What Makes the Holidays Worth It ...

This year my four siblings and I gathered our kids, dogs, spouses and suitcases as we headed for Tuscaloosa, AL. to spend time with my mom. What a blessing it is to have my brother, sisters, and mom in my life. So, here's the clan ...

That's me in the upper left, my sister Diane from the Bay Area of California, and my brother Ed, who resides here in Nashville. I think he's standing on a box. I don't remember being that much shorter than him.

Anyway, the bottom row includes my sister Carol, from Cincinnati, on the left; my mom seated in the chair; and my sister Kathy, also from Tuscaloosa, on the right.

And I love the picture of my mom and me. I think it captures a bit of the essence of what makes her so special.

Many of you have heard the hair-raising tale of her tumble down the stairs in the dark, hitting the concrete below and breaking her arm in multiple places. But, to look at her now you'd never know. She cooked, she cleaned, she played, she laughed, and she was happy the whole time.

Even though I've never lived in that house or taken up residence in Alabama, it was good to be home.

New Romans Messages

Well, we've finally posted two more messages in the Romans series and today I got a message from one of our regular listeners that read --

Hey there,

Did we by any chance skip a Romans Message?

In #55 you cover Rmn 14.1-10,
In #56 you don't get to Romans at all,
In #57 you cover Rmn 15.1-6,

Thus skipping Rmn 14.11-23. Of course, you read through 1Cr 18.1-13 in #55, which is more-or-less parallel to the skipped bit of Romans; it just seemed odd is all - as you are usually more prone to read through a section several times rather than have them read it on their own and assume they 'got' it.

As I've repeatedly observed, I cannot get away with anything. :-)

Actually, he's right. The reason these messages have been slow to appear is that they were originally recorded on cassette back in the year 2000 [in fact, the last message I posted was dated April 20, 2000]. Back then the recordings were almost a secondary thought. We only began recording because someone in our group thought it might be a good idea, primarily for those folk who missed a week. We never gave any thought to someday posting them on the Internet for people around the globe to hear.

Sadly, some of the recordings weren't salvageable. And some were full of conversations and discussions about current events or personal situations among those then-present. So, I've had to upload each cassette to my hard drive, apply noise suppression and signal compression to the audio files, then listen through each message, cut out what is no longer relevant, and keep the teaching. And, as you know, cassettes have to flip sides. So, there's always a missing couple of minutes in each message where the person manning the recorder flipped the cassette. I've tried to cut around those dead spots in such a way as to create a seemless message (sometimes more successfully than others).

I love digital editing, but it's a slow, painstaking process.

The "R##" tags serve to keep the current series of mp3's in order, but a few weeks from the original series were missing, garbled, or broken. If (and when) you notice any section of the book of Romans I didnt' cover, that's the reason.

By the way, there's light at the end of the tunnel. There are only 7 more cassettes to transfer and post to close the book of Romans. This has been a labor of love, but I admit that I'm looking forward to reaching the end. The next lesson continues into chapter 15 and we'll delve into a bit of the history behind the various names listed at the end of Paul's epistle. It's interesting stuff.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who are keeping up with the series and keeping me honest. You make the effort worthwhile!

John 3:16 and Jerry Vines

As we worked our way through John 3:14-18 yesterday morning we briefly discussed the John 3:16 Conference and a statement made by Jerry Vines concerning the meaning and usage of the term "whosoever." This morning I discovered that James White has addressed the same errors in a fuller way. His comments are well worth hearing.

Here's the link to the youtube video (check out the new groovy curtains at the beginning).

James White replies to Jerry Vines

The Serpent on a Pole

Yesterday morning I was asked if the brass serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness (to which Jesus refers in John 3) had anything to do with the symbol used by the American Medical Association, also depicting a serpent on a pole. Well, according to the AMA, their emblem is more mythological than biblical. Here's their explanation --

Why does the AMA symbol have a snake with a staff on it?

The AMA logo depicts the Staff of Aesculapius, a single snake wrapped around a rod or branch. The mythical figure of Aesculapius as a symbol of healing and medicine began to appear as early as 1200 BC. According to legend, Aesculapius, the son of the sun god Apollo, became so gifted in the healing arts that the god Pluto accused him of diminishing the population of the Underworld (Hades). Myth also describes how he came to choose his symbol. While examining a patient, Aesculapius killed a serpent that had surprised him. He then witnessed another snake place magical herbs in the mouth of the dead one and restore it to life. Impressed with this power, he chose a symbol that depicted a serpent coiled around his staff. Beginning in the 17th century, the Staff of Aesculapius enjoyed increased popularity as the primary symbol of medicine as the traditions of the Greco-Roman period were rediscovered.

The AMA has utilized this symbol in its logo since 1910. It is often confused with the Caduceus, a symbol that depicts two winged serpents intertwined around a single staff. While the modern day depiction of the Caduceus is often used to symbolize the profession of medicine, most scholars agree that this use is no longer appropriate.

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There. Another good question answered.