the gate

Just a couple of tourists visiting one of the world’s seven wonders.

Why buy a minivan when you already have a motorcycle?

And who needs a truck when you can use a motorcycle?

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I was reading this the other day and I thought I should share this wonderful and deep thought. John Calvin said something powerful in reguards to this passage in Galations 2:15-16.

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

John Calvin said that “either nothing or all must be ascribed to faith or works.”

In other words it cannot be part faith and works. Its either all of works and not faith or its all by faith and not works that justifies us.

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Click the blue headline for the full story

It’s Like Rain For The Mind
There is a saying among Westerners here that is so well known it is an abbreviation — T-i-i — “This is India.” It is the brief answer to every mystery that defies what you have always taken for granted and for what you have always understood to be the base line of reason and logic. Everything in India is an illusion to the Western mind…

They call it Mellow Yellow?
A hardline Hindu organization, known for its opposition to “corrupting” Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow’s urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India…

No kissing please, we are Indians
Even marriage doesn’t give you the licence to smooch. A young, married couple were picked up by police allegedly for kissing near a railway station. An Israeli couple was fined $22 by a court for kissing after getting married in a Hindu ceremony in Rajasthan…

Corrupt India Court 466 Years Behind Schedule
The High Court in New Delhi is so behind in its work that it could take up to 466 years to clear the enormous backlog, the court’s chief justice said…

India: Divorce by text messaging and e-mail on the rise among Muslim men
Most of the SMS’ and e-mails had husbands complaining along predictable lines. They did not find the wife “beautiful enough”, “compatible enough” or of having brought “adequate dowry”…

India’s case of Obama envy
Its newspapers ask why India can’t have its own Barack Obama, why a land so diverse can’t elect a Muslim or untouchable-caste prime minister. Many Indians watched Obama’s Inaugural Address, fully rapt, even though a good number have never watched an Indian leader’s speech in entirety…

India Remains Among Fastest Growing Economies In World
India will remain one of the fastest growing economies in the world over 2008-09 to 2010-11…

India most attractive stock market for asset allocation
“In terms of countries, our top pick is India. In our view, the risk and reward trade-off for India is now much improved. Besides, recent events have significantly eased concerns such as high valuations, bullish earnings forecasts, among others,” Macquarie Research said in a report…

India’s ‘informal’ workers help it defy global crisis
DEEP inside one of Delhi’s packed slums Kalimuddin runs a jeans factory the size of a bedroom. Despite the space constraints his 10 employees work 12 to 16 hours a day and churn out 6000 pairs of jeans a month…

India asks Pakistan to unveil full conspiracy
A day after Pakistan admitted to the role of its citizens in the Mumbai atrocity, India Friday asked Islamabad to unveil the full conspiracy and take ‘credible action’ against the perpetrators and the infrastructure of terrorism in its territory…

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Mona and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire yesterday. We liked it, but it was heartbreaking to be reminded of the living conditions for so many in India.

There’s some controversy swirling around the movie regarding several aspects. One that is particularly unsettling for me regards the remuneration for some of the kids in it.

The two youngest stars in the movie are still living in the slums. They will receive “a substantial sum of money…when they turn 18, but only if they stay in school.” Currently, the swarming press has so disrupted their school, these 8-year-olds have been forced to stay away from school. “The children’s parents told reporters they felt they were exploited and underpaid for their work.” (see ‘Slumdog’ director defends pay arrangement for child actors - CNN International)

“The children received considerably less than the poor Afghan child stars of The Kite Runner, who embarrassed their Hollywood producers when they disclosed that they had been paid £9,000.” (The Telegraph)

Here’s some of the specifics regarding one of the kids. “Living farther along the sludge-coated tracks is Azharuddin Ismail, who played the young brother of the film’s main character. His family’s illegal shanty was recently demolished, and his father is suffering from tuberculosis. They live under a tarp. Much of his salary from the film has been spent on his father’s treatment and feeding his family, he said.” (The Shadow of ‘Slumdog’s’ Success - The Washington Post)

According to The Washington Post, “Despite its recent economic growth, India still has the largest number of malnourished children younger than 5 in the world — a total estimated by the United Nations at 57 million — along with some of the largest slums.”

So here’s the thing — I think it is good for the kids and their families that some of the money is put into a trust and used as motivation for them to stay in school. However, I’m disturbed by the fact that they still have to live in the slum, and are not somehow being helped to protect them from the press, which is creating more problems for them. I can totally understand the parents saying they feel they’ve been exploited.

What do you think? And do you think it is a good thing that the press is reporting all of this?

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There is a passage of scripture that lately will not let my mind go. I think about it and meditate on it throughout the day even if I don’t mean to. This passage comforts and gives me pause about the glorious God we serve. Focus on this portion of God’s word and let it deepen your thoughts of God.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has first given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen

ROMANS 11:33-36

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The person that claims to be more spiritual, isn’t. Such a claim, in fact, reveals a real lack of understanding of the gospel.

D.A. Carson writes in The Cross and Christian Ministry:

What it means to be “spiritual” is profoundly tied to the cross, and to nothing else. More precisely, to be spiritual, in this passage [1 Corinthians 2:6-16], is to enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit—and this means understanding and appropriating the message of the cross, “God’s secret wisdom.” For Paul, being spiritual does not lead to one-upmanship, to inner circles of specially endowed saints, to spiritual elitism. In this passage there is only one fundamental division in the human race. On the one side are those without the Spirit, who are in consequence culpably ignorant of the message of the crucified Messiah; on the other side are those with the Spirit, who in consequence grasp the message of the cross. (p. 62)

The same dividing line runs between this representative Pharisee (the unspiritual), and this representative tax collector (the spiritual).

The genuinely spiritual person is humbled by the message of the cross, and will not look down on others.

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I found this encouraging. Gallup is reporting that 58% of Americans disapprove of the executive order to fund overseas family-planning groups that provide abortions or offer abortion counseling. Only 35% approve. Click the link to read more.

(HT: moralaccountability.com)

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i must admit, proverbs 30 turned out to be a bit enigmatic for me.  we read it last night at house church and it’s a rough transition from solomon’s practical advice for living for 29 chapters to the content of chapter 30.

however, in the beginning of chapter 30 is something really cool, a beautiful prayer that i have been mulling on some more today.

proverbs 30: 7-9  two things i asked of You, do not refuse me before I die: keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that i not be full and deny You and say, “who is the Lord?” or that i not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.

how many times have you seen the noses of the rich and famous held high in the air, advocates for everything under the sun except that which relates to God?  john mayer says on his recent live album that he made things happen for himself, and then follows it with am emphatic repetition; “FOR MYSELF“.  how quickly our arrogance and ego can push God out of the picture.

then the other end of the spectrum yields countless men and women whose parents try to tell them about God, yet they end up in lives of crime to get out of the ghetto.  think jay-z, think super bowl winner santonio holmes who was a drug dealer not so long ago.

the author stops short of condoning theft, yet he acknowledges it.  it happens, people buckle under the pressure of financial issues and other things and make decisions that way fall short of moral, ethical and/or godly.  what would you do if you were about to sit your children down to a dinner that does not exist?  the question is clearly rhetorical because i know you don’t want to answer that, nor do i.  we can talk about how we would trust God, but would be able to follow through?  (careful what you say, the rooster may crow on you!).  i can only say that i will try to be obedient, and i pray that we all will stand firm if it comes to that.

i find great comfort in this prayer.  i have often asked God to spare me from poverty, perhaps out of selfishness but also out of a fear of how i would handle it.  and i have also asked him to spare me from riches since i know the tendencies of my heart to want to take credit for God’s blessings!

in the spirit of wanting to grow as people of prayer, this is a prayer that i will pray for myself and my family today.

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