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Pendergrass-Weatherly Debate: Sing and Make Melody

Kevin Pendergrass, in his attempt to show that “sing AND make melody” refer to one action, put up a chart with several different illustrations to make his point: trespasses AND sins (Ephesians 2:1), rooted and grounded (Ephesians 3:17), offerings and sacrifices (Ephesians 5:2), gird, put on and shod (Ephesians 6:14-15), psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19).

However, in none of these illustrations are the items he listed one action. 

SINS AND TRESPASSES:

Sins and trespasses are not the same thing.  There are two separate offerings under the law for trespasses and sins.  There are a number of distinctions to me made between the two, but the ultimate point is that they are not one and the same action.

ROOTED AND GROUNDED:
Rooted has to do with nourishment and growth and the other has to do with stability and longevity.  Many distinct applications can be made between these two metaphors.  Even if one argues that the rooting and grounding happens at the same time, the same can be said for singing WITH musical accompaniment.


OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES:
It should be clear to even the casual observer that offerings and sacrifices are NOT one action like Pendergrass claims that "singing and making melody" are.  There were drink offerings that clearly were not the same action as an animal sacrifices.


GIRD, PUT ON AND SHOD:
No one should think that the girding of the loins is the the same action as having one's feet shod.  Girding the loins and putting on shoes obviously requires two separate actions.

PSALM, HYMN, SPIRITUAL SONG:
A hymn is not a psalm, and a spiritual song is neither a psalm nor a hymn.

These are distinct items just as singing and making melody are.  This in no way proves that singing AND making melody to the Lord are a single action and not two.

I encourage you to listen to the debate. 

Debate Firsts

I have had a lot of debate firsts: My first debate. My first oral debate. My first written debate. My first godhead debate. My first Eternal security debate. My first communion debate. My first baptism debate. My first impeccability debate. My first marriage and divorce debate. My first debate with a Church of Christ. My first debate with a Baptist. My first debate to be a moderator. I am sure that the list could go on, but last in the Weatherly-Pendergrass debate was another first.

MY FIRST DEBATE WHERE A POINT OF ORDER WAS IGNORED!

Thursday night of the debate I called a point of order 4-5 times and it was ignored by both the debater (Kevin Pendergrass) and his moderator (David Fanning).  I have never seen this happen in any debate.  Unprecedented!

Their excuse was that they did not think that they were breaking any rules so they did not have to acknowledge our point of order.  Any time a point of order is called by the other team you owe them the courtesy of acknowledging their grievance.  If they had call a point of order we would have given them the respect they deserved as out opponents.  It was disrespectful to say the least. 

A New Beginning Called Grace

Today we adopted a 3 year old girl that we have had for over a year and a half.  When we got her, she was suffering from a myriad of past abuses.  Today the little girl who came to us as Regena James took on a new identity as Gia Grace Carroll.  The miracle of transformation that has already taken place in her life was formalized by Judge Nance Berger in the 322nd District Court, Tarrant County, Fort Worth, Texas.

Three things of significance occurred on this day: 1. She was, as it were, born again. She will receive a new birth certificate that will show Dana and I as if we were her birth parents. 2. Secondly, she received a new name. 3. Her past records were sealed by the courts and her first/old parents can never access any of her records.  The only one that can access the records is the Judge and the court.  In extreme cases and only at the Judges discretion we, as her new parents, may see them.

DON'T MAKE ME PREACH! :)

Today the old abuses, fears and scars are forever buried.  This is a story of a new birth record, a new identity and a forgotten past.  She has began a new life, with new family, and a new identity called Grace.

Wrong Basis for Friendships

We all have various relationships that serve different needs in our lives, and we must.  But larger than the need the friendship serves is the basis upon which it is built.  I have lived long enough to see and be involved in too many relationships that are built on ideological sameness.  It is the ideological equivalent to same-sex marriage.  Relationships that are not built on people, but ideology, is doomed to fail.  Ideologically driven friendships will abandon you when you no longer serve the agenda or they no longer like you.  People who are ideologically driven in their relationships will only be loyal to you as long as you are loyal to the ideology, and the moment that you cease to be loyal to the ideology they will cease to be loyal to you.  No relationship is sacred to the person who is ideologically driven no matter how long it has been in place.

Never seek to retain and maintain relationships with people with whom ideology means more to them than people do.  Be wary of anyone who views ideology as indispensable, but people as dispensable.  If you have a friend that you have watched abandon someone over political expedience, then it is just a matter of time until you become a political liability and you will also be abandoned.  If the only reason I am in your life is to forward your agenda then let me go now and quit wasting my time.

I am sure that I have used relationships in this way, but I pray to God that He grants me grace to never do it again. I have learned over the last 5-10 years to take friendships seriously.  I am loyal and pray that I always will be.  I do not forget loyalty when it is shown me.  I am friends with people that are social assets, and I am friends with people that are social liabilities.  And I am as equally loyal to the one group as I am the other.  I have about 8 friends that I am sold out to.  Lots of others that I am glad to have in my life.  I pray that God places more friends in my life as I go along life's journey.  

Sometimes life is going to make you friends with people that does not make sense to the onlooker.  One of the most foolish things one can do as an outsider is to try to make judgments about why two people are friends.  Never think that because someone is publicly loyal to a person that they have not privately disagreed or even rebuked that person.  All public loyalty means is that the person means more than the issue does. 

Weatherly-Pendergrass Debate.

With This Ring I Thee Divorce!

http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/divorce-rings-depressing-jewelry-trend-1333398529-slideshow/bouquet-divorce-ring-photo-1333398432.html

Yahoo reveals a new trend in jewelry, divorce rings.  How romantic is that?  Imagine a man after 10 years of marriage walking nervously to the door carrying a bouquet of a dozen red roses with a dis-engagement ring in one of the roses.  He knocks and as his wife answers the door he gets down on one knee and asks, "Will you divorce me?"

She begins to cry and he becomes nervous and afraid that she is going to say, "No."  After a brief, tense moment of contemplation she takes the roses, tells him to stand up and hugs him saying tearfully, "Yes!  Yes! I will divorce you!"  He takes the dis-engagement ring out of the rose and replaces the wedding band already on her finger.

After a few months of divorce dating they set a date.  Standing before the minster, church filled with family and friends, having exchanged vows declaring their commitment to one another that they will remained divorced till death, the soon to be divorced groom takes the bride's hand and places on it the divorcement ring saying, "With this ring I thee divorce."

Later at the reception of the newly divorced couple people pin money on the groom to aid with the divorce settlement, layer fees and alimony checks.  They soon part ways and live happily ever after.