G.K. Werner's Blog

 

 

Our grateful thanks to everyone who purchased Finders Keepers and/or Quest's End!Hope you enjoyed the tales.
Both have finally been published in a single volume as originally intended--Jorgan's Saga, Book 3: The Sword in the Dragon.
As promised, we have made the new appendix in that volume available here for free to those who may have purchased one of the individual books and would prefer to purchase the other rather than the more expensive combined volume.
Thanks again for your continued interes...

After all these years, we finally got Narrow Way Storytellers' Facebook page up and running.
It’s a work in progress for feeble-minded tech-handicapped authors like ourselves but, thank the Lord, we got it launched.
Please stop by, follow us, and say hi!

 For a story to be a story, it has to have five basic narrative elements: character, conflict, setting, plot, and theme. (Some folk might argue about that last one.) But a story can be any length.

Here's the shortest one I've ever come across. It was written by Frederic Brown and published in the December 1948 issue of the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories.

The last man on earth sat alone in a room.

There was a knock on the door.

Looks to me like all the elements are there. What do you think? --GK

 

God’s Word, Grammar, and Critical Reading

 GK Werner

Basic grammar knowledge is indispensable to critical readers when observing what text says and interpreting what it means—the first two steps in the critical reading process.

            The heart of any sentence is its subject and predicate—its main noun and verb. Identifying a sentence’s subject and predicate is not always easy. Other parts of the sentence are often confused with it. The problem is if we think that the subject is something other than what it is, we can miss a sentence’s meaning entirely.

            Take for example Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” There are readers who identify faith as the subject and conclude that God is saying that faith is what is not of ourselves but is the gift of God. Whether or not that is true is a study for another time, but God is not saying that here in these verses.

            How do we know? Let’s break it down.

The subject is the main noun or pronoun—the person, place, or thing the sentence is about. The predicate is the main verb—the action of the person, place, or thing. Other words get attached to these in various, often confusing ways: adjectives, adverbs, helping verbs, prepositional phrases, and more.

(Don’t worry. Even though I teach high school and college English, I won’t get too carried away here.)

Ephesians 2:8-9 is actually two sentences combined into one, because it has two independent clausesconnected together with a semicolon:

·         “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves…”

·         “…it is the gift of God, not of works, lest (for fear that) anyone should boast.”

Let’s start with the first independent clause and look for the subject.

            An easy way to find a subject is to start eliminating other nouns by setting aside prepositional phrases—groups of words that start with a preposition and end with a noun or pronoun. Why? Because the subject is never found in a prepositional phrase. “By” and “through” are prepositions, so neither “grace” nor “faith” are the subject of this sentence. We’ll set them aside.

            That leaves two groups of words:

·         “you have been saved”

·         “and that not of yourselves”

     

“Of yourselves” is another prepositional phrase. Let’s set it aside also.

Since “and that not” is meaningless by itself, it’s pretty easy to see that “you” (a pronoun) is the subject of this first independent clause and “have been saved,” is the predicate. So the heart of this first independent clause is “you have been saved”.

To be specific, “by grace” and “through faith” are adverb prepositional phrases modifying the predicate “have been saved”.

(Okay. Got a little carried away there.)

But what does “and that not of yourselves” refer to?

            The word that is a demonstrative pronoun—a pronoun referring back to a noun or pronoun called its antecedent. Our choices are grace, you, and faith. Here again some readers identify faith as the noun, especially because of its proximity to “that”.

But using a demonstrative pronoun to refer back to one of two objects of a prepositional phrase without specifying which one (or both) is not grammatically proper because it lacks clarity. It creates ambiguity. And God is as perfect a writer as He is, well, perfect. His Word is never ambiguous. Not in the original writing.

            Hold that thought!

We still have the sentence’s heart to consider: “you have been saved”. Could “that” refer back to the subject “you” or the predicate “have been saved”? You not of yourselves makes no sense. Have been saved not of yourselves? Sounds right and is Biblically sound. But demonstrative pronouns refer to nouns, not verbs so it can’t be referring to the predicate. Can it? (Stay tuned!)

The same problems present themselves regarding “it”, the subject of the second independent clause. “It” cannot refer to “you” and make sense, or to the verb “have been saved.” Plus, using the pronoun it to refer to the nouns “grace” and/or “faith” would be equally confusing as using that in the same way. If God meant “it” or “that” to refer to faith, a clearer sentence construction would be something like: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and faith is not of yourselves but is a gift from God. However, God didn’t write it that way.

But wait a minute. “Have been saved” has to do with salvation. Salvation is a noun. Salvation not of yourselves? Hmmm. Throughout the immediate context of Ephesians 2, Paul’s topic is salvation. And in the context of God’s Word salvation clearly does not result from your efforts.

            Now, if you’re smarter than the average bear, you’re probably asking yourself: This is all well and good regarding the Bible’s English translations, but what about the original Greek language of Ephesians 2:8-9? English grammar rules can get a little sketchy, but Greek? Not so much.

I don’t pretend to be an authority on the ancient Greek language, but what I do know is that Greek is one of those languages that (for reasons I cannot fathom) assigns masculine, feminine, or neuter genders to words. Furthermore, in the Greek language, pronouns are required to have the same gender as the gender of the noun they are referring to. This rule is never violated anywhere in the Bible. Touto (that) is neuter in Greek. Charis (grace) and pistis (faith) are feminine.

Therefore, according to Greek grammar rules, “that not of yourselves” cannot possibly refer to grace or faith. For the same reason it, also a neuter pronoun in the original Greek, cannot possibly refer to “grace” or “faith”.

What could be more precise? So much for the possibility that God is in any way ambiguous!

Both “that not of yourselves” and “it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” must refer to the only thing left—the first sentence’s heart.

Again we might ask: Could that and it refer to salvation, a noun and a form of the word “saved” used in the text? Probably a safe inference! But, during critical reading’s second step, we should always treat inferences cautiously, and be reluctant to force anything while interpreting God’s Word. After all, the cults and various false teachers do that, past and present.

But here’s something I’ve saved for last. (Don’t you love surprise endings?) At times, demonstrative pronouns refer to concepts or word-groups.

Therefore, it is safe to say that both pronouns refer to the entire heart of Ephesians 2:8-9—“You have been saved.”

How are you saved? By grace through faith:

·         “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

·         “…God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together in Christ. By grace you have been saved…” Ephesians 2:4-5)

Salvation is not your doing; it is the gift of God!

            Praise the Lord!

Romans 3:20—“…by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight…”

Romans 11:6—“…if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace…”

Titus 3:4-5—“…when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit…”

 

 

 

YeOlde Free Will Debate

Who do you believe?

In I Corinthians1:10-13 and 3:1-3, Paul urges us to be followers of Jesus not Apollos or Cephasor even Paul himself—or by extension Billy Graham or Joel Osteen or Arminiansor John Calvin. Which means that, like the Bereans who…“received the word with all readiness, and searchedthe Scriptures daily to find out whetherthese things were so” (Acts17:11), we need to search Scripture to check the truth of what we are beingtaught.

One of the basic rules of Bible interpretation is to start with theverses that are clear, straight forward, and easily understood; and theninterpret the more difficult verses in light of those—not the other way around.As Bible believing Christians, we cannot fault the cults if we are also twistingexplicit Scripture to fit an interpretation we have made or come to believeregarding obscure passages.

According to the Bible’s clear teaching, all have sinned, Jesus died for all, Jesus draws all toHimself, and it is God’s will that allrepent (change their minds) and come to Him.

            Check it out for yourself:

·        Romans 3:23– “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory ofGod…”

 

·        IICorinthians 5:15 – “…He (Jesus) died forall…”

 

·        John 12:32– “…I (Jesus)…will draw all mento Myself.”

 

·        I Timothy2:3-4 – “…God our Savior…desires all men to besaved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

(Seeother verses in the endnotes.)

All is all! It does not get any clearer than that! We need to start withthese clear Bible statements and reject any interpretation that contradictsthem. If instead we reject these verses in favor ofother interpretations, on what basis do we make such interpretations? Clearlynot on God’s Word! God doesnot contradict Himself!  (Psalm 18:30)

“I am the truth,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In fact, “God commands alleverywhere to repent (change their minds).” (Acts 17:30) Why would He do thatif he prevents some of us from repenting and believing? According to Mark 6:6,Jesus “…marveled because of their (the people of hishometown Nazareth) unbelief.” Itwould certainly be self-contradictory for Him to say that if he had causedtheir unbelief. As Jesus said about Jerusalem, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as ahen gathers her broodunder her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

If it is not God’s will that we should perish, whose is it? Ours, ofcourse! We can’t claim ignorance or blame God or anyone else.

 “…God demonstrates Hisown love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) And because we are incapable of finding God on our own(Romans 3:11), He has revealed Himself to us through Creation, Israel, theprophets, and his Son Jesus Christ:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Furthermore, “God,who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers bythe prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointedheir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  who being the brightness of His glory and the express imageof His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He hadby Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…”(Hebrews 1:1)

Jesus said in John15:22 – “If I had not come andspoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

“I am the way,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

If we reject Jesus, we are without excuse. In Luke 13:3 and 5, Jesus said, “…unless you repent (change your mind), you will…perish.”

Praise God that, because He has revealed Himself to us anddraws us to Himself, you can “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and youwill find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asksreceives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”(Luke 11:9 and Matthew 7:7-8) You can “chooselife” (Deuteronomy 30:19) as Moses told allIsrael when he called them together in the wilderness. (Deuteronomy 29-2)

“I am the life,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In Acts 16:30 thejailor asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas didnot say: Who knows? God either saves youor not. They said, “Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” In John6:29 Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The only work! Salvation is “the gift of God, not of works,” (Ephesians2:8 and 9) accomplished by Jesus alone through His death and resurrection. “ForGod so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should notperish but have everlasting life.”

Our one task is to believe it—a decision that God, in Hissovereignty, has given all of us theability to make.

Who do you believe?

--- GK

Seealso:

Romans 3:10 – “As it is written: ‘There is nonerighteous, no, not one…’”

Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, tohis own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

See also:

Romans 5:18 – “Therefore, as through one man’soffense judgment came to allmen, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act thefree gift came to all men,resulting in justification of life.”

Titus 2:11 – “…for the grace of God that bringssalvation has appeared to all men…”

I Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one God and oneMediator between God and men, the ManChrist Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”

I Timothy 4:10 – “For to this end we both labor and sufferreproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those whobelieve.”

I John 2:2 – “…He Himself is the propitiationfor our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Act 17:31 – “…because He has appointed a day onwhich He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.He has given assurance of this to allby raising Him from the dead.”

Romans 6:10 – “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all…”

See also:

Matthew11:28 – “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give yourest.”

John7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

Revelation3:20 – “Behold, I stand at thedoor and knock. If anyone hears Myvoice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he withMe.

See also:

2Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slackconcerning His promise,as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that anyshould perish but that all shouldcome to repentance.”

 

Ye Olde Free Will Debate

Who do you believe?

In I Corinthians 1:10-13 and 3:1-3, Paul urges us to be followers of Jesus not Apollos or Cephas or even Paul himself—or by extension Billy Graham or Joel Osteen or Arminians or John Calvin. Which means that, like the Bereans who…“received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11), we need to search Scripture to check the truth of what we are being taught.

One of the basic rules of Bible interpretation is to start with the verses that are clear, straight forward, and easily understood; and then interpret the more difficult verses in light of those—not the other way around. As Bible believing Christians, we cannot fault the cults if we are also twisting explicit Scripture to fit an interpretation we have made or come to believe regarding obscure passages.

According to the Bible’s clear teaching, all have sinned, Jesus died for all, Jesus draws all to Himself, and it is God’s will that allrepent (change their minds) and come to Him.

            Check it out for yourself:

·         Romans 3:23 – “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

 

·         II Corinthians 5:15 – “…He (Jesus) died for all…”

 

·         John 12:32 – “…I (Jesus)…will draw all men to Myself.”

 

·         I Timothy 2:3-4 – “…God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

(See other verses in the endnotes.)

All is all! It does not get any clearer than that! We need to start with these clear Bible statements and reject any interpretation that contradicts them. If instead we reject these verses in favor of other interpretations, on what basis do we make such interpretations? Clearly not on God’s Word! God does not contradict Himself!  (Psalm 18:30)

“I am the truth,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In fact, “God commands alleverywhere to repent (change their minds).” (Acts 17:30) Why would He do that if he prevents some of us from repenting and believing? According to Mark 6:6, Jesus “…marveled because of their (the people of his hometown Nazareth) unbelief.” It would certainly be self-contradictory for Him to say that if he had caused their unbelief. As Jesus said about Jerusalem, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

If it is not God’s will that we should perish, whose is it? Ours, of course! We can’t claim ignorance or blame God or anyone else.

 “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) And because we are incapable of finding God on our own (Romans 3:11), He has revealed Himself to us through Creation, Israel, the prophets, and his Son Jesus Christ:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Furthermore, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1)

Jesus said in John 15:22 – “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

“I am the way,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

If we reject Jesus, we are without excuse. In Luke 13:3 and 5, Jesus said, “…unless you repent (change your mind), you will…perish.”

Praise God that, because He has revealed Himself to us and draws us to Himself, you can “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9 and Matthew 7:7-8) You can “chooselife” (Deuteronomy 30:19) as Moses told allIsrael when he called them together in the wilderness. (Deuteronomy 29-2)

“I am the life,” Jesus said. (John 14:6)

In Acts 16:30 the jailor asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas did not say: Who knows? God either saves you or not. They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” In John 6:29 Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The only work! Salvation is “the gift of God, not of works,” (Ephesians 2:8 and 9) accomplished by Jesus alone through His death and resurrection. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Our one task is to believe it—a decision that God, in His sovereignty, has given all of us the ability to make.

Who do you believe?

--- GK

See also:

Romans 3:10 – “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one…’”

Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

See also:

Romans 5:18 – “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to allmen, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

Titus 2:11 – “…for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…”

I Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”

I Timothy 4:10 – “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”

I John 2:2 – “…He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Act 17:31 – “…because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to allby raising Him from the dead.”

Romans 6:10 – “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all…”

See also:

Matthew 11:28 – “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

John 7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

See also:

2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

 

 Hi Folks!

Our thanks to everyone who grabbed a free copy of our two latest books!!! Quite a response!!!

Hope you enjoy them!!!

(If you do enjoy these books, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads. THANKS!

Quest's End -- the sequel to Finders Keepers
A would be knight wants a quest.A princess wants escape from an arranged betrothal.A king wants a legendary sword of power.
And, disguised among them, a diabolical master-manipulator is perfectly willingto see to it they get what they want! 


Robin of Sherwood -- the fourth volume in The Clerk of Copmanhurst's Tales:
Robin and Marian -- the traditional tales as they've never been told before.
From the Clerk of Copmanhurst's fourth letter, including: more jests and japes, trysts and tolls, disguises, rescues, and battles (not to mention witches); plus a beggar-spy; plus growing suspicions of who knows what and how; plus reasons why armored men should not enter forests and equally good reasons why abbots should not (especially if they can't sing); dismally poor reasons for lovers to part (forever?); solemn promises versus the temptation of a gold-tipped silver arrow in the shapely hands of a maid with deer-brown eyes; and, alas, a hero's death.

 Hi Folks!

We have two new books available. The e-book versions of each will be available for FREE at Amazon from 12-1-21 to 12-5-21.

Hope you enjoy them, and thanks as always!!!!!!!

(If you do enjoy these books, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads. THANKS!

Quest's End -- the sequel to Finders Keepers
A would be knight wants a quest.A princess wants escape from an arranged betrothal.A king wants a legendary sword of power.
And, disguised among them, a diabolical master-manipulator is perfectly willingto see to it they get what they want! 


Robin of Sherwood -- the fourth volume in The Clerk of Copmanhurst's Tales:
Robin and Marian -- the traditional tales as they've never been told before.
From the Clerk of Copmanhurst's fourth letter, including: more jests and japes, trysts and tolls, disguises, rescues, and battles (not to mention witches); plus a beggar-spy; plus growing suspicions of who knows what and how; plus reasons why armored men should not enter forests and equally good reasons why abbots should not (especially if they can't sing); dismally poor reasons for lovers to part (forever?); solemn promises versus the temptation of a gold-tipped silver arrow in the shapely hands of a maid with deer-brown eyes; and, alas, a hero's death.

Get the Picture? Department

Here are my original ideas for  The Sword and the Way cover (as if anyone asked for them).

Using N.C. Wyeth, one of my all-time favorite artists from the Golden Age of adventure-book illustration: (Ginny, who has more brains than I do, pointed out that readers would think the dragonship was the hero's ship--an important distinction.)






Using my feeble Sea Door From the East sketch, finished off with color pencils no less:


(Ginny, who has more sense--not to mention taste--than I do, saved readers from that one! Although I can't seem to delete it from our Goodreads page.)






Here's another cover concept we toyed with briefly:


(After exercises in resizing image relationships for the cover, we ended up inflicting these and some others on readers as interior illustrations--cleverly attempting to cover my lack of talent by blaming claiming a young Jorgan Anderson sketched them.)






Now aren't you glad I didn't subject you to any of these...er...well, sorry about that!


But aren't you glad I broke down and actually paid to get the picture--by a professional? Kudos to EC Stever who put us onto Viking Longships In Unknown Waters © Sylphe_7, istock photo ID # 506912511.

Er...wait a minute...that's the original.


Oops! Too much verbiage! Way overboard! (See what I did there? Don't you love puns? Okay, I'll stop.)




Nope!


That's it!












Get the Picture? Department

Here are my original ideas for  The Sword and the Way cover (as if anyone asked for them).

Using N.C. Wyeth, one of my all-time favorite artists from the Golden Age of adventure-book illustration: (Ginny, who has more brains than I do, pointed out that readers would think the dragonship was the hero's ship--an important distinction.)






Using my feeble Sea Door From the East sketch, finished off with color pencils no less:


(Ginny, who has more sense--not to mention taste--than I do, saved readers from that one! Although I can't seem to delete it from our Goodreads page.)






Here's another cover concept we toyed with briefly:


(After exercises in resizing image relationships for the cover, we ended up inflicting these and some others on readers as interior illustrations--cleverly attempting to cover my lack of talent by blaming claiming a young Jorgan Anderson sketched them.)






Now aren't you glad I didn't subject you to any of these...er...well, sorry about that!


But aren't you glad I broke down and actually paid to get the picture--by a professional? Kudos to EC Stever who put us onto Viking Longships In Unknown Waters © Sylphe_7, istock photo ID # 506912511.

Er...wait a minute...that's the original.


Oops! Too much verbiage! Way overboard! (See what I did there? Don't you love puns? Okay, I'll stop.)




Nope!


That's it!