Some of you, Charlie in particular, thought this post series was finished...but that was only wishful thinking.  In this, the last in this series, I attempt to provide some thinking about the application of this paper.  I have not forgotten those of you who have commented on the previous entries.  I will do my best to respond to you within the next 2 months.  Actually, in Charlie's case, this may provide some manner of response.

            In current Evangelical circles, there are few, if any, who would deny that there is at present a cosmic battle between God and Satan, and thus a battle between those who would follow God and those who would follow Satan.  Paul affirms this in his letter to the Ephesians, but the majority of the time we are not able to see this battle as it progresses.  Individual Christians may disagree over what constitutes spiritual warfare, and yet would affirm that we see it taking place in scripture.  Some notable examples would include Paul’s persecutions (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18 cf Acts 17:1-9), Elijah’s battle with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), Eve’s seduction by the Serpent (Genesis 3:1-6), and the life and ministry of our Lord (Revelation 12:1-6).  These, and many more, receive attention in Scripture, but none, with the exception of the crucifixion, resurrection and return of Christ, measure up to the account of the plagues in their length, scope and grandeur.

There are many questions I have about Scripture that I am certain the (human) narrator knew the answer to, but declined to share.  Other times, I feel pretty sure he did not.  But on some occasions, I wonder if perhaps the narrator did know the answer, and did share his conclusion, but just not in the straight forward way we might hope.  I think I have an example of this third scenario. 

My wife and I have watched three seasons of American Idol…this one, and the ones where Fantasia and Carrie Underwood won (Carrie shouldn’t have won…Bo was waaaaay better).  Anyway, until this week, we had never voted.  I actually poked fun at people who cared enough to vote, caricaturing them all as 12 year old girls with nothing better to do.  But this week, all of that changed.  We put down the popcorn and voted.  Why?  Read on.

Do you remember Lot?  What do you think of when you think of him?  Maybe Sodom and Gomorrah.  Maybe sodomy.  Maybe his greediness and poor judgment of choosing the fair green pastures of the big city.  Perhaps you think of his valor trying to rescue the two angels (whom he perceived at first to be only men) from the homosexual assault of the townsmen…and just as you’re thinking he really was a pretty good guy, you remember that he offered his virgin daughters up as sacrificial lambs in place of the angels.  I am guessing that most of you don’t think, “Righteous,” when you think of Lot.

At work, my office recently went to war with another office across campus.  It began when they stole Rish’s candy jar.  Stealthily, I went and retrieved it.  A few days later the rival camp came and absconded with the jar a second time.  This time they hid it much more effectively (I did discover it later, after this story ends, and we won…but that is incidental to my story).  When my efforts to find it were at first fruitless, I went on a quest for a bargaining chip.

As some of my skepticism about experience is fading, I am beginning to reconsider, or at least look more carefully, at some of the coincidences in my life.  In his book, The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield argues that coincidence is the way God[i] shows us what we ought to do, and is how he speaks to us.  When some coincidence (especially a weird one) occurs, it is an indication that we are at a crucial moment and should trust that acting on the coincidence is God’s will.  As I read the book and compared it to scripture, I was struck by the frequency with which God does use “coincidence” to influence people and events (Joseph and Moses had some significant ones).  It seems like things are always happening at just the right (or wrong) time.  I have often listened to people ascribe divine activity to events, meetings, songs, etc, and have been fairly skeptical…which is ironic, since I am a minute decretialist[ii].  It seems like I should be on the forefront of those who believe God uses events to communicate to us.  The problem is the distinction between communication and revelation.  Part of the difference seems to be between the immanent and the transcendent activity of God, that is, his miraculous or providential handiwork.  For now I am going to leave this one to the theologians…Adam, Josh, do you want to chime in…or better yet, write a new post on this distinction, if you think there is one.  Now to my story…

In this post I will offer my conclusion on the issue.  I knew setting out that I might not be satisfied with my findings, but I certainly enjoyed the ride.  I hope that you have enjoyed thinking about our Lord's unfinal resting place.  I look forward to your analysis of the data.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, though one of the most gaudy and sickening shrines, has, far and away, the most support as the location of Jesus’ burial in the literature.  Most modern scholars support the Holy Sepulchre Church as authentic, even if they wish it were not.  Since it is the favored position, we will begin with it.  This post includes the first half of my discussion on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In this final post I offer what I consider to be the most and least likely responses to the data at hand.  In some ways I feel like my conclusion is too brief...but perhaps I'm just spent by this point.  I've been editing, re-writing, and re-thinking all along the way, and yet have come to the same conclusions.  If you have experienced the sort of grief we've been talking about, I hope that this paper has helped you work through some of that.  If you want to carry on the conversation with me on a personal basis, my e-mail is always open, I'd be glad to talk with you.

                                                                                                    - Sam

I recently watched Joss Whedon’s (soon to be cult classic) Serenity.  I suggest you run out right now and rent this movie.  I suggest this for two reasons: First, it’s a fun, provocative movie (though disturbing at times – this is not a good flick for kids).  Second, I’m going to ruin vast parts of it for you if you read any further than this summary.  Aside from just being a rather interesting movie, it takes on the topic of sin and handles it in an interesting way.  So, watch the movie and then come back to read and interact with this post…

In this fifth (and next-to-last) installment, we deal with five concepts that contribute to my view that the unborn do, in fact, receive salvation.  I introduce an idea herein that has moved some to gather kindling, firewood, and a bit of rope.  Oh well, what's a little martyrdom among friends?

I work out every morning at a gym next to my work.  My tennis nemesis from the summer, good friend, Rish, has become my racquet ball nemesis and lifting partner.  Often our stories at work begin, “Rish and I were talking in the shower this morning….”  Ah, the showers.  Well, the other morning (in the showers) I looked over and noticed a tattoo-laden gentleman.  None caught my attention except one on his shoulder blade.  It was a five-digit number.  I have no idea of its meaning to him, but it reminded me of a prisoners number, branded onto him.  I began to think of one of my favorite protagonists, Jean Valjean, as represented in the musical, Les Misérables.

A while back I performed my first healing service.  Some of you know me (and for those that don’t, I’m a hard-line, cut-of-the-old-cloth Baptist who believes the sign gifts – tongues, prophecy, healing, etc – are a thing of the ancient past)…ok, now that everyone knows me, back to the healing...are you surprised?  Never thought you’d see the day, did you?

This paper was originally researched and written in December of 2000.  This was about 5 months after the birth of our first (and only surviving) daughter.  Later, in 2002, and again in 2003, my wife had bizarre miscarriages which endangered her life and obviously took the lives of our two other children. 

I begin this way for two reasons.  The first is that this is a painful issue for many, myself included, and I am hoping that all who might leave comments or questions will realize the grace and sensitivity the topic merits.  The second reason is that I want to be honest about my theology.  I have always attempted to disconnect my experience from the construction of my theology.  I know that this is partially impossible, but I believe we must let the text guide us, not our feelings or experiences (though they might help us ask the right questions of the text).  

This is a paper that was written for my Jonathan Edwards course at Trinity.  It's fairly lengthy...but i'm not as thoughtful as Charlie, so the whole thing is here.  It deals with the issue of Edwards' firing from his first (and really only) church.  I take for granted some awareness of historical events (both of the times and of his life), so if something confuses you, please feel free to ask.  Also, I am not a church historian, nor an historian in general, so it is possible that i'm wrong about details...let me know if you see this as well (i don't have the grade yet, but i imagine that i'll make some adjustments to this post when i get his feedback).

Finally, i hope you find this edifying...and i highly recommend reading some Edwards for yourself.

                                                                                                            - Sam

I know Adam has been working on a post on the subject of Imago Dei...so my apologies to him.  But between you and me, I think it might be years yet before he finishes it.  Anyway, this goes in a different direction (i think).  Have you ever wondered if there would have been human government had there been no Fall?  Well, if you have, you're in luck.  Wander off with me as we consider dominion, headship, and government.  I welcome your comments and floggings.

   We all do it.  We appeal to logic when we approach an issue that we feel scripture does not speak to explicitly.  Often this approach is helpful, and I would even say valid.  However, I believe that all too frequently we fail to do adequate study because we trust our logic so thoroughly.  I recently found reason for this accusation in myself with regard to communion, and I think probably it is a safe one to point at the academic/pastoral world as well.  I recall spending about eight minutes talking about the Lord’s Supper at seminary…add that to the 12 seconds I got at college, and all totaled I had only spent eight minutes and twelve seconds trying to think biblically about communion.

   This past week I was called out and asked to give a scriptural defense of open communion over against closed communion.  I could bring up a couple of texts that could be interpreted my way, but in the end I found myself saying, “Well, we are one body in Christ.  Open communion is simply the better picture of unity.  Ergo, closed communion is stupid and anyone who believes in it is stupid (insert other ad hominem attacks here…)

   As soon as I took a breath, I realized that I had not ever really studied it.  I am not suggesting that we abandon logic in the Christian life, but I found that for myself I had only logic and a proof-text.  So off I went…and now, off I go.

(If you read this post before 10/6, I have made several updates and shortened it a bit.)

For a long time, I've been intrigued by the questions surrounding time.  I even went to the length of checking out a lecture series by some Boston College physicist from the library.  I ended up more confused than when I started (of course), but it did raise a lot of interesting questions.  Well, in the theological world, the question that interests me is, "How does God relate to time?"  I'm still a newbie to this topic, so I welcome your thoughts along the way...

Brian and i recently had a discussion about church growth...so i thought i'd put up some of my thoughts about it...although i highly recommend that you read Brian's as well...he has some neat thoughts there.

I would like to open a discussion on the Church’s response to the homeless.  Particularly, what should be the response of a little church?  I’m hoping that it’s a given that God cares for the homeless, and that the Church ought to be involved if it’s something God cares about.  In this post I recount my experience with one man whose story I believed.

I hope to begin a dialogue on the question of marrying those outside the Church.  I hold a double standard, expecting one thing of unbelievers and something probably quite different for believers.  In this post i will only address the former.  I look forward to a vibrant discussion.