Welcome back! Before your questions, may I ask one? What do you think of the ?

This isn’t only a social and a political question, it has much to do with religion. What we think (or feel) about the jury’s decision needs to be considered in light of how we live with others who are also created by God. Do our emotions and thoughts about it tell us anything about how we get along with others?

We can compare the trial itself with of God’s Word. He demanded evidence. Among the Israelites, no one person’s word could bring a guilty verdict. were required. Only then could evidence be weighed and a verdict rendered. This prohibition even threatened the prosecution of Jesus. First, a number of men came forward offering lies that didn’t agree with each other. “At last two came forward and said, ‘This man said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.”’ ()” However, even though they spoke the literal truth, they misunderstood the meaning of Jesus’ words ().

Although it appears that the only eye-witnesses to the Simpson-Goldman murders were the victims and the killer(s), others were witnesses to events before and after the fact. Their testimony is not denied by Scripture. Nor does the Bible rule out “expert testimony.” Experts testified to the meaning of much of the physical evidence. And though scientific testing is beyond anything an ancient Israelite could comprehend, there’s really no difference between a shepherd of Joshua’s time saying, “That’s Aaron’s robe, I’d know it anywhere,” and a modern scientist saying, “That’s Aaron’s DNA pattern in this blood sample, I’d know it anywhere.”

The Bible clearly states that testimony is to be evaluated at face value. Even if an entire village hated one person, the law of witnesses prevented them from convicting him apart from the facts. Similarly, it didn’t matter whether a witness was loved or hated; it was the testimony that was important. The Lord wants truth and justice in every case. The facts matter, not feelings. Witnesses are believed unless proven to be liars. Nowhere does God say that denying justice in one case makes up for injustice elsewhere. Only by practicing justice in each instance is a just society truly established and maintained.

Now, on to your questions.

A: is the Hebrew word for “rest.” It’s what God did on the seventh day of Creation and what He commanded for Israel each seventh day of the week. Jesus frees us from obligation to Sabbath laws, but not from the responsibility to hear and follow God’s Word. And whenever we choose to do so, it is God-pleasing to take our own “sabbath time” each week. It’s a sign of trust in Him to stop our work to enjoy and give thanks for all He’s already given us.

is another Hebrew word. Found over two hundred times in the Old Testament, it means “hosts (armies) of heaven.” God calls Himself Yahweh Sabaoth, the , as a sign of His might.

Most familiar to us is , where each of the “called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” This passage entered the Church’s Communion liturgy as the (Latin for ).

The phrase “Lord of hosts” also appears in the New Testament in and .

A: This is the topic of many books and scholarly papers. You can summarize the Scriptures thusly: “‘For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her,’ says the , the God of Israel, ‘covers his garment with violence,’ says the of hosts. ‘So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.’ ().”

In Jesus’ time, as in ours, some were not content to work on their marriages. They wanted the “easy” way out that divorce offers. Christ reaffirmed that God wants marriages to last, telling His hearers that Moses allowed divorce in Israel “because of the hardness of your heart ().” The Lord of Reconciliation wants the same of His people.

Yet Jesus also said that infidelity on the part of one spouse could be legitimate grounds for divorce (). The innocent partner is free to remarry. Even here, divorce is not commanded, only allowed. The partner is also free to reconcile.

The unrepentant person leaving one marriage for another compounds the initial sin with adultery (; ; ). There is forgiveness for both sins, but it’s wrong to assume that God automatically excuses or ignores these deeds. On a personal level, each instance much be considered individually before a remarriage is either condemned or condoned.

Scripture quoted from ™, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

to .

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book .

Technorati Tags: O. J. Simpson | witnesses | testimony | trial | verdict | Sabbath | rest | Sabaoth | Lord of Hosts | divorce | marriage | remarriage | Christianity | Christian | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Pastor Walter P. Snyder | W. P. Snyder | Ask the Pastor

Christian Falk is a Swedish producer who is about to release his second solo album People Say and it is first solo material since his debut in 1999. For the albums first single Dream On he has brought in the number Swedish songstress Robyn to provide the vocals. The song was slightly surprising as going into the track I had something completely different in mind. Dream On is a rather uplifting track with a superior vocal by Robyn. I have never heard her sound this good. A track that tries to tug at your emotions always has the chance of sounding a bit hooky The track has this uplifting spirit even if you look at the lyrics it might seem a little strange.

By John Siwicki

Congrats to the Philadelphia Phillies on winning their first championship since 1980. The team, featuring studs like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, and my worst enemy Jimmy Rollins, really pulled together and embodied everything this season that I one day hope that the New York Mets become. Pitching and the bullpen win championships, and the Phillies absolutely proved that, with Hamels turning in a Josh Beckett-esque performance in these playoffs, and Brad Lidge making himself in my eyes a serious Cy Young candidate.

It amazes me to why the Mets did not take a flyer on Lidge in the off-season, where they could have basically had him for a bag of peanuts. I mean, the Astros basically received the equivalent of Endy Chavez in the deal (Michael Bourn), a lowbrow middle reliever in Geoff Geary, and some third baseman that we are never going to hear again. To add insult to injury, they also picked up a formidble bench player in Eric Bruntlett, who almost single-handedly beat the Mets on a few occasions this season when Rollins was out. The worst part is, if The Jacket said he could have fixed Victor Zambrano in two minutes, couldn’t he have done the same for Lidge. Even Billy Wagner was pushing the Mets’ front office to go out and get him.

It just makes me wonder what could have been if Omar Minaya had taken the advice that he usually follows and built up the bullpen. I hope he makes this his number one priority this off-season, because as the Phillies proved, a great bullpen and some moxie goes a long way.

By the way, don’t expect me to ever, EVER, pay homage to the Phillies again on this blog. And to be honest, I’m sure those jackasses in Philly aren’t even appreciative of the championship right now. Bill made a terrific point to me on the phone last night, that they would probably trade a win this Sunday for the Eagles, in exchange for this championship. Ugh.