Terry Pruitt's Blog

Which one is your strongest Multiple Intelligence? Linguistic Gets a lot out of just reading text. Expresses in both speech and writing with much sense, clarity, effectiveness, efficiency, and insight. Makes a good writer and speaker. Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. I think the test is right in regards to my leanings but I just can't cpeighl. It's probably an ogrnazational thing. I just finished scanning an article called the "Myth of Multiple Intelligence". I looked it over Barnes and Noble in the Inner Harbor . By the way, its a great place to hang out. The author was an educator was pretty critical of the theory. His premise was that the theory did not do much to change education except make for some strange methods of teaching on odd occasion. He points out that all students need to learn spelling and physical ed regardless of their aptitude. There is no reason to learn spelling with a s...

Blogger has updated to include comments. When I added Blogger comments feature I lost the Holoscan comments. Please to check out the most recent back track from the Jollyblogger . He and I have been discussing the emerging church. Check out his scripture quotes which show both narrative and propositional ideas.

Chris Seay in Stories of Emergence juxtapositions propositional thinking and other ways of thinking, like web thinking or circular thinking. He is right in thinking that there are other ways that people thinking about truth. He points out that Ecclesiastes is circular in its line of thinking and he says that Proverbs is web thinking. I agree that there is a level of literary sophistication in those books which is not easily caught in simple one liner summaries and the techniques of flash back are used. I'm not sure I see a lack of linear thinking in the book of Proverbs. There are topics that flow in my mind from proverb to proverb. And perhaps Chris would observe the same flow from proverb to proverb. I'm not sure we disagree so much as I think one does not have to throw away propositional truth in order to affirm the value of web or circular thinking. On the other hand, one must acknowledge that linear thinking is an aid in expressing clarity of thought. Web and c...

The Bible we have is not the original text. I think the common notation for the original text is MS. I know of no scholar who believes that any of the ancient texts we have are original. Instead we believe some are copies of the original. I believe the notation for copies of the original is MSS. Few of the ancient manuscripts are MSS. The manuscripts that we have, MSS, can not be copywritten in my humble opinion. I'm sure the images of them are considered museum property. Greek texts like the UBS are really a scholarly weighting of which of these public domain documents are closest to the original, since we don't have the original. It would be nice to have the original text preserved by an objective, devote groups of scholars. I think that is one function of groups like the United Bible Society. The debate a couple years back on the gender sensitive translations makes me think that perhaps Bible societies may not be able to hold the line in preserving the text. I...

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Matthew 21:28-32 (ESV) I listened to this passage this on my Sony Walkman as I was riding my bicycle this morning. (Soo early 80's! I should be using an ipod I know.) I had never noticed that the tax collectors and the prostitutes go in before the chief priests and the el...

I'm still trying to figure out a little quandary. How can a corporation like Zondervan, Holman, or Crossway copyright the Bible? In one sense I see that they have an investment in the publication. If they made it public domain all their competitors would benefit from the publication of the same scripture version. At the same time, how can anyone own the rights to the Bible? How can the United Bible Society own the original Greek and Hebrew? Of course if you take away the revelatory nature of the book, its easy for me. The real problem is that God has given us the Bible, so who can say that they own the publication rights to it?

The Jollyblogger wrote a blog on emerging church leaders who are critiquing the seeker sensitive model of worship . If I get it straight, he is responding to a New York Times article on Alt-Worship: Christian Cool and the New Generation Gap. The scripture talks about multigenerational praise for God. Psalm 45:17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever. Psalm 79:13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. Psalm 102:18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: Psalm 146:10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! Daniel 4:34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,...

Reading the book of Nahum, I started thinking about his prophecy about the judgment to come on Nineveh. He declares that their sin has caused of the coming doom. I can see how if I were to declare some misfortune to be the result of sin, some people might think I was merely being opportunistic. It is power flexing not declaration of the Word of God that they hear. I have heard a pastor talk about God leading him to start a building program. I find it hard to believe that God was in it since there was no finishing of the project and the pastor left over moral issues. God judges sin, but we have become hesitant to say there is any judgment in this life. We postpone everything to the after life. I see some of our national crisis as judgment which means we need to repent, but declaring that without sounding like a power hungry or delusional prophet is increasingly difficult.

One of my family members was reading a commentary on Jonah. The commentator gave following reasons why the Old Testament book of Jonah should be obviously considered a parable: 1. Chapter 3 verse 2 says that Nineveh "was an exceedingly great city of three days journey". The city has been excavated and shown to be three miles across. 2. The short sermon having such a great effect is obviously hyperbole (3:4). 3. The history of the region would have been much different had this event taken place. I hold the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. That does not mean there are not difficulties. To the first claim, I hold to the classic conservative position that the size is not a reference to the actual city walls but to the outlying areas too. I grew up in a rural area and we always said we were from Lebanon but in reality we were 15 miles from the city line. Right now I live in the Baltimore area, but in reality, I live in a suburb in the next county over. ...

4 Read 100 Classical Books I'm working on Augustine still and Beowulf. I'm going to create my own list. I'll consult other people's lists. 5 Listen to 50 Classical Books with My Wife Create my own list here also. Ideally we're listening to these as we go visit these places on number 6. 6 Visit all fifty of the U.S. states All that I lack is Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Vermont, Maine, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The sixth book written, you're nevertheless the first chronologically. You not only describe the creation of Narnia and tell where the White Witch, the lampost and the wardrobe came from, you get to bounce between worlds with the help of Uncle Andrew's weird magic rings. Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are.

I'm not sure where the Friday Five comes from or how you determine what it is. Do you have to subscribe to some sort of list server? I know the Jollyblogger does the Friday Five and so I've decided to do my own. My five favorite radio stations: WRBS - 95.1 FM - Christian Radio in the Baltimore area. Music is CCM. WETA - 90.9 FM - NPR news on the way to work. Car Guys on Saturday, and A prairie Home Companion on Sunday afternoon. Oh, yeah, Classical Music during the day. Washington D.C. station. C-SPAN - 90.1 FM - Congress, press briefing from the Pentagon, White House, etc... Strange that a bunch of gals and guys in suits could be so interesting. KenRadio - Technology news which only broadcasts on the Internet. I wish I could listen in the car but I don't have the gear to play MP3s in the car. His sponsor is Windows Media. WNKJ - 89.3 FM - A great hometown station in Hopkinsville, KY. We used to listen to this station all the time when we l...

Years ago I read Peter Jenkin's book Across China . He describes how a common phrase used at American dinner tables really made America seem heartless. The phrase was eat your dinner, there are many starving Chinese. Jenkins described how a political officer interpreted that saying to mean that mothers were wanting to eat to ensure that the Chinese would starve. Of course this sounds ridiculous to Americans, but there are times when a misunderstanding can not be set right. The recent use of the photographs in the media to tell the story of the abuse of prisoners in Iraq could actually be a part of the degradation of the individuals who were photographed. Often times victims of rape do not want to let it be known that they were abused. In a sense our media might be adding to their shame. Do we appear to be rubbing it in their faces when we put the photographs on television? (Even though that is not our intention.) What do the photographs tell that legal terms like ...

There is an interesting story in Wired Magazine on a Newton user who is using it for his mobile blog (MoBlog). While the story is about the technology, I was a little more interested in the aspect of blogging on the move. Are those blogs fresher? Do they lack depth? When do you want to use a MoBlog vice a blog published from the desktop? Do we need a new word Desktop Blog (DTBlog)?

My pastor has a great article on find the will of God. There is some wisdom for those seeking what to do. Check out the Jollyblogger 's insights to find the will of God.

Long story, short; I grew up in a small rural denomination church and have moved to a more conservative denomination. I still have many good friends in that church. Just to assure you, I'm not against my former denomination. My evolution from where I was to where I am is not a neat and organized story. At times my heart longs for connections to my past. But I'm glad the road that God has taken me down. For a long time I was concerned that I had obligations to the denomination. The people had supported me through some trials in my life. They had provided scholarships for college and accepted my flailing attempts at ministry. We had relationships and loyalties. Due to my job, I moved from location to location. I wish I had a more noble reason for moving denominations. I was really in disagreement with the church's stand on the authority of scripture, abortion and the move away from the historic confession of faith. So when the opportunity came to change den...

It is a much-repeated phrase that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Most people take this statement at face value. The idea is that one person likes one thing and another person likes something different. And there are a lot of differences in taste of what people like. But people’s preferences are not necessarily related to the idea of beauty. In fact, people often prefer the edgy, dramatic and ugly over the beautiful. Few people would argue that a rose is not beautiful. I might like Albert Durer ’s woodprints, but they are provocative and edgy, not beautiful in the same sense that a rose is beautiful. Beauty is something that is easily recognized but is best not defined. Rather than define what is beautiful, we describe what beautiful. The difference between someone who recognizes true beauty and someone who does not is often a training issue, not merely a preference. As discussed in the Wikipedia article on Beauty , a person who has mastered a discipline has a greater...

At my daughter's sport banquet, a former football coach from Severna Park talked about making a list of 100 things to do before he died. My wife and I are following his example by making our own lists. To get to 100 things on the list has been a little bit of a challenge without throwing in weird things or things which are versions of the other. What is the purpose? I think for myself it is an effort to live life to the fullest. An attempt to use the gifts God has given me to the fullest. It is easy to select a movie. A little harder to do something. I read a book in my youth which explained that the ideal date to take a girl on was an active date and not a passive date. A passive date would be something like watching a movie while an active date would be something like play table tennis. Sometimes I find myself passive in life. So I'm writing out a list of 100 things to do before I die. Some may be unrealistic, but perhaps I will find out in preparing to make progr...

The Jollyblogger wrote a blog on Translation Issues II . In it he discusses whether we should translate the scripture formal equivalents or use dynamic equivalents. I’ll let you read his blog to get the difference. In discussing the Jollyblogger’s blog on Translation Issue II, my good friend Keith asked, “How do we know what the meaning of the ancient words was any way”? This is a good question because in talking about translating a text with either one, we still have to know what the words or text meant in the first place. There was no ancient dictionary. The first dictionary for English was published in A.D. 1656. Dictionaries are relatively recent phenomena. And besides, a dictionary’s authority is only as good as the academic scholarship work that was put into it. Of course for the most part, we should not argue with the dictionary. To address the issue, how do we determine word meaning from an ancient text? 1. Word Usage In The Bible Text How words are used in a c...

When I go out to eat, sometimes I order an entree that is unusual. One time I ordered goat. The waiter laughed at me. I've had ostrich, alligator, and frog legs. I like to explore geography with my stomach as well as my feet. My wife read that most men order the same thing every time the go to a restaurant. I started asking around and indeed a lot of people order the same thing every time they return to a restaurant. It isn't just men either. People tell me that they don't want to take a risk of not liking something. Others say that if they know what they like, why mix it up. As we listen to the radio, we know what style we like so we select the station. However, the DJ helps us out, he or she selects the particular songs. (Well, actually the program manager.) With the DJ mixing in new songs we get a little variety in with what we like. With the advent of such things like the i-pod, I wonder if people will stick to what they like and in this way loose the i...

I listen to C-SPAN on the radio. I think the Washington D.C. area is the only community that carries the programming through radio. The format carries the Congressional meetings, DoD and Presidential press conferences, and the morning programming is often a discussion of news articles and such with the public via e-mail and telephone calls. The programming is high end, despite decidedly non-spectacular way that it is presented. News from the same press conference when carried by other news agencies is more edited and an interpretation. I would propose that the Christian community needs a similar type of broadcast, perhaps on the Internet or perhaps on cable television. While there are many good exceptions out there, the typical televangelist is more of an infomercial. A lot of religious programming appeals to "a sense of self" rather than engage issues and community discussion. I, for one, would like to see that change.

The following are some of my thoughts on how to be a godly father. How To Be A Godly Father Read the following passages of scripture: Exodus 20:1-17 ; Matthew 5 :1-20; Galatians 5 Define The Problem The question of how to be a godly father is not something we would normally hear outside the church. You would probably think it is easy define what a father is, but in today’s society, that is probably harder than it should be. What are some definitions of father today? There are several approaches to this question; for instance, we could discuss what are the right things for a father to do. (Provide financially for the family, stay with the children’s mother, remain sexually pure, attend church with the family, not being violent in the home.) The main thing we want to address in this workshop is the role of a father in teaching godly character to his children. The bottom line up front here is that you can’t do that, not without the help of God. It takes a supernatu...

I was asked to write a blog on cats. So here it goes. Cats ! I don't have one. I used to have one. But that was really my fault. But back on topic here, blogging tools such as Blogger, are really about content management systems and easy content creation. Cats on the other hand are content creators. Cats are cool because if you really don't know what to write about on a blog you can always write about your cat . I guess I could write about other cats in the neighborhood since I don't have my cat . But actually I like writing about theology, communication, and ideas. I know ideas are not as cuddly as cats , but then again, cats are not as intriguing as ideas.