Mysterious China: entry #1: The Surrogate Ring

This is a photo of a mountain just outside the hotel doors where I was staying in Beilun. On top of the mountain is a Buddhist Temple; inscribed in the side of the mountain is a Chinese character painted red. Mark, the guy I was working with in China, said that they hold a pork barbecue for all the ex-patriots in the city of Beilun, many of whom have moved to China at the request of their employers. They are from around the world: Australia, Germany, Finland, America, Brazil, etc.

Friday, February 15, 2008: 8:45 am e.s.t.

Well, I am finally on the plane getting ready to start the first leg of my trip to China. On the way here my stomach suddenly dropped when I realized that I had left my ring in the closet. I suppose if I hadn't removed it then I never would have left it, but this way at least I can't accidentally leave it in China. But I do have a plan, when I get into Ningbo I am going to buy a surrogate ring to wear while I am there. I love you very much Melissa and I will think of you and the boys often.

Mysterious China: Introduction

I haven't posted in quite some time, and as some of you know, I have been in China for about 10 days. Unfortunately I returned with pneumonia, and perhaps even more unfortunately, the ISPs through which I attempted to access my blog (and any blog server for that matter) would not allow them to be viewed.

So I am finally back, and through 3 or 4 days of recovery from pneumonia and jet lag, I am now ready to describe my trip by posting a series of journal entries I made while I was in China. The initial intention of these entries was not for this blog, but rather, they were so my wife and boys could look back at them and read what I was thinking at a particular time during my absence, and for that reason I recorded my words under what would have been the Eastern Standard Time stamp, so they could recall what they might have been doing at that very time.

I hope everyone reading these entries enjoys the exposure I had to Chinese people and culture as much as I did.

Law & Gospel Distinctions

Law & Gospel

Imperatives & Indicatives

How we live & What we believe

What we are to do & What has been done on our behalf

As I have listened to The White Horse Inn over the past several years, this subject has often been the topic of conversation and I have benefited greatly from the discussions they have recorded for the teaching and edification of the church, so I can't take any credit for the list above which contains some ways of describing the distinctions between the Law and the Gospel.

The confusion of these two categories has caused and will cause many Christians to despair in their sanctification; constantly trying to gain favor with a God who is never pleased with their performance. Some times pastors, with the good intention of provoking his sheep to the good works to which they were called, use the Law to help them to test whether or not they are on God's "good side"; whether or not they are depleting the "rewards" column in their journey of sanctification. Certainly, the Law is to guide us and tell us how to live, but whenever anyone adds anything you must do to the gospel besides belief, then this confusion has taken place. We must constantly be reminded that, though the Law of God is good and perfect and true, there is noting in it that gives us the power to obey it; the only power there is for Christians to obey the Law of God is the power of the gospel; we all know that we are justified by the power in the proclamation of the gospel, but we too soon forget that the power God uses to sanctify us does not come from the Law but from the very same place from which the power He uses to justify us...the good news that Christ came to save sinners from the wrath of God by His perfect obedience of the Law and His substitutionary death on the cross.

Simply Amazing Art

Check out the photos of this amazing art. I received these in an email from my brother.