The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts

10 Anomalous Numbers


1. How long is 8 mile road?
Spanning more than 20 miles across metropolitan Detroit and currently existing in most areas as an eight-lane, boulevarded highway, its popular name is derived from the Detroit area's mile road system which identifies streets running east-west throughout the region.
2. How many prints in Hokusai's 36 views of Mount Fuji?
Hokusai's series 36 Views of Mount Fuji began with 36 prints but was later expanded to a total of 46 prints due to the series' immense success. The original 36 prints were published first then ten additional designs were added to the collection in response to requests, making the complete series 46 prints.
3. How long was the hundred years war?
It lasted for 116 years, 1337 to 1453, although it wasn't a continuous conflict but a series of sieges, raids and battles with several periods of truce and peace. The war was a struggle for control over France between England and France, involving a territorial dispute and English claims to the French throne.
4. What horsepower can an average horse produce at peak power?
A real horse is capable of producing peak power of around 14.9 horsepower though for sustained activity, a horse can sustain an average only of about 1 to 1.5 horsepower. The unit "horsepower" was invented by James Watt to represent the sustained work a horse could perform over a full workday not its maximum power output.
5. What are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel?
The 12 tribes of Israel are named for the 12 sons of Jacob, who was also known as Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. However, because the tribe of Levi did not receive a land inheritance, the tribe of Joseph was split into two (Ephraim and Manasseh). The tribes that received land were Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh.
6. What are the names of the twelve apostles?
While Jesus designated a core group of 12 apostles, the number of people referred to as "apostles" in the New Testament is not limited to that figure. This makes the "12 apostles" an example of a number that is not always the literal, final count. The symbolic importance of the number 12 (representing the 12 tribes of Israel) is a key reason for this apparent contradiction. In addition to the twelve disciples, there is Matthias who replaced Judas and Paul, clearly an apostle but not of the orignal twelve/
7. Was Jan Akkerman 3 Akkerman's third solo album?
Jan Akkerman's album Jan Akkerman 3, released in 1979, was not his third solo album. His previous solo releases included Talent for Sale (1968), Profile (1972) and Tabernakel (1973).
8. How many warriors belonged to David's thirty men?
These are listed in 2 Samuel 23:8–39 and 1 Chronicles 11:10–47. When listing the individuals, 2 Samuel 23 concludes by saying, Thirty-seven in all. This is probably because the actual number was fluid. When one died or dropped out another replaced him.
9. How many Musketeers in the three musketeers?
The Three Musketeers is a classic literary example of a title's number not matching the total characters. While the group consists of Athos, Porthos and Aramis - the three titular musketeers - they are prominently joined by a fourth protagonist, d'Artagnan, who becomes an inseparable member.
10. In what years were the American Football team, The San Francisco 49ers and the basketball team, The Philadelphia 76ers founded?
One might assume 1949 and 1976 but the answer is 1946 and 1963 (although the Philadelphia team was originally The Syracuse Nationals, founded in 1946). The 49 and 76 refer to the 1849 California gold rush and the 1776 signing of the declaration of independence respectively.

Affinity Study Conference 2021


I'd meant to write up something about the recent Affinity Study Conference, which had to be online this year. It was on March 17 and 18 and featured five papers on the last things and a final round up session with all five speakers, chaired by Tom Brand. The speakers were Paul Mallard, Paul Yeulett, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, Gareth Burke and Michael Horton. Rupert Bentley-Taylor kicked us off with a nice broad paper and then Paul Yeulett navigated us helpfully through the tricky waters of the intermediate state. We ended the first day with a demanding but helpful paper from Michael Horton in California. Gareth Burke then spoke from Northern Ireland on the Jewish question and Paul Mallard on heaven. The format to the conference is that speakers briefly present their papers and we then discuss them in groups. It isa  good format and we covered a lot of worthwhile ground. It was good too to have a little banter with Alan Davey, Mark Thomas and others at one point. The papers will appear in print at some point no doubt. Well done Affinity for getting this organised.

10 Nuclear Powers


1. United States
2. Russia (formerly part of the Soviet Union)
3. United Kingdom
4. France
5. China
6. India
7. Pakistan
8. North Korea
9. Israel (so they say)
10. We don't know who else - Iran?

Saturday, Lord's Day October 5 and 6 2013

Well, what a good weekend. First, on Saturday afternoon we celebrated my thirtieth anniversary at the church and what I thought was the 150th anniversary of the founding of the work (1863) but turned out to be the 148th anniversary (1865). I gave a power point presentation of the church's history then we had a cuppa and then my fellow elder Robert Strivens preached from Philippians 1:1. After that there was a cake and another cuppa but no speeches. It was really good to see so many there.

The next day it was communion in the morning followed by a harvest sermon from me on James 5:7. In the evening we had a visiting speaker all the way from Haifa, Israel, Shmuel Aweida. Shmuel is Arab and pastors a congregation of Christian Arabs and Jews. he spoke from Acts 10 and very briefly but winsomely argued the case for taking the gospel to the Jews. Again we had a good number of people present and another cuppa! It was a privilege to meet Shmuel and his (Norwegian) wife Bjorg. What an excellent weekend.
 
 

Good Jews Week

Providentially we have had two Jewish people speaking at the church in the last few days about the work of the gospel among their people. First Andreea came to our midweek meeting to speak about the work she has been involved in over the last 18 months adn then yesterday evening David Zadok was with us speaking about the work of HaGefen publishing and preaching from Psalm 121. Living as we do in an area that is 15% Jewish it was good to be reminded to pray and to know that many Jewish people are showing an interest in these things and coming to know Messiah for themselves in many cases too. For more info check these sites here and here.

Pre-millennialists

While I was in Oxford the other day I was encouraged to see a man witnessing to a nice young couple (Michael and Iona) in the main street. Michael is a student at Oxford but thinks he hasn't got soul. So much for modern education.
Having admired John Thistlewaite's bold witness I was immediately brought back to earth with a bump as firstly he was from Worcester not Oxford and had come up for the day, which is so often the case with street evangelists. It's not wrong, it just makes me wonder why.
The other thing was his raptures (unintentional pun) over some pre-millennialist scheme he'd been sold and that he was eager for me to hear about. I told him I was a minister and pretty much a-mill (although I'm quite eclectic and basically believe everything is getting better - and worse). I tried to explain why I think the Devil is now bound but he couldn't see it. So John went from hero to zero in about 10 minutes with me. There we are.
Then this morning a minister I know (Martin S) who is mildly Calvinistic and pretty pre-mill 'phoned to ask me about the availability of pastoral training. Although he was keen to avoid anything to a-mill he didn't try to argue me into his pre-mill view but took our difference as a given. That seemed a better approach to me.
Last Wednesday I also met a very pro-modern Israel Jewish believer who goes door to door in our church's name. Again we are miles apart on some of these eschatological issues but we can work together. Once more, a better pattern surely?