“Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.”
—NYT: Plans being drawn up to let states go bust - Business - The New York Times - msnbc.com
January 2011
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“In the story of the Jesus movement, accomplishment was a more complex journey. From the history of Israel came the notion of a life not so much planned for glory as interrupted by God: “And the word of the Lord came to …” Having the word of the Lord come to you is a little like bearing the Ring—you may know it’s a glorious and powerful thing, but the task can wear on you after a while.”
—John Ortberg
Grow Up
One of the things implied by Paul’s discussion of the pedagogue is that when spiritual maturity arrives in a person’s life, or in the lives of a group of people, it is time to leave elementary teachings behind and go on to deeper and more challenging teachings. Today, however, when we find that even longtime church members are Biblically illiterate, we find it necessary to revisit over and over the elementary teachings of the faith. Sometimes it seems the church at the end of the twentieth century is arrested in a state of spiritual infancy, and has become satisfied with being spoon-fed an infant’s formula, and satisfied with having guardians, rather than assuming the privileges but also the spiritual and social duties of Christian maturity. To such a church Paul’s word to the Galatians is directly relevant. He would be saying to us all, ‘Wake up, grow up, stand up on your own feet and follow the example of Christ.’
This maturity of which he speaks is not a matter of outgrowing a sense of one’s need for God. To the contrary, it is mature persons who know that they are created for relationship with God, and have put their rebellious period behind them, and can pray Abba Father as a liberating cry, not as a token of bondage. Paul believes that true freedom comes when the presence of God truly fills a person’s life, not when they have finally wrenched themselves free from the grasp of the Almighty. Pascal once said that there is a God-shaped vacuum in every human soul, which only God can fill. To the extent that a person seeks to fill that void with anything less than God, even if it be a good thing, such as family, or performing honorable tasks, to that extent they will not find final or complete satisfaction.
Witherington III, Ben. Grace in Galatia : A Commentary on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998.
So You Want to Go Deeper… →
trevinwax.com
I highly recommend this article by Trevin Wax. Please go take a look at it, especially if you are a teacher or Bible study leader.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the complaint that people want to go deeper in their Bible study and they are not getting what they want in a particular class, group, or church.
Sometimes it’s hard to please the people clamoring for “deeper” teaching because everyone seems to have a different idea of what “deep” is.
Exactly right.
Trevin has the right approach and gives us a couple very concise and important lists. The first defines what “deep” really means and the second gives us guidance to ensure that our teaching is properly tuned.
Go read the article, or reread it. Good stuff.
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In the United States, the biggest and longest-running scam of this sort is Social Security. Fulfilling all the promises that were made, as commitments in the law, would cost more money than Social Security has ever had.
This particular scam has kept going for generations by the fact that the first generation— a small generation— that paid into Social Security had its pensions paid by the money that the second and much bigger “baby boom” generation paid in.
What the first generation got back in benefits was far greater than what they themselves had paid in. It was something for nothing— apparently.
This is the way a Ponzi scheme works, with the first wave of “investors” getting paid with the money paid in by the second wave. But, like Social Security, a Ponzi scheme creates no wealth but only an illusion that cannot last. That is why Mr. Ponzi was sent to prison. But politicians get re-elected for doing the same thing.
As the baby boomers begin to retire, and there are now fewer working people per retired person to pay for Social Security pensions, this scam is likewise headed for a rude revelation of reality— and perhaps riots like those in Europe.
” —Promises and Riots - Thomas Sowell