Christ's death

As I was listening to my pastor's sermon this morning, something about Christ's death hit me. We all know of the classic Who Killed Christ? debates that went on (and still happen) through the centuries. Some point the finger at the Jews, citing all the passages where the Pharisees/Sanhedrin plotted His murder. Their opponents stand behind the fact that Pontius Pilate took the official charge of overseeing His torture and crucifixion. Well, both sides are right. And what I found interesting about that is its theological connection. God's causing both the Jews AND the Gentiles to be responsible for Christ's death highlights the universality of man's guilt. (Romans 3:23) Who knows what kind of weird heresies would have turned up had the Jews dealt with it amongst themselves, or vice-versa? (I can just see another "Pos" debate, this time concerning the Great Commission - "All means all except when we're talking about the race of people who killed Jesus....." {Now wouldn't that be quite the dilemma, considering Christians are the true ones responsible for Christ's death.}) All in all, it makes me appreciate the sovereignty of God even more.

On the evils of ammonia

Today, we met with some friends for a weekly science/speech/home ec. co-op. The three of us who are in chemistry do the experiments at the library, and this week we needed ammonia, which one of us brought, and then forgot to take home. ;-) Being the stunningly nice people that we are, we took it with us when we left. 

Now it is important to mention here that, as there wasn't any lid, the cover of the jug-o-ammonia has to be covered with tin foil. So, when we were turning into the Culvers parking lot to get some dinner (yeah, we're real classy), what do you know! the ammonia spilled. After the assorted shrieks and exclamations that followed, mom pulled into an obscure parking spot and rushed off to rinse out the carpet which had been hit, while I guarded the jug which had now been banished to sit on the piece of ice we parked on. So ignoring the cold of the ice coming through my thin shoes (so Oliver Twist-esque) and how awkward I must have looked - a random teen standing in a parking lot with a jug of a major ingredient in meth - I waited for mom to come back. She finally did, and we deemed waiting in line while inhaling the fumes not worth the brain damage, so we headed home. 

So while mom drove, I held the jug with my feet while avoiding the fumes by hanging my head out the window, sort of like a dog. (In 30 degree weather) Here, I was faced with a decision. I read on a blog a while back that, when in an irritating situation, you can either laugh or cry. Being more of a fan of the former, I started laughing......and laughing..... (Those fumes were getting strong there....) We eventually got home, evacuated the car, and consigned the ammonia to its fate on our front porch, where it is sitting now.

So there was really no point in writing this post, except that I found it entertaining and love the piece of advice I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. And to warn you against the evils of  traveling with ammonia, I guess.

Miscellanies # 3

My friend gave me this shirt a couple weeks ago. Is this not the greatest ever?

With all this drama in Libya, I'm seeing some posts on Facebook by people who are adamantly against America's getting involved, mentioning Bush's invasion of Iraq. It has me thinking. I'm not for our getting ourselves in the middle of every little skirmish that occurs around the world, but I definitely do not support Isolationism. I can't help but wonder whether WW2 would have ended differently - and many lives have been saved - if FDR hadn't waited so long to get involved.  Yeah, I'm not a fan of America meddling in everybody's business, but if we could prevent another Hitler or Stalin, might it worth it to get involved SOMETIMES?

It seems like all the Christian Blogosphere has been talking about in the past few weeks is Rob Bell's new book. I'm surprised that everybody's surprised. I mean, wouldn't you EXPECT a leader of the Emergent group to be a universalist? I'm just finding it to be incredibly underwhelming.

As Sense and Sensibility is my favorite book, I am so doing this.

I love this first question/answer of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong-
body and soul,
in life and in death,
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

Odyssey - books 1 & 2

As I was about to open my edition and start reading Book 1, I wondered to myself whether it was because of a nerdy 7th grade whim that the Odyssey was on my list of favorite books. But as soon as I read the first line, AH, everything that I love about this book came back to me. How could I have been so faithless? ;-)

Not cool with idolatry, but I understand why people paint pictures like this. Homer, you are so brilliant.

So we all know the story. The Trojan War has ended, and all the surviving Greek warriors have made their way home, except one. Enter hero Odysseus. The Odyssey opens 9 years after the end of the war, with the king of Ithaca nowhere in sight. Instead, his palace is overrun with cocky suitors vying for his wife, Penelope. His son, Telemachus, has arrived at adulthood and is thoroughly fed up with the aforesaid leeches. Apparently it's taken 9 years to get the oh-so-dynamic set of Olympian gods to notice all that trouble going on in Odysseus's family. So Athena steps in and takes charge of the situation, appearing to Telemachus and persuading him to sail to a neighboring city to search for any news of his father.

One of the things I love about Homer's poetry is how each character is named. Probably for the sake of meter, Homer always attaches an adjective to the person he's writing about. So, for instance, instead of boring old prosaic "Odysseus," we have "resourceful Odysseus." Get what I mean?  It sort of gives the narrative parts a little pizazz. My personal favorite is "rosy-fingered Dawn." I don't know why I get so much of a kick out of this.

This time around, I've already found two "themes" in the Odyssey to think about.

1. Greek mythology v. the True God. Reading the first two books today, I was struck with just how futile the members of the former are. They're pretty much just immortal humans with superpowers. They spend their days doing nothing really productive, unless you call carousing or messing up mortals' lives for entertainment a good use of time. It makes me think of Elijah's taunt to the Baal worshipers in 1 Kings 18:

   "It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention."

   I am so glad our God is one who cares about his people.
   
2. The family of Agamemnon. Don't let that weird looking name scare you. He's Helen of Troy's brother-in-law. This was quite the dysfunctional family. While he was gone fighting at Troy, his wife, Clytemnestra took a lover and the illicit pair decided to kill Agamemnon upon his arrival home. It all ended with their son killing Clytemnestra to avenge his father's death.
   
   I believe Homer mentions this family so much in the Odyssey to provide a parallel to that of Odysseus. Both families have a father returning home after a long war; both have a wife tempted to commit adultery; both have a son loyal to his father. Perhaps Homer is trying to set up some tension in the story - we, the readers, will be wondering the whole time whether Odysseus's family will end up in the same boat as that of Agamemnon's.

So, can you tell that I love this story yet? Until next week....