Only True Hope – Welcome

Bears, Beauty, and Perspective in Grand Teton

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

My brother and I have enjoyed hiking trips to different national parks over the past few years. This year, we traveled to Wyoming to visit Grand Teton National Park. We enjoy walking in the beauty of God’s creation, good conversation, and Chinese food! This hike was memorable in that we had our first bear encounter. We were coming around a corner, and I heard some ruffling in the bushes. I looked to my right and did not see anything; I looked to my left and saw a huge black bear standing up. As I told my brother there was a bear, I slowly reached for my bear spray as the bear and I had a staring contest. We slowly backed away, and the bear retreated a little bit. We waited a moment, bear spray in one hand, cell phone in the other, and slowly walked past the bear without any altercation. We also saw other animals in the wilderness, such...

Book Review: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

July 21, 2024July 21, 2024 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I recently finished the audio version of Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation. It is challenging to review an audiobook since I cannot refer to a particular page with all my highlights, but I will share some of the book's key themes. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist from New York University, writes engagingly and uses numerous charts and statistics to trace the mental health struggles of Gen Z. The book is divided into three sections: The Decline of Play-Based Childhood, The Rise of Phone-Based Childhood, and Collective Action for a Healthier Childhood. He begins the book by discussing how childhood has changed over the last few decades. Childhood has slowly changed from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood. The early 2010s were a critical period that coincided with the rise of social media and many kids having cell phones. He quotes statistics that show there is a rise in mental health struggles among adolescents, with anxiety, depression, suicide, and other...

Book Review: The Active Obedience of Christ by Patrick Abendroth

April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

What is so great about the life and death of Jesus? What does God require for eternal life? Patrick Abendroth answers these questions and more in a new book, "The Active Obedience of Christ". The active obedience of Christ helps believers understand the work of Christ more deeply. When I started teaching the Bible, I emphasized Jesus’ passive obedience (his dying of sins) but often neglected his active obedience (his perfect life). Although Jesus dying for sins is essential for understanding the gospel, there are glorious truths about the work of Christ and all that he accomplished in his perfect life. This book is a primer that helps readers understand the importance of Jesus obeying the law on behalf of sinners, known as his active obedience. There are short chapters on the meaning of the doctrine, the need, the biblical basis, history, and objections. In the appendix, he provides a short discussion of opposition from dispensationalists. Abendroth writes in a simple, straightforward...

Book Review: Man of Sorrows King of Glory by Jonty Rhodes

February 19, 2024February 19, 2024 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

My first book review for 2024 is for a book I picked up a year ago from an advertisement I saw while scrolling through Facebook. I was unfamiliar with the book and the author, but the title was so captivating that I bought the book. The book is called “Man of Sorrows King of Glory” by Jonty Rhodes. The book explores the meaning of Jesus’ humiliation and exaltation. Humiliation refers to Jesus’ life from the incarnation to the cross and exaltation from the resurrection to the present. Rhodes examines these two states of Christ (humiliation and exaltation) through the three offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king. He explains why this topic is vital in the opening chapters, “It is not just that Jesus was our Savior; he remains so today.” The author is concerned that when believers only focus on the work of Christ in the past, this creates burdened pastors and guilt-laden sheep. Although the role of pastors is...

The Strangest Question I’ve Been Asked

November 23, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

Have you ever been asked a question that left you puzzled? I had that experience today when I went to give blood. The American Red Cross has been modifying the questions it asks donors, becoming more gender-neutral. Their website states, "Under the FDA’s individual donor assessment eligibility criteria, the donor history questionnaire is gender-neutral and all donors will answer the same questions regardless of gender or sexual orientation." In the past, there were questions specific to women, but now men are required to answer them. There are two questions regarding pregnancy, "Are you pregnant now?" and "Have you ever been pregnant." The choices are "Yes, No, or Skip." I quickly answered the questions, so I checked "no" to the first one, but then on the second, I checked "Skip." In the past, they would make clear that some questions are for females, but now all questions are required without any distinction. The only logical and rational response to the question is...

Giving Tuesday: What Inspires Us to Give Back

November 18, 2023November 18, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

November is a busy month of celebrations in America: Thanksgiving (eating), Black Friday & and Small Business Saturday (spending), and Giving Tuesday (donating). Donating in November has been associated with the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, called "Giving Tuesday." It started in 2012 and was founded by the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. The day was created as a global generosity movement to encourage and celebrate charitable giving and philanthropy. Since its inception, it has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, inspiring acts of kindness and charitable donations across various countries and causes. Americans gave almost $500 billion to charities in 2022 ($3.1 billion was donated on Giving Tuesday). Why do people give to charity, especially on Giving Tuesday? What inspires people to give? I asked my friend (ChatGPT) why it thinks people should give during Giving Tuesday. The response was: Participating in Giving Tuesday can offer several benefits and reasons to get involved: Supporting Causes: It...

Book Review: Serving without Sinking by John Hindley

November 6, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

There are some books that I wish I had come across sooner in my life. A friend recommended the book “Serving without Sinking” by John Hindley. I had not heard of this book, which was written in 2013, but the subtitle captured my attention, “How to Serve Christ and Keep Your Joy.” I immediately connected with the author. He admitted that, at times, he had lost his joy. Serving Jesus was now something he resented and a duty to fulfill. The busyness of life had sucked out the joy. The current season of life has challenged my joy, so this book came at the right time. The central theme of Hindley’s book is that Jesus did not come to be served by us but came to serve us. We read in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He said, “The...

Living and Active – ACBC Conference Experience

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

Fall has arrived in Southern California with a heat wave, pumpkin spice everything, and conferences. I enjoy attending one or two conferences each year since they help me grow professionally, both for my day job as an accountant and helping with ministry in the church. Last week, I attended the ACBC Annual Conference at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, CA. ACBC stands for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, and each year, they put on a conference to help biblical counselors grow in their skills and ability to help people. This year's conference topic was Living and Active, "Biblical Counseling and the Sufficiency of Scripture." The conference included six plenary sessions and many breakout sessions. The speakers for the plenary sessions were Dale Johnson, Ernie Baker, Abner Chou, H.B. Charles, Terry Enns, and Rick Holland. Dale Johnson started the conference with the topic of "The Folly of Fig Leaves." He stated that ACBC was drawing a line in the sand...

Huckleberries and Bears

August 28, 2023August 28, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

My brother and I went on our annual hiking trip the last few days. We decided to visit Glacier National Park in Montana. We arrived at different times, so we both had some time for solo hikes and hikes we enjoyed together. A couple of things that made hiking in Glacier different from hiking in Southern California are Huckleberries and Bears. What is a huckleberry? The first time I saw it, I thought it looked like a blueberry. These small dark purple berries were on many of the trails that I hiked. I saw moose and deer grazing on them. I tried it myself right off the plant and could understand why the animals liked their sweet taste. I later learned that these berries were native to this area and other areas in the Pacific Northwest. They put these berries in everything, from chocolate to jam. There is always something new to learn and experience. Another fun aspect of this trip was...

Book Review: When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

July 12, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I recently read a book on poverty with some of my coworkers. I work at Children's Hunger Fund, a nonprofit organization that addresses poverty. The mission of Children's Hunger Fund is "Delivering hope to suffering children by equipping local churches for gospel-centered mercy ministry." We read and discussed the book "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...And Yourself" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. The book was first released in 2009 and has influenced many on how to address poverty. The title of the book is intriguing because it poses a question that I had not thought about, can helping those in poverty hurt others and oneself? The book begins with a story from one of the authors, Brian. Brian traveled with his family to do mission work in Uganda. While in Uganda, he taught a biblically based small-business curriculum at St. Luke's Church. He met Elizabeth, the women's ministries director for one of the local denominations....