something i've been teaching church leaders here in tanzania -- and trying to demonstrate and model more than i teach -- is that it's impossible to be a servant of God without being a servant of man. when i think of myself as being here to serve the local church and the people of my little town community, it's difficult to be proud or arrogant.

jamie, until diet dr. pepper reaches costa rica and tanzania, our days will always be far worse than average.

jd, i'm glad you knew christie. and i'm sorry you knew my brother.

actually, i found your blog through a twitter comment about my kjv post. i'm glad i did. i enjoy it over here. keep up the great work.

chad, i think my post today might be right up your alley; it seems like the kind of questions you ask. and it ties in with what you've written today:

did Jesus lie in john 7? he told his brothers he wasn't going to the festival of shelters with them, but then he went anyway. some would say he just changed his mind. but did he know he was going to change his mind? can Jesus change his mind?

how we answer the questions on your blog may necessarily make Jesus a liar in john 7. if he knows everything, he knew he was going to go to the party -- and he willingly deceived his brothers.

i've always understood philippians 2:6ff as meaning that, in coming to earth, JC gave up many of his "God powers." he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped or held onto, and made himself nothing, a man, a servant.

so i'm voting on the side of Jesus didn't have all knowledge when he was little. rather he studied the prophets and learned math from his dad.

this interpretation also goes a long way (for me) in offering Jesus as a suitable and appropriate model for life. if he was born with all power and knowledge, and magic urine, then it's harder to see him as an example for us in life... (though that's not my reason for interpreting this way -- merely a bonus).

no, chad, i don't think lewis is in hell. my comment was (apparently) a very poor attempt at humor.

you're right. i've never seen that before. my best (uninformed) guess is that, at this point, paul counted as scripture either Jesus' own words or even some of the gospels.

thanks for pointing that out. very good to know.

but that interpretation also requires that this 2 corinthians be this letter that he was so torn up in writing -- and the one he mentions in 2 corinthians 7:8? that the corinthians were so upset about?

but then there's still the additional support of the "other" first letter: 1 corinthians 5:9. or is that epistolary aorist? but i'm not greek expert; i only know what little my seminary professors taught me. just enough to be confusing, really...

i'm gonna' go with tyler, jonah, and pinnochio in the stomach of a very large fish.

...or a whale. [i don't want to be seen as obstinate or headstrong. i'm really quite easy to work with.]

philly, you make some good arguments, and then follow them up with great practical advice. however, i'm saddened that you didn't even once in your post mention the importance of uniform aesthetics.
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which is why every fair-weather fan in the country should have been cheering for auburn a few nights ago -- not that their uniforms are exceedingly pleasing to the eye.
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but oregon's were bad. really bad. like nike-handed-charcoal-and-highlighters-to-5th-graders-and-told-them-to-draw bad. and then decided to put feathers on the shoulders of the finished design... because 5th graders couldn't make the uniforms ugly enough on their own.