Archive for August, 2007

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Recently, I was reading one of my friend’s blogs. She was saying that all the choices she has made throughout her life have brought knowledge. She went on to say that while she knows she shouldn’t have done some of the things she did, she would be reluctant to trade in the knowledge she has obtained for ignorance. That got me thinking. Should we be pursuing knowledge or wisdom? Knowledge is the condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association, and wisdom is having the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships. Basically knowledge is having the facts, and wisdom is knowing how to apply those facts. Sometimes, we gain knowledge through our mistakes. No matter what you want, you can’t go back and get rid of this knowledge, but you can gain wisdom from it. We also gain knowledge through study and reading. There is nothing wrong with acquiring this knowledge, as long as it is leading toward wisdom. Ecclesiastes 12:12 says “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.” I heard this as an excuse not to study in college, but I really think it is saying is knowledge should not be our end goal. It should be the starting point of a journey toward wisdom. I think a lot of times we spend so much time on the gathering of facts, that we forget to apply them. We read countless books, blogs, articles…and we forget to actually use the knowledge we have gained from these sources to serve our Father. I can quote countless scriptures; name all the judges, apostles, plagues…whatever, but what have I really gained from this knowledge? It is not until I use that knowledge to discern truth that it becomes wisdom. It’s not until I act on it that it becomes faith. And, sometimes, in the process of applying this knowledge, we find out that what we thought we had all figured out is something completely different. This is from a book of prayers by Walter Bruggemann.

Just when we imagine that we have you figured out
you show up working the other side of the street
in your frightening freedom.
You meet us behind and before
as promise and as threat,
and we are overmatched whenever we sit to deal with you.
So we bid you to pay less vigorous attention to us
and we bid you to give us the freedom and courage
that we may withstand you
in ways that are proper to you and to us.
We pray in the name of the utterly humble One
whom you therefore exalted.
Give us wisdom and freedom
that we may sense the ways in which we may best live in this world
where the last become first and the first become last. Amen.

Please pray for our team that as we seek wisdom, we will have the courage and freedom to go where that wisdom leads us.

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the word became flesh

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

In 1415, John Hus- a Czech religious thinker, philosopher, and master at the University of Prague in Bohemia- having been brought before the Council of Constance, was tried on the matter of heresy, convicted and subsequently burned at the stake. Four years before, Hus had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of insubordination. Hus’ supposed “crimes” are more detailed than can be fully explained here. However, his main “offenses” centered on his public condemnation of what he saw as unscriptural teachings and egregious corruption of authority and power in the Church and on his refusal to comply with orders of the Pope.

Hus was born a peasant but proved to be a scholar. He advanced in training, became a preacher in Prague’s Bethlehem Chapel and later chaplain to the king and president of the University of Prague. In his preaching, Hus followed in the example of John Wycliffe- an English theologian who championed having the Bible written and preached in the native languages of the people and not in some distant tongue, unintelligible to the common layperson. Wycliffe, Hus and later Martin Luther in Germany wanted to bring God’s Holy Scriptures back to the forefront of the teachings and practices of the Church. They believed God’s Word was something for all of mankind to be able to read and hear- for each person to have the opportunity to try to understand it with their own eyes and ears and to reason using their own mind, thus ensuring the “priesthood of all believers” and better preventing political abuse of Biblical authority.

Today, there are more than 2,200 languages in which you find the Bible translated and many more in which it is preached. We can thank such persons as Wycliffe, Hus and Luther for their significant contributions toward this accomplishment.

With the Bible now available in so many of the tongues of mankind, we might begin to ask, “What is there for us to do next in order to share the Scriptures?” Answer: Share the Scriptures in a way so that they can be understood. Share the Scriptures in a way that is alive. Share the Scriptures in a way that communicates the Divine through the human.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We have the Scriptures in many words, in many tongues. Let us now share the Scriptures in the example of Christ, who in a form like ours encouraged, inspired, forgave, taught and served- doing all these things and more “in the flesh” with actions that go beyond mere words!

Joshua

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NEWS FLASH: Dr. Pepper Found in Olomouc Train Station Convenience Store

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

No, your eyes did not deceive you, a few 2-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper were found in a convenience store in Olomouc’s main train station. I repeat, Dr. Pepper has been found in Olomouc!

The bottles were purchased with glee, cleaning out the convenience store’s supply, and consumed in a matter of days.

Fluke, or forecast of things to come? Time will tell. Members of Team Olomouc wait in eager anticipation for a new shipment of the beverage-world’s sweet physician. Team scout, Christie Shockley (ironically a Dr. Pepper hater), will be surveying the train station early Monday morning for any signs of syrupy goodness.

Check back here for the latest.

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