Bodwin

I feel that as of late I have been blogging off of my 'soap box.' However, I must continue. I have many more stones to throw from atop my perch. Today's topic is balance. I must say the idea isn't all mine as far as originality of topic. A professor of mine said, and I quote, "Truth can often be found in the middle of two extremes." Quotes like that make my ears perk up as I fasten my ever-critical (denotatively) 'thinking cap.' So I thought, "Is there 'truth' in that statement. Is 'truth' found in the middle?" This statement immediately caused me to remember a conversation I had with a certain person. We were discussing some controversial phrases in a song about God's choosing and knowing (relationship, not mental knowledge) us as His elect before the world was framed. The comment was made: "Yeh, we changed a few words to make the text more balanced , even though the words [we changed] were straight from Bible text.

Recently there was an excellent message preached in chapel at a 'certain' Bible college regarding the virgin birth of Christ. After carefully expositing Matthew 1 (the latter portion of the chapter) implications were given as to what that had to do with salvation. In the next days, I was discussing the sermon with some friends, and one of them said: "I thought it was a great message, but I just thought it lacked application." I was amazed at the statement. Yet I think it represents a problem that is rampant. We have a major problem when our preaching is application-centered and not God-centered. To the above statement by my friend I would reply, "Your application is 'Praise God for what He has done to provide salvation for you.'" I don't think a sermon has to include a 'get out of your chair and perform this certain action' to be applicational. If all we seek out of Scripture is rules for life, we are simply missing the point. We must p

After conceding a year to the nemesis down the road a few miles, the best has risen to the top of the charts again. And no, I am not talking about the controversy between the local Fundamentalist and 'New Evangelical' churches in the area. What I am referring to is the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. (You may quit reading if you have a conviction about the morality of the mascots of sports teams.) After a disappointing, yet understandable Sweet 16 loss to Michigan St. in last year's NCAA tourney, Duke is again ranked pre-season #1 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. This is almost undebatable (sorry Big X fans) considering the return of National Player of the Year and 1st Team ACC guard J.J. Redick and the Defensive Player of the Year Shelden Williams, aptly nicknamed "the Landlord." On top of two preseason All-Americas (Redick, Williams), Duke boasts the #1 recruiting class for 2005. Three of the six incorming freshmen were McDonald's All-Ame