Category: Apologetics

What Does Scripture Mean By You?

Is there a problem with our language? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

What does Scripture mean by you? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

One of the great weaknesses of English can be our limited vocabulary. Consider that we have only oneword for love. A man can say he loves Jesus, his wife, his best friend, football, and pizza. He can be true in saying all of this and still mean something vastly different for each.

Another example is the word “you.” Here in the South, we have tried to correct this with the term, “Y’all.” (English was invented overseas, but we perfected it in the South.) Whatever you think of that term, it does clarify if you mean one person or a group of people.

So consider a passage like Philippians 1:6. In this, we read that He that began a good work in you will carry it to completion jn Christ Jesus. Readers who are more Calvinistic can see this as a statement on soteriology.

“See? When God begins His work in a man, He will bring it to completion. You are eternally secure.” Even those who hold to eternal security without going the way of Calvinism will use this to emphasize that.

However, that’s not what’s going on. This is about the church. The you refers not to an individual, but to the church as a whole. This doesn’t mean Calvinism and/or eternal security are false. It just means that this isn’t the right usage of the passage.

Now let’s go to the other side. In Philippians 2:12-13, we are told to work out your salvation in fear and trembling for it is God that works in you. At this, Arminians think they have a point.

“See? Your salvation isn’t secure. You have to work it all out.”

Unfortunately for them, it’s not the case again. This is the church needing to work out its own salvation. It’s not about individuals. This doesn’t mean Arminianism is true or false. It just means this isn’t the verse.

The problem is our culture is individualistic. We read the text as speaking to us as individuals, and sometimes it does, but we don’t need to assume that for a text. It requires work, but it’s worth it. It’s only looking at the word in the original language and/or careful study of the passage that can help us know what is meant.

Notice also that in all of this, no one viewpoint on soteriology was held to be true or false. I have my own opinions on that debate, but I choose to not enter into it. If anything, I chose this passage because that way I can’t be seen as going after one side and supporting another. I hold that both of them who use these passages use bad argumentation.

Next time you see you in the text, and I mean that individually now, check and see how it is used. Misread the text and you miss what God has for you in it and hold a false view instead.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth.)

Concluding Seminary Thoughts

What’s the sum of the matter on seminary? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

My writing on seminary has been for those of you wondering if you should go to Bible College or seminary. I am sure I have said some matters that are surprising, such as my not placing a lot of weight on the idea that someone is called to preach or something of that sort. I have instead pointed to the way you function and the abilities you have and to see if you’re qualified for ministry and able to take it on.

Of course, when I say concluding thoughts on a matter, that’s going to be somewhat subjective as I might have something more to say later on. For now though, I don’t want to go on forever. Here are some final points I want to make about seminary.

First, it’s a lot of hard work. I don’t care if you’re working on an undergrad or a Master’s or a Ph.D. Be prepared to work. I am someone who has a natural bent towards matters of the intellect, but I also do have to work.

Second, it’s expensive. This is one reason you should push for a scholarship. It costs a lot of money to go through seminary and I have a strong aversion to taking out any student loans. I do have a Patreon set up, but I’m also trying to find other ways to make more income.

However, the most important thing I want to stress is really that seminary is a lot of fun. What makes it great here is the people that are here. I have only been here for a month and I have been treated already like I am an honored guest and many people know me by name. That doesn’t mean I’m known well yet, but I am known. Right now, I’m in a gaming group on campus that I helped start even and we’re working on planning the first of our gaming nights right now.

I enjoy walking around the campus and getting to meet the people. I go out in the evenings and have Pokemon Go on my phone and do some walking around with the daily incense feature and try to greet people that I run into. The fact that we all share a shared faith in Jesus Christ is really great for us. I also enjoy interacting with my professors.

Along those lines, yes, I am starting to get very well known on campus as the guy who affirms the virgin birth, which I do affirm. Someone has told me they like to read my Facebook because I put so much on there that is funny. For me, I try to do everything I can seriously. When I debate and argue a case, I do that seriously, but when it’s time to play and to try to get people to laugh, I do that seriously as well.

I hope this has been helpful for you on your path to deciding if you want to seek higher education in ministry or not. The church could bear to have more people who are ably equipped to do the work of ministry. Check and see if that could be you.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Safe Christianity

How can you be safe in Christianity? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

As a resident of New Orleans, I imagine what I would think if I heard a couple together one day talking in their house if a major hurricane was coming.

Wife: Honey. There’s a level 5 hurricane heading towards New Orleans.

Husband: Predictions for us?

Wife: Likely to destroy the entire city and leave few survivors.

Husband: Sounds terrible. What do you want to do that evening?

Wife: Thought we’d stay home and watch TV.

Husband: That sounds good.

It seems nonsensical to think about it. If there is that disaster situation coming, shouldn’t you do something about it? I thought about that today reading J. Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Culture. The book is inexpensive on Kindle and you can read it in less than an hour easily.

In the last section, he speaks about how the time might seem dark, but this is the time that we can shine the brightest and where we can rise up with excitement knowing the grand task before us and that God is with us. He has also spoken in the book about how you can be safe instead. Is it possible, for instance, to be a soldier and find a definite way to avoid dying in combat? Machen tells us that there definitely is.

Don’t go into combat.

Sure, you’ll be safe, but you won’t do anything to the enemy really. Now today, we understand someone could operate a drone from a distance or something of that sort, but we can all understand Machen’s point. The easiest way to stay safe is to just not do anything risky. That is how many of us approach Christianity.

How many of us talk about people who are dying without Christ and then go about our lives like it’s not a big deal. The atheist Penn Gillette even said that he encourages Christians to proselytize. After all, how much do you have to hate someone to know that there is an eternal judgment for them somehow and yet not want to do the work of evangelism?

Now keep in mind, I’m not saying our whole lives are 24/7 doing evangelism. Not even Jesus did that. I am saying that we should consider doing more for the lost and for our fellow Christians who need encouragement and yes, that means we are putting ourselves in dangerous situations at times.

However, that’s part of the deal of Christianity. We have Christians who are afraid to share the gospel because they might hurt someone’s feelings or someone might make fun of them. Our earlier ancestors would not be afraid to go to the lions for Jesus and in Muslim nations today, as just one example, getting baptized can practically be a death sentence, and they do it anyway.

If you want to know why our country is the way it is, it’s because we are a people who value safety so much that we don’t do anything. Picture the semis on the interstate that say “Safety is my goal.” No, it isn’t. If safety was your goal, you wouldn’t even be out here driving. The surest way to stay safe is to not drive. Your goal is to get your goods to their destination. The means you want to do is a safe means, but your goal is not to be safe.

This doesn’t mean that we knowingly go into dangerous situations just because they’re dangerous. If a hurricane is heading towards you and is likely to kill you if you stay, it is just foolish to not move. You can’t reason with the hurricane after all. Even those skilled in martial arts are told to only use it as a last resort.

Being safe hasn’t even kept us safe in the long run. It’s put us even more on the defensive. Why does the world listen so much to Muslims and to the LGBTQ community? Because they know these people have power and will speak out and go after them if they disagree. They know they can’t run roughshod over these people. What do they know about us? They can say whatever we want and we’ll just stay there and take it. No. This is not what turning the other cheek is about. It’s not about being a doormat. It’s about not escalating tension in the private sphere, not the public one.

Years ago, before the 2016 election, my former father-in-law asked me what I think it will take to change America. My answer has always been the same. The church has to be the church. The gospel doesn’t need America, but America needs the gospel. If we believe Jesus is the only one who can change society and save the souls of men and we do nothing, we either do not care about Jesus, the souls of men, or both.

Choose where you want to go. You can play it safe or live dangerously. If you play it safe, you might be safe indeed, but you sure won’t do anything to make a difference in the world.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Seminary Sundays

What do I do on a Sunday? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

It’s odd that in Tennessee, Sunday was the one day of the week I couldn’t sleep in. My work days were always from 2-11. Now, Sunday is one of the later days seeing as my alarm doesn’t go off until 7:30. It’s also the one morning that I don’t have breakfast at home seeing as I can get something at the church.

Right now, I’m still fitting in. I’m quiet in the Sunday School group because I’m not as well known, but I’m very pleased with how informed it looks like many of the fellow students are there. It’s worth pointing out that at my church, there are also a number of students there that are my classmates.

I chose this church also because I was told it was very disability friendly and so far, I have seen that to be the case. I am talking with the pastor in the hopes of becoming a pastor intern which could help cover my seminary education seeing as I can get a scholarship that way. My pastor also does have a Ph.D. which is important to me. His is in missiology.

After church, I pretty much have the day to myself. Sometimes, I might stop and do something like grocery shopping briefly. I have enough to make it by and I don’t starve, but I am also spendthrift. I always have been, but now all the more. Unfortunately, the Wal-Mart next to the seminary doesn’t have a clearance section.

Also, I can often catch up on schoolwork. Greek work for my classes is usually due on Sunday nights and that for me is the opportune time to do it. Other than that, much of my day is often spent the same way, except I do have more down time than I do other days. My church is now only about 10 miles away and a good portion of the time to and fro is on the interstate.

I’m also working on getting to know my new church family more and more which is hard for me. Around here, I still have students come and address me by name and I cannot remember who they are. Fortunately, none of them seem to be offended by any of this. I have also found acceptance with people understanding that I am different. If I am in the classroom with a laptop in front of me always, it’s not because I’m not paying attention. It’s because my mind will wander off if I am not doing something and I will lose focus entirely. Every time I have tested this, it has happened.

Also, I do want to stress that some people could be tempted to skip church and chapel in seminary. Don’t. You need that time of fellowship and worship. There will always be time to go and do your assignments later. I have already built into my life a regimen of reading the Bible regularly and doing prayer regularly so I have been safe from the temptation to cut those out. Others have it harder and I urge them to keep going.

Next time, we could start wrapping this up.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

42

What’s it like being the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Today is my special day as today, I have turned 42, which we all know is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Something I was thinking about last night was Chesterton’s idea that each of us is a great, “Might-not-have-been.” The odds of my being here as I am and your being here are infinitesimal, but yet here you are and here I am. Each of you being here is someone who is extremely unlikely.

Oddly though, had I never been at the same time, I would not have been missed. Now yes, I do realize parents miss children that they miscarry, but there is still something different as you have no idea for sure how the child would have turned out. No one around us knows how they would have either. This world could have had several people in it that never got the chance to be through whatever means.

I can’t help but think about abortion at this. Our world could be vastly different today had we not killed millions of people before they got to live outside the womb. Now I realize some could say we could have had another Hitler, but we could also have had someone who cured cancer. We don’t know.

The evolutionary paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould once said if you rewound the clock and started it up again, reality would not come out the same way. Unless you’re a strong determinist in theism, the same is true for us. Even with a God overseeing everything, many of us still believe in free-will and how matters could have been much more different.

I cannot speculate on the unknown like this. It could be interesting at times, but I would prefer to speculate on the known. I am here. That means that everything I have been through, I have survived, be it major back surgery, depression and panic attacks, and a super-painful divorce. I have gone through it all and I’m still kicking. Right now, I’m doing that so much that I’m at seminary living out my dream.

It was also a gift to see how matters went for me today. I don’t publicize my birthday on campus and I wondered if anyone would know. I opened my door and my first thought was that there was a spill of some sort and a stream of water falling out my door, but it wasn’t a stream of water. It was gold streamers. There was a gift card and a set of mini-cupcakes and my door area was thoroughly decorated. The names on a card were my RA and her husband.

All around campus, many people have been wishing me a happy birthday. It’s been something incredible to me. It tells me more and more that I do belong here. I am surrounded by people who actually notice me and care about me. I’m not saying no one else has, but I have only been here a little over a month and already I have found a place that I can fit in. It’s an academic environment, one that I thrive in.

Tonight, when I rest, I hope I will do so a year wiser and a year more mature. Well, the more mature part might be hard. Anyway, I also hope I go to bed thankful, thankful that through it all, I was allowed to be and realize that my life is a gift.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Seminary Saturdays

What’s it like in seminary on Saturdays? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Saturdays are odd when I think about them. In the past, one looked forward to Saturday because there was first off, no school, and second, you could get up and watch a slew of Saturday morning cartoons. Saturday was one of the most anticipated days of the week.

In Seminary, it’s really kind of awkward for me. On Saturdays, I have no pressing responsibilities, which for me can get boring actually. Sometimes, I will take that time to write a paper for class or I will do some Greek homework or something of that sort. Study is still something difficult for me to do, but I try.

Of course, I do try to relax some on that day with gaming and TV, but I will also sometimes try to clean up my apartment on that day. I do have someone I have hired to help by especially cleaning the bathroom for me. It’s not because I’m lazy, but because it’s also hard for me to clean the tub where I take my showers due to the steel rod in my spine.

I go out walking in the evenings if I can and one benefit of that is Saturday is one day of the week where I don’t have to dress up and so I can go out wearing something more casual like a t-shirt if I want to. Normally, it’s walking in the evening when I play Pokemon Go and use my daily incense both and get to meet some fellow students as I am walking. We do have a pool here on campus and I have thought about using it some on Saturday, but I’m really not one much for water.

If I needed to do anything in the way of a lot of driving, I do it on this day also, although I hate driving in New Orleans. Tomorrow, I will be going to the aquarium with an Aspergers group that I found online. I will be up at around 8 AM for that, but it will be worth it for one day. That is another benefit of Saturday. I can get to sleep in if I want to.

I have also been instrumental already in getting a gaming group started here on campus and for all I know, we could meet sometime on Saturdays. That’s another important aspect of seminary life if I haven’t mentioned it so far. It’s getting to meet your fellow students in social events that really are not specifically ministry focused. It’s just students getting together and doing something fun.

I do try to make sure I don’t spend all of the day doing something just purely fun, but to get some work in. I do have a number of books on my Kindle that I am making sure that I read some of in every day. Some I wait specifically for the evening to do the reading in and some I start in the morning and have a chapter at least done before I get to bed.

That’s another day in seminary life. Hopefully, come Monday I can cover Sundays.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

A Day Of Class At Seminary

How does it go when I have classes? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, at least this semester, I have classes at the seminary. My alarm goes off at 6:45. Sometimes I’m awake a little bit before then. I pray, get up and make my bed, get breakfast on, and then do my Bible reading. Normally, I usually watch some videos on YouTube and then when it comes to brushing and shaving turn on some music on there.

My first class is Greek 1. It’s the basics and I’m working on finding something like a game of sorts on my computer I can use to facilitate my studies in the language. My second class is Systematic Theology 1. In this one, my research project for the semester is J. Gresham Machen and his work on the virgin birth, which I do affirm.

After these two classes, we have chapel on these days. Students are highly encouraged to attend and thus far, I always have. We have a worship band and then a different speaker each day comes up and speaks. This normally lasts for about 45 minutes altogether.

After that, I now have a couple of free hours. Right now, I’m spending them in the student center writing this blog. Last Tuesday, I spent them going into town to open up a bank account. Today, I will probably go to the Wal-Mart next door and pick up some groceries so I can have the evening to myself.

My last class is Spiritual Formation and Discipleship. This is one about building up your own spiritual life and evangelizing others. There is a special project where we are all to choose a group that we want to reach with the gospel. I was going to do Aspies, but I have already done that before, so I figured I’d do gamers this time.

The rest of the evening is mine and it doesn’t differ much from a work day, except I tend to have more time. I think Shiro prefers these days because I get home a little bit earlier and normally, I have more time since I have done the blog normally during the day, such as right now.

As for classwork, that’s going to be on my days off, aside from reading. Normally, I am always doing some reading. I have my Kindle with me as I said in a previous post and I’m going through multiple books. I know some people are totally against something like a Kindle, but for me in seminary, it’s essential. I can have multiple books, get them instantly, and transfer documents to my Kindle so I can read them as well.

Classes are overall enjoyable though. They do require a lot of work and a lot of interaction. Most of the work is not done in the classroom itself, but is done outside the class. I have also got to know my professors as well which I think is helpful for the seminary path.

If you’re interested in seminary, I hope you’ve come to see more and more what it is like. The time outside of class can be exhausting sometimes as I wonder if I will get done with all the reading, but at least it lights that spark in me more and more for learning and enrichment. It becomes more clear every day that I am where I belong.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

In Defense of Adult Gamers

What about adults playing video games? Let’s plunge into the video games and find out.

Yesterday, I was watching a Matt Walsh video about a video game. I was curious since it was about Scooby-Doo and something happening with Velma. Anyway, Velma is a character in a game called Multiversus and 34 players filed a complaint about Velma calling a police car.

For the part about the politics, I thoroughly agree. However, I did notice when he said that the problem was really adults playing a video game about Scooby-Doo. At the end, he did make another short statement about adult gamers. I thought about some things I could say on Facebook, but my thoughts got so long I figured a blog post was better.

At the start, Walsh says he has been hard on the adult gaming community in the past. He does say it’s not a community just because you share an interest, but I disagree on that point at the start. Friendships often do start with common interests. Just today on campus I managed to start a Facebook group at our seminary for gaming. It can include board, card, video, tabletop, mobile, or collectible card games.

Walsh also does say in moderation it’s fine. He thinks a Scooby-Doo game is ridiculous, but in moderation, it’s fine. It’s worth pointing out for those who don’t know that Multiversus contains Scooby-Doo characters, but it is not a Scooby-Doo game. It contains other characters from the WB universe.

On moderation, I agree, and I think that applies to everything. As a conservative Christian, that even includes ministry work. If you are so involved in ministry that you neglect your family, for instance, you need to take a step back. People have to work to provide, but if you are married to your job more than your spouse, you have a problem. Even Ecclesiastes says too much study will make you tired and Aquinas argued that we need to play to refresh ourselves.

Walsh says the rejoinder he gets from gamers is “You watch football don’t you?” He does say it’s a little bit different, but doesn’t explain how it is. Now on my end, I could say watching 22 grown men go and tear each other up over a pointy-shaped object called a ball seems ridiculous to me. That’s also fine. We don’t have to have the same interests.

Yet some differences I want to point out on my end is that watching a sport is really a very passive activity. When you’re playing a game, you have to be engaged and you have to use your mind. Of course, you can be thinking in a football game, but there is nothing in the game that depends on your thinking. An Einstein and an idiot can both watch the game and think all they want about it and it won’t change the game a bit.

Also, many sporting events have some real-life consequences. I know a number of people who are intense pain later in life because they played football early on. The most danger you could be in from gaming would likely be some Carpal-Tunnel Syndrome. Also, I know that in many cases, when a team wins a major sporting event, like the Super Bowl, there’s a lot of rioting that happens in the town. Now I could be mistaken in this, but I have yet to hear of a town that was destroyed because someone or a team won the Pokemon World Championships or some other Esport event.

I would also agree that if you enjoy sports though, enjoy it in moderation. However, with sports, I notice that you can have a third of a nightly news broadcast dedicated to sports and news programs on the radio for hours dedicated to sports. I honestly wonder what can be said. That’s my ignorance speaking there. For games, we have an immense library of them we can talk about.

Walsh explains more that he doesn’t like the term community because it makes it a lifestyle that your world revolves around. I don’t know anyone who refers to the gaming community who thinks such a thing. I’m sure for the overwhelming majority of us that if we knew someone whose life did revolve around video games, we’d tell them to get help.

He also says our lives should not revolve around entertainment. Properly understood, I can agree, but I’m hesitant since one of my main emphases in understanding my Christian faith has been the joy of God and enjoying the world He has made. There are too many who have guilted Christians just because they enjoy something.

There is also something else about gaming. Gaming can be very intellectually engaging, especially in RPGs, since a story is told. You can base a philosophy course easily on video games. Right now for a class, I’m working on a paper on the themes of redemption and resurrection in Final Fantasy IV. As a kid playing this game just for fun, I never would have noticed this, but as an adult, I see it all over the game.

Gaming is also not an expensive hobby for the most part. The most expensive is probably buying a new console when it comes out. For us, you can buy several games at a cheap price and enjoy them thoroughly for hours. If you have hard copies, you can trade with friends.

For me also, as an Aspie, this allows me to connect with people. My mind works well with games and my former DivorceCare leader told my folks even that my gaming has an impact on my going to seminary. I have been playing games about fighting the battle of good vs evil all my life and I want to go out and have adventures where I am actually taking on evil. Peter Kreeft has said apologetics is the closest you come to saving the world.

In the evenings here, if the weather is nice, I go out walking and I have Pokemon Go at the same time. I get to see some of my fellow students and greet them and they greet me. It has been a joy to be on campus barely even a month and already students know me.

Also, many of our interests today come from things that resonated in our childhood. When the new Batman movie came out, who did I see it with? My nearly 70 year-old Dad. These movies aren’t just being made for kids. Adults love the superhero movies. For my Dad and I, it’s a connection as he grew up with these heroes and I can explain the new ones that I grew up watching in cartoons. I suspect if I get to have a kid someday, I will introduce him to the games I played as a kid.

In closing, I really keep thinking of something my therapist once told me. “An idol is always what someone else is doing.” I also think about how C.S. Lewis said that as an adult, he read fairy tales in the open. When he became an adult, he put away childish things, including the fear of being childish. I highly encourage people to lead multi-faceted lives and honor Christ with all they do, and that includes your hobbies and gaming. All that I do, I do seriously. When it’s time to study, I do, and when it’s time to play, I play seriously as well.

Overall, I agree with Walsh and much of what he says. None of this is meant to be antagonistic. It’s just explaining what myself and my fellow gamers do and how we enjoy our lives. I hope many of them would agree with what I said, at least about games as they might not agree on politics.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

A Work Day At Seminary

How is a work day at seminary? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Not every day at Seminary is in a classroom studying. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I work here. Right now, I work at the post office. That could change seeing as the pay isn’t that great. I’m mainly there because it’s a job that my memory can work at and so I get to meet more of the students.

My alarm is set to go off at 6:45. Sometimes, I wake up on my own a little bit before then. I normally pray before I even get out of bed and if Shiro jumps up on the bed with me, I’ll snuggle with him some. When I get up, I make the bed because I’m convinced if I don’t, somehow my Mom will know and call me immediately to nag me about not making up the bed. I also take any vitamins then.

I get my breakfast ready and while it’s in the toaster oven, I do my Scripture reading and prayer. I stress that because it’s important in Seminary to still keep up a devotional life. While having breakfast, I will usually play a game on my phone while watching YouTube videos, normally about politics or video games. I also fix a lunch and a couple of snacks and get my book bag.

The good thing also about the post office is that it can be quiet so I get in time for reading and things like that. My boss my very first day turned on YouTube and started playing clips of musicals, which was an education for me as well. I had no idea until then that The Little Shop of Horrors had been turned into a musical.

It’s also great to meet my fellow students and when I get someone from Systematic Theology, I definitely let them know that I affirm the virgin birth, which I do affirm. I have been very pleased with how many students have come to know me and recognize me. It really gives a sense that I do belong at this place and this is a place where I am accepted just as I am.

My workday is from 8-5. Normally, I’ve got a lot of reading in at the end of the day. I’m reading multiple books on my Kindle right now. I’m reading a mystery, a sci-fi book, the critical Qur’an, a novel about a lady divorcing her husband, two books for class, the church fathers, and Athanasius’s book on the incarnation. Yes. I keep up with all of those. In regular books, I’m reading Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart for class and I still go through my Greek book for class.

When I get home, it’s time to relax. This is the time I do my blog and then play some games, normally at this time, Final Fantasy XIV. I have my echo there with me as well so I will turn on YouTube and watch some videos also. If I can’t find anything I want to watch, I can listen to a book on Audible.

Around 7, if the weather is good, I normally go out to walk around campus and get in some Pokemon Go using my daily incense in the game. It’s fascinating to me that when I go out, the sun is still up to some extent and when I get back, it’s usually dark. That’s when I then get in a shower and then go and do some more gaming while I call my folks on the echo. I might watch some TV after that and then around 10, I start getting set for bed.

I realize this might not be the most exciting piece ever written, but I want you to know what life is like in Seminary if you choose to go. Tomorrow, if nothing else comes up, I plan to write about what a day is like when I have classes and yes, when I have chapel as well as all students are to attend chapel. I hope if you’re interested you’ll come for that.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

Book Plunge: Our Socially Awkward Marriage

What do I think of Tom and Linda Peters’s book published by Brookside Press? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I saw this book in an email I got last night for discount books on Kindle. Seeing as it was about marriage and about Aspergers, I bought it immediately. Being on the spectrum myself, I was curious how much I could relate to.

The book is a quick read and a humorous read. Every section could be read at in the most, five minutes. You could go through and just read one section a day, but seeing as I’m writing a review of it, you know I didn’t do that.

A number of entries in here are pretty amusing. One that really sticks with me is with Linda getting frustrated with their teenage son leaving behind dirty dishes and as she prepares to go out somewhere says “Can you show him how the dishwasher works?” When she comes back, Tom and the son are watching TV and the dirty dishes are still there.

She wants to know why Tom didn’t do what she asked and he says he did. He took the boy over and explained all about how the dishwasher works. Linda is indeed a patient and understanding wife. She knew she couldn’t be mad. Tom wasn’t trying to be a jerk or find a loophole. He just heard her say “Explain how it works. As far as he was concerned, he did what he was told.

Stories like this are humorous and I remember growing up with a lot of literalness in my hearing what people said, though I have come to better understand people. Still, I sometimes do something like this just for fun. When I moved into my seminary apartment, a kind husband and wife helped me do so. The next day they had arranged to have a loveseat delivered and when it came, the wife said “Send me a picture of your apartment!”

I knew darn well what she meant, but well, the picture I sent her is a picture of my apartment, but not what she had in mind.

However, in the book in the midst of a lot of the silliness, there is some understanding. For example, sometimes tensions can rise up when one of them is hungry and the solution is to just get a snack and then come back and discuss the problem. Tom is a low-key guy with his emotions, but sometimes they do get out of hand and he needs to vent. He also hates being in a large crowd of people.

Yet there is also the lesson of learning to love someone quirks and all. After all, even if you are not on the spectrum as I am, you have your quirks. There are things you do that don’t make sense, and they might not even make sense to you. Autism can bring its own share of quirks too, but those of us on the spectrum want to be loved just like anyone else does.

If I would change anything here, I would like to see more on what their marriage is like overall. What is it like on a date night? How did Tom behave on the first date? What was it like for Linda to learn about her husband? These are questions I wanted to know about. Maybe they’ll be covered in a future book.

But for now, this is a good quick read if you’re interested in this area and I hope you will get a few good laughs out of it and some lessons about acceptance of one another too.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)