Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts
By Editorial Staff
Published April 2008
By Robert L. Short
Q. What’s the best thing you can do for yourself and others?
A. Know the Bible!
“Jesus answered them, ‘How wrong you are! It is because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power.’” – Matthew 22:29 TEV
When Jesus made this statement to the Sadducees, they weren’t discussing little questions. They were discussing some really big ones. These are the only questions the Bible and Jesus are interested in – the really big ones. For the most part, they are interested in meaning, not means. They discuss ultimates, not penultimates. The author of the book of Revelation talks about “the four corners of the earth” (Rev. 7:1, 20:8). Does this mean that John thought that the earth was shaped like this page, with flat corners? Maybe so. Maybe not.
Apparently the question didn’t bother him very much, or he would have mentioned it. No, John wasn’t interested in the physical shape of the world but in the spiritual shape the world was in. We’re asking the Bible the wrong questions when we come to it with our little questions. Its purpose is to answer the questions that really bother us the most and are the hardest for us to handle.
None of us can escape these big questions any more than we can escape seeing Woodstock’s single giant question mark here. These questions are to us what this question is to Woodstock: bigger than we are. They are also over our heads. Nevertheless, most of us are forced to come up with at least some provisional answers for these big non-provisional questions.
But what if our answers are wrong? This would mean we’d be basing our entire lives on something that wasn’t true. We’d be embarking on a long trip, but sailing on the wrong ship. And in the case of others, we’d constantly be suppling them with incorrect information.
When Snoopy attempts to write a book on theology, he hits on what he considers the perfect title: “Has It Ever Occurred to You That You Might Be Wrong?” Good question. This is the first question of all good theology. “How do we know right from wrong?” “How do we know the truth?” Or “Can we know the truth?”
Also notice this: Jesus didn’t say, “In my humble opinion, it seems to me that you may be somewhat mistaken;” or, “Perhaps we should all think about this a little more.” No, he said bluntly, “How wrong you are!” You are wrong because your knowledge is inadequate; “You don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power.” Evidently, for Jesus, these were the two sources that held the answers to life’s really big questions. If he’s right, and we don’t want to be wrong, then obviously this is the best thing we can do for ourselves: Know the scriptures!
Shouldn’t we also know God’s power? Yes. But this is not anything we can do for ourselves. If it were, this would be a power we could control. It would not be God’s power but ours.
- Robert L. Short
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A timely and provocative conversation between faith and culture, Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts is Robert L. Short’s follow-up to the 25th anniversary of the best seller The Gospel According to Peanuts. Charles M. Schulz, who became a Christian after his mother’s death in his early twenties, and Short, a theologian, team up using humor to make us think seriously.
Like The Gospel According to Peanuts and Parables of Peanuts, Short uses Peanuts comic strips to provide us with insightful glimpses into Truth. This was a perilous experiment that came off.
Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts, by Robert L. Short, will be available beginning in October through Westminster/Knox Press for $7.95.
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Martin Luther (DVD) 1953 Classic
Niall MacGinnis – Digitally Remastered
The dramatic classic film of Martin Luther’s life was released in theaters worldwide in the 1950s and was nominated for two Oscars. A magnificent depiction of Luther and the forces at work in the surrounding society that resulted in his historic reforming efforts, this film traces Luther’s life from a guilt-burdened monk to his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church.
In spite of its age, this film continues to be a popular resource to introduce Luther’s life. This historical epic captures the life and times of the greatest figure of the Protestant Reformation with depth and clarity, while giving a glimpse at the private man in the eye of the storm. Luther’s protest against the established order of the Church gave birth to one of the largest religious and cultural movements history and serves as a prime example of how one man’s spiritual convictions can change the course of human events.
Running Time: 105 minutes
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
Special Two-Disc Set!
After 40 years of intense study and world-wide ministry, Dr. Francis Schaeffer completed his crowning work of scholarship – to present profound truths in simple film language. Dr. Schaeffer’s brilliant analysis of the past and predictions for current trends have proven so uncannily accurate that this amazing series still feels contemporary almost three decades after its initial release. Ultimately, Schaeffer concludes that man’s only hope is a return to God’s Biblical absolute, the truth revealed in Christ through the Scriptures.
Available for the first time on DVD, this documentary spectacular also includes intimate in-depth conversations with Francis and Edith Schaeffer. With the on-disc study guide, this presentation forms a unique course of comprehensive study. While this series forms an innovative analysis of the past, this outstanding work is more than history. Each episode focuses on a significant era, yet speaks clearly to 21st-century man with answers for modern problems.
$49.95 — ORDER NOW!
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto (DVD)
That Swiss Hermit Strikes Again!
Dr. Schaeffer, who was one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the twentieth century, shows that secular humanism has displaced the Judeo-Christian consensus that once defined our nation’s moral boundaries. Law, education, and medicine have all been reshaped for the worse as a consequence. America’s dominant worldview changed, Schaeffer charges, when Christians weren’t looking.
Schaeffer lists two reasons for evangelical indifference: a false concept of spirituality and fear. He calls on believers to stand against the tyranny and moral chaos that come when humanism reigns-and warns that believers may, at some point, be forced to make the hard choice between obeying God or Caesar. A Christian Manifesto is a thought-provoking and bracing Christian analysis of American culture and the obligation Christians have to engage the culture with the claims of Christ.
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The Real Jesus: A Defense of the Historicity and Divinity of Christ (DVD)
Who is the Real Jesus?
Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the “historical Jesus” — a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.
Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regrettably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.
The Real Jesus explodes the myths of these critics and the movies, books and television programs that have popularized their views. Presented in ten parts — perfect for individual, family and classroom study — viewers will be challenged to go deeper in their knowledge of Christ in order to be able to defend their faith and present the truth to a skeptical modern world – that the Jesus of the Gospels is the Jesus of history — “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is the real Jesus.
Speakers include: George Grant, Ted Baehr, Stephen Mansfield, Raymond Ortlund, Phil Kayser, David Lutzweiler, Jay Grimstead, J.P. Holding, and Eric Holmberg.
Ten parts, over two hours of instruction!
Running Time: 130 minutes
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The Four Keys to the Millennium (Book)
Foundations in Biblical Eschatology
By Jay Rogers, Larry Waugh, Rodney Stortz, Joseph Meiring. High quality paperback, 167 pages.
All Christians believe that their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day return. Although we cannot know the exact time of His return, what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of the “sign of His coming” (Mat. 24)? How are we to interpret the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:19)? Should we expect a time of great tribulation or reformation and revival before the Lord returns? Is the devil bound now, and are the saints reigning with Christ? Did you know that there are four hermeneutical approaches to the book of Daniel and Revelation? These, and more questions, are dealt with by four authors as they present the four views on the millennium. Each view is then critiqued by the other three authors.
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
