My Home is in Heaven

   There is an old joke which goes something like this: Did you hear about the optimist who fell off the roof of a tall building? As he passed the eighth story he called out: ‘I’m all right so far!’ As he passed the fifth story he cried out again: ‘I’m all right so far!’ and as he flew past the second story the same cheerful cry was heard. Then he landed headfirst and hadn’t a word more to say.  How’s Wycliffe Associates’ Bible translation experiment going? So far, so goooooood. Wycliffe Associates seems to believe that faster is better, no matter the cost, when it comes to Bible translation. But this is the Word of God we’re talking about here, not the Harry Potter books. This is the Bible , the love letter from the Lord, the scriptures that were given to us over a period of centuries . Jesus Himself, God incarnate, walked the Earth for three full years, taking the time to make sure he got it right. If God’s reason for giving us the Bible was simply to...

  Culture Clash A Samurai warrior serves his master and does what he is asked to the point of death, bravely and unquestioningly.  A man of honor. A culture of honor. If the warrior fails at the given task he returns to his master, owns his failure, and prepares to kill himself. The Lord may interrupt the suicide or may decide not to interfere.  The warrior, now a man of shame. A culture of shame. The ‘Shame-Honor’ culture is the group name of collectivistic cultures. Truth comes from tradition and consensus.[i] The Shame-Honor culture still exists today in Japan as we hear of children wanting to get into good schools to make their parents proud, CEOs publically apologizing with heads bowed for the failure of a business before committing suicide, and bowing the eshaku bow at 15°, or the kerei bow at 30°, or the seikeirei at 45°.[ii] When the head of Goya Foods spoke words of praise for President Trump there were two strong reactions in social media; buy more Go...