Thideology Research Team: Case File 010

SOMEWHERE IN, Israel — The Thideology Research Team has just announced that archaeologists have uncovered a small stone in Israel that could be the first archaeological evidence of the Old Testament judge Samson. Researchers of the Thideology Research Team were first made aware of the discovery from a Baptist Press news report. In the original BP report, co-directors of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Center for Archaeological Research (who were not involved with the excavation that led to the discovery) said evidence characterizing the find makes it plausible that the seal supports a story of a young boy killing a lion with his bare hands.

“My initial assessment based upon what has been published to date would be that once again we have an artifact that does not contradict the biblical text, but in fact affirms it,” said Daniel Warner, one of the co-directors.

Members of the Thideology Research Team had absolutely nothing to do with the co-directors of the NOBTS Center for Archaeological Research who had nothing to do with the discovery. Nevertheless, the Director of the Thideology Research Team did offer his comments.

“I lost a button like that once,” he said.

You may read the entire Baptist Press report here.

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Olympic dedication

I saw an advertisement in Sports Illustrated recently. It featured the U.S. Olympic hurdler, Lolo Jones. The caption said, “She trained 12 years for an event that lasts 12 seconds.”

It got me to thinking.

Olympic athletes sacrifice so much. Everything they do is directed toward the single goal of winning a medal. They completely amend their diets. They dedicate hours and hours to training. They forego all sorts of things they enjoy — television, movies, family events, vacations — all for the sake of their goal. They uproot their very lives to move to a place where they can obtain better training. They sacrifice just about everything — all for the sake of a trinket.

In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul compares the dedication of athletes to the dedication of Christians.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

If an athlete can exercise self-control in all things for the sake of something that will eventually turn to dust, why can’t Christians seem to exercise an equal amount of self-control and dedication for the sake of something that is priceless and eternal?