Thanksgiving and Other Pictures and Idiots

First off, I’m not dead. In fact, I’m so not dead, that Mollie and I just had my mom and sister Alison up for Thanksgiving! Just a week after they came, we also put up our very first Christmas lights, indoor and outdoor. Check out the pictures here!

So, I was walking through Albertson’s the other day, and saw a book entitled “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Homeschooling.” I realize that this is just a brand name, but really, homeschooling is not for idiots. I was homeschooled from 1st to 12th grade, and I and many other people like to think I didn’t turn out too bad, and that’s all thanks to the hard work and dedication of my very sensible, intelligent parents. This is not to say that you need to be a genius to homeschool, because you don’t, but you certainly need to be better than a “complete idiot.” Needless to say, that title offended me a bit.

One last thing, Dr. Hood talked in Paul’s Letters today about grace, and said that grace is given after an acknowledgement of sin, and requires that acknowledgement before it will be given. I’m not certain that I agree completely that grace, defined as “a free gift I don’t deserve” in simple terms, is necessarily contingent on an acknowledgement of sin… it seems to me that Acts 16:31 suggests that all is necessary is belief: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” On the other hand, there are a number of passages in Paul’s Letters that mention confessing (often with your mouth), which definitely implies an admission of sin. I’m not completely sure what to think on the matter… Any thoughts?

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3 Responses to Thanksgiving and Other Pictures and Idiots

  1. Bayth says:

    Well, it’s belief in Jesus as Who? As Savior from sin.Common belief is that there would need to be an acknowledgement of sin.

  2. ziggy says:

    Good to hear your thanksgiving went well. The lights look good too.

  3. Tom says:

    That’s an interesting question, and what it really probably gets down to is whether or not you hold to a “reformed” theological position. I’m learning a lot about this, as my fiance grew up in a presbyterian church and we have been working through a lot of issues about who we believe God to be. As I study this more, I would have to say that I disagree with Dr. Hood. It seems to me that the pattern we see in scripture is that God shows up in a person’s life and changes them, not that people suddenly realize on their own that they need God before He will start working on them. One quick example is Noah. If you ask people why God chose to save Noah and his family, they would probably point to Gen 6:9, which says that Noah was a just man who walked with God. But if you read the previous few verses, you see that all of mankind was only wicked all of the time and that God was grieved at His creation. At this point Noah, like everyone else, was an unrepentant sinner. Then in verse 8: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” It is only after God gave His grace to Noah that we are told he was a just man who walked with God.

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