Did Jesus Always Know Right from Wrong?

Hey all,

Recently a friend of mine asked my opinion about Isaiah 7:14-16.  The text of verse 16, “But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” seems to indicate that there was indeed a time before Jesus was morally accountable.  Here are my thoughts:

My reading, in contrary to Matthew Henry et al, is that the context refers to the son born of the virgin, not to Isaiah’s son Shear-Jabesh, mentioned in verse 3. 

My friend tells me that some commentaries have said that v 16 was originally written “a boy” not “the boy”, but like he mentioned, every translation/version I’ve looked at including the King James says “the boy”.

 So, is “the boy” a more accurate translation than “a boy”?  It completely changes the meaning of the passage.

If the accurate translation is the commonly used “the boy”, judging by the context then there was a period when the child born of the virgin (Immanuel, the Messiah, Jesus) did not know right from wrong. 

I don’t see any problem with this, for a couple of reasons.  First, Jesus was fully human as well as fully God.  Brennan ( my 3 month-old) certainly doesn’t know right from wrong, and Luke (my three-year-old) doesn’t fully understand it either.  Second, we know that Jesus voluntarily limited Himself (”who touched Me?” to the woman with a hemorrhage, “Only the Father knows the day and the hour”, etc), so perhaps He limited that phase of His development.

Also, the first we hear of Him ministering in any capacity is at the age of 12, which is the Jewish age of accountability  (correct me if I’m wrong).

That’s my take on the issue.  Readers, what do you think?

Lo, I Have Returned!

Hi, all!  Sorry I’ve been away for so long, but life has been messy recently.  First, my position was downsized, so I had to find a job and was off work for a week.  You might think that would give me plenty of time to write.  You would be wrong.  See, I had a small, adorable, pooping and puking machine home with me that loves to sleep at the babysitter’s but apparently believes it is his duty and God-given right to not sleep more than 15 minutes at a time at home.  So that took a lot of time.  Good news is, he has put on several pounds and now is at least on the growth chart for his age, at the 25th percentile.

I actually had a feeling of peace about the whole job thing.  For what seems like the first time in my life, I wasn’t freaking out about not having a job.  I knew God was going to handle things, and sure enough, He did.  I am now GM Certified Internet Manager for Noble Chevrolet-Cadillac (formerly Jack De) in Kendallville, IN.  I’m very excited about the chance to build an Internet Department, and in some ways it feels like I’ve come home (I worked here for nearly three years before the other-place-that-shall-remain-nameless-not-that-I’m-bitter-or-anything).

So things are going pretty well right now.

By the way, we had an earthquake this morning.

No joke, there was a 5.4 Richter Scale earthquake that started in Illinois that we felt in Northeast Indiana.  Pretty crazy.  We were awake because Brennan was crying so we felt it shake the house.  Wild!

I will try to keep this blog much more updated than I have.  Sorry for being gone so long, and thanks for staying with me!

My New Blog!!

Dear Readers:

I would like to invite you to check out my new blog, www.thegreenerchristian.com!  From the “About Me” page:

“I started this blog as a way to chronicle my journey into a more sustainable lifestyle, because I believe that as a Christian, I have a responsibility to be a good steward of the Creation that God has entrusted to us. I will be sharing stories, tips, recipes, photos, news items, and calls to action.”

I’m very excited about this new adventure!  I will still maintain this blog for personal news, family announcements, random stuff, and theological discussions that don’t pertain to the green lifestyle, but I hope that you’ll join me in my new endeavor!

Thanks for being a loyal reader, and God bless!

Please Pray

Hey all,

I just got a phone call.  My Grandpa Smith passed away this morning.  Please pray for the family.

Thanks,

Todd

Today’s Pictures

Here are some pictures my lovely wife, Bethany, sent me today.

The above picture is our family.  Apparently Luke (my almost-three-year-old) got out the modeling clay today.  Here is a direct quote of his description of the sculptures:

“My big daddy, my momma with a flower, my luke with a cap hat, and my little tiny brother”.

Absolutely priceless!!

Now, our next picture was taken by me.  Those of you who know me know that I have an odd sense of humor.  Keeping that in mind, I have captioned the next picture, “They Sure Start Young”.

Ha ha!  Isn’t that terrible?!

Daddy, I Want Shrek!!

A couple of weeks ago, Luke and I went to the grocery to give Mommy a break (from both  shopping and us).  I’m not usually allowed to go grocery shopping because I always blow the budget with a bunch of junk food or other stuff that wasn’t on the list (”But honey, they had frozen pizza on sale, 10 for $20!!).  The irony of all this is that I am the one that originally, after much math and price checking at a couple of different stores, set the budget amount.  Oh well.

Anyway,  I grabbed some Spaghetti O’s to throw in the cart for lunch for Luke some day that week, and he told me I grabbed the wrong ones.  “Daddy, I want Shrek ‘Speggy O’s’!”

You could have knocked me over with feather.  Bethany had told me that he always asked for stuff with Shrek or Lightning McQueen (from the Disney/Pixar movie “Cars”) on it, but it never really sank in until he asked me for it.

He is not even three years old, and he’s asking for food with a cartoon character on the label?!

He doesn’t watch network, cable, or satellite TV (because we don’t have it), so he never sees ads at home (he watches a little bit at grandma’s).  But seeing his favorite characters on food labels is enough for him to want that particular can, even though it is twice the price of the regular can that has the same stuff in it.

I am appalled, to say the least.

I am a big fan of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.  They are an organization that has helped open my eyes to the fact that marketing is now aimed at children.  I don’t want my boys to become infected with the “gotta have more stuff” bug.***

I highly recommend joining the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, and taking action against companies that market to children.  The things they are marketing are NOT consistent with the values that I hold dear, and I’m putting a stop to it.

Here are some other great resources about marketing in general and how it affects us:

Article on child marketing on Get Rich Slowly

Article about general marketing on Get Rich Slowly

So now I pose the question to you readers:

If you have children, are you concerned about the effects of marketing on them?  Why or why not?

If you don’t have children, are you concerned about the effects of marketing in general?  If you are planning to have kids, will you limit their exposure to marketing?  Why or why not?

I look forward to your thoughts!

***I am not immune to this bug.  I wanted the nursery theme for our newborn, Brennan, to be  Classic Pooh.  Sigh.

The Economic “Stimulus” Package

Well, the so-called “Economic Stimulus Package” has passed, which means that Americans will receive a tax rebate check this summer.  Here is a link to a really good article by Clark Howard that explains it well.

Although it’s nice to get “free” money, it’s not really free.  To pay for this, the Federal government apparently is going to issue treasuries, which are basically loans to the government (kind of like a very large CD).  So, the next generation essentially gets stuck with the bill.

I agree with Clark that this is not a good idea, for two reasons:  one, as previously mentioned, it’s not a good long-term solution like a revamped tax system would be.  Two, it encourages more consumer spending on luxury and semi-luxury goods.  I, for one, will be using mine for debt paydown or savings.

Some of you know that I am currently (along with my lovely wife, Bethany) on a crusade to be debt-free by the time I’m 40 years old (I’m 29 now).  Far-fetched?  Sure.  But I know of people who have done it, who had a ton more debt than we do.

Here are some of the personal finance blogs I read daily:

Saving Freak

Joe Sangl

GetRichSlowly

All are fantastic resources with information on how to take control of your finances.

What A Weekend

Aren’t weekends supposed to be restful?

Yesterday was not.

My father-in-law Roger and I built a nice doghouse for Max (he actually did most of the work; I just kind of stood there and watched and felt kind of useless).  My good friend Brett and his family had offered to take him for a few months until we found him a home or trained him to leave the baby alone, but (as I warned them) Max proved to be a handful, and with three kids (one of whom is not yet three, and Max doesn’t do well with small children) it just wasn’t working.  So outside he goes.  We have insulated his house with plenty of straw inside and out, and once he is in there it will be warmer than inside our house.  :)  So we were outside in the cold until 8pm or so getting that ready.  Max’s first night outside will be tonight.  I hope he does ok.

We’ve also had a terrible skunk smell in the baby’s room, and a little lesser in our room, late at night for the last two nights.  I really hope the skunk is not in our crawl space.  I’m thinking its under our back porch, so we need to get it out before Max comes home.  That could be bad.

Oh well, it could be worse.  The skunk could be under my bed. 

Warnings About Social Networking Sites

Hey gang,

Many of you use social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, etc.  Well, I have long maintained (as one who works in the Information Technology field) that, although useful, these sites can be very dangerous.

The danger lies not only in “predators” who seek to lure children and teenagers to their homes for kidnapping or other nefarious schemes, but there are also dangers from hackers.

“Hackers?  How can hackers do anything on these sites?”, I can almost hear some of you saying.

Well, read this article from WebSense Security Labs.  Seems that hackers are posing as third-party application developers for these sites and hiding malicious payloads in these apps.  You click on the link for the app, and voilà: your computer is infected!  This particular baddy is a “keylogger” which records your keystrokes and sends the information back to the “home” computer (the pc the hacker is using).  So, if you enter your bank account info, guess what?  The hacker now has your bank account info.

So, social networking sites are NOT innocent, and great caution needs to be exercised while using them.  Of course, the sites do have their own security team and tools, but you can’t depend on someone else to keep you safe on the web.  Don’t open messages from  people you don’t know (including “friend requests”), try to avoid installing third-party applications, and basically use common sense!  That goes for the rest of the Web, too!

Sadness

Well.

Its been a sad couple of days.  When Brennan arrived, we gave Max (our dog) one chance to stay.  He blew it.  Not that he was trying to hurt Brennan, but he wanted to play and we just can’t take the chance that something will happen.  So he has to go.

A friend of ours took Max  for a few days to try it out.  Unfortunately its not working out, so we are still looking for a home for Max.  I am just heartbroken to give up my dog, but of course my son comes first.

If anyone knows someone who might want a great dog, please let me know!