Since I haven’t had anything really meaty to add to this blog lately I went in search for inspiration.

Justin Taylor’s post titled “A Sentence that Changed My Theology” provided that for me.  For Mr. Taylor that sentence came from R.C. Sproul:

You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.

—Chosen by God, p. 12.

I wish more preachers (Rob Bell et al.)/teachers/fathers would read that quote and change their theology.

I would bet that most Christians can think of a sentence or message or Scripture that changed the course of their Theology.  For some they were awakened to the fact that as Christians we all need to study Theology, then there are those that were shaken in their boots by a conviction that screamed, “WAKE UP! YOU’VE BEEN DECEIVED!”.

The second scenario applies to us.  Well, actually they both do.

Be glad you didn’t go to that church. They’re 5-point Calvinists.

Um, okay. What the heck does that mean?  That’s what we were thinking when a dinner guest in May 2009, said that to us in regards to a church we visited before moving to Kerrville.

We could have shrugged the sentence off and gone on with our way of thinking.  That’s probably what most people do and undoubtedly what we had done dozens of times before.

We had no idea what a Calvinist was, much less why it was bad.  We had spent the first 9 years of our Christian walk being deceived into believing that studying “theology” was for stuffy professors.

In case you too have been deceived, the word theology comes from a combination of two Greek words, theos, meaning God, and logia, meaning knowledge or study—study of God. You SHOULD study the God you put your faith in!!

So, why would a church encourage you not to study Theology or know God better?

Because Theology, when used properly, equips Christians to call out heresies and false teachings.  If the members of mega-churches, seeker friendly churches, catholic churches… all began to study their Bible and learn what the TRUTH is then there would be a mass exodus!

Teaching your congregation expositionally (which the above mentioned groups are failing to do) will educate them on what God says not what the “pastor” thinks a certain passage means and how it relates to his or her extracurricular activities.

I have a hard time calling many church leaders pastors. Our word pastor equals the Scriptural term elder. Elder, from the greek word poimeno, means shepherd.

How are many of today’s “pastors” doing in their role of shepherding?

Terribly.

Back to the original point of this post.
Because of that sentence, Michael began to study God.  We learned Truth.  Soon after we joined the church this dinner guest referred to because of their commitment to expositional preaching.

Does it tell us in Scripture that we should know God better?

Ephesians 4: 13-14

1Peter 3:15

Jude 1:3

If you don’t study Scriptures, therefore knowing more about God, how can you contend for the faith, defend the faith or not be carried away by every wind of doctrine?

When I write I usually offend someone. *sigh* If I’m smart I’ll have my husband edit my posts before I publish.  He can see all those tiny little “jabs” that I perhaps didn’t even intend as jabs.

This morning I read a post on modesty that was so well written and unoffensive that I had to share.

Dear Sisters In Christ,

Immodesty, like most forms of sin, is rarely spoken of today. Freedom to do as one pleases is the benchmark of the American church; freedom to dress as we please naturally follows for many women.

Listening to the siren call of the world, the modern church has painted our Christianity with far too broad a stroke. Once the Holy Writ was considered inerrant and infallible and we in the church held a high view of God and an exalted view of His holiness. That time is no more.

With few godly men to guide us, many women have fallen for the lie that freedom lies in discarding the better part of our clothing. Not only have we sinned against a Holy God but we have also sold ourselves short and tarnished the dignity of womanhood. Wrapping our value up in the ability to wear a swimsuit is diminishing to us indeed. Read more…

My favorite quote from the post:” Christ didn’t come so that He might offer us freedom to do as we please and do it in His Holy Name. He came to give us freedom from sin; not to grant us freedom to sin.”

When we first began exploring the world of homeschooling I was completely overwhelmed. I’ve heard the same thing countless times from parents considering it for their family.

Where do one turn for easy to find information?

Still Deciding Phase:

• Perspectives on Your Child’s Education: Four Views: Presents each person’s positive views of their education choice without blatant attack on the other choices. At the end of each essay is a back and forth (the other authors give their objections while the author of that essay addresses their views) banter allowing you to get a clear picture of the pros and cons to each choice.  In the end, the choice of homeschooling is the obvious winner but then maybe I’m a little biased. The best thing about this book is it makes the reader consider all the options not just “go-with-what-you’ve-always-known”.

• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling: Haven’t read it but the title is just like my cloth diaper book so it has to be good, right?

Decided, now what? Phase:

• Teaching the Trivium: This book was the most instrumental in forging the path we are on today. Prior to reading Teaching the Trivium we were firm in our decision to homeschool however, we completely lacked clear direction.

The most important nugget we gleaned from this book was to not model your homeschool around what the public schools were teaching but to write down what it is you want your children to know when they graduate and work backwards from that.  Before, I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to teach my children Physics (which I hated), Calculus, English IV AP…you get my point…plus teach them to read, write and do basic math.

After we made a list of what was most important to us a huge weight was lifted.  Not because we realized we didn’t have to teach those subjects but because we realized what was most important: a strong Biblical worldview, a voracious love for reading, mastery of logic, systematic theology, Greek and Latin, homemaking, how to make a living from home… Homeschooling then became a true joy, not simply a chore.

• A Biblical Home Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God’s Word: I haven’t read this one, or any by Beechick for that matter, however she is hailed as a homeschool leader so I assume she has something to offer.
• The Well-Planned Day: Planners are a dime a dozen and no planner works for everyone.  I enjoyed the weekly catechism, read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, tear-out grocery lists, essays and of course the calendar part.

When the going gets tough Phase:

• One Hundred and One Devotions for Homeschool Moms: For me devotionals are great for the bathroom Did I just say that? Eek. What I mean is when I’m having a bad morning, afternoon or night I tend to run to my bathroom and sit on my closed toilet. Having a devotional nearby always renews me.

• To ward off those really bad days (which will happen anyways) I highly recommend For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word, Volume 1. My husband and I will be finishing Volume 1 soon and will move on to Volume 2. I have been blessed beyond any stretch of my imagination by consistently reading the Bible every day this year!

Wow. It’s been an adventure. I’m stronger, smarter and more secure in my faith than I’ve ever been. There have been days where I’d miss and have to make up the next day and always I could feel something missing because of that. God is way too gracious to me for sure.

There are dozens more books out there on the how-tos and what-nots of homeschooling. You may prefer a completely different type of book for your homeschool journey.

Above them all, however, the Bible is the book you must have to successfully homeschool your children as a Christian.  The Bible gives direction, correction and instruction on every problem I’ve encountered.  How blessed I am to have the ultimate guide to living.

This post is part of the Hip Homeschool Hop. For other great resources check out some of the other participants blogs.

The line between conviction and legalism is so very fine. It’s one that is easily crossed unless you are constantly aware of your comments, facial expressions and how you teach your children.

Convictions are a good thing. God will lead one family down a road that He ordains and how that family responds to the chosen path will set in motion dozens of other components.

For example, in 2004, God convicted us to homeschool our children. We didn’t yet have school aged children but we knew this is the path God wanted us on. We went through a number of different emotions and reactions to this plan. My emotions went like this:

Sounds Great!

I can’t do that.

I don’t want to do that. I want to bake cookies and clean the house while the kids are in school.

You’re right, it is what we will do but I’m not sure I’m liking it.

We’re doing this because it’s the best thing (said with much arrogance) to do and if I know someone who isn’t homeschooling I’m going to think less of them.

Homeschooling is a part of my life, like making meals and showering (ok, so it happens more frequently than that).

God has blessed me with the ability to homeschool and the perserverance to make it through every day. I see many problems in other education choices but I no longer think less of someone for making a different decision.

This is absolutely not what God wants from His children (the thinking you’re better than them part).

You should be FIRM in your convictions. You should know without a doubt that you are doing the best thing for your family. But, don’t lord it over someone and certainly never say that they aren’t a Christian because they don’t homeschool (or drink or wear skirts or say no to debt, etc…). This is legalism.

This is what causes division within a church. This does not glorify God.

And just in case you are thinking I’ve fallen into the crowd that overuses “Christian Liberty”, let me assure you I haven’t. John MacArthur wrote an excellent article entitled “What is Christian Liberty?” Take a few minutes to scan the article and scroll down to Section II (What Christian Liberty Is Not). The article uses Galatians 5: 13-16 as a guide.

MacArthur states, “A Christian wasn’t set free in Christ to do whatever he wants. Some people wrongly think that because of the eternal security of the believer, they are free to do anything they want.  No.  Christian liberty is not liberty to indulge the flesh.  If you’re saved, you won’t indulge your flesh because of the sin-restraining presence of the Holy Spirit inside you.”

]]> http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/conviction-vs-legalism/feed 3 http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/by-grace-im-saved-grace-free-and-boundless http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/by-grace-im-saved-grace-free-and-boundless#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:00:44 +0000 autumn http://kerrvillehomeschoolers.com/?p=547

What a perfect hymn this is to sing and reflect upon on this Reformation Day…

“By Grace I’m Saved, Grace Free and Boundless”

by Christian L. Scheidt, 1709-1761

Text From: THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941)

1. By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Hath Scripture ever falsehood taught?
Nay; then this word must true remain;
By grace thou, too, shalt heav’n obtain.

2. By grace! None dare lay claim to merit;
Our works and conduct have no worth.
God in His love sent our Redeemer,
Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth;
His death did for our sins atone,
And we are saved by grace alone.

3. By grace! Oh, mark this word of promise
When thou art by thy sins opprest,
When Satan plagues thy troubled conscience,
And when thy heart is seeking rest.
What reason cannot comprehend
God by His grace to thee doth send.

4. By grace God’s Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of thine own merit
That Jesus died thy soul to win?
Nay, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought Him from His heavenly throne.

5. By grace! This ground of faith is certain;
So long as God is true, it stands.
What saints have penned by inspiration,
What in His Word our God commands,
What our whole faith must rest upon,
Is Grace alone, grace in His Son.

6. By grace to timid hearts that tremble,
In tribulation’s furnace tried,–
By grace, despite all fear and trouble,
The Father’s heart is open wide.
Where could I help and strength secure
If grace were not my anchor sure?

If consoling and nurturing are second nature to you, you are blessed.

For me it’s not.  I tend to freeze up and fear that I’ll do more damage than good.

Unfortunately, I have an opportunity to console a grieving friend and I do not want to mess up.  So, I did some research.

Here are tips that I’ve learned from other mothers that have lost infants:

• http://mollypiper.com/ Molly is John Piper’s daughter-in-law.  Her and her husband Abraham have 5 children.  Their second child was born stillborn at 39wks 4days. Praise the Lord, 11 months later they welcomed their 3rd child into their hearts.  #4 and #5 just joined the family in August this year.  Molly has a wonderful list of posts on her right sidebar about consoling a grieving friend.  Last night I couldn’t stop reading! I used to read Molly’s blog but never realized she had these resources available.
• On a mothering forum many of the moms offered similar suggestions as Molly:

1. Cry with them
2. Bring meals.
3. Clean their home.
4. Talk about their lost one.
5. Don’t ask open-ended questions.
6. Don’t expect them to be over it in 3m, 6m, 1yr….
7. Pray for them continuously.
8. Don’t try to cover up their grief with comments like, “you can have more children”. While this may be true, it might not and regardless that doesn’t help their grief.
9. Don’t avoid them. They don’t have a contagious disease…well actually they do, but you want to catch it.  It’s a disease called empathy.  As Christians, we need to learn to empathize, show compassion and love those who are hurting.
10. My own suggestion: offer scriptures to encourage and bless. I know for me in times of stress I don’t have the energy to look up every scripture that applies to my situation.  When I find a compilation of scriptures dealing with that subject it always helps me to meditate and pray on those words.

In addition to these practical tips, understanding the concept of suffering is extremely important.  At the recent Desiring God conference Randy Alcorn gave a phenomenal presentation titled Difficult Truths & Deep Love: Pondering Sovereignty, Suffering, and the Promise of Heaven.

I know I’m ready to wrap my arms around my friend.  Letting down my walls is something I need to do anyways.  I pray that I bring her a sliver of comfort in this terrible moment of pain.

Photo used with permission

Is that good or bad? I tend to be a get to the point gal and even a little “that’s it, you’ve irritated me so I’ll leave now” type.

What’s hilarious is I seem to attract friends that are quite the opposite.  This is a benefit in two ways: 1) they get someone who will sit and listen and 2) it allows me to learn how to communicate better.

Oops, I think I said the bad word.  I’ll whisper it communication.

What it really comes down to is I’m a terrible communicator. I don’t empathize well, I don’t describe at all, and worst of all I don’t express my feelings well.

That was really hard to say. My husband and sisters-in-law are quick to point out that it’s a family trait.

I am improving. I’ve learned how to converse with someone when they are wrong (instead of politely smiling then going home to unload on my husband) by asking them questions as to how they arrived at this illogical conclusion. I’ve sort of improved on expressing my feelings– at least with my family anyways.

The empathy one is hard. I’m there for anyone who needs prayer but put me face to face with someone hurting and I freeze up. I have no idea how to comfort.  This is sometimes shown towards my children, especially the girls.

How does one overcome this weakness? How do I learn to empathize? How do I get to the point where I think it’s okay to spend 10 minutes describing an experience?

Obviously, a parent doesn’t want to pass on poor communication skills to their children. For now I say “Praise the Lord! that I have a husband on the opposite end of the spectrum!”  At the very least he balances out what is shown to the children. That doesn’t fix the problem of course.

When I say balance it actually looks like this: the girls communicate great, Haven is a clam shell, ticking time bomb, church mouse…cute as can be but you get my point. Sterling appears to be much more like the girls.

This would definitely explain my lack of blog posts. My head is filled with deep, riveting posts yet I fail miserably to communicate them.

The irony in being a poor communicator is the uncontrolled tongue in times of anger or frustration.

The Bible has much to say about communication. Proverbs is fully convicting to a poor communicator. But, my favorite passages in regards to communication are:

Ephesians 4:29-32

James 3:2-12

These teach me what I need to be doing. These guide me towards the place I want to be. I have so far to go but I know God is faithful.

James 1:5

Why a Baby Conference?

In 2010, as the focus of much media attention centers on the victory of selfishness and the defeat of the biblical family through the introduction of “the pill” fifty years ago, Vision Forum Ministries is committed to defending and celebrating life — in particular, the blessing of children and their role in building healthy cultures and vibrant households.

As the world lauds barrenness for economic and personal convenience and marginalizes the value of our aging populace, we purpose to celebrate life and to explore a myriad of practical and theological issues that are pertinent to Christian families of the twenty-first century, such as: adoption, home birth, the coming cry for euthanasia on the horizon as our elderly generation increases, and the many blessings that come from raising children in the fear of the Lord.

Who’d want to miss that?!  This was our first conference of any kind outside of chiropractic.  Despite my nerves over how my children would behave, I had an extremely blessed time.  San Antonio, although only an hour away from our home, is very humid! That would be my main complaint

My Top 10 Favorite Moments

As is common with any great event, it was difficult pinpointing 10 aspects that really stuck with me.

10) Electronic Polling.  I am so impressed with Vision Forum’s foresight to arrange a time to poll their audience.  What better opportunity to get some valuable statistics?! There were approximately 1700 people in attendance and after the polling I can tell you:

• They were homeschoolers (>90%)
• They had/would consider a homebirth
• They wanted as many children as God gave them
• Most had not used birth control in the last year

9) Large Family Logistics Panel.  I loved getting to hear from mom’s with large families (3 w/ 10 children, 2 w/ 8 ) and how it all worked out logistically.  They discussed pregnancy (how to delegate from the couch when you’re sick), birth, laundry, dad’s involvement, schedule, chores and cooking.  Completely silly but my favorite “tip” came from Kim Coughlin who said that each kid had their own bath towel and it didn’t get washed until it needed it. In our family of 6 we have a towel problem.

Modesty Abounds.  What a sight for sore eyes! I loved the variety of modest clothing I was able to see.  Some families wore very traditional neck to ankle dresses while others wore more modern skirts.  All of it was beautiful and I never felt uncomfortable with anyone’s choice of clothing.  I also cherished that my daughter’s were able to see hundreds of other girls wearing skirts.  They don’t often see others dressed like them.

7) Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.  If there was a family today that truly lived out humility, gratefulness and love it would be them.  I’m sure that each one of the hundreds that spoke with them would all say they felt special.  Michelle Duggar was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love as she received the Mother of the Year award from Vision Forum.  Even my husband cried a bit from the show of gratefulness.

6) Meeting a blogger.  I was blessed to meet Kelly of Generation Cedar!! I am not good at introducing myself to people but I stepped out of my comfort zone and spoke with her.  I enjoyed our conversation and now I can say “I know her!”

5) Biomedical Ethics Panel.  I thought this would be a snore.  Far from it. I’m not sure I want to be completely controversial but I will say my eyes were opened about organ donation, termination of life and eugenics.

4) Kevin Swanson.  How could you not love a speaker that jumps around on stage and makes every point relevant and personal?  His topic was biblical discipline.  The illustration that impacted me the most was his use of a Texas Highway Patrolman.  When you get pulled over you are scared (if you’re me VERY scared).  They come to the window in a cool, calm and matter of fact manner.  There’s no “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT! DON’T YOU KNOW THE RULES!?”  He just simply says, “Ma’am, do you realize you were breaking the law?”  Hmmmm…which one are you when your children break the rules?    I will pledge to be a Texas Highway Patrol from now on.

3) New Friends.  Might seem silly to be my #3 but I’ve always desired to meet families similar to ours no matter where they live.  I’ve read of families visiting friends across the U.S. that they met through events like these and I always thought that was a blessing.  Who knows if our friendships will endure.  At least the next time I attend a conference similar to this I will recognize some faces!  Hi, Amy, Melanie, Lisa and Sharon!!

2) Tea with Michelle Duggar. I’ll sum up my experience with my take home lesson: “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” That is how she deals with frustration and being overwhelmed.  I’ve taken it to heart and it’s really began to change me.  Not because she said it but because the joy of the Lord really is my strength!

1) Commonality.  Hands down my favorite part of the Baby Conference was being around hundreds of families that trust the Lord with their family size. What a true testament of faith.  I believe the average number of children per family in attendance was 6 or 7.  We were a small family with 4 1/2 but if the Lord wills it we’ll be there someday!

To read my husband’s perspective head on over to Theological Thoughts.

My conscience has told me there are better things to do with my time. My conscience has a name, its Holy Spirit. (Did anyone else just start to sing the Oscar Meyer jingle??)

But, am I sinning though when I choose to watch HGTV or TNT at 9:30 instead of reading a book?

Here’s an excerpt from an excellent blog post dealing with this topic:

As a Christian, is it wrong to watch TV or a movie? What about playing video games?These questions fall into the discipline of Christian Ethics, which deals with the teachings of right and wrong in light of the Christian faith. As Christians we look to the Bible to be our final authority in all matters of faith and morality. (What higher authority can we look to other than the One who is set apart in His perfect moral purity, His holiness, from all created beings. God’s holiness is the very definition of what is good and right in the universe.)

So therefore, when dealing with the question of ethics, “Is wrong to do ______?”, we must look to our guide, the Holy Scriptures.

To read the rest of this post hop on over to Theological Thoughts. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

I pray I’m preaching to the choir on this one but it is a burden I’m carrying and must unload.

Please, why is it that true Christians celebrate Easter using the easter bunny??? It makes no sense to me.

Why on earth would someone who has made Christ the Lord of their life trivialize His death, burial and RESURRECTION?! Our Savior ROSE FROM THE DEAD and yet most parents are dressing their kids in bunny ears and posing them next to a scary life-size bunny.

There’s nothing “wrong” with hunting eggs.  I love to find things, especially when there’s a sugary treat involved   But, why not do that on, say, May 10th or April 26th? You know, any other day besides Easter Sunday or in conjunction with Easter.

I’m sure there are some parents who just simply don’t know how to teach their kids about Easter. Sad, I know, since it is the very basis of our faith.  My advice is to not dumb it down.

If you need guidance I suggest something like this set by John Piper.

Remembering to keep the focus on Christ and not on man-made or pagan icons is what’s important.  Children develop ideas that they’ll carry with them forever very quickly.

Haley is 8 and just asked me if we were going to do eggs this year   We didn’t begin living in a way that glorifies God really until this past year.  Sure we weren’t blaspheming God every day but when your kids think Santa when you say Christmas you know you’ve messed up (we’ve corrected that mistake!!!).

If all else fails you could always just read from the Bible.

Matthew 28

He Is Risen

¹ Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,^[a] and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
⁸ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

The Women Worship the Risen Lord

⁹ And as they went to tell His disciples,^[b] behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

The Soldiers Are Bribed

¹¹ Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. ¹² When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, ¹³ saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore^[c] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.