Liberty University and the Bible Museum

Randall Price has big plans for what is now a small space in DeMoss Hall at Liberty University.  Price, an archaeologist and Liberty professor, is executive director of LU’s Center for Judaic Studies, which opened in fall 2008.  Price plans to implement academic coursework and degree programs in Jewish studies. He also is working with school officials to establish a Biblical Museum at the university that would house antiquities from the biblical period.  Preliminary plans for a 10,000-square-foot museum already have been drawn, and Price hopes that within a couple of years it will be built.  His own collection of antiquities, as well as those that he could get on loan from dig sites, would be housed at the museum to provide the school and Lynchburg a window to the past.

There’s a bit more, along with a photo of Price excavating, here.

Zwingli For Today

A Sermon preached way back on Reformation Day 2002 by Alex Nussbaumer uses as its text, among others, Zwingli’s Pestlied.  Nussbaumer concludes

Wenn ich mich allerdings dazu durchringen kann, mich als vor Gott schuldig zu bekennen, dann erfasse ich umso grösser, was seine Liebe bedeutet, dann kann ich erleichtet aufatmen und zu Gott sagen: So gross, unverdient und unverdienbar ist deine Liebe! Jesus Christus, ich muss keinen Weg zum Vater im Himmel erkämpfen, DU BIST DER WEG.

Amazing, isn’t it, that Zwingli’s famous song of faith written after Zurich was decimated by the plague in 1519/20, still speaks.

Another Sermon, worthy of note for its clarity and simplicity, which makes use of that ‘Plague Song’ is that by Jürgen Seidel, given on the anniversary of Zwingli’s birth on January 1, in 2005.

ZWINGLI legte sich ganz in Gottes Hände: “Tu, wie Du wilt, Din haf bin ich.” Dein Gefäß bin ich. Wir sind Kinder Gottes, kann Paulus nicht oft genug erklären. Uns kann nichts scheiden von seiner Liebe, die in Christus Jesus sichtbar geworden ist. Es ist eine schöne Aufgabe jeder Predigt, diese Gewissheit in unsere Herzen einzuprägen. Das ist das eine. Das andere gehört dazu: Nun auch als Kinder Gottes Zeichen zu setzen. Zeichen der Zuwendung zum Mitmenschen, Zeichen gegen Unheil und Unrecht. Zeichen zur Bewahrung der Schöpfung. Wir sind dazu berufen, Früchte der Liebe Gottes zu bringen.

Indeed!!!!

Scott Bailey: Mis-Zwing-Thrope

Scott “The Evil One” Bailey has done the world a grave injustice by subjecting it to two falsehoods:

1- A snipped and de-contextualized chat session on facebook which implies my saying that Zwingli was wrong.  What he failed to leave out was that he had made a statement on another subject altogether to which I replied ‘very true’ and simultaneously as my response made its way across the ether he made another rude statement about Zwingli.  But trust me, dear soul, and not that wicked Scott- I have never, and would never, suggest that Zwingli erred on so many points.

2- And then, as if the above weren’t bad enough, he also directs people to (gag) Wikipedia….   Enough said.

Scott – the ex hockey star – evidently suffered a number of brain scrambling injuries while on the ice.  But that doesn’t excuse him and his penalty is 50000000000 years in Purgatory chained between Dick Cheney and the Antichrist.  So let it be written, so let it be done.

UPDATE:  In light of Scott’s very wicked comment below the gloves are off and his purgatorial punishment is as follows:  Instead of being chained between Cheney and the Antichrist he is forthwith sentenced to be chained between Todd Bentley and Peter Kirk- both of whom will be speaking CONSTANTLY for 60 quadrillion years and – in addition – Scott will be forced to memorize every word they say.

Breaking News: There’s Some Sort of Football Game Scheduled Sunday!

I doubt you’ve had the opportunity to hear about some big, supposedly important, football game planned for tomorrow.  So, in my effort to be a blessing, I thought I’d mention it so you can have a chance to catch it if you want.  It’s called The Super Bowl. In it, 11 guys on one team with dozens of back ups will play 4 fifteen minute quarters against another team of 11 guys with dozens of backups of their own for the chance to be called ‘Super Bowl Champs’.  This will ensure them a lot of money and their coaches a job for another year or so.

The neat thing about this game is that though it’s supposed to take an hour of actual playing time, tv breaks and time outs and official time outs and all manner of other interruptions will actually stretch it to something like 6 hours.  And, heaven be praised, for 6 hours beforehand NBC, the host of the festivities, will have talking heads talking about everything under the sun remotely related to football.

In other words, you’ll get a good 12 hours of nothing but ‘the Super Bowl’!  Isn’t that exciting?

Again, I’m confident you hadn’t heard a word about this so I wanted to make sure you had.

Fourteen And Counting?

If she’s obsessed with having kids I think it a safe bet that she will attempt to have more.  And she’s not even married!!!!!

The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.

So who’s paying for them?

Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.  …  Nadya Suleman holds a 2006 degree in child and adolescent development from California State University, Fullerton, and as late as last spring she was studying for a master’s degree in counseling, college spokeswoman Paula Selleck told the Press-Telegram.

The counselor needs a bit of counseling.  Her behavior isn’t normal.  Or sane.  And let’s be honest here, there’s no way one person can raise 14 children without a LOT of help.  And a lot of money.  A LOT.  Somehow or other I can’t help escaping the sensation that the taxpayers of California will end up bearing the burden.

By the way- I’m all for married couples having as many children as they want- as long as they can raise them in a loving environment and provide for their basic needs.  But the moment they can’t, they shouldn’t have one more.  I’ve seen too many teen moms pop out welfare babies like Pez dispensers for the sole purpose of getting a bigger monthly handout from the government.  Yes- I’ve had young girls tell me ‘I want to have as many as I can so I can get a bigger check’.  Depraved behavior doesn’t really capture it.

Calvin in the Blogosphere

Reformiert-Info has assembled a listing of a number of the better websites which are taking part in the Calvin Year festivities.

Of particular interest to me is this notice:

Der PR-Manager Philippe Welti sieht den globalen Erfolg des Reformators Johannes Calvin und fragt sich, warum sein Ruf in der Schweiz so schlecht ist, die Verbrennung Servets ihm nicht verziehen wird. Ganz anders als im Fall der landesweit bekannten „Lichtgestalt“ Huldrych Zwingli, der „in der Limmat unliebsame Täufer aus Zollikon hat ersäufen lassen“ – was in Vergessenheit geriet.  Welti weiß die Antwort: „In der reformierten Kirche hat Huldrych Zwingli die bessere nationale PR-Agentur.“

What fun!  And the Reformiert-Info essay concludes

Last but not least: Dr Jim West – ein Leser von reformiert-info, der von der ersten Stunde an Beiträge unseres Portals einem breiteren Kreis von “Usern” zugänglich macht. Herzlichen Dank und einen freundlichen Gruß an Dr Jim West >>>

And greetings to you fine folk at Reformiert-Info!

A More Centrist Bibliography

I mentioned this project yesterday and we’ve done a bit of restructuring in order to make it more thorough.  If you have recommendations or would like to ‘edit’ a particular section, please let me know.

Kids Make the Best Dilettantes

Stuff actual kids have actually said about the Bible:

-During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

-Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

-Anyway, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven, but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

-After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 Porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me.

-After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

-Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

Al Mohler’s been busy with Catechism classes!

Don’t Worry, Exxon Mobil Will Be OK Anyway…

If you’re like me you probably stay up each night worrying about the fiscal well being of Exxon Mobil.  Those poor folk have really been suffering lately what with oil a hundred dollars less a barrel than last year and gas prices down as well. But there’s good news!

Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world’s largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.

If things get worse across the broader economy I feel certain that Exxon will pitch in and bail out any number of businesses with their excess funds. That’s just the sort of company it is.

Capture the Cat

Ok- if you have a bit of time to kill and want to spend it attempting to catch a cat (to boil or fricassee or whatever) then visit this little game.  You begin by clicking the cat and then you click the circles- attempting to encircle the cat before it escapes.