We all heard at some point that bank tellers are taught how to find counterfeit money by learning the exact characteristics of genuine money. A Secret Service agent spoke at a writers' conference once, and I met him when I was but a young lad. His book about his adventures included dealing with those who print fake money.
Much later, I read about the adventures of one of top fake money printers in America. He was highly trained, had the right equipment, and even found a way to duplicate currency paper used at the time. But alas, his paper came apart in humid areas and the authorities were onto him.
We often discuss roses at the doctors' offices, because we bring them along for the staff. They often bring up how different the home-grown roses are, far beyond the quality of anything they can buy at the store or a florist shop. Commercial roses are grown to look good for a few days, to ship and to store reasonably well.
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| Falling in Love roses, Veterans Honor roses opening. |
Moreover, roses need more than big glass fridges to keep them happy after they are cut. Roses enjoy plenty of moisture, so I harvest them into their water-filled vases and deliver them soon after. If I want roses to last longer, I spray the entire bunch with water, so flowers and stems are completely hydrated. Other helps are fresh water each day and cutting some of the stem off each day, to facilitate uptake of water.
A good rose for bouquets will have blooms that last after cutting, perhaps a powerful fragrance, and delightful colors. I have one productive rose bush that I ask visitors about. Like me, they find nothing attractive in the colors, so I never use that rose.
Some roses look great on the bush but fade quickly in the vase. John Paul II is one of those. Photogenic and fragrant but not lasting.
Bible Translations
A reader asked me about defining the ESV as a Calvinistic Bible. Why did I say that? The "conservative" Lutherans love, love, love it, so many accept the ESV as a good translation.
First of all, the senior editor (J. I. Packer) of the ESV is a Calvinist, and the original is the RSV, a product of the National Council of (Radical) Churches. Perhaps senior editor is honorary, but a glance at various supervisors suggests the typical mainline liberal enthusiasts.
All the new translations are clever substitutions for the KJV. They are close enough to fool many people, and they make big money for the printers, publishers, and religious book sellers. Bibles and hymnals are a license to print money, because a big print run means a book that costs no more than the paper to produce and yet earns $25 - $100 per copy.
Every version apart from the King James family uses the ever-changing Nestle text, which is built upon the fanciful rules of Wescott-Hort. In addition, a committee votes on the "actual text" of the New Testament, so that is always changing.
The non-Lutheran Protestants are allergic to the sacraments, so a comparison should include classic passages, such as communion in 1 Corinthians 10 and "baptism now saves" in 1 Peter 3:21.
Protestants (Pietists) are infected with the urge to "make disciples" so the Great Commission should be examined. The text does not say "make disciples of all nations" but "teach all nations" or even "disciple all nations." The Word teaches. Men "make disciples" only at Fuller Seminary - and look at how poorly that has served the fanatics.
Deletions and implied deletions are also important. Is Jesus the Son of God in Mark 1:1? That may be footnoted as "some witnesses delete Son of God." Is Mark 16 cut off at "for they were afraid"? Perhaps the entire chapter is included but the reader is warned (Otten's Beck Bible franchise) that some witnesses omit verses 9-16.
I have dealt with these issues in the first chapter of Thy Strong Word, which is posted free in the left column, available in print and in Kindle editions.
The apostates of WELS, Missouri, and the ELS need bad Bibles to promote their false doctrine. The endlessly morphing NIV added a word to Romans 3 to declare that "all are forgiven," in line with Halle University's Universal Objective Justification.
The feminist paraphrases, which go back to the suffragette movement of the last century, are the future of all the apostate denominations. Lutherans have abandoned Luther and the Book of Concord - why not the Book itself?
