Making Life Work

From Ronald L. Dart's Program Notes, by Allie Dart  

    I don’t consider Jewish beliefs to be the norm for Christians, but the original Gospel accounts were written in such a way as to be understandable to Jews and practitioners of Judaism. Judaism is not the authority on what Christians should do and how they should understand the Bible. Make no mistake, the Bible is the sole authority. Since the Bible is our sole authority, it is all the more important that we should be careful interpreting what we are reading.

    A point was made in the Christian Origins series to keep in mind, when we read the Bible, that we’re reading someone else’s mail. And because of that, we often make mistakes in understanding what we are reading. This CD series...

By: Ronald L. Dart

    The story of the Bible begins and ends with a tree. In the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life held a central place. After the expulsion of man from the garden, we don’t hear of the tree again until the last book of the Bible.¹ There, man is in a very different environment called, "The paradise of God."² Once again the Tree of Life is central. But now there is not one tree of life, but twelve. They are on both sides of the river of life and they bear twelve kinds of fruit. Moreover, the leaves of the tree are for the healing of all people.³ It is those who do God’s commandments who have a right to the Tree of Life, and the permission to enter the City of God.⁴

By: Lenny Cacchio

    Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).  Of course it isn’t.  If it were, we wouldn’t have among other things a protracted and painful presidential election campaign that further exposes the fault lines in our national landscape.

    No candidate is the perfect combination of the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, and the fighting spirit of David.  Nor should we expect such.  The best we can hope for is a government that provides us with security, some basic services, and fair adjudication of laws while not infringing upon our freedom to pursue our God-given purpose and talents.

    Sadly, not everyone sees it that way.  Some theories of government emphasize redistribution of wealth.  Some...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    A few weeks ago in this column I wrote about Judas Iscariot.  I called him an enigma.  How could anyone, having seen the miracles of Jesus and hearing his words, betray the Son of God to the children of men?

    Shortly after that column made the rounds, Barbara, a friend from college days, sent me a note that opened some insights that reveal not only an insight into his motives, but also a warning to those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus today.  Wrote Barb:

    I don’t find it so unfathomable that he was caught up by his political goal to help restore Israel to its former glory.  He was trying to coerce Jesus to take over to use His powers, if pushed far enough by the Romans.  He never expected Him...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    Brace yourself.  Someday you’ll be in the Kingdom of God, and you’ll be shocked who you’ll see there.  Maybe it will be a preacher who kicked you out of his church and slandered you in front of the congregation.

    Maybe it will be a boss who prodded and drove you mercilessly in the name of greater profits and efficiency.

    Maybe it will be the petty thief who ran off with your purse and peace of mind, but who repented in prison and found God behind bars.

    Or maybe it will be someone you slandered or gossiped about, or deceived in a business deal.  Maybe it will be a case where you are the wrong-er rather than the wrong-ee.

    We know that these scenarios are real ones; there will be people...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    In a recent article about George Schultz National Review’s  Jay Nordingler describes a snippet of his interview with this former Secretary of State:

    "At Schultz’s side is an illuminated globe, and this prompts me to ask him about a test he would give to new U.S. Ambassadors.  ‘They’d been through all kinds of exams and so on – confirmation – and I’d say to them, "Well, there’s just one more test you have to pass. … You have to walk over to that globe and demonstrate to me that you can identify your country."  And, inevitably, they would point to the country to which they had been assigned’

    "The correct answer of, of course, was the United States – that was their country.  And Schultz’s moral was, ‘Never...