Archive for October, 2010
Michelle and I were both off last Friday so, on the recommendation of a friend, we took the time to drive over to New Athen’s Illinois to visit The Bluegrass Shack. We’ve both been trying our hands at music for right at a year now; Michelle learning banjo while I learn guitar. Neither of us think we’re any good at it but we somehow landed with a group from church and we’ve had several practice sessions that focused on some old bluegrass gospel tunes. It’s a total blast to play with other people and, while we’re far from professional, I think we’re reasonably entertaining.
As soon as we walked in the door to the Bluegrass Shack I recognized Chris Talley from some of her YouTube videos. Our friend Doug, who told us about the shack, said she was a very cool person and I couldn’t agree more with his assessment. I have never in my life gotten such focused attention of a store owner. We took Michelle’s banjo to have some work done to it and Chris saw to it personally. She took the time to explain, in detail, the nature of the repairs and upgrades and pointed out both the good and bad aspects of Michelle’s banjo. That gal sure knows what she’s doing because that banjo sounds MUCH better now.
While Chris worked on Michelle’s banjo and tended with other customers and the store’s needs we had the opportunity to meet with two young siblings, Lucas and Katarina Worthington, 14 and 18; their father a pastor. They were both excellent musicians and so much fun to talk with. They come from a family of 10 kids that all form a bluegrass band of their own. Katarina has only been playing guitar for a couple months and just screams through the chord changes… I swear, I’m so jealous. She picked up a vintage Martin guitar while Lucas played a Gold Tone banjo. They pounded out a cool gospel tune with which they both sang. Man, if Michelle and I could only play that good. Katarina, Lucas, keep up the good work.
We ended up spending a little over 3 1/2 hours at the shack talking with the Chris and the two Worthington children. What makes them even cooler, at least in my book, is that they are all solid KJV Bible believers. I dropped a couple of DPBC‘s cards off and invited them to listen to some of Dan Schmidt’s sermons. I hope they do.
Now, at this point we’d been hanging around the shack for over 2 1/2 hours and then Chris takes Michelle and I to one of her private classrooms and spent some one on one time with us. She listened to Michelle play and gave her several pointers. She also gave me some great pointers for the guitar. It was a fantastic time to get to know our new found friend and sister in Christ as she even shared some of her own struggles with us. To top it off, bless her heart, she even wrote about our visit in her personal blog.
The whole day was absolutely fantastic, thanks to Chris, Katarina, Lucas, the employees, and even some of the clientele that we met. Chris Talley’s love for music is evident from the very moment you meet her and her faith in Christ evident in the genuine care that she extends to others. Even though it’s about an hour and a half from our house, I am fully committed to give The Bluegrass Shack as much of my personal business as I possibly can. We’re actually hoping to go back next Saturday to watch the Fiddle, Banjo & Flattop Guitar Contest. If you’re within a few hours of New Athen’s Illinois, do yourself a favor… drop in and visit the Bluegrass Shack.
Learn more about The Bluegrass Shack and The Chris Talley Trio.
Chris and friends, thanks very much for a GREAT day. 
It’s clear by viewing the archives on the lower right that the activity on this site hasn’t kept up at the pace it held for the first six or seven months. This is most likely attributed to the fact that my focus in life has shifted. While I’m still interested in the latest and greatest gadgets, and humored by a lot of the silliness that’s found on the web, I find my attentions turned primarily to two different things. Christ and music.
Finding my relationship with Christ totally revitalized since joining Dardenne Prairie Bible Church in January of 2009, I’ve been spending a great deal more time in Bible study which, in my estimate, is the most productive and rewarding thing that I could possibly allocate time for. This month also marks my first year as an apprentice “guitar player”, and while I use that term rather loosely, Michelle and I are playing with a group from church. So, in a nutshell… my life, were it stacked from top to bottom is Christ, work, and music. It goes without saying that family and friends are deeply embedded in all those activities.
So, in a nutshell, this site hasn’t seen much activity because I’m just not spending as much time on it as I used to. I still have an ongoing interest in keeping the site up but rather than just posting a bunch of hodge podge of articles I intend to shift the focus of the site to line up with where I’m at in life. I’ll leave work at work but my postings will now focus more on things I’ve learned through bible study and stuff that’s related to my musical interests, which by the way, are also Christ centered–Michelle and I are playing Bluegrass Gospel with a group from church.
I’m sure that I’ll still post some tech related articles as too and I’ll eventually get around to changing the site theme to match the new mood but at this point I’m just not sure how to theme Christ, bluegrass gospel, and technology. Should be interesting… or totally lame.
I have been a Christian for 20 years. For over 18 years I primarily used the NIV translation but during a six year period in which I taught an adult Sunday School class, I used a myriad of translations picking from them the one that best drove the point of my lesson home. This is basically the same thing we see from most modern pulpits today.
While I’m somewhat reticent to submit this posting, as I know it will alienate some. Actually it already has although I’m not sure why. After all, we each have a right to our own opinions and you will not find any condemnation within this text towards those who do not agree with me. Nonetheless, I find myself compelled to submit this so I can quit trying to explain myself, but rather, just point people here should they happen to care for my opinion. Why should they? Good question… most probably don’t. So, please bear in mind that I’m not trying to start a debate with anyone; I’m just sharing my opinion with full recognition that yours probably differs. I realize that I’m swimming upstream here.
About two years ago I started using the King James Authorized Version 1611 and have since abandoned all of the modern translations for several reasons, primarily because they do not flow from the Textus Receptus. Essentially there are two basic lines of manuscripts; one came out of Alexandria—that’s in Egypt by the way—and one came from Antioch. I believe the Alexandrian line of manuscripts to be corrupt from the very beginning… which, by the way, is where the Catholic bible originates. The additional books in the Catholic bible are part of the Alexandrian line of manuscripts. Having learned of this, I’ve come to trust the line of manuscripts from Antioch (the Textus Receptus), for one, because they were first called Christians at Antioch. The first missionary journeys poured from Antioch and anytime Antioch is mentioned in the Bible it is always referred to in a positive light. The King James AV1611 Bible stems from the Antiochan line of manuscripts.
I honestly believe that God had his hand in the AV1611 translation, for reasons which are too great in length to address in a single posting. I do not believe that God’s hand is in the seemingly endless “bibles of the year” which continue to pour out from various publishers whose primary goal is to make money.
The bottom line is that one has to conclude whether or not God, having given us His word, would have bothered to preserve His word. Apparently the bible scholars don’t think so because they seem to believe that, just because they know a little Greek or Hebrew, they somehow have greater insight into what God really meant to say. I find that rather audacious as it carries with it the clear and obvious implication that God was incapable of preserving His word in plain English. It’s a sad commentary that the Christian community, who profess that the bible is the word of God, doesn’t even believe that themselves. If they did, why would they have the audacity to think that they know what God said better than what God actually said? How can we presume to put words in HIS mouth? Just think how upset we get when people put words in our mouth. I wonder what God thinks about it?
How is it that Christians today don’t even believe that God was capable of preserving His word? They look to the AV1611 and, because it doesn’t say what they want it to say, imply that “It’s faulty. After all, it was translated by men too, wasn’t it?” Sure, but you know what? Moses was a man, David was a man, Peter was a man, Paul was a man. And every one that ever had a hand in preserving the word of God was a man. That’s just the way God works. He uses men. Why do we fault the AV1611 because men translated it? God uses men. And for a fact, MEN are behind the multitudes of modern translations as well. Others say that the AV1611 is too hard to understand. I used to say that too; said it for many years but we have to remember that it’s the Spirit that gives understanding, not our intellect.
Christians scoff at the non-Christians and especially the liberals who say, “Well that may be good for you, but it just doesn’t work for me. Here’s what really helps me.” Then we turn right around and subject ourselves to the exact type of ridicule as we submit ourselves to the same type of subjective relativity in regards to God’s word. “That bible may be good for you, but you know, this is the translation that really works for me.” How in the world can the Christians expect to be taken seriously by the non-believer when every believer they talk to shows them something different? It’s no wonder that non-believers find us odd. We run around claiming to have THE authoritative word of God then turn right around and say, maybe not in so many words, “and it’s hidden somewhere within these hundreds of translations that have rolled out over the past couple of centuries and the ‘original manuscripts’.” By the way… the original manuscripts… they don’t even exist!
Imagine what a different world it would be if people actually just taught THE bible instead of teaching how to retranslate it. If we weren’t so busy trying to restructure God’s words we’d actually have time to study them, instead of the non-existent originals.
I think the King James AV1611 contains THE AUTHORITATIVE words of God as He intended to preserve them in the English language. One book, believe it or don’t believe it. A person cannot say that he believes THE BIBLE if he holds to many; he might say that he believes BIBLES IN GENERAL but not THE BIBLE—not if he doesn’t hold to ONE book.
So ask yourself. Is God capable of preserving His word? If He bothered to give us His word I would certainly think that He’d see to its preservation. But then, maybe not. Maybe only Zondervan, Holman, Nelson and the rest of the publishers know what God really said.
I’ve recently been in discussions that revolved around the various translations of the bible. Having formerly used various modern translations, primarily the NIV, I’m now 100% convinced that God preserved His word in the English language in the KJV (AV 1611). I, like many others, formerly failed to see any danger in the practice of “swapping out” archaic words for modern words. How wrong I was. Let’s look at just one example, just one word, and see if it makes a difference. I’ll offer other examples in the future as there are many, many examples that prove the strength and authenticity of the KJV. So, without further ado…
In this corner, fighting for the KJV …Tares.
Matthew 13:24-30 (KJV) Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: (25) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. (26) But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. (27) So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? (28) He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? (29) But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. (30) Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
In the opposite corner, fighting for the modern translations …Weeds.
Matthew 13:24-30 (NIV) Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. (25) But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. (26) When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. (27) “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ (28) “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ (29) “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. (30) Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
At one point in time I wouldn’t have seen any problem with the modern translation but, thank God, I’m finally starting to learn THE Bible in earnest.
So before you read on, consider the verses again. See any problems here? I’ll bet if your honest you’ll say no… but check this out.
What do you do if you have weeds in a garden? You pull them up! You never let weeds grow in a garden. So why did Jesus tell them to leave the weeds? Well, he didn’t. He told them to leave the tares. You know why? Because tares are very similar in appearance to wheat and it is difficult to distinguish one from the other until they are nearly ready for the harvest.
So the tares here represent false Christians. People who talk the talk and, for all intensive purposes, look like real Christians but are not. But there will come a time-the harvest-when they will be found out.
So what do the weeds represent? Absolutely nothing, and in the context of the parable it doesn’t even make sense for them to be there… they should be pulled up long before the harvest.
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,Todd Reichert built a human-powered aircraft. The “Snowbird,” made from carbon fiber, foam, and balsa wood actually has flapping wings. Countless men and women have dreamed of flying like a bird under their own power; although a rather short and low altitude flight, it would appear that Todd has done it.
Source: ZDNet
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,