I had something else I was working on to post in this spot, but it was nixed because I spent the majority of the day lying in bed trying to pass a kidney stone. This is my fourth or fifth one in the last three years. So instead I will make another plug for Tom Wood’s Graced Again ministry. This is what was waiting in my in box when I finally found myself up and moving around.
Some of my good brethren are always preaching doctrine. Well, they are right in so doing, but I would not care myself to have as the characteristic of my preaching, doctrine only. I would rather have it said, ‘He dwelt much upon the person of Christ, and seemed best pleased when he began to tell about the atonement and the sacrifice. He was not ashamed of the doctrines, he was not afraid of threatening, but he seemed as if he preached the threatening with tears in his eyes, and the doctrine solemnly as God’s own word; but when he preached of Jesus his tongue was loosed, and his heart was at liberty.’ Brethren, there are some men who preach the doctrine only, who are an injury, I believe, to God’s church rather than a benefit…Brethren, we should rather preach Christ than election. We love election, we love predestination, we love the great doctrines of God’s word, but we had rather preach Christ than preach these. We desire to put Christ over the head of the doctrine, we make the doctrine the throne for Christ to sit on, but we dare not put Christ at the bottom, and then press him down, and overload him with the doctrines of his own word.
— Charles Spurgeon, in sermon, Christ Lifted Up
9 Comments
Sorta off topic…
I’ve heard that magnesium, B6, and (organic) flax oil are good “remedies” for kidney stones.
It could be voodoo propaganda, but it’s something to research if you haven’t already. I’ll be looking into it more myself.
BTW, how’s your prostate? My dad’s isn’t doing too good, and his dad’s wasn’t so good. Mine will probably have trouble. Have you looked into prevention and treatment of prostate issues?
Stupid is as stupid does…man do I feel stupid…Why don’t you call and yell at me?
@Greg: We don’t have a family history of prostate issues, but I do get a physical every year (cough). But my uncle had a bunch of kidney stones around the same age. I’ve not yet seen a urologist, mainly because my regular physician hasn’t pushed it. Apparently there can be five or six types of kidney stones, so isolating it to something dietary isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, one of my doctor’s nurses swears by vinegar. She had 14 stones and then started drinking shots of vinegar once a day. Hasn’t had one since! I could try that, but can you imagine going through all that yuck only to still get a stone?!? Maybe an aged balsamic would be okay?
@Debbie: You had no idea what was going on when you left those messages, so no worries (if I’m interpreting the above correctly). I won’t yell…promise.
I know there is a test that can be done on the actual kidney stones to determine which mineral causes them. There is a secretary here who has had ongoing problems over the years and they were able to identify her culprit….She can’t drink tea anymore, but she doesn’t have the problems she used to have.
I know there are tests, but after a consultation I just haven’t felt it was worth it (at the time) to go see a specialist (maybe that’ll change). One of the drawbacks of identifying a dietary culprit is that if you eliminate one thing (say coffee) then there’s a chance one might pick up an unhealthier habit (something to take the place of the caffeine).
I’m not suggesting that coffee is my problem (i.e., it could be meat or dairy or something totally unrelated and/or hereditary), but a kidney stone a year seems like a small price to pay for the joy of drinking coffee!
Of course, I say this BEFORE waking up at 4:00 AM with a knife twisting in my abdomen. I never said I actually passed the stone yet.
Shoot at least if it’s coffee, then you know and make an informed decision whether to cut back or not. It could be something perfectly innocuous that you won’t miss….like yogurt or something..LOL Sounds like you expect it to be something you just have to have!!!!
Well, this is on topic regarding the post but off topic regarding the comments
but I’ve always heard that we should hold our doctrine loosely and hold Christ firmly.
@Debbie: I like yogurt, but I could do without it. I haven’t eaten it as much since Breyer’s changed their recipe to make it “smoother and creamier.” And while I hope it isn’t coffee (if it’s a dietary root cause), then I sure hope that it isn’t something like peanut butter, or worse…beer!
@Ben: Yeah, that last line sort of crystalized it for me (esp. with regard to the danger in my denomination to elevate doctrine and make it an idol).
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