Afterwords -- week 2
"And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness." (Genesis 1:4 ESV)
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In my amateur picture-taking I'm often drawn to the interplay of light and shadow. In the photo above you see our cat placing herself artistically near a nice composition of morning sunlight and shadow. One of my favorite artists in this style is Cuban-born artist, Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999). The USPS has even recognized his work recently with commemorative stamps. This week's "Afterwords" is mainly about my reading. I've been sick the past two weeks (non-COVID) with cold/bronchitis. That and the gloomy, wintry weather has kept me rather subdued in terms of activity. I thank God for the return of sunshine and of health to my body!
THE CALL OF ABRAHAM (Gen 12). If you're reading along with the M'Cheyne schedule you will be seeing the failure of the "united nation" of Gen 11, and then by contrast, God's call upon one man, who would then become the channel of blessing to the entire world. Instead of building a tower to make a name for himself (11:4), Abram followed God as a sojourner, building altars (12:8) along the way, in order that he might call upon the Lord in worship. Question: am I building towers to make my own name great, or am I content to build altars to glorify God's great name?
HISTORY AND FALLACY. Carl Trueman in his book, Histories and Fallacies (Crossway, 2010), notes that "...the present is profoundly shaped by the past at every level. That may seem obvious, but it is amazing how often we can forget this simple fact and assume that what we have today is nature, not culture, and that the way we think and do things is simply the correct way that has emerged at last." His main conclusion, regarding the work of writing (or re-writing) history, is "...while there is no such thing as neutrality in the telling of history, there is such a thing as objectivity, and that varied interpretations of historical evidence are yet susceptible to generally agreed upon procedures of verification that allow us to challenge each other’s readings of the evidence."
CHRISTIAN NATION? David French reflects on what is meant, or might be meant, by the term "Christian nation".
YOUR WORD IS TRUTH (Jn 17:17). Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." Preaching on this verse at Princeton in September 1866, Charles Hodge began his outline with, "By truth is meant that which sustains, which answers expectation; which never disappoints; which is and is ever found to be consistent with reality. Falsehood and error, on the other hand, is that which is empty, vain; which not sustain; which disappoints; which does not correspond with the real. The truth concerning the eternal world, its phenomena and its laws, is that which represents what really is, and what may be relied upon, and which when assumed as real never disappoints. So, the truth concerning the internal world of mind is what corresponds to the phenomena and laws of that world, and which we can always safely assume and rely upon. So, the truth concerning God is that representation of his nature, attributes, mode of being and acting which corresponds with what he really is and does. And the truth concerning our moral and spiritual state, our relation to God, our delivery, the mode and condition of salvation, is what in all these matters is found worthy of confidence, which never disappoints." --From Princeton Sermons (Banner of Truth, 1958, 2011).
MISCELLANEOUS. My current reading: I've finished (third time through) Jonathan Edwards' great dissertation, "The End for Which God Created the World" (1755). I'm about halfway through C. S. Lewis's God in the Dock (Eerdmans, 1970). In the Sci-Fi category, I'm reading Time and Again, by Clifford Simak (Collier Books, 1979). And finally, today I'm writing and journaling with a maroon (burgundy) Parker 45 (from the 1970s), filled with Diamine Oxblood ink. (I knew you would want to know that!)
Have a great week!
Sandy