... to answer my children's profound questions!
After watching the 'balloon incident' on the internet, where a 6-year old boy was thought to be trapped in a homemade weather balloon sailing across the Colorado sky, Eliana and I were talking. The whole matter must have touched a deep chord in her because the questions started pouring out one after another:
-Is there something beyond space?
-How will we go from here to heaven? Will we just drive out into space until we get there?
-When someone dies, isn't it really God's fault because He didn't stop it?
-I think there will be some sorrow in heaven because we'll look back on our life and say, 'Uh, why did I do that?!'
We were thankful to hear a few hours later that the boy had been found safe, and hadn't been in the balloon after all. But I was also glad for the glimpse into the mind of my 8-year old. I didn't expect "the problem of evil" would be part of our conversation at this stage in her life, but it's truly a joy to engage such profound theological questions right here at home!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
why I need a graduate degree in theology ...
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
a million mistakes
Easton, who will be 16 months old next week, is an avid climber. Neither of the girls did much climbing, but Easton climbs everything in sight- couches, chairs, bikes, strollers, curbs, beds, bathtubs, ladders, you name it. One day he made it to the top bunk all by himself! Unfortunately, his legs are not quite long enough to handle the predicaments he gets himself into, and his head circumference is off the charts (think: topheavy!). This is not a good combo. Case in point: he can climb halfway into or out of the bathtub, and then he is quite stuck and has to resort to diving ...clunk! His poor head gets quite the beating every day!
His climbing adventures parallel mine with biblical languages, I'm afraid. Our professor was warning us last week that we know enough Hebrew at this point to be dangerous. The word looks familiar. We think we can guess at what it means. Perhaps we remember the passage in English well enough to fill in the blanks. We're pretty sure at some point we remember learning a grammatical rule that would explain what we're seeing in this verse. But, quite honestly, we're stumbling around in the dark. The rule turns out not to be a rule at all. The English verse we remember was a bad translation in the first place. Our guess is off the mark. It's not a word we've learned. The important thing, I suppose, at this stage is to remind ourselves constantly that we have a long way to go before our hunches can be trusted and we can speak confidently about Hebrew.
But we watch our professor skim a page of Hebrew script to find the particular verb he knows is there in order to illustrate his point. We hear the way he rattles off Scriptures verses which he has memorized ... in Hebrew. And we determine to keep chipping away so that someday we too will know God's Word as deeply as he does.
They say you have to make a million mistakes in order to learn a language. And if mistakes are a measure of learning, then I must be well on my way! Does a child need to fall a million times in order to learn how to walk? If so, then Easton's bruises tell me I'm in good company!
His climbing adventures parallel mine with biblical languages, I'm afraid. Our professor was warning us last week that we know enough Hebrew at this point to be dangerous. The word looks familiar. We think we can guess at what it means. Perhaps we remember the passage in English well enough to fill in the blanks. We're pretty sure at some point we remember learning a grammatical rule that would explain what we're seeing in this verse. But, quite honestly, we're stumbling around in the dark. The rule turns out not to be a rule at all. The English verse we remember was a bad translation in the first place. Our guess is off the mark. It's not a word we've learned. The important thing, I suppose, at this stage is to remind ourselves constantly that we have a long way to go before our hunches can be trusted and we can speak confidently about Hebrew.
But we watch our professor skim a page of Hebrew script to find the particular verb he knows is there in order to illustrate his point. We hear the way he rattles off Scriptures verses which he has memorized ... in Hebrew. And we determine to keep chipping away so that someday we too will know God's Word as deeply as he does.
They say you have to make a million mistakes in order to learn a language. And if mistakes are a measure of learning, then I must be well on my way! Does a child need to fall a million times in order to learn how to walk? If so, then Easton's bruises tell me I'm in good company!
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
hearing God
Tonight we had a great talk in our family meeting about prayer, how it's not just talking, but listening, too. Danny and I shared stories about times we've sensed God speaking to us. Eliana was totally absorbed in the conversation. Then we opened the book we're using for family devotions (Right Choices by Kenneth Taylor), and were all shocked to see that today's lesson was about the importance of prayer (could God be saying something ...?). Eliana supposed that if we really stopped to pray about our meeting and allow God to be in charge then we would likely start "spilling out confessions". Indeed!
Emma was very interested to hear how God answers prayer. She's been praying for a Filipino friend who is battling cancer. Emma has never met this woman, but prays almost daily "that You would come down and give Aunt Connie a miracle." We just heard a story this weekend about a 4-year-old boy with terminal cancer who was completely healed, so we know God is still in the miracle business! After our prayer Eliana reported that just then she sensed God speaking gently to her about something. Confessions followed shortly thereafter (as predicted!). There is nothing more precious than to see your own children open their hearts to the Lord!
Emma was very interested to hear how God answers prayer. She's been praying for a Filipino friend who is battling cancer. Emma has never met this woman, but prays almost daily "that You would come down and give Aunt Connie a miracle." We just heard a story this weekend about a 4-year-old boy with terminal cancer who was completely healed, so we know God is still in the miracle business! After our prayer Eliana reported that just then she sensed God speaking gently to her about something. Confessions followed shortly thereafter (as predicted!). There is nothing more precious than to see your own children open their hearts to the Lord!
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
what I'm reading in the carpool line ...
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
It's official! I'm a student member of the ETS. And the book reviews in their journal are just about the right length for the carpool line. :)
It's official! I'm a student member of the ETS. And the book reviews in their journal are just about the right length for the carpool line. :)
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
to do justly
For my Old Testament Prophets class I am reading selections from Abraham Heschel's classic work entitled "The Prophets". He explores the role of the prophet in ancient Israel and seeks to understand their experience of God. Here is some food for thought:
"The purpose of prophecy is to conquer callousness," Heschel says (1:17).
"The prophet is prepared for pain. One of the effects of his presence is to intensify the people's capacity for suffering, to rend the veil that lies between life and pain." (1:179) Later he explains, "Through suffering lies the way to restoration and to the implanting of His will in the hearts of regenerated people." (1:187)
"It is an act of evil to accept the state of evil as either inevitable or final. Others may be satisfied with improvement, the prophets insist upon redemption." (1:181) This reminds me of Walter Brueggeman's book, "The Prophetic Imagination" (another great read), which speaks of the prophet as articulating an alternative way of viewing reality, giving a God's-eye view of history to the masses who are blinded by the dominant worldview which says that things are just fine the way they are.
At the end of the first volume Heschel devotes an entire chapter to the concept of JUSTICE in the prophets, and his penetrating insights bear repeating. Heschel argues that justice is not simply the absense of oppression, it is preference for those who cannot defend themselves (1:201). Justice is to be sought and pursued (1:207). Justice is so important that we cannot really know God without practicing it (see Jer 9:23-24; 22:15-16. Heschel, 1:210-211).
But here's the thing that really grabbed me. Heschel argues that "justice is not important for its own sake" (1:216). It is not as if there is a principle entitled "JUSTICE" upon which the world is founded and which must be maintained. No, "there are no ultimate laws, no eternal ideas. The Lord alone is ultimate and eternal. The laws are His creation, and the moral ideas are not entities apart from Him; they are His concern." (1:217)
According to the prophets, Heschel says, justice is primarily relational. "An act of injustice is condemned, not because the law was broken, but because a person has been hurt" (1:216). Ultimately, the relationship affected is that between people and God.
Gone is the idea of justice for its own sake. We "do justly" (Micah 6:8) not because it's the "right" thing to do in an abstract sense, but because God requires it of us, and we desire to be in "right" relationship with Him.
"The purpose of prophecy is to conquer callousness," Heschel says (1:17).
"The prophet is prepared for pain. One of the effects of his presence is to intensify the people's capacity for suffering, to rend the veil that lies between life and pain." (1:179) Later he explains, "Through suffering lies the way to restoration and to the implanting of His will in the hearts of regenerated people." (1:187)
"It is an act of evil to accept the state of evil as either inevitable or final. Others may be satisfied with improvement, the prophets insist upon redemption." (1:181) This reminds me of Walter Brueggeman's book, "The Prophetic Imagination" (another great read), which speaks of the prophet as articulating an alternative way of viewing reality, giving a God's-eye view of history to the masses who are blinded by the dominant worldview which says that things are just fine the way they are.
At the end of the first volume Heschel devotes an entire chapter to the concept of JUSTICE in the prophets, and his penetrating insights bear repeating. Heschel argues that justice is not simply the absense of oppression, it is preference for those who cannot defend themselves (1:201). Justice is to be sought and pursued (1:207). Justice is so important that we cannot really know God without practicing it (see Jer 9:23-24; 22:15-16. Heschel, 1:210-211).
But here's the thing that really grabbed me. Heschel argues that "justice is not important for its own sake" (1:216). It is not as if there is a principle entitled "JUSTICE" upon which the world is founded and which must be maintained. No, "there are no ultimate laws, no eternal ideas. The Lord alone is ultimate and eternal. The laws are His creation, and the moral ideas are not entities apart from Him; they are His concern." (1:217)
According to the prophets, Heschel says, justice is primarily relational. "An act of injustice is condemned, not because the law was broken, but because a person has been hurt" (1:216). Ultimately, the relationship affected is that between people and God.
Gone is the idea of justice for its own sake. We "do justly" (Micah 6:8) not because it's the "right" thing to do in an abstract sense, but because God requires it of us, and we desire to be in "right" relationship with Him.
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
well, well, well
What I'm about to write is not a startling new insight in the world of biblical studies. Scholars have long noticed it. But I'm not sure the average Bible reader appreciates how radical and suggestive Jesus is being in John 4. We call the story, "The Woman at the Well", but does it jog our memory? This is not the first biblical story where a man meets a woman at a well. It's not the second either. And both Jesus and John leave us plenty of clues to alert us to the fact that they have these earlier episodes in mind.
Genesis 24 - A man (Abraham's servant) on a long journey outside the promised land stops to rest at a well. A woman (Rebekah) comes to draw water. He asks her for a drink. Her offer is the grounds for a marriage proposal to his master (Isaac).
Exodus 2 - A man (Moses) on a long journey far from home sits down by a well. He helps some girls by watering their flocks. His kindness spawns a marriage proposal (Zipporah).
John 4 - Jesus, tired from a long journey, sits down by a well. A woman comes and he asks for a drink. She is shocked. (And we should be, too!) He offers her living water. Is this a marriage proposal? She may suspect it, because she denies having a husband.
Craig Keener (whose commentary is quite good once you make it past the 400-page introduction!) notes the possibility that we are to see a parallel here: “The Son had pursued this woman for the Father, perhaps as Abraham’s servant pursued Rebekah for his master”, implying that she is His bride (619). The story has already included direct references to Jacob, one of the patriarchs. It is his well where the incident takes place. Keener suggests, "The allusion to the finding of matriarchs for Israel may invite the reader to contemplate the ultimate identity of this Samaritan woman whom God is seeking, not on the basis of her past but on the basis of God’s calling: she will become foundational to a new community of faith and obedience.” (586)
This should shock us as readers. The Samaritan woman is a poor parallel to virgin Rebekah. She's been through 5 marriages already and is trying out a 6th. But Jesus offers her living water. And in doing so He makes a loud statement to His disciples that His kingdom will be built by sinners and outcasts -- those who have come to grips with their desperate need for His life-giving presence, not by the religious elite -- those who think they have it all. Well, well, well ...
Genesis 24 - A man (Abraham's servant) on a long journey outside the promised land stops to rest at a well. A woman (Rebekah) comes to draw water. He asks her for a drink. Her offer is the grounds for a marriage proposal to his master (Isaac).
Exodus 2 - A man (Moses) on a long journey far from home sits down by a well. He helps some girls by watering their flocks. His kindness spawns a marriage proposal (Zipporah).
John 4 - Jesus, tired from a long journey, sits down by a well. A woman comes and he asks for a drink. She is shocked. (And we should be, too!) He offers her living water. Is this a marriage proposal? She may suspect it, because she denies having a husband.
Craig Keener (whose commentary is quite good once you make it past the 400-page introduction!) notes the possibility that we are to see a parallel here: “The Son had pursued this woman for the Father, perhaps as Abraham’s servant pursued Rebekah for his master”, implying that she is His bride (619). The story has already included direct references to Jacob, one of the patriarchs. It is his well where the incident takes place. Keener suggests, "The allusion to the finding of matriarchs for Israel may invite the reader to contemplate the ultimate identity of this Samaritan woman whom God is seeking, not on the basis of her past but on the basis of God’s calling: she will become foundational to a new community of faith and obedience.” (586)
This should shock us as readers. The Samaritan woman is a poor parallel to virgin Rebekah. She's been through 5 marriages already and is trying out a 6th. But Jesus offers her living water. And in doing so He makes a loud statement to His disciples that His kingdom will be built by sinners and outcasts -- those who have come to grips with their desperate need for His life-giving presence, not by the religious elite -- those who think they have it all. Well, well, well ...
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
family meeting
We're trying something new at our house. And ... WOW ... is it working!
Every Sunday evening we gather in the living room for a "Family Meeting". First we check last week's list of what each of the girls was working on (e.g. 'obeying right away', 'not spitting', 'putting toothpaste away after brushing', etc). Danny asks the girls how they did and we cross off anything that is no longer an issue. We talk about strategies for improvement. We each share something positive we noticed about each other. Then we spend time asking each of the girls if there has been anything on their mind that they want to talk about. We have been totally amazed at what comes out of their mouths! We've witnessed a literal outpouring of confession, blessings, heartfelt concerns, and general family bonding.
At our first meeting (about a month ago), Eliana asked if we could please set aside a few minutes each week for Mom to share about what she's learning at school. What fun! Every week she's the first to remind me to share. It's a wonderful test of how well I've understood what I'm reading and studying to have to explain it to an 8-year-old! I'm forced to make my comments concise, simple, and interesting ... or risk being axxed from our weekly agenda.
I'll take the challenge - any intersection between my two worlds is most welcome!
Every Sunday evening we gather in the living room for a "Family Meeting". First we check last week's list of what each of the girls was working on (e.g. 'obeying right away', 'not spitting', 'putting toothpaste away after brushing', etc). Danny asks the girls how they did and we cross off anything that is no longer an issue. We talk about strategies for improvement. We each share something positive we noticed about each other. Then we spend time asking each of the girls if there has been anything on their mind that they want to talk about. We have been totally amazed at what comes out of their mouths! We've witnessed a literal outpouring of confession, blessings, heartfelt concerns, and general family bonding.
At our first meeting (about a month ago), Eliana asked if we could please set aside a few minutes each week for Mom to share about what she's learning at school. What fun! Every week she's the first to remind me to share. It's a wonderful test of how well I've understood what I'm reading and studying to have to explain it to an 8-year-old! I'm forced to make my comments concise, simple, and interesting ... or risk being axxed from our weekly agenda.
I'll take the challenge - any intersection between my two worlds is most welcome!
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
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