The Fault Line

November 1, 2017

Year 2, Day 305 | No Comments

Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

The ultimate death of national racial prejudice, as a legal factor, was foreshadowed in the American Civil War, and was given coup de gras during the middle of the 20th century – during my era. Prejudice wasn’t ended as personal orientation for some persons, but we speak here of legality and generality. As racial equality was gaining force to approval, movements for women’s (gender) rights were also under way. We remember that African-American men gained the right to vote a half century before women were afforded that right. We likely are not well educated relative to the extensive influence of the church in movements for human rights. (One wonders if there is not a secret of mystery about all of… Read more

Pop Culture As Enemy

October 31, 2017

Year 2, Day 304 | No Comments

Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

This is the time of Halloween celebration. This Page is written about ten years after the Page for the date in the first volume of my daily musings about Christians, life meaning, principally related to family, culture and spiritual experience. During the years these Pages were written and then edited from time to time, as were all the Pages, the essential concepts of the essays were in place in the first years after the turn of the 20th to the 21st Century. We are now, at this current editing, near the end of second decade of the 21st century. What has happened in the intervening years between the first volume ending and the rest? I continue to look at life… Read more

Nice But Not True

October 30, 2017

Year 2, Day 303 | No Comments

After twenty-five years, Oprah Winfrey closed her highly popular daily television show on CBS-TV. The show was a marked improvement for television programming, and even sponsored popular spinoffs such as the counselor, Dr. Phil. and the physician Dr. Oz. The shows addressed real problems of persons and called for better understanding and conduct from viewers/listeners. Concluding her series Winfrey made reference to Scripture and to Christ as having spiritual meaning and influence in her life. It was clear during the latter years of her programs that she was deliberate in trying to gain a spiritual insight for those who would respond to her effort, and some of her work was eclectic even in spiritual meanings. With the decline in the… Read more

History

October 29, 2017

Year 2, Day 302 | No Comments

Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

History has always been one of my favorite subjects. It was my minor field in my formal education, and the history representative on the dissertation committee said that if I chose, the dissertation would qualify in the History Department if the declared major were bypassed. Throughout history the writers of it have shifted in emphases focusing on variant matters such as the military, economics, sometimes elections, education and society. At this writing there is prediction that religion has become an interest of historians in that the contention between Islam and the west (identified as Christian by some Islamists) has led to lengthy warfare, violence, and terrorism. The story carries over to various practices, clothing patterns, and laws. It is from… Read more

Under God – Excellence

October 28, 2017

Year 2, Day 301 | No Comments

The word excellent is bandied about a good deal, as I have noted on another Page in these volumes. It is the most repeated word I have encountered in higher education in answer to the question: What is your purpose in education for your particular institution? The answer in almost every case is: That we might have excellence in what we do as an educational institution. By that they mean not only that they have excellent education, facilities, faculties and supporting services, but by gaining an education from the institution students will presumably graduate committed to excellence. I have encountered many institutions deserving of the honor of excellence, and some institutions, claiming excellence that are not really there yet –… Read more

Imagining Prayer Responses

October 27, 2017

Year 2, Day 300 | No Comments

Prayer is human address to God. It is a special communication genus, not understood or explained by general human evaluation of wholly human (natural) communication processes or contexts. There are similarities that have been included in language idioms, such as, I pray you to consider . . . Shakespeare sometimes used it for pleading discourse. (Shakespeare’s style had significant influence on the word choices used in the King James Version of the Bible.) In this grave style (as used in the text above), a communicator proceeds, in using the language, in setting a stage, perhaps with dignity, seriousness, and precision – unless adopting preferences for modernization. Culture change may create so great shift in both denotation and connotation that some… Read more

Majesty

October 26, 2017

Year 2, Day 299 | No Comments

Today (06/05/2012) pageantry is being played out in London, England and by the media around the world. It marks the Diamond Anniversary (sixtieth) of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The pageantry is magnificent, and should be a goose bumps experience for true British citizens, or anyone relating to the life and history of the United Kingdom. The colors, red and gold, stand out in the regal procession of horses, horsemen and carriages; of men and women, whether in the parade or waving their arms. Both royals and commoners by birth seem to be sensing some experience of joy related to their country, and themselves akin to pride, spiritual experience or fulfillment, following traditional protocol. Union Jack flags seem innumerable. … Read more

Prayer

October 25, 2017

Year 2, Day 298 | No Comments

We return to the matter of prayer – again. I suppose these years of daily Pages include more references to prayer than any other subject except for salvation’s redemptive message from Scripture, a redemption achieved in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, so conquering sin and death for those incorporating that faith. It is to be remembered that spiritual issues are spiritually interpreted and discerned. Those interpretations incorporate enough natural logic that we can recognize the differences. Why would one pray? If God is omniscient, and we believe that he is, we can’t provide information to him. Whatever information we offer is bettered by his knowledge of the facts of the universe he oversees. Further we believe that his love… Read more

Irrepressible Conflict

October 23, 2017

Year 2, Day 296 | No Comments

Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

There are always keys to understanding Scripture, and as keys have a habit of doing, they also get misplaced from time to time. When they are recovered there is an aha experience – clarifying, comforting and satisfying, even life changing. The same principles hold for secular materials of study through history. Culture is a vital factor (key) in interpreting meaning, as the archaeologists clearly demonstrate. Culture is a key in evaluating events of history, so advising against arrogance and stupidity in the conclusions of an advanced or degraded generation relating to some other. Even God permits his own interpretation to use this culture key to evaluation. (Acts 17:30) How did mankind seem to leap so recently to civilization? A key… Read more

Pop Culture As Enemy

Nice But Not True

History

Under God – Excellence

Imagining Prayer Responses

Majesty

Prayer

Irrepressible Conflict

Introduction

Rev. Mark W. Lee, Ph.D (mlee@simpsonu.edu)

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