not say he sinned, but the tag line is he is unclean due to the result of sin which makes even our core humanity unclean to God. What if Lev. only taught that deliberate sins needed sacrifice. What could we say today? Well I am ok and all and I sin a little, but as long as it is not deliberate, I am in need to just become better? NO, Moses is told that even at the core of our humanity, things that we cannot help render us unable to be in the presence of God. Our own core humanity can keep us from being in worship with YHWH. That is why all of these things are mentioned, if let go and unattended they( semen and blood) will make one unclean and then the tabernacle is made unclean and God could kill you! Interestingly enough for these people in Israel they seemed fine with it, You know every day life, "Oh, Sally has her period again, Won't see her for a week", "Mary just had a baby girl, she is unclean for 80 days", "Billy had a wet dream, He will be missing dinner tonight to go wash" Seriously, The result of our humanity according to Leviticus does not render us as people who just need a supplement , We need saving at our very core... We need the Lord, We need Christ, who touched the unclean, who touched the leper who cried UNCLEAN UNCLEAN as he covered his head and left his community. The leper pronounced his own mourning, his own death, we have Christ, we do not pronounce our death anymore we can pronounce our life through Him, our reasonable act of worship, (rom 12) What a difference we see when we consider the difference between needing a supplement to make us better because sometimes we sin or the saving we need because we are indeed sinful... Consider the difference that can have on your understanding of Christ and the Gospel.

6 is so young and 6 is so old.....

I love you Molly, 6 is so young and 6 is so old, Little tears to big smiles, drama to dreams, laughing to crying within a matter of nano- seconds, girly girl things and treasures in your purse, making me realize how impatient I am, eyes like your mom, dance moves like your dad, a heart that breaths sacrifice, 3 stuffed animals in bed with you, a blanket named bubby, no front teeth, the love of my life, My favorite time of day: Our ride home from school, 20 questions about life, Daddy do I have to take a nap?, tangled hair, your sweet face, hide and seek upstairs, experienced all the firsts with you, little hands that hold onto mine, You always, I never, intelligent like mom, I can still pick you up, dance with me on the counter?, sing with me in the car one more time, your so big now, your so young still, Can I marry you Daddy?, Of course you can, Hurt feelings, sweet laugh, I remember when you were born, stories and lessons learned, you see me fail every day and you still love me, unconditional love, You are so special, marry someone better than your dad, promise me my love, 6 is so old and 6 is so young, dates to the mall, coloring animals at bob evans, bike rides to the pond, summers in heaven, crayfish creek, I played there too, walks to the playground, my monkey bar girl, little black golves with the fingers cut out, little girl smiles, big girl dreams, Mommy's pride and joy, a heart of gold, big sister now, our baby back then, our little stranger finally here, time flys, time stays, please stay, 6 is so young and 6 is so old, I am cool now to you, but soon you will be old, I will be older, For now I am your husband, for know I am you hero, for now you are so young, the future is coming, I can only imagine, you break my heart, I break yours, Love is what happened. happy birthday Molly, I love you, Dad