Bill Warner PhD: A Civilizational Manifesto

Theological Journals

How do other Christians view our world and our Lord? It is so important to step out of our own world view because, of course, it skews the way we read and interpret the Bible. Here are some interesting journals I want to check out from other parts of our world (courtesy of Rob Bradshaw, United Kingdom):

Australian Biblical Review
Caribbean Review of Evangelical Theology
South East Asia Journal of Theology
Asia Journal of Theology
Indian Journal of Theology

Some online resources include:

Andrews University Seminary Studies
Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
biblicalarcheology.org.uk
reformationchurch.org.uk
gospelstudies.org.uk

Delight!

Someone asked me how I would describe the coming year in just one word. My answer is "delight!" I have so much to look forward to: time with family, new friends, work, books to read and new things to learn. I hope to see a new grandson and visit old friends.

Yesterday was my first day back to school. I spent it organizing materials to make lesson planning easier, met with other English teachers, and came home exhausted, but delighted to be able to work. I found this prayer to pray for my students:

"Dear Father,
I pray for students in my care,
Help them learn and grow.
May they ever seek Your face,
Your perfect will to know.
Guide me with Your wisdom
And power from above,
So everything I teach them
Is tempered in Your love.
Amen"

Prayer is even more important to me now that I am older and cannot do as many things as I used to do. Now God calls me to a higher work, which is prayer.

I pray especially for the persecuted Church, Christ's body in this world, who now suffer terrible torments, suffering, and death. The persecution grows fiercer year by year: 165,000 martyrs last year. May they find great courage, hope, comfort, and visions of Heaven to sweeten their dying moments.

How delightful prayer is, to spend time with Christ in contemplation and prayer. "How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved One, with all your delights." Certainly Job's friend Elihu was wrong when he said, "It profits a person nothing to delight in God."

Those who delight in the Lord will ride on the heights of the earth, find salvation and God's steadfast love, be no more forsaken or desolate. All the nations will be blessed and our land will be a land of delight.

The amazing thing is that God delights in us, too! "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."

There is so much more I want to say about "delight" but another busy day is calling me away.

It's a New Year and a New Day

This is a great opportunity for a new start.

Unfortunately, my son Tom still whomps me in Boggle, Settlers of Cataan, tennis, you name it. He's a gem and when your child surpasses you, well, what could surpass that kind of joy?

Only one thing I know: the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing . . ." Happy New Year!

Letting Go of the Old

I recently moved and found my 2010 Journal this morning. It said "2010." And inside, nothing, not one word. I had great intentions for keeping a journal, but let other things get in the way. I hope to do better this year and I hope you will follow my blog and find something that blesses you.

Letting Go of Old Hurts
It's hard to let go of old hurts, but as the old year ends I'm looking back and letting go. Henri Nouwen said, "One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts. We often say, or at least think, 'What you did to me and my family, my acestors, or my friends, I cannot forget or forgive . . . one day you will have to pay for it.' Sometimes our hurts are decades, even centuries old, and we keep asking for revenge."

I have been surprised in my new home here in the American South that I have seen NO anger by blacks toward their white neighbors, even though the white ancestors were slaveholders of many of these Southern blacks. They appear to have let go of those terrible old hurts.

The most amazing example of forgiveness was a schoolhouse shooting in a small Amish school. The man killed several children and left others permanently and terribly disabled. Then he killed himself. The Amish parents and community IMMEDIATELY forgave him and ministered to his widow.

When we pick up a brick to throw at someone who hurt us, it's hard to stop. We go over it again and again in our minds. We thinks of every small fault of theirs, every minor offense. Brick by brick, we build a wall. The bricks don't hurt the one who hurt us; they only prevent us from forgiving that person.

We are called to live in peace with one another. But nursing a grudge makes that impossible. I like to remember the 100%/0% principle. I'll hold myself 100% responsible for what I can do to forgive and live at peace with anyone who hurts me. I'll forgive 100%. I'll do my best to be kind to them. And I'll expect zero in return. After all, I can't change them. The ONLY person I can change is myself.

And I won't replay the hurts over and over again. I throw away the tape that wants to replay them in my mind.

Now, of course, this is impossible for me. But I know that "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not holding anyone's faults against them." If Christ did that,I must do the same. He is our example to follow in everything.

Still, I know this kind of forgiveness is impossible for me. I am reminding myself on this last day of 2010 that in Him, we are new creations and have abilities we could never have without the help of the Holy Spirit.

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