Thinking Christian

Today at 4:00 pm Eastern time I’ll be on nationwide radio, on Alex McFarland’s Sound Rezn broadcast. You can tune in by radio if there is a station in your area. If not, you can watch or listen live on the Internet.

One of our topics will be the upcoming National Conference on Christian Apologetics, coming up in Charlotte, NC in mid-October. I’d love to see you there! (Check out the list of speakers.)

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I got some spam with a new twist on it today. My whole family is laughing. I guess they think the answer is no. The following is an exact copy-and-paste quotation. I could have entered “[sic]” in a dozen or more places, but I won’t clutter it up that way. This is an accurate copy.

From:

UNITED NATION

To:

undisclosed recipients

Title:

IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ARE DEAD?

Body:

Dear Beneficiary,

We are writing to let you know that one Mr Gumanti R. H. Sihombing MM from Jl. Sunggal 157, Kompleks Perumahan BPKP, Medan, Indonesia came to our Office today to claim your fund ($6.5Million) that is with our custody and said that you are dead, that he is your brother , you gave him Authority to claim your fund in case if you die. We are writing to find if it is true that you are dead so that your fund will be released to him.

If we did not hear from you within three working days that means you are dead true and your fund will be release to him.

Best Regards,

Mr. Sam Daws
Executive Director of United Nation Office In Uk
Postal Address United Nations Association of the UK 3 Whitehall Court
London

… etc.

My son’s friend says I should answer, “Yes, I’m dead. You’re lucky heaven has wi-fi or I wouldn’t be able to confirm this for you.” Anyway, this leads to some very important questions. Most of them are pretty easy:

• A “United Nation” is a very good thing. I wish ours was more united. But which nation is it from?
• It’s very personally addressed to “undisclosed recipients.” How many rich brothers does Mr. Gumanti R. H. Sihombing MM have?
• Who else died and made me the “Dear Beneficiary”?
• If I reply within three working days and tell them I’m dead, does that mean I’m not dead?
• Would that mean I could keep the $6.5Million I never knew I had?
• Does the United Nations really manage probate in the U.K.?
• Even if they did manage probate somewhere, would the U.N. turn over $6.5 million to someone who just walked in and claimed he was my brother?
• Why does “Mr Sam Daws” identify himself on one line as working for the “United Nation Office in the Uk,” and on the next as working for the United Nations Association (also listed on a website in the “etc.”)? Whatever the “United Nation” may be, it’s not the same as the United Nations Association—which is also not the same as the United Nations.
• Maybe he really works for an oil company. In the “etc.” I deleted from above he lists his “mobil” phone number.
• Does letting an email go unanswered for three days really mean I am “dead true”? If so, then I’ve been “dead true” a thousand times over! (I’ll bet you’re “dead true” too, if that’s all it takes.)
• Does “Best Regards” really fit as a closing after “that means you are dead true” and we’re giving away your fortune?
• Does anybody ever respond to messages like this?(I mean, other than for a laugh.) Why??
• More seriously: there’s no phishing in this, no fake web address to steal personal information. What’s its purpose? My guess is that it’s to harvest gullible responders’ email addresses, possibly for sale to email con artists. It would make for quite a premium list for their evil purposes.

Actually by God’s grace I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:1-11). That’s worth more than $6.5 million any day!

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Yesterday I drafted a post about events in Dearborn and published it here. Very soon afterward I realized I might have opportunity to do further background research, so I pulled it off the site. After doing that further research I decided to delete it permanently. Those of you who have subscribed to this blog by email may have received it overnight anyway. I did not expect it to be sent that way, and I want you to understand that parts of it no longer accurately express my views. Thank you.

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Technorati: NAYQGHAHJB5E

NAYQGHAHJB5E

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Here are the answers to my June 17 “Fascinating Matching Game.” I encourage you to go back to that post and try your hand at it before you look at the answers here.

Repeating what I said about this last time: wasn’t that fun? Well, maybe not. If American churchgoers all tithed, we could do everything listed in C3 completely independent of government, and have $75 billion left over to spend any way we wanted. Here’s one suggestion: find some additional way to give to the rest of the world, to match the amount of foreign aid our government sends to other countries. Twice.

Doesn’t that sound like it would be a good idea?

It’s not entirely clear from the source I used, by the way, whether the $65 billion figure  for eliminating extreme poverty includes or is in addition to some of the other items listed here. I’ve listed it as in addition to; if it includes those items, then the American church, if we tithed, could accomplish this and have considerably more than $75 billion left over at the end.

Source: The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns, pp. 216-218

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Diversity is a great idea. To promote diversity with respect to race, age, art and music, nationality, and the like is to encourage a broader perspective and a more fully human experience of life. It’s a marvelous way to uncover and correct blind spots in one’s outlook…

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The other day I ran across some guidance on reading the Bible. Going through long passages in one sitting—as in reading through the Bible in a year—is a Bad Way to do it, it said. We must read and study short passages; for it takes unhurried, in-depth meditation to really hear what God is saying to us.

Now I see Christianity Today bemoaning our general ignorance of the flow of biblical history. Knowing the entire context is important. It would appear that reading through the whole Bible isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Is there a wrong way to read Scripture? Sure. If we approach it perfunctorily, prayerlessly, without willingness to submit to God’s authority through his Word, then we’re probably wasting our time or worse (although God could break through and reach us even at that). Otherwise, I don’t know of any Bad Way to read the Bible.

Except one: not reading it at all.

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