Tuesday, June 30, 2009
July 1, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
June 27, 2009
Already by the 14th century disgust with the decadence and corruption of the Church began to create a grass-roots movement of rebellion. One of the earliest acts of defiance was an attempt on the part of several individuals to return the Christian world to its pure roots by re-introducing the Bible to the common man.
In both northern Europe and England illegal copies of the Bible were printed and distributed in the local vernacular. One such version, produced in England in the late 14th century by Oxford theologian, John Wycliffe, had this in its preface:
The Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people. The people responsible for these "illegal" translations were persecuted and a few of them, such as Jan Hus of Bohemia, were put to death for heresy.
New technology was also to play a major role in the in the spread of the Bible. In 1453, in Guttenberg, Germany, the printing press was invented. Before the advent of this invention every book was hand copied, often by monks. This made books both rare and expensive. The printing press could not only produce books at a much faster rate, but it also dramatically lowered the cost of each book. It's no accident that the first book printed in Guttenberg was the Bible. The translation of the Bible into local languages and its mass-production via the printing press led to an explosion in both its popularity and impact.
The 16th century saw tremendous religious changes in Europe: Martin Luther founded a new Christian denomination called Protestantism. The focus of this new movement was primarily to protest against the material excesses of the Catholic Church and re-infuse Christianity with its Biblical spirit.
In 1538 Henry VIII also broke away from Catholicism and founded The Church of England. He issued a proclamation that a copy of the Bible be placed in every Church in England and public reading of the Bible became a regular feature of church worship.
Many other countries followed suit, abandoned the Catholic Church, and became Protestant.
Protestant theologians, realizing that the true religious and ethical spirit of Christianity came from within the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) put strong emphasis on the individual's right and responsibility to go directly to the Bible and use it as the moral guidebook.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
June 26, 2009
The individual writers, at the time of writing, had no idea that their message was eventually to be incorporated into such a Book, but each nevertheless fits perfectly into place and serves its own unique purpose as a component of the whole. Anyone who diligently studies the Bible will continually find remarkable structural and mathematical patterns woven throughout its fabric, with an intricacy and symmetry incapable of explanation by chance or collusion.
The one consistent theme of the Bible, developing in grandeur from Genesis to Revelation, is God's great work in the creation and redemption of all things, through His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible was written in different places: Moses in the wilderness. Jeremiah in a dungeon. Daniel on a hillside and in a palace. Paul inside prison walls. John in exile on the barren Isle of Patmos. The authors wrote during different moods. Some from the heights of joy and others from the depths of sorrow and despair. They wrote it on three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe in 3 languages, Hebrew, the language of Canaan, Aramaic, the common language of the near East until Alexander the Great and Greek, the international language at the time of Christ.
The subject matter includes 100's of controversial topics, yet the biblical authors spoke with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. There is one unfolding story, God's salvation of man. F.F. Bruce "The writings belong to a greats variety of literary types. They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, sanitary), religious poetry, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, memoirs and diaries..... For all that there is unity which binds the whole together.
June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
June 24, 2009
June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
June 22, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
June 20, 2009
"I'm overwhelmed when I think of all the great things he accomplished," Woods said on his website. "He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him."
"Earl Woods was a great dad," Harmon says. "He always had his son's best interest at heart. He did everything he could do to see that his son got the best help he could get."
Harmon said he and the elder Woods came to an agreement shortly after the first meeting at Lochinvar Golf Club in Houston, where Harmon was the pro. Earl brought Tiger to Harmon after Tiger had been eliminated in the U.S. Amateur at Champions in Houston.
"I told Earl this wouldn't work if I told Tiger one thing and he told him another," Harmon recalls. "He said, 'I'll make you a deal. I won't tell you how to teach Tiger golf if you won't tell me how to be Tiger's dad.' "
A year later Tiger won the first of three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. In his career, he has displayed mental and physical skills seldom seen in any golfer. He has 67 career wins, including 14 majors as a pro.
In an excerpt published in USA WEEKEND, Earl said he had Tiger hearing jazz music when he was 5 days old. As Tiger lay in the crib, Earl would say, "Daddy loves you. I am here for you." By the time Tiger was 2, Earl was drilling him on mental toughness, "an outgrowth of my upbringing and my years as a Green Beret."
"I pulled every nasty, dirty, obnoxious trick on him," Earl wrote. He tossed balls in front of Tiger while he putted. He dropped bags of clubs behind Tiger when he hit tee shots. He'd cough during the backswing.
"I played with his mind," Earl wrote.
"The best thing about those practices was that my father always kept it fun," Tiger wrote. "It's amazing how much you learn when you truly enjoy doing something."
"I made an agreement with Earl that I'd work with Tiger for nothing until he became a pro," Harmon says. "Then they'd have to pay me."
Here's the point, Earl decided from the beginning that his son would be a champion and he raised him to be one. He ingrained that expectation within Tiger's soul and gave him the tools and the tutelage to make it happen.
Not every child will have the skills and talent of Tiger, but every dad can have the goal and determination of Earl.
To summarize, here's how Earl "trained up Tiger in the way he should go":
1) He started immediately and bonded with his son
2) He connected him early with expectations and dreams
3) He taught, trained and toughened Tiger as far as he could
4) He put Tiger in the hands of an expert so he could refine his talents
5) He kept it fun and enjoyable - Earl took the dream seriously but kept the learning fun
What are you doing to raise champions for Christ? Maybe there's something you can learn from a champion dad!