Honoring Less-than-Perfect Parents

How often do we learn of children who were terribly treated when they were young, children whose father and mother divorced, or a father took his life, and the child was left to deal with the blight the rest of their youth. There are many other illustrations that many have struggled with in their youth. And yet the Lord said "Honor thy father and mother." Is this for only the perfect father and perfect mother? Or does this command for the less-then-perfect parent?

When I was living at home, in Roanoke, Virginia, there were a family of five children with a mother who came to church and a dad who would not come. The dad was into sinful and unlawful activity. He wanted to get out of town, and had his wife to ask dad if they could use one of our cars to take a trip. Dad said yes, and the family left for Chicago, Il. We didn’t hear from them for several months, and had no clue where they were at the time. Finally, we received a call from the wife, and she said, her husband and taken his life. He went out into the garage and turned on the car’s engine and the exhaust killed him. She said he owed the mob money and he could not pay them, both in Roanoke and then again in Chicago.

The family came back to Roanoke, but the car stayed in Chicago. For the next years the kids were in and out of trouble, and had troubled lives. I remember my father never had a bad word for the dad, something that I couldn’t help but wonder why. The dad had just stolen our car and then when in trouble, took his own life, and left a wife and five children to fend for themselves. The children seemed to have no idea of what their dad was doing, and they thought their dad was just not perfect. But he left them homeless.

Does the Bible command children to "honor their father" if their father is perfect, or near perfect or not perfect at all? Was this commandment given for believers or unbelievers. The Ten Commandments were first given to the Israelites, and most of them were not saved. The commandments didn’t have sub-points, to qualify the command.

Craig Dunham in TwentySomeone tells of his friend Derek:

• My friend Derek grew up in a messed-up home. His dad left when he was young. His whole family fell apart after the divorce. He lived with his mom, but was basically on his own from age 13 on. After graduating from high school, Derek became a Christian on a cross-country bike trip. He put himself through college by starting his own company to renovate old houses. He's now on staff with a campus ministry.
  I've never heard Derek speak bitterly about his father or his past. Derek and Angie consider themselves the first generation to end the cycle of dysfunction in their families and set a new foundation for their kids. Instead of hiding or feeling sorry for themselves, they've resolved to deal head-on with the awkwardness of it all, and not give up on their strained family relationships.
  
  

Who Said It Frederick Buechner

"One November morning when I was ten years old," writes this author in Telling Secrets, "my father——a gentle man who was down on his luck and drank too much——got up early, opened the door to look in briefly on my younger brother and me playing a game in our room, and then went down into the garage where he turned on the engine of the family Chevy and sat down on a running board," where eventually the exhaust killed him.

How often do we learn of children who were terribly treated when they were young. Children whose father and mother divorced, or a father took his life, and the child was left to deal with the blight the rest of their youth. There are no perfect parents and some who are just right down bad parents.

And children who do not learn to honor their parents will struggle in just about every area of life.

What He SaidCode of Honor

• "Honor your father and mother," says the Fifth Commandment. Honor them for having taken care of you before you were old enough to take care of yourself …… for the sacrifices they made on your behalf …… for having loved you.

But how do you honor them when, well-intentioned as they may have been, they made terrible mistakes that have shadowed your life ever since? How do you honor them when they literally, or otherwise, abandoned you? When physically, or sexually, or emotionally, they abused you?

• Honor them for the pain that made them what they were. Honor them because there were times when, even at their worst, they were doing the best they knew how.
• Honor them for the roles they were appointed to play, because even when they played them abominably or didn't play them at all.
• Honor them because, however unthinkingly or irresponsibly, they gave you your life."

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 12 09 07 Proof Read by Charity Whisnant

^

HOW TO COMMUNICATE YOUR DESIRES
Charles E. Whisnant

part two

Let me list a few ways in which people use their talents and gifts and express their thinking. And ways they accomplish this.

Examples:

My brother has an email in which he writes a paragraph each day of some philosophy he has about living out the Christian life.

Albert Mohler, professor of a Seminary, and teacher in a church, uses the web to communicate his Christian viewpoint on some event in our culture.

Phil Johnson, Dan Philips and Frank Turk have a blogger called teampyro in which they address important issues facing the church today. As to date they have had over 1.4 million to view the sight.

Pulpit Magazine, a web with the Shepherd Conferences and John MacArthur, Jr.
Nathan Busenitz

ExpositoryThoughts is a group of preachers who address issues in the church, and is for pastors and leaders. Paul Lamey, Matt

John Hendryx has Monergism.com, a web site he has dedicated himself to provide the

Reformers doctrines. This site I have been going to for four years. He provides, I would say, over a thousand articles and sermons from the Reformers.
And where John and John Samson write.

Tony Capoccia of has provided material since the beginning of the www. He has sermons from the evangelical viewpoint, such as John MacArthur, Jr. There are manuscripts of John’s sermons. Tony provides sermons from Charles Spurgeon, Whitefield, Watson, Edwards, Ryle and transcripts from the Shepherd’s Conference.

Phil Johnson has a web site that is a web log, a list of links of other web sites. He provides links which provide doctrinal studies, church studies, etc. Phil’sBookmark

Phil Johnson has The Spurgeon Archive. Sermons of Charles Spurgeon. What a project.

Preachers, ministers and pastors who have radio and tv ministries now have web sites. Like Grace to You by John MacArthur, Insight For Living by Church Swindoll, In touch by Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah’s Turning Point.

You have Christian leaders, such as James Dobson Focus on the Family, and Dennis Ramey on Family Life Today. Then the late Larry Burkett on Money Matters.

You have Christian women, such as Joni Earickson Tada who has not only a radio program but a good ministry to the handicapped.

Many good News outlets are now on the www. Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute, an evangelical apologetics group in Charlotte, N.C.

You have Barna Research team designed to research the lives of Christians.

On a daily basis I could receive a hundred different emails if I choose.
Daily Devotions from Chuck Swindoll, Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, and Tozer, and even pastors of churches not as well known as these have a weekly devotion sent via email

Ray Pritchard has an e mail list of 3900 to which he sends out his sermons. He is not pastoring now, and this is a good means of communication with others.

John Stott ministry is done by a group of people daily. Biblestudy@john stott.com

Jim Bublitz works out of his home. He is not a pastor, but he loves the truth. He has a great web site.

Blogger a site for what is called blogspots. They are free and you have a chance to write your thoughts and have others who desire to write and make comments.

A place where students in Edinburgh Scotland and write reports on Puritans.
I don’t know who controls CROSSWALK, but it’s one of the better sites You could spend all day on this sight.

Sola Scriptura Ministries International. Table Talk Magazine. Good books, etc.
A site that lists conferences and is used to promote sola Scriptura.

Church Growth Institute, received via e mail provides a daily devotion, and resources for church growth any ministry.

E mail daily provides a ministry of short quotes from Reformers. A group of people who work hard doing this. Very good.
TO NAME JUST A FEW OF THE MEANS USED TO communicate OVER THE WEB.

You know the phrase that I have not liked "Follow your heart"? There is some truth in that, because it’s the desire of my heart to know the Lord, and to communicate what He is saying to others.

Personally, I like the one-on-one in person communicating, but when it’s not always possible, the medium of the web is okay. May the Lord open the means He will allow me to use.

Charles E. Whisnant 12 05 2007 Proof Read by Charity Whisnant 12 -06 -7
Posted on Blogger 12 06 07

HOW TO COMMUNICATE YOUR DESIRES
Charles E. Whisnant

part 1

^

I picked up the Citizens’ Newspaper, Scioto edition 12 05 07 and read an article on "Embracing Technology: The Digital Divide." In reading this article here is a quote from Billy Graham:

• "Why are we as Christian Americans still celebrating the invention of the printing press when we have today’s mass media?"
  
• The article points out: "throughout church history technological advancements have had significant influence on the life and work of the church." Church as we know it today will be effective only as we learn how to use these new technology methods.
• This line of thought directed me to Google search "Digital Technology". One article: "Digital Technology and its Impact on how Education," And another article "DTV" is COMING (AND SOONER THAN YOU THINK) By February 17, 2009 the FCC will require digital broadcasting.
  
• I had a need to tell someone about this information I had just read.
  

Earlier last week I was reading Albert Mohler’s commentary on For Toddlers, Toy of Choice Is Tech Device. Then I received an e-mail from Wal Mart about buying toys for preschoolers. I had this need to give this information to parents

I wrote an article about what I had been reading on my blog.

Earlier on Monday and Tuesday I was all over the www. I do that a lot. I was writing an article on the Blogger, then having Charity proof read the material. Then I sent an E-Mail to a list of people about this article(s), telling them to view the articles on my blog site CWhisna.blogspot.com.

As I am doing all this writing and research, and downloading articles of interest, I am saying to myself, "why am I doing all this?" Why do I feel and think and have the desire to assimilate all this material, and why do I desire to communicate this learning to others?

I am sixty years old, and have been teaching and preaching and communicating the Word of God since I was sixteen years old. I am not ready for the rocki n’ chair yet. There is this internal clock that is humming in my soul and heart each minute of the day. There is this motivation to learn and then to tell someone else what I have learned. This has been the situation as long as I can remember.

This idea of communicating is okay if you have an outlet, like pastoring a church, or teaching a Bible class, or holding some position in the local church or have some other ministry outside the local church.

Pastor Frank who is pastor of the church I currently attend was right when he said, "Charles, I don’t think you are going to be happy until you are pastoring a church." He is not so happy that I am trying to help him pastor the church he is called to pastor. The church pays him very well to do so. And the church has an associate who is well paid to help the senior pastor. The church has three other lay elders and six deacons. Also, as of this year they have six small groups with the pastors/elders teaching them. The church has two adult classes with two other teachers besides the Pastor and Associate.

So I tell myself, and they tell me the same, the church doesn’t need another pastor or teacher! The church should be well equipped to serve and teach the membership all they need to become "full grown saints."

So what am I to do with my forty year old spiritual gift?

Next , stay tune.

^

Charles

FOR TODDLES, TOY OF CHOICE IS TECH DEVICE
^

Dr. Al Mohler's blog daily is a good form to view a Christian View on the Culture of today.

^

WHAT ARE YOUR CHILDREN ASKING FOR CHRISTMAS?

-
Preschoolers Toy wishes list: cellphones, laptops, digital cameras and MP3 music players are among the hottest gift items this year. For preschoolers. For children three and up.
-

The Easy Link Internet Launch Pad from Fisher-Price. This top like is to help children surf on "preschool-appropriate Web sites. And Smart Cycle, and exercise bike connected to a video game.

-
The biggest toy companies don’t even call it the toy business anymore Now they are in the family entertainment business and the leisure business. Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine said, "They are vying for kids’ leisure time."

-
From Amazon.com six of the nine best selling toys for 5 to 7 year olds were tech gadgets. It’s the screen they like. The kids no longer like computer without computer monitors, U.S.B. cables and memory cards–

-
If you give kids an old toy camera! They will look at you like you’re crazy. Kids now know what a real cellphone looks like and they want one.

-
Now the kids want a laptop. Kids are different from the way we were in our days. Even as last as 10 years ago.

-
There is the LeapFrog ClilckStart My First Computer, which gives children ages 3 and up a keyboard to help thelm learn computeer basics, using a TV screen as a monitor.

-
SO DOES A COMPUTER BELONG IN THE CRIB

^

Donald L. Shifrin, a pediatrician based in Seattle and the spokesman for the academy, said tech toys cannot replace imaginative play, where children create rich narratives and interact with peers or parents.

-
"Are we creating media use as a default for play?" Dr. Shifrin asked. "When kids want to play, will they ask, ‘‘Where’s the screen?’
-

&

-
I bought a Lexmark Printer on line from Wal Mart, a ten dollar saving, and a printer that was not in our local Wal Mart. As a result I receive e mails of specials from them. Thank of that.

&

-

They listed toys for preschoolers 3years old and tech for kids 4 to 7.

-

(I do not have the ability on this blog to have pictures, I need to update)

-

• Slide an activity page into the VTech Whiz Kid system's learning board and it magically knows what activities to play! With a touch-sensitive screen and stylus, and over 100 different activities and games, the fun never ends! If you lose a sheet, it's no problem: just print out another one from the included CD-ROM. The Whiz Kid system even prints out a progress report, so you can keep tabs on your child's learning fun. The Whiz Kid Learning System is the new way to play!

• For budding readers, VTech's Nitro Notebook is a hi-tech tutor specially designed to teach language skills and more. In addition to social studies, math and art studies, kids master reading in English and Spanish as they play games that adapt to their learning needs.
  · Portable notebook-style computer with gray-scale LCD screen
  · QWERTY keyboard and plug-in mouse
  · 80 engaging activities teach reading skills in two languages
  · Kids love having their own computer with an endless selection of fun games and activities
  · Computer reads aloud stories to teach phonics and improve fluency
  · Developing readers learn at their own speed as Artificial Intelligence technology tracks their performance and adjusts skill levels as needed
  · Two interchangeable cartridges provide more reading games and foreign language activities

I really need this notebook and I am sixty!

^

comments:

-

My sister said (via e mail)

Good stuff on kiddos. I am certain this is what some thought, like our own dad did about the new tech back 40-50 yrs...i.e.,the TV. Mom sd he used to say of the TV..."It's a one-eyed monster."

-
About 10 yrs or so ago I heard a man speak at a local church about "the new language" we all better learn or we would be forever lost (no, not spiritually!)....called not English...but "Computer". He detailed how thru the ages there have been certain languages that people had to learn or they would not survive the changes. He predicted that "Computer" language was going to be the next to change the world and people who didn't learn it would be left behind. And is he ever on target. Like it or not.
-

Like in most anything, good and bad are involved. What we do with it as humans is the key. We are not going to stop technology, nor be able to keep kids from it. It is life in the 21st century. However, what we teach our kids to do with it is another story, don't you think?
-

And ALWAYS man has had the challenge of progress....from the beginning of the fall. Creative juices can flow even from the computer, whether we like to believe it or not. It's just a different medium by which it happens. Yet, there is something fulfilling about my grandchildren pulling out pots and pans and finding joy in that simple adventure. And every generation can come up with something that they wish their kids did that they "used" to do. I mean my mom talks about making paper dolls out of old Sears and Roebucks catalogs...along with other "handy" services those catalogs provided! Do I want to go back to that to spark my creativity? I think NOT! I'm thankful progress brought me paper dolls that came in a paper doll book and that I had white paper wrapped around a roll to take care of business. I think that was a bit graphic. Sorry.
-

Everything has its place in the time it was created. We can abuse anything...even Sears catalogs. I mean Mom's mother probably used leaves or something and NEVER heard of paper dolls. So it's all a matter of perspective. Think about it, without the computer and its tech we would not be reaching the vast with the Gospel.

-

your sis

Create an appetite for health and wellness today!

Ellen Marie

-

SALVATION AND ENGLISH REFORMERS 1525 - 1556

Carl Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. He was previously Lecturer in Theology at the University of Nottingham (1993-1998), and Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of Aberdeen (1998-2001). He has also held the position of Editor of the theological journal, Themelios, since 1998.

Dr Trueman, your early research interest was on salvation in the writings of the English Reformers, as indicated in the title of the published version of your doctoral dissertation, Luther’s Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers, 1525-1556 (Clarendon, 1994). Could you share with us the thrust of this work and some of the factors that led you into serious research in this area?

• Initially, I was interested simply in examining the theology of a number of early English Reformers against the background of the continental Reformation. As you know, the English Reformation was much later in its development and articulation of a formal Protestant theology than, say, the members of the Schmalkaldic League or the Swiss Confederation. I wanted to find out what was going on in the minds of select intellectuals during the period from 1525, when William Tyndale made his abortive first attempt to publish the New Testament in English.

Since 1994, Reformed Orthodoxy in the seventeenth century seems to have been of special interest to you, especially the figure of John Owen. What led to this shift of interest from the 16th to the 17th century, and on Owen in particular?

• To date, you have published two books on Owen: Claims of Truth: the Trinitarian Theology of John Owen (Paternoster, 1994), and the very recent John Owen: Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man (Ashgate, 2007). What are some areas of development between them?

If youdesire to future read what Truman had to say about John Owen and William Tyndale

go to "the conventicle. blogspot.com

AND HOW YOU SEE IT WILL DEPEND UPON WHO YOU ARE, AND HOW YOU SEE IT AND OFTEN HOW YOU HEAR IT

part two

THE BILL MOYER’S JOURNAL Transcripts gives this:


Let's take a look at different perceptions of The Middle East peace talks in Annapolis this week.

• The liberal NEW YORK TIMES found good news: "Israel and Palestinians set goal of a treaty in 2008."


• But the conservative NEW YORK SUN described the results with a militaristic metaphor: "Bush Declares 'Battle for Mideast.'"

A look at the headlines related to this week's conference on Mideast peace in Annapolis might leave a reader confused about expectations and results:

• "Restraint in Quest for Peace," THE NEW YORK TIMES; "Annapolis Talks Prompt Much


• Doubt, a Few Jokes, in Mideast," THE WASHINGTON POST, "Olmert warns of 'end of Israel'," THE BBC, "Annapolis conference gave Rice little to build on," NEWSDAY.
  As usual in the Middle East, what you see depends on who you are.

Pastor Hagee is one of the Christian right's most powerful preachers. Israel is his passion.

JOHN HAGEE: Let us shout it from the housetops that a new day has been born in America. The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. If a line has to be drawn, draw the line around Christians and Jews. We are united. We are indivisible. And together we can reshape history. Among them was the organization Christians United for Israel - also known as CUFI.

THE JOURNAL gets theological and political perspective on the story in the Middle East from Ronald J. Sider, Professor of Theology and President of Evangelicals for Social Action, and from M.J. Rosenberg, Director of Policy Analysis for Israel Policy Forum.
Ronald J. Sider says,

The religious right - whether Pat Robertson, James Dobson or Rev. Hagee of Christians United for Israel - simply do not represent the evangelical center.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2007/11/an_evangelical_christian_for_p.html

Centrist evangelicals reject the key arguments of Christian Zionists.
Is there a biblical basis for supporting Israelis more than the Palestinians? Some point to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you." Does that text mean that we ought to uncritically support the modern state of Israel? Hardly. The biblical prophets repeatedly taught that God demands justice of all people, starting with his chosen people. When the Israelis acted unjustly, God punished them. The best way Christians today can bless the descendants of the ancient Israelites is to urge them to practice the universal justice that their prophets proclaimed to the world. Today that means a fair, two-state solution.

Others will argue from a dispensationalist, pre-millennialist theology that God has established the modern state of Israel as a necessary part of the end-time scenario, preparing for Christ's second coming in the very near future (see Hal Lindsey's LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH and the Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' LEFT BEHIND novels.) But this idea poses huge problems. For one thing, Christians for centuries have been pressing the imagery of Daniel and Revelation to find detailed predictions about the end of the world –– all of which have proved foolish and wrong!

To suggest that we know that Christ will return in the next few decades is flatly unbiblical. Jesus even said he did not know the time of his second coming (Matthew 24:36) –– beware of people who claim to know more than Jesus!

John Hagee says

• During the Holocaust, too many Christians were silent, and we were left to mourn the slaughter of 6 million Jews. Today, Bible-believing Christians must speak up and stand up for Israel. We must act to do whatever we can to protect Israel’s 6 million Jews from the second Holocaust. We must get it right this time. Our faith demands it. The times require it. Silence is not an option.


• The Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), to speak out for Zion’s sake (Isaiah 62:1), to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6) and to bless the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3). These and so many other verses of the Bible have one overriding message-- as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need.
  


• JOHN HAGEE: They intend to bring that bomb online and if they use it, you think gas is high now. Life as we know it is going to change instantly and forever and I'm telling you, you need to get your life ready to meet the son of God in all his glory. It's going to happen, it's going to happen, it's going to happen.


• There are going to be people in this tribulation period who do not take...

Here you have groups of Christians who have a different viewpoint of what the Bible says about Israel.

You have one event and you have three very different points of view about what they hear.

People view what they see and hear through their own grid of thinking.

And how you see it will depend upon who you are, and what you believe and who you follow

Written by Charles E. Whisnant 12 01 07 and checked over for clarity as possible by Charity

Of course clarity of though is not possible usually when I put together this kind of thought.
You need to read Bill Moyer’s Journey transcript on the Middle East Peace Talk to have a clear understanding of what I was trying to report.

And you would likely need a better understanding of the situation involving my current situation to have a better perspective of what I am saying as well.

HOW YOU SEE IT WILL DEPEND UPON WHO YOU ARE, AND AND WHAT YOU BELIEVE, AND WHO YOU FOLLOW.

part one

^

I lost my position at my church, and it was how leadership was looking at what I was doing and what others were thinking.

-

Its a matter of perception of how they view what they were seeing, and hearing and what they were thinking.

I have taken Biblical Counseling in my master program, and I have taken several courses on "HOW TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE" OR "HOW TO GET ALONG WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE." I didn't take a test on how well I learned how to do that, I must say.

I need the Tammy Moore's program on how to deal with personality within a business or setting of people. Boy, do I need that. She has offered to give me some help.

I need to buy the book: Everyday Mind Reading: Understanding What Other People Think and Feel by William Ickes, a psychologist who examines "empathic accuracy"--the mind's potential to intuit what other people are thinking and feeling.

He give an illustration of a person who wanted to sell his photos. This man was told that his photos had to appeal to all three groups: the seeing people, the feeling people, and the hearing people.

People have different ways of communicating their experiences - some express themselves in pictures, others talk about how things sound to them, and others speak about how things feel.

-

What people think about an unjust event:

-

Toward a better understanding of the phenomenology of experiences of injustice. This is an article about the cognitive processes which are elicited by the perception of an unjust event, or for that matter, any event that occurs in our life or that we see on TV, or in real life, be they just or unjust.


In reading my last e-mail, I was just amazed how I am perceived by some people and how one or two comments can change a person’s thinking about you altogether. I have never really bought into the policy that you need to act a certain way in order to get people to believe what you say (even if it’s not necessarily true!) Though I have wondered how people judge you for how you make a statement versus the substance.

HOW PEOPLE PROCESS IN THEIR MINDS

I wonder how people process in their minds how they are going to view an event.

For example:

• How they see the GOP presidential debate this week with Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, who are the others?
  
• THE BILL MOYER’S JOURNAL - THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE
  

This morning at 3 a.m. I was watching Bill Moyer’s Journal. Lobbies’ Role in the Middle East Peace. And a panel had the following to say about U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians

Three questions were asked

• What policy should the U.S. adopt towards Israel and the Palestinians?
• To what extent do you think lobbies like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Christians United For Israel (CUFI) influence government policy in the Middle East?
• How do candidates’ relationships with these lobbies and positions regarding Israel and the Palestinians affect your voting decisions?
  
• Footnote:
  Christians United for Israel is a national Christian grassroots movement focused on one issue: supporting Israel. Although we are less than two years old, we are spreading like a wildfire and are changing the nature of support for Israel in America. YOU can part of this national Christian grassroots movement. YOU can make a difference for Israel.
  
• Both movements have two different view points on Israel and the Palestinians. And both have different views how the United States should be involved in the peace talks.

Both of these groups have an opinion as how they view what the U.S.A is doing about the Middle East. On Monday I will post part two.

POINT:

• How you process in your mind what you believe about what you are hearing, or seeing, could be the truth or not the truth. On the public arena or in the church, people are judging on what they see and hear, comments you make, or actions you take, and they may be right or wrong how they process that in their minds.

-