WILDERNESS WANDERING’S

As the Democratic convention ended last evening, you may have come to the decision of who to vote for this November for President of the United States.  On the other hand, maybe you are going to wait until the end of next week for the Republican Convention before you make up your mind.  Either way, if you consider yourself a conservative Christian, no matter what you have been thinking of thus far, you should keep some core principals in mind. 

Just because your family is historically Republican or Democrat, certainly does not mean that you should or cannot vote for some one else of another party that you believe to be more qualified.  Unfortunately, you, nor I, nor anyone, will ever completely agree with everything that a particular candidate believes in.  However, you should never vote for someone just because you have always voted a particular party.  You should always vote for the best person for the job.  You may not always agree with everything that a candidate does or believes in, but you should always vote based on biblical principals.

As a Christian, we all need to be aware of the biblical moral issues that the newly elected president is going to have to deal with while he is in office.  In addition, remember, that any decision that a president acts on while he is in office usually will always have repercussions long after he has left the office.  The most important thing that we can do as Christians is to pray for our leaders.  Even if we do not agree with their politics, we should pray for our national leaders, as well as state, county, and even local leaders.  They all have tough jobs, with tough decisions that they need to make.  They need prayer!

I would like to invite you to read an article that I have published that was written by David Barton, founder and president of Wallbuilders.  He has some great insight on how Christians should biblically vote for a particular candidate.  At the top of this page is the article called, “Election 2008: Keeping First Things First.”  Please take the time to read it.  Especially if you are not sure who to vote for this November.

I had never heard of Saint John’s Bible until last week.  However, in the past few days, I have been reading a lot about it from the internet.  My niece heard that is was going to be at one of the local museums and asked if Jacki and I would like to go.  Therefore, we went that last Thursday evening.  We got there at about 5 o’clock, which was perfect.  We walked right in.  Within the next thirty minutes, there were so many people that the museum staff was only allowing so many people into the exhibit room at one time.  As one person left, they would allow one person in.

It was an amazing to see.  First, let me give you some background information.  The Abbey Church of Saint John the Baptist has commissioned this bible.  It is the place of worship for the monastic community of Saint John’s Abbey.  It is the home of Saint John the Baptist Parish and is the primary place of worship for the Saint John’s University community. 

Donald Jackson, who is the Queen’s Scribe, was the one who undertook this project.  Saint John’s is also know for there 1500-year monastic tradition and its long-standing commitment to manuscript preservation, which it why they got involved in commissioning this project.  The Saint John’s Board of Regents and the monastic community got together to seen if they wanted to do this, and they decide that, “Yes, we want to embark on this monumental project.  We want Donald Jackson to bring the Word of God to life on vellum for the next five hundred years.”

Let me state, before I go on, that I do not agree with this bible being written.  I will get more into that later.  I want to spend a little time describing how this bible is being written, which I do find fascinating.  Most of the information about Saint John’s Bible, I get from either their website, or employee’s at the museum.  (more…)