KevinPurcell.org

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Politicos don’t get me!  I am a typical conservative, Christian, religious, person who ranks moral issues above most other issues.  They call me a "one issue voter" but that is really wrong.  I have a world view that pushes these moral issues to the forefront because they are the most egregious faults in our nation at this time.

For decades abortion has been the primary arena of dispute for voters like me.  The issue of homosexual marriage is jumping into that space in recent years.  The current candidates for President used to be quite clear on these issues.  recently I posted about Barak Obama’s comments regarding the issue of homosexual marriage.  Read that to learn what he said that was so offensive to Christians like me and proved his naiveté regarding voters like me.

Now Obama wants to appeal to us by softening his stance on the abortion issue.  For his entire career he has been one of the most extreme members of the US Senate and the Illinois legislature before that.  Baptist Press has an article about this.

My point here is that I cannot believe he thinks he can vote to protect abortion rights in the most extreme circumstances for years and then give a nice little speech that implies a softening stance now that he is running for president and trying to grab the attention of voters who traditionally have voted Republican like me.  He knows we are not enamored with McCain, but surely he doesn’t think a speech will convince us that he might so radically change his views on this issue.  Why would I ever vote for someone whose actions have been so opposed to my own beliefs regarding this issue, when I can vote for someone who has a long record of protecting the unborn?  Am I a huge fan of McCain?  No.  I wouldn’t volunteer for his campaign or contribute to it.  But at least he has a clear record of supporting the Pro-Life stance in his voting record.  Any other conservative, Christian voters who let this winking bow to our position sway them are gullible and probably very few and far between.

They just don’t get me!

UPDATE: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=28457&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0711

The above link tells about an Obama statement that he will support a woman’s "right to choose" no matter what.  So I guess this time he was speaking out of the left side of his mouth.  I was right to be suspicious of the previous statement as he tried to curry favor with us evangelical conservatives hoping we would just jump on board the shiny time express without ever listening to another word he said about the issue.  If the press ever takes an objective look at this guy they will find out what a stuffed shirt he really is.

It seems democratic Presidential hopeful Barak Obama may have put his foot in his mouth again with regard to people of faith.  According to an article at Baptist Press he miserably failed to properly interpret the Old Testament law and the Sermon on the Mount.

At issue is a 1996 speech in which Obama said that the book of Leviticus tells us to stone wayward children while allowing slavery.  And he also said that the Sermon on the Mount was impossible to follow.  However, in contradiction to his own view he claims that the book of Romans, which clearly states that Homosexuality is not acceptable, is a obscure while the Sermon on the Mount, which he calls central to his faith, is supposedly okay with homosexuality.  Now it maybe that he changed his mind, or as two of them.  Or it might be that he doesn’t fully understand the proper way Christians interpret the Old Testament.

Issue One - Should Christians obey all the laws of Leviticus.  The answer is a definite no.  The laws were the legal code of a nation built upon the principles laid out in the 10 Commandments.  While they help us to further understand the meaning of the Decalogue (10 Commandments) they are not normative for us today.  We study and learn the moral, ethical, and theological principals behind them.  But no Christian should have slaves nor should they stone their children for disobedience.  In fact, the NT book of Philemon seem to say the opposite about slavery.  And the laws regarding slavery in the Old Testament are not necessarily condoning it.  In fact, by comparison to the other societies and cultures of the time, the OT laws that mention slavery clearly move the rights of said slaves forward.

Issue Two - Is the Sermon on the Mount too hard to obey?  Yes and No!  It is a high standard.  I dare say there are not many who have come close to obeying it.  But to dismiss it because of the challenge is defeatist and for lack of a more appropriate term, wimpy!  As Kennedy said, and I paraphrase, we should seek to do it because its hard.  It makes us better for it.  However, God knew we would fail to measure up to the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, which serves in Matthew’s Gospel as a kind of New Testament version of the Leviticus.  That is why he sent Jesus to offer another way, grace and forgiveness to all of us failures.  And then he gave us His Holy Spirit to allow us a fighting chance at being obedient.  He gave us not only the means to overcome our failure but also the means to follow up that failure with success when it comes to measuring up to the morals Jesus taught and exemplified.

Issue Three - Can you pick one passage of scripture to follow and not another?  Well, as I demonstrated above the answer is yes.  But with qualifications.  I obey the spirit of the Old Testament law as best I can.  When I fail I recognize the need for forgiveness and seek it.  However, all of the New Testament is the word of God.  We cannot pick the Sermon on the Mount over the book of Romans.  They area both the Word of God.  When Romans 1 says Homosexuality is wrong, then we must assume that is God’s view and not just Paul’s, that is if you interpret the Bible as true and literally so.  And if there is a contradiction between Romans and the Sermon on the Mount it must be that we are failing in our interpretation of one, the other, or both.

Issue Four - Does the Sermon on the Mount teach that Homosexuality is okay?  NO!  Where on earth does he find that?  Some say it comes in the passage where we must not judge.  I doubt that is what Jesus meant.  In fact many people totally misunderstand the concept of the passage.  Jesus was not saying that we should not hold others to moral standards.  Instead he was saying that we should not cast aside people because they are not applying their faith the way we should.  That is true.  Love everyone regardless of their sexual preference, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc.  But that doesn’t mean that I have to lay down my morals so that Barak Obama may institute his.  By his standard he is just as guilty as I am.  The difference is he likes his moral standard and rejects mine.  In a democratic republic I am free to do my best to seek to have my morals legislated instead of his.  But from the secular humanistic perspective, if my morals come from the Christian understanding of the Bible, then they are not acceptable and should be removed from the public square and kept in Sunday School.  That is not the way people live.  We are not able to compartmentalize our true philosophies and theology that way.  Those who do not sincerely hold these truths can.  But if you are sincere about your beliefs you cannot.  And he sincerely believers that Homosexual unions are the way to go in our country just he sincerely believes that doctors should not take any measures to save the life of a baby that survives an abortion. I believe that if we legislate those morals our nation will take one step further towards the moral implosion that befell the Roman Empire.

As a seminary student I spent about a third of my time away from my family on the road.  While in Louisville at Southern Seminary, I traveled from Falmouth, KY to Louisville one day a week for my first four semesters and three days a week my last semester there.  After we moved to North Carolina I traveled from Sampson County to Wake Forest, NC to attend Southeastern Seminary.  I did that for five semesters before graduating in 1998.  Fortunately, gas was on average just over a dollar a gallon.  Besides the fact that I went through four cars during this time (I used to buy old used cars) putting more than 35,000 miles a year on them, it was not that bad.  I enjoyed the time alone to worship and listen to books on tape.  Sometimes I studied — not reading but looking through flash cards and such.

Today, the cost of a higher education is getting exorbitant.  Despite the large subsidies that Southern Baptist pay for its students, the cost is still out of reach for some.  The fact that our seminaries are far away for many of the expanding denomination, you have a real problem of people being too far away, not able to afford it, and struggling with being away from family.  Also, do you really want to spend 3-5 years in school when a lot of seminary grads say they learned more in their first year of ministry in the church than they did in school?  I think that last statement is a gross exaggeration, but there is a hint of truth in it.

So I propose a new way to do theological education in preparation for ministry.  It is nothing new.  But I just wanted to share with you how I would do it knowing what I know about the traditional seminary experience and technology.

First, there is no substitute for being with a group of people preparing for ministry under the direction of people experienced in ministry.  To put it succinctly, if you can afford the time and money it takes to go to a school and learn on campus, do it.  It is worth the trouble, time and money.  But for many people that is not practical.  So, I would like to share a three part plan for doing seminary in the Internet age.

1. All entry level courses can be done by independent study.  In that I would include the Introduction to NT and OT, Church History, Survey of Theology, Hebrew and Greek.  The interaction one gets from being in school is not as great in these courses since many of the on campus versions are filled with 50 to 100 students.  There is little interaction there.  Just read the books, listen to or watch lectures via the Internet or Podcast, take the tests online, and submit papers via email or upload them through a web site.

2. More advanced courses in the above areas would be a combination of independent study and group study.  Again, lectures could be viewed online, but live for these courses.  The professor could speak into a camera that is streaming the video online.  The students would be in a chat room discussing the lectures.  Students could "raise their hand" to ask a question by making a specific entry into the chatroom and the professor could acknowledge the question and answer it.  The advantage is that the student would a record of the discussion to save along with his or her notes.  The lecture could also be saved to view repeatedly.  Any assignments could be worked on collaboratively via things like Go-to-Meeting or Sharepoint style interfaces.  A discussion board for every class could be a place for students and professors to interact about the material.  These advantages would be great.  They might even offset the disadvantage of now being able to interact in person.

3. For the more practical courses like leadership, preaching, etc. the student could actually take these course as part of an internship in a local church.  There are plenty of skilled, talented pastors that would love to share their time with students.  One pastor could work with up to two or three students in a semester.  They of course would need to be trained, but they would likely enjoy that training as it would be a refresher for them.  One week each year, these mentors would meet on the campus of the seminary for training, worship and interaction with professors and colleagues.  They would then help the students in their area work through the ministry classes and learn in the lab of a church setting.  This would benefit them and the church.  Finally, when they are about to graduate, they would spend one season working in a church as Student Pastor.  This means they would not be encumbered by classes and papers and tests.  They would simply spend that three months as if they were a staff member in that church.  They would follow a particular ministry track.  If they were called to pastoral ministry, they would work alongside the pastor doing visitation, attending administrative and planning meetings, counseling with people alongside the pastor, and preaching regularly (maybe as much as 6 times in a three month term).  Similar things would be done for youth ministers, music ministers, and other staff ministries.  If they are planning to go into missions, then the practical learning semesters would be on the mission field.

Please let me know what you think.  If you are a student, would you like this kind of program?  If you are a pastor would you enjoy mentoring a student?

Case in point …

From the too cute to not post file, here is a baby who loves mama’s banjo playing!  Give it a little time because at the 12 seconds to go spot it really gets funny.

Some people wonder what is casting lots.  It was kind of like our shooting craps.  And the Roman Soldiers did it for Jesus expensive tunic.  What did they use?  It is possible that they used something like this.

It is called a Roman D20 and this one is up for sale at $18,000 at the famous high society auction place Christie’s.  I guess my bid of $20 won’t win it.

If you’ve read my column in Christian Computing Magazine, then you know I like e-Sword as the best free Bible Study software available.  The creator is a fine man for giving this away to people more than 5 million people.  Now you can go to e-Sword Live and use much of the free resources online.  Click the picture below to check it out.

I love this and it is a great illustration of how sin is a trap.  This boy intended to do harm to this wall, but the wall fought back.

Michael All Dressed Up 2, originally uploaded by kerussojc.

This is my oldest, Michael. He had his final full day in 8th grade and some of the guys dressed up for their awards breakfast and dance.  There is another photo on my Flickr Site.  Click the picture to take you there.

A church member sent this photo to me.  Read the title and that is all I can say.

The woman in the photo is the wife of the man in the coffin.  She wanted to sleep one last time next to his body before his burial.  The man standing guard is there at the request of the wife.  You can click the picture to see some other photos by the same photographer, I think they are of the same sad homecoming.

God bless and protect our troops as they serve in harms way!