Tom's Northwest Passages

At Christmas 2014 This is a rambling account of our year. Please feel free to stop reading at any point. There were pictures in the .pdf version. Ask me and I'll send you that version as well. On January 4, the day the family left after a wonderful Christmas time together here in Coupeville, we were in the airport ready to leave for San Jose del Cabo, when we noticed a hemorrhage in Michele’s eye. Checking it out, we discovered that it might be serious, and so took the shuttle back to the Island and had an emergency appointment with an ophthalmologist. Canceled the Mexico trip. Eventually, we found the cause, no surgery needed, the bleeding stopped, and eventually the floaters became less visible. Michele kept busy all year working as a volunteer with the Lighthouse Environmental Project, accountant for Habitat for Humanity, tax preparer for the AARP free tax prep service, and at our local food bank, Gifts from the ...

GENERAL: * ADLER, MORTIMER, HOW TO READ A BOOK *BENNIS, WARREN, ON BECOMING A LEADER *COVEY, STEPHEN, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE THEOLOGICAL: BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH, LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON *BRUNNER, EMIL, THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. TRUTH AS ENCOUNTER CALVIN, JOHN, INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION LADD, GEORGE E., A THEOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT *LEWIS, C.S., THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. SURPRISED BY JOY  LUTHER, MARTIN, THREE TREATISES NIEBUHR, H. RICHARD, CHRIST AND CULTURE PINNOCK, CLARK, THE OPENNESS OF GOD STOTT, JOHN R.W., BASIC CHRISTIANITY TALBOTT, THOMAS, THE INESCAPABLE LOVE OF GOD TILLICH, PAUL, THE WRITINGS OF PHILOSOPHICAL: BUBER, MARTIN, I AND THOU CARNELL, E.J., A PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION COPLESTON, FREDERICK, A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY HOLMES, ARTHUR, ALL TRUTH IS GOD’S TRUTH *PIRSIG, ROBERT, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE DEVOTIONAL/SPIRITUAL CLASSICS: *BIBLE INCLUDING TH...

                      REASONS FOR LEARNING NEW TESTAMENT GREEK           There are many reasons for learning New Testament or Koine Greek. Some people just don't have anything better to do with their time. Bored of TV sports, reality and game shows, and video games, they say to themselves, "Gee, I think I'll learn Greek." Now, I will grant you that this doesn't happen very often, and some of these people are institutionalized. The Nielsen ratings for New Testament Greek are also pretty low compared to Monday Night Football and Wheel of Fortune, the last time I checked.           Other people learn New Testament Greek in order to speak it conversationally. They are usually very disappointed to discover that it is a dead language. It used to be pretty popular around the time of Jesus. But now, not even Greeks speak it anymore, and New Testament Greeks are all dead.  ...

In a recent Koinonia blog ( http://www.koinoniablog.net/2014/05/tulip-is-so-20th-century-proof-is-a-modern-framework-of-dort-and-gods-irresistible-grace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FpQHu+%28Koinonia%29 ), Pastor Jeremy Bouwma, cited, but did not recommend, a revision of the traditional Calvinist T.U.L.I.P called P.R.O.O.F. If this stuff interests you, check out the link above. Let me offer my alternative to both of these, a version that emphasizes God's grace: Instead of Total Depravity      1. Sin - it affects all aspects of our humanity. We cannot turn to God without God’s saving GRACE. Instead of Unconditional Election      2. Salvation - it is entirely by God’s GRACE that we are saved and come to know God. We do not merit or earn salvation. Instead of Limited Atonement      3. Sacrifice - God in GRACE and mercy accepts the the death of Christ as a perfect and suff...