Bible Discussion: Genesis 10-14

03/21/2007, 12:00 pm -- by Bweinh | 7 Comments

This week, Bweinh.com looks at the next five chapters of the Bible, Genesis 10-14.

Read our take on Genesis 1-4 and Genesis 5-9!

INTRODUCTION:
Job:
Even though history had progressed for thousands of years, some of it even well documented, it’s only at this point — with the dispersion of people and the singling out of Abram — that things begin to become truly interesting. Cities, ethnicities, cultures and customs begin to finally and firmly cement themselves into forms we still recognize today.

Steve:
Now the descendants really start to flourish again, and I suppose they have to, what with the whole of humanity reduced to the few folks stuck on the ark! Each of Noah’s three sons had at least four sons, and the few of those who were specifically mentioned had at least four sons, so if you assume they were all having daughters too, within about fifty years, they could have had a population of well over a thousand people. These growing people get some big ideas, God teaches them a lesson before the focus narrows, and we meet perhaps the most influential man in the Old Testament — father Abraham.

Continued here!

Quote of the Day, 3/21/07

03/21/2007, 7:00 am -- by Steve | No Comments

“After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.” – Cato the Elder

REPORT: Nation’s Peep Supply Still At Dangerously High Levels

03/20/2007, 3:34 pm -- by Job Tate | 4 Comments

The nation’s Peep supply is at “historically and tragically high levels,” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC report went on to say that the likelihood of Americans coming into contact with and/or ingesting a Peep ranged from “moderate” to “severe,” with dense pockets of Peeps reported throughout the United States.

CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding has asked all Americans to remain calm during this Easter season when Peeps are known to be at their most aggressive, ubiquitous, and inexplicably tempting. Dr. Gerberding assured the public that she and her staff are in constant communication with the White House, the nation’s hospitals and health officials, and NORAD.

“We’re ready for anything,” Gerberding vowed.

It is important to remember Peeps can come in varying colors, sizes, animal-like forms, and degrees of staleness. The CDC recommended the following steps if you think you have come into contact with a Peep:

Remain calm, immediately drink 1 to 2 liters of milk, and seek medical assistance. If the Peep was not completely ingested, remove small children and the elderly from the area and set up a barrier around the Peep. Do not touch the Peep. Notify your local police department that you have seen/ingested a Peep. Write down the details of your Peep encounter — the color of the Peep, if it was microwaved prior to ingestion, and what in the world you were thinking when you actually put one of those God-forsaken things in your mouth.

President Bush issued a statement about the Peep outbreak this morning during a Rose Garden press briefing, declaring it is “obvious” that “Peeps hate our freedom.”

Clash of the Titans VI: Urban Ministry

03/20/2007, 12:00 pm -- by Steve | 4 Comments

In this corner, arguing for inner-city family ministry and living, we have Josh J!

And in this corner, arguing for single urban ministry unless otherwise called, is Steve!

I should first note that I’m not a husband or a father, with no immediate plans to become one. I understand, at least as much as one in my position can, that these life transitions alter your perspective and priorities. So there is sure to be some disconnect between me and the parents reading this; indeed, perhaps even between me now and in the future, should the Lord grace me with a family.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul wrote, “I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs — how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world — how he can please his wife — and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world — how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.”

In the same passage Paul shows that it’s not sinful or ungodly to marry. On the contrary, it’s part of God’s plan. But it seems clear to me that at least part of the reprioritizing that comes from having a family can detract from our service to the Lord. I don’t think having a family excuses us from the difficult callings, the dangerous callings. I look to the example of Abraham — when asked to sacrifice his son, he obeyed. He realized his son was God’s first, and he trusted God knew what was best, and could protect and provide for Isaac in ways that he never could. His concern was to follow God’s calling.

I believe God is calling more Christians to the city. Please understand, I’m not one to glorify urban ministry at the expense of others. Many are faithfully serving exactly where God has called them. But the sheer number of people in the city, the massive amount of needs — both physical and spiritual — cry out for more believers willing to serve. And I don’t think this job is one that can always be just a “day job.” Ministry is most effective when it’s relational and incarnational, when your neighborhood is their neighborhood and your concerns are their concerns; indeed, when there is no “you” and “them,” only “we.”

While I recognize the responsibility of parents to protect their children, I believe they do not only themselves but their children a disservice when they avoid a difficult calling. Part of training a child in the way he should go is teaching him to be mission-minded. Children learn first and foremost by example. If Christian parents’ only concern is saving their own children, those kids will grow up to do the same, and rather than winning the world for God, we’ll save only our own bloodlines.

But if we are out on the frontlines of battle, I believe God will honor that. I was raised to believe in a family approach to ministry, and rather than being neglected by my parents’ calling (full disclosure: not urban), I was encouraged to find my own calling within that context. And what I learned from that more than anything is this —

God is in control.

Josh J and I agree on a lot, generally — so much, in fact, that it was rather difficult to find a topic for today’s Clash. And as I read his defense of full-time residential urban ministry, I unsurprisingly find that I largely agree. America’s cities, poor and broken, ache for the life-changing ministry of the body of Christ. While a faithful few toil day after day, Josh is absolutely right that our cities cry out for more believers willing to sacrifice and become full-time urban missionaries to America, for ministry is indeed most powerful when it is relational and personal.

I will not question the difficult decisions made by those called to a task often thankless and seemingly insurmountable, and I dare not declare anyone should resist the leading of God on their lives, wherever He takes them. So my disagreement with Josh is really quite limited. I simply believe Paul’s declaration that marriage and family changes a man’s priorities necessarily implies that a husband and father has, in addition to the charge of the Great Commission, a steadfast duty to protect and serve his family. And so it follows that a calling to urban ministry need not always include a commitment to live in the city.

I have participated in short-term urban ministry in Syracuse, Utica and New York City, in some of the hardest neighborhoods those cities have to offer. If I felt called to a full-time vocation in any of those neighborhoods, I would not hesitate for fear, because I know the one who calls is faithful to keep. But I am a single man, with no wife, no child, and the life I would lead there alone is vastly different from what my hypothetical family would face. Children raised in the inner city learn by example, to be sure, but given the examples they face there, this is little comfort! They must grow up faster, their innocence is frequently corrupted, and they often face challenges that — to be honest — they should never have to face.

We know that in every circumstance, God is in control. But He’s in control when we drive, yet we still strap our children into car seats. He’s in control while we sleep, but most of us still lock our doors. The omnipotence and sovereignty of God should never serve as an excuse for reckless or dangerous choices. Although I would never suggest raising a family in an inner-city environment is necessarily a reckless decision, it is an unassailably dangerous one, and it comes with certain consequences that should neither be ignored nor overlooked.

There are couples, there are families, called to live and work in the inner-city, and I pray the grace of God keeps them there to thrive. But I believe that often when one is called to such a role, he (or she) is called as he is. Alone.

For such a person to marry one not likewise called, or to start a family in that place without clear leading, would be a clear example of why Paul was known to wish all were like him — the spirit is usually willing… but the flesh is frequently weak.

{democracy:8}

Two Bweinh.com Announcements

03/20/2007, 8:15 am -- by Steve | No Comments

First, Josh T has been named the official Bweinh.com poet laureate; he will be sharing his verses with us here on a weekly basis!

Second, we’re adding two new contributors! Who might they be?? You’ll find out — later this week!

Joke of the Day, 3/20/07

03/20/2007, 7:00 am -- by Steve | No Comments

There’s a nudist colony for communists, and two old men were sitting out on the front porch.

One man turned to the other and said, “I say, ol’ boy, have you read Marx?”

And the other answered, “Why yes! I believe they’re from these wicker chairs!”

Let Them Eat Cake — Rejecting the Bread of Life, the Great Christian Prohibition

03/19/2007, 10:50 pm -- by Job Tate | 1 Comment

When Prohibition swept through 1920s America, the effect was not just limited to the intake of spirits — several major corporations found themselves with, simply, nothing to do. Coors The ones that wanted to survive refocused their factories into other endeavors. Coors made malted milk and ceramics, while Budweiser hawked yeast — brand name and logo intact, but a wholly different product.

I’ve recently begun to engage, rather than ignore, some of the new and provocative literary products of our faith — The Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, and the Purpose-Driven texts that make up the majority of what modern believers rally behind. When I read some of these works I sense, whether above or below the service, embarrassment toward Christ and His message in light of a world ever more aggressive in its dismissal of that Message.

The writers and ideologues behind some of these works seem to have sensed this change, and seek to re-brand the faith in a style more palatable to our sin-soaked society — as if to apologize for the tension caused by our ‘judgmental’ nature. The name of Jesus is invoked and the cross around the neck remains intact, but the message is horribly neutered — a relativism that adds a carpool lane to our narrow way.

Let me tell you about my home. Vermont, for all her lovely rolling hills, has the unfortunate distinction of being the second-most unchurched state in the nation, with 25% of its population claiming no religion at all. (Oregon is number one; Colorado number three… atheism and poor hygiene must be linked somehow.) Of the remaining 75%, the number of evangelical Christians is staggeringly low, so with the level of combat one sees when preaching the gospel kin to that preached by the saints, a somber mindset sets in. I sense, daily, a mobile and coordinated effort to bring our faith to its knees — not in prayer but in defeat — by intimidating us into an intellectual sterilization of the Truth or the loss of motivation to preach it at all.

Budweiser They want us to change our product.

But in these odd, hard-to-describe times, I’m all about the still. I won’t be selling any yeast like our friends at Budweiser, knowing it leavens the whole lump.

You will find in my message only 200 proof Gospel Truth.

Moonshine and bathtub gin, my friends.

Benson, VT

03/19/2007, 12:45 pm -- by Steve | 2 Comments

The hometown of a few of our contributors has agreed to pay a premium to be powered by cow manure. You can read the story here.

I have nothing more to say about this.

Ask Bweinh! Poll — Colors

03/19/2007, 10:00 am -- by Steve | 7 Comments

This week, the Ask Bweinh! poll is underwritten by the engineers at BMW, makers of fine luxury automobiles. BMW — like a rock! In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we are proud to present the results of this week’s poll on colors.

Rank	Color	Points
1.	Blue	19
2.	Orange	12
3.	Green	8
4.	Grey/Silver	7
5-6 (tie)	“Paz Vega’s eyes,” Yellow	5
7-8 (tie)	Purple, Blue-Grey	3
9-12 (tie)	White, Gold, Greyish-Blue, Red	2
Other	Sienna, Olive, Black, Salmon, Earl Grey	1

Quote of the Day, 3/19/07

03/19/2007, 7:00 am -- by Steve | 3 Comments

“Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets:
More needs she the divine than the physician.” – Shakespeare, Macbeth V:i

Clash of the Titans V: PC v. Apple

03/17/2007, 11:25 pm -- by Steve | 3 Comments

In this corner, arguing for the PC, we have Tom!

And in this corner, arguing for Apple, is Djere!

The question of which platform is superior between PC and Macintosh is not a trivial matter. Thousands of lines of text in forums decry one, exalt the other, each citing a myriad of reasons their chosen platform is the best. Although the question of platformital superiority can be approached from a number of avenues, many of them are simply unimportant.

For example, one completely irrelevant way the platforms can be compared is the breadth of the software libraries available to each. What difference does it make that (as of press time) popular freeware/shareware website C-net.com listed a staggering 55,822 titles under “All Windows Software,” and just a paltry 4,603 listings for “All Mac Software”? What difference does it make that twelve times as many downloads were available on this popular and influential e-hemoth?

Another boneheaded way to compare operating systems is by looking at their popularity, relative to each other. Who on earth would think it relevant in any way to a real, honest debate about platforms that Apple had a paltry 2.4% of the market share in 2006 — in terms of real, worldwide shipments — versus a combined 50.6% for just the top 5 PC manufacturers? What do we care who the world trusts for its computing needs?

Likewise unimportant is the ability to customize your computer whenever you want. No one cares about upgrading a computer without replacing it, or performing system repairs on your own, or being taken seriously by friends, relatives, and co-workers.

No, the computer debate is about one thing — trust. Do you trust your children’s computing lives to a bunch of rag-tag, animating, photo-editing, long-haired, music-sharing hippie freaks?

Or do you trust the welcoming, all-encompassing embrace of Windows and its industrial brotherhood, the PC manufacturers?

PC. People Caring.

Failure reading drive C:
[A]bort, [I]gnore, [R]etry, or [F]ail?
r
Failure reading drive C:
[A]bort, [I]gnore, [R]etry, or [F]ail?
i
Failure reading drive C:
[A]bort, [I]gnore, [R]etry, or [F]ail?
a

Oh, hello there! I was just spending some time getting to know the zeroes and ones, first strung together in the 80s, that still form the foundation of the average Windows PC. While Microsoft prides itself on polishing its rubbish to a sheen gloss, mimicking the refined, elegant lines and textures of Mac OS X, what lies beneath is the same slathering of spaghetti code Bill Gates cooked up when Carter was in office.

Until recently, a head-to-head comparison of Mac to PC compared apples to oranges. But with Apple’s recent switch from IBM’s Power PC processors to Intel’s x86 architecture, direct comparisons can be made. Will I make them? No! I’m not a ‘Mac Evangelist.’ If you’re looking for one of those, check your local community college art department.

What I will tell you is this — Macs are more reliable because you have one source for a Mac: Apple. You can buy a Dell, an HP, an IBM, or you could build your own PC capable of running Windows. All those vendors and their configurations add lines of code to Windows’ OS, each zero and every one cutting into your performance. Apple has limited its hardware support to keep your Mac running smoothly every time you turn it on. And Mac OS X is based on the rock-solid UNIX operating system, so you’ll never have to see one of Bill Gates’ famous ‘Blue Screens of Death.’

Even if you ignore pro-Mac arguments like ease of use, lack of viruses, reliability, stability, power, and originality, you could still use Apple’s Boot Camp software, allowing you to run Windows on your Apple. Purchasing an Apple computer literally can give you the best of both worlds.

Now if you’ll excuse me…..

Failure reading drive C:
[A]bort, [I]gnore, [R]etry, or [F]ail?

{democracy:7}

Daylight Savings Time

03/16/2007, 12:25 pm -- by Josh J | No Comments

Daniel I’m kicking myself. I feel there’s nothing I can say but “I’m sorry.” As the last man out the door at week’s end here at Bweinh!, I should have used last Friday’s article to issue a Daylight Savings reminder. I know at least one person it would have saved.

The relative dearth of Daylight Savings reminders has come to baffle me in recent years. It seems pretty important, the kind of thing that should be noted everywhere. Posters should be put up around town, commercials should air at least once an hour, major websites should have a headline, that sort of thing. But the only place I ever seem to get reminded is church. I guess the rest of the world figures you’ve got an entire day to catch up if you’re a little slow.

Since my parents are pastors, I never had to worry about Daylight Savings growing up, at least not for myself. Sometimes I worried if we’d be the only ones in church that week, but that’s about it. Since I’ve been an adult, it’s been a little more complicated, particularly during the period of my life when I wasn’t working for a church. During that time, my “strategy” for keeping up with the clock changes basically involved someone mentioning it offhand on either Friday or Saturday, followed by surprise I made no attempt to hide.

Phil Believe it or not, this method has some holes. Last year, my roommate was away for the weekend, I didn’t make my customary Saturday call to the folks, and I didn’t go out. Days later, my girlfriend at the time said she should have called to remind me, but, um, didn’t. Even so, I still could have been saved by my friendly neighborhood cell towers. I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, and these clocks update automatically. My alarm should have gone off at the new correct time; from there it’s debatable if I would have figured out why, or even noticed that the rest of my clocks didn’t match up.

Instead, my alarm didn’t go off at all, and I was awakened by a call from my pastor. It was 10 AM, time for Sunday School, but I wasn’t present, despite my scheduled participation (more on that in a minute). I was entirely confused, even after she informed me of Daylight Savings. My alarm still should have gone off at the wrong 8:30, after all, but my alarm was still set and my clock now showed the correct time. Then I realized: instead of updating at the standard 2 AM, my clock corrected itself at 8 AM, sprung forward to 9, and passed over my wakeup call.

Phil Back Since church at the time was a 35-minute drive from my house, I had to skip my Sunday School duties that week. Each week I had been dressing up as a different Biblical Superhero and acting out the story. We had character cards the kids could collect — for instance, “Lion Master,” with the story of Daniel on the back, and “Water Walker,” a more aquatic-themed costume with the story of Peter. During the week I took the card to the thrift store and bought supplies to match the costume as closely as I could. Costume making is actually something I’ve enjoyed since childhood, and although my replications weren’t professional, they also weren’t half-bad, if I dare say so myself.

Anyway, my character for that week was “Wind Rider,” based on Philip and the time he preached the Gospel to an Ethiopian, then was whisked away instantly to another city miles away. And there I was, miles from where I needed to be, wondering if just maybe that week’s costume might actually work.

Joke of the Day, 3/16/07

03/16/2007, 7:00 am -- by Steve | 3 Comments

Two hunters are wandering through the forest without much luck. Finally they stumbled across some tracks, but started arguing about their origin.

“They’re deer tracks,” contended one.

“No, they’re rabbit tracks,” said the other.

“Deer tracks!”

“Rabbit tracks!”

And as they stood there arguing, the train hit them.

Best Weekend of the Year

03/15/2007, 12:15 pm -- by Steve | 4 Comments

This is my favorite weekend of the year — the weekend of the NCAA college basketball tournament. Over the next four days, 64 fortunate teams from all over the nation will play 48 exciting games, in an almost non-stop frenzy of action.

It’s a thing of beauty.

Basketball is my favorite sport — possibly because I’m genetically equipped to play it, more than any other major sports. College basketball is my favorite kind. The NBA is impossible to watch, a bunch of freakishly tall multimillionaires standing around watching a couple guys do all the work, and when they shoot, the ball almost always goes in. How dull is that? And although we were unjustly excluded this year, the tournament frequently involves my favorite sports team on any level — the Syracuse Orangemen. So it’s a combination of things I love, and that’s before the format that makes it possible for everyone to act as an expert, predicting the outcome of every single game and giving me a passionate interest in teams like Davidson and Oral Roberts.

Although baseball is still the quintessentially American sport, the NCAA Tournament might best sum up America’s virtues: equality of opportunity, survival of the fittest, valuing production over prestige, teamwork over individuals, and underdogs over favorites. Everywhere you go in this nation, you see basketball hoops, on garages, at the ends of driveways, in parks from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Billings. You can play in a large group or you can play alone, and the only piece of equipment you need is a $5 ball. Watching football unites much of the nation, but more of us play basketball.

With my schedule of classes this year limited to Mondays and Wednesdays, I thought this year might be the first I could actually watch all 32 first-round games, but then I noticed it was the week of spring break, and I couldn’t pass up a chance to see my girlfriend and my old roommate. There are many more important things than basketball.

But hearing that opening music today, watching the highlights from years gone by, sitting back and knowing there’s twelve hours of glorious, exciting basketball ahead — that’s the sort of anticipation that’s worth waiting a year for.

Ask Bweinh! Poll — Television Shows

03/15/2007, 11:00 am -- by Steve | 12 Comments

Another Ask Bweinh! poll, brought to you by the folks at State Farm, who want you to know a 15-minute call to GEICO can save you 15% or more on your car insurance.

Rank	TV Show	Points
1.	The Office	10
2.	Lost	9
3-4 (tie)	House, Prison Break	7
5.	Monk	6
6.	ALF	5
7-9 (tie)	Cops, Psych, Battlestar Galactica	4
10-12 (tie)	24, Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Simpsons	3
Other	Fox News Sunday, Late Show with David Letterman, Scrubs, Cold Case Files, PTI, Daily Show	1-2