Rebecca Stark is the author of The Good Portion: Godthe second title in The Good Portion series.

The Good Portion: God explores what Scripture teaches about God in hopes that readers will see his perfection, worth, magnificence, and beauty as they study his triune nature, infinite attributes, and wondrous works. 

                     

Entries from April 1, 2010 - April 30, 2010

Friday
Apr302010

Answers to Quiz on Doctrine of Man

Oops, I forgot I said I’d post the answers to Wednesday’s quiz today. But the day’s not over, so I still have time to keep my promise. Here’s how it works: I’ve copied the question and bolded the correct answer. Then I’ve linked to the Theological Term where you’ll find the explanations for the answer.


1. How are human beings distinguished from God’s other creatures?

  • a. God providentially cares for them.
  • b. God created them to represent him in a way the other creatures do not.
  • c. God gave them dominion over his other creatures.
  • d. all of the above.
  • e. b and c above.

God providentially cares for all his creatures, but human beings are distinguished from other creatures because they are made in God’s image.


2. When God created him and placed him in the Garden of Eden, Adam

  • a. was good and just.
  • b. represented the whole human race.
  • c. was able to obey God’s command.
  • d. all of the above.
  • e. a and c above.

Adam was created good and just, and able to obey God’s command, but instead he chose to disobey. Because he represented the whole human race when he disobeyed, his rebellious act resulted in God’s curse upon Adam and all his offspring.


3. Because Adam disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden

  • a. I was born corrupt.
  • b. I was born guilty.
  • c. I will die.
  • d. all of the above.
  • e. a and c above.

Because Adam represented all of us when he disobeyed, we are born with Adam’s guilt already counted as ours, and with inherited corruption, too. As a result, we are all subject to death.


4. Despite the corruption I inherited

  • a. I am not as depraved as I could possibly be.
  • b. I can always trust my conscience.
  • c. I was born with the ability to love God more than I love myself.
  • d. none of the above.
  • e. a and b above.

Our inherited corruption is in the form of total depravity, which means every part of us is not what it should be, including our conscience. As a result, we are naturally unable to love God as we ought. But that doesn’t mean that we are born as bad as we could be.


5. Which is not the result of the fall of man?

  • a. Human beings are made in the image of God.
  • b. Human beings need a Saviour.
  • c. Human beings have no natural desire for God.
  • d. all of the above.
  • e. b and c above.

Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, so that’s not a result of the fall. However, because of the curse of God that resulted from the fall, we are all born as sinners opposed to God and we all need a Saviour.

Friday
Apr302010

My Desktop Photo 100

Photo by Andrew Stark
(click on photo for larger view)

Thursday
Apr292010

Eight Ways (and More) to Eat Your Rhubarb

See updates below!

  1. Pull the stalks out of the garden and eat them raw. Karen comments
    Our grandmother had a huge rhubarb patch in back of her garage and I remember we used to pick it and dip it in brown sugar and eat. Some of our friends used to dip it in salt instead of brown sugar. I remember it was so very delicious. Remember washing it using the backyard garden hose.
    It’s mostly children, I think, who dare to eat it raw. Did you? Sugar or salt?

  2. Make sauce by taking 4 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb and cooking it in a saucepan with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar. Cook and stir on low heat until the rhubarb is tender. You may want to adjust the sugar to your own tastes. I like mine tart.

    Eat rhubarb sauce plain in a bowl, over vanilla yogurt (how I like mine), or over ice cream or cake. Suggested additions: dried blueberries (Kim of Hiraeth) and strawberries (WhiteStone). WhiteStone has a suggestion for serving it, too.
    When we were growing up on the farm, we had lotsa rhubarb. We also had a small strawberry patch and strawberries never went far enough at our dinner table. So we made a lot or rhubarb sauce with strawberries cooked in. Made ‘em go farther. Put that sauce on a square of homemade yellow cake, add whipped cream, and you have heaven here on earth. Almost.
    Update: Kim has written a little poem about … well, go see.

  3. Make jam. I like to mix mine with strawberries to make strawberry-rhubarb jam. (Did you know that putting rhubarb in with cooked strawberries improves the taste of the strawberries? I know it seems impossible, but it’s true.) Dorothy suggests blueberry-rhubarb jam, and tells us that the combo is “practically perfect.” There’s rhubarb-ginger jam, too, and bumbleberry jam usually has a little rhubarb in it.

  4. Just drink it. I like a rhubarb cooler on a hot day, but I mix the juice with with club soda rather than lemon-lime. Update, May 17: Better yet, with a little more work, you can make rhubarb slushes.

  5. Make Rhubarb Walnut Muffins (Dorothy’s recipe). Rhubarb and a crumb topping—two of my favorite things—turned into a muffin.

  6. Bake rhubarb crisp, a favorite of Kim of The Upward Call and WhiteStone. My mother used to make Rhubarb Crunch (pictured above), which is a crisp-like dessert.

  7. Put together a yummy pie. (Rhubarb isn’t called pie plant for nothing.) Here’s a recipe for rhubarb pie from Judy at Mennonite Girls Can Cook. This one calls for 2 eggs in the filling, which is the way I usually make plain rhubarb pie. If I’m baking rhubarb into a pie, however, it is usually a strawberry-rhubarb one. [Update, May 13: You could also top your rhubarb pie with meringue]

  8. Make Dorothy’s Honey Rhubarb Betty. “If you love rhubarb, I can’t imagine that you won’t love it.”

There you have it. Thanks to those who gave me recipes or made suggestions for favorite ways to eat rhubarb. And it’s not too late to add to my list should you have more suggestions.