NEW

“NEW”

Here we are just over a week into the New Year, so it seems natural that our minds are still on new things.  Some of us may be facing new challenges in our lives; some of us may have new health issues to deal with; some may even be facing new situations we don't know how we will deal with. All of these might be new, but not necessarily in a positive manner.  On the other hand, some of us may be contemplating some wonderful new things, such as newly born children or grandchildren, new jobs or new opportunities.  

All these new things that may come with this NEW year, led me to do a survey of the word “new” as found in our New Testament.

What I found is that the word "new" is used 61 times in the New Testament.  Interestingly the most numerous of the uses is as an adjective describing wine, which occurs 12 times.  This is in a large part due to the parable Jesus told of the need to put new wine into new bottles along with the folly of using new cloth to mend an old garment.  In fact, if one adds the times the word new is used to describe wine, bottles and cloth, it accounts for over one third of the total. 

In a similar manner, if one adds all of the occurrences of the word “new” used in regard to prophesy of our future, where it is used to describe the new heavens and new earth which we look forward to, the new name God will write upon us, the new Jerusalem which is the city of our God, and the new song we will sing, the total is 10.

In John 13:34 we find the word “new” to describe a new commandment given to us by Jesus.  “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”  That verse serves as a good example of the bulk of the 6 verses using “new” relating to a commandment or doctrine.

Nine times “new” refers to the new testament or new covenant:  Matthew 26:27-28  “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”  

If I may quote John Gill here, as to the significance of thispassage: “ … the cup, was an emblem and representation of his precious blood, whereby was exhibited a new dispensation, or administration of the covenant of grace; and by which it was ratified and confirmed; and whereby all the blessings of it, such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life, come to the people of God: the allusion is to the first covenant, and the book of it being sprinkled with the blood of bulls, and therefore called the blood of the covenant, But the second covenant, or the new administration of the covenant of grace, for which reason it is called the New Testament, is exhibited and established in the blood of Christ the testator.”

Finally, 6 times we find the word “new” describing a new man; a new person. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  

Galatians 6:15  “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” 

Of course, in both of those passages the term used instead of man is creature, or creation as many translations put it.  Either way, the point is the same; being “in Christ” results in such a change that scripture refers to it as a new creation or new man.  We find that reinforced by the following:

Ephesian 4:22-24  “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation [way of life] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Colossians 3:8-10  “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”

Both of those passages give a contrast between the old man and the new man.  The old person who is satisfied to continue in sin versus the new creation in Christ Jesus.  And depending on where you find yourself in your relationship to God, these may be among the most important uses of the word “new” that we find in the Bible.  This experience of becoming a new creation can often serve as a checkpoint for us, giving assurance of salvation to those who have experienced it; as the Bible promises Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” 

On the other side of that coin is that the lack of the experience of becoming a new creation should serve as a dire warning. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Being a new creation in Christ is not optional! If any man is not in Christ, he has no salvation for there is no salvation outside of Christ.

I would caution you though, that we need to trust the Bible over our experiences.  It could very well be that some of you trusted Jesus as your Savior at a young enough age that this change into a new person was not as drastic or apparent as for some of us, such as myself, who were real scoundrels before God brought us to salvation later in life.  If you have loved Jesus, and truly followed him for as long as you can remember, then you have your assurance.

If, however, you have never trusted Christ as Savior; never experienced this supernatural act of God wherein he made you a new creation and all things became new, today is the day you can change all that and begin a new life in Christ. If you understand that you are a sinner who deserves the judgment of God, and believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on human flesh and lived a sinless life so that he would be an acceptable substitute for you, died on the cross to pay for your sins and in return gives you credit for his righteousness, then you are on the verge of beginning a new life.

As we read in Romans chapter 10: “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

When a Plan Comes Together

To quote a classic line from a semi-classic television show, The A Team: "I love it when a plan comes together." Now to be sure, I needed to look up the source of that line, because even though it has become a common catch phrase, I had no clue as to the origin.  It seems that I just didn’t watch much TV in the decade of the 1980’s, doubtless due to the transition I was undergoing from scumbag biker into dedicated drag racer.  In any case, it does reflect my thoughts on the project I am finally getting around to writing about.

 

Well over a year ago I received a call from Zach Waters in regards to porting a set of Knuckle heads.  His plan involved the following:

1.  Put his 1947 Knucklehead on the salt flats
2.  Set a record in the appropriate vintage class
3.   Return the bike to normal street use.

Okay, now that may not sound so terribly challenging on the face of it, but there were a couple caveats that certainly made things a bit more interesting.  One was that the particular class in which Zach had slated to compete demanded that externally everything on the bike must appear stock.  The second was equally interesting from a performance standpoint; the motor would be left in the same configuration when returned to street use as it had for Bonneville competition. 

This paint would look more at home in a bike show than on a bike competing at Bonneville

 

Everyone would probably agree that one of the keys to speed is horsepower, and likewise one of the keys to horsepower is airflow.  Thus, Zach’s decision to send the heads to me.  But the second caveat, that of leaving the engine in the same configuration for street use, was a big factor in every aspect of the build. 

You have to appreciate the classic profile!

 

The engine work (outside of the heads) was taken care of by Bob Moreland of Bob’s Garage in San Marcos.  Foregoing lightened flywheels, Bob instead balanced them to provide Zach with a short block that runs as smooth as silk. The compression ratio was left low enough to compliment the mild Andrews “S” grind cam.  You may note that the S grind is the mildest “performance” cam which Andrews offers for Knuckle engines; the only one less aggressive being deemed a “stock” replacement. Obviously all of those things enhance the street-ability of the whole package.

For my part, since the heads would soon see full time street duty, I avoided adding any porting epoxy. Experience has shown me that it tends to have a limited duty cycle in cast iron air cooled heads.  Instead I gave the heads a good porting job using only 1.950” x 5/16” stem intake valves, along with attempting to manipulate the boundary layer flow in lieu of adding material.  My thinking on the relatively small intake valve size was that the heads would still readily outflow the M-35 Linkert (mandated by the rules), and would also insure no material would need to be removed from the pistons for clearance, sacrificing compression ratio in the process.

Zach credits Phares Cycle for their additions to the quest for power, along with Jeff Montgomery for guidance in tuning.  Of course, the real heroes of the story are Zach and his dad, who put in the time and effort, not only in research, but also untold hours of trial and error tuning.  

Ready for action

The results?  Only shattering the previous record speed by over 15 MPH.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Verification of Engine Displacement

 Now Zach is quick to point out that even this resounding success left plenty of room for improvement.  Further tweaking with the addition of dyno time would likely prove beneficial, as would some experimentation with the gearing since he felt it may have been a bit higher than optimum.  Even the inconsistency of the salt conditions played a big role in limiting the MPH.  Zach’s best run of 107.8 MPH was considerably faster than the preceding 97 MPH pass which was the result of poor track conditions.  This left the two-way average, record breaking number, at an official 102.4 MPH.   

Do you think there might be a story behind this kicker pedal?

 So, belated congratulations to Zach and his team, along with a big thank you for allowing me a small part in a plan that definitely came together.

A few words to my Roman Catholic friends:

Every sin is a mortal sin!

Wait, …please read on as I explain.

As you well know, the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church includes that of mortal and venial sins.  Clearly this teaching suggests that there is a “scale” on which some sins rise to a more serious level than others. What is probably somewhat less clear is exactly where the dividing line between venial and mortal sin lies. This issue is so important, that if this Roman Catholic doctrine be true, then which side of this razor’s edge the sinner lands on will determine their final destination as either heaven or eternal damnation.  No small matter to be sure!

With that in mind I would like to pose a question for your consideration.  Do you think it is possible that breaking that which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ called the “greatest commandment” would rise to the level of a mortal sin?  

Mark 12:28 And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all. 29 And Jesus answered him: "The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God. 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these." (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible)

It would seem to me, if there is a hierarchy of God’s laws then breaking that which is the greatest of them would bring the greatest punishment.  Can failing to uphold a lessor commandment deserve a more severe punishment? That there is such a hierarchy is plain by the words of Christ, for if there be a greatest and a second then it follows that there is a descending order from there on down to the least.  In fact, Jesus’ teaching from the sermon on the mount clearly supports that view:

Matthew 5:18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible)

“Right there it is,” you might say, “the teaching of venial sin. It is the breaking of the least of the commandments.”  But wait just one moment. God also inspired these words as penned by St. James: 

James 2:8 If then you fulfil the royal law, according to the scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; you do well. 9 But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin, being reproved by the law as transgressors. 10 And whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not kill. Now if thou do not commit adultery, but shalt kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible)

Where then is the venial sin?  Can God’s perfect justice allow you into heaven when you have offended in one point and thus are guilty of the whole law? What’s more, if you acknowledge that the breaking of what Jesus calls the greatest commandment is a mortal sin, I would also suggest that it would be impossible to commit a venial sin without at the same time breaking that greatest commandment.  Can it be argued that one who is loving the Lord their God with their whole heart, and with their whole soul, and with their whole mind, and with their whole strength, could at the same time commit a venial sin? The very act of committing a venial sin bears witness that one is NOT fulfilling the greatest commandment. I ask you, which of us has ever gone an hour, let alone a full day, loving God with ALL our strength? Again, I must submit to you that all sin is mortal sin.

Now, even if all of the foregoing fails to convince you of the “mortal” seriousness of EVERY sin committed against a thrice Holy God, I would still urge you to consider the “Blessed Man” spoken of by David in Psalm 32, as quoted by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham hath found, who is our father according to the flesh. 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. 4 Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, yet believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God. 6 As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works: 7 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin. (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible)

Just who is this blessed man?  Who, exactly, does not have their sins imputed (or counted against) them?  Certainly, every unbeliever has their sins counted against them, and in much the same way, mortal sins are counted against the believer.  But consider this; even venial sins are imputed to the believer, …so who is this blessed man?  It would seem that, if Roman Catholic doctrine be correct in this area, then the blessed man spoken of first by David and later Paul, must be a mythical creature.

There is an answer as to the identity of this blessed man.  The blessed man is the one, who like Abraham, believes God and it is reputed (deemed) to him as justice (righteousness).  The blessed man is the one who, as Paul tells the Ephesians, has by grace been saved through faith. And this is not his own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For he is God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that he should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10) The blessed man is the one who, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, does not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:21) The blessed man or woman is the one who believes that Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth and lived his life in perfect obedience to the Father.  That he died a cruel death on the cross in payment of their sins (every one of them; past, present and future), so that they will be seen by God to have the righteousness of Christ.  The blessed man or woman is the one who understands that all this is by faith alone.

Please, my friends, I beg you to consider these things for they are of the utmost importance.

The More Things Change

The more things change ....

Krazy Karl in the tire smoke of my Knuckle dragbike, 2017

The more they stay the same.

Krazy Karl in the tire smoke of my Knuckle dragbike, approximately 1992

I hope God has blessed all of you with good friends like Krazy Karl and his better half, Connie.  Way back when we were seriously drag racing, Karl and Connie were there supporting our efforts.  A quarter of a century or so later, they still show up for races and Karl still subjects his lungs to the tire smoke which is so much a part of the show that we call drag racing.  In between, Karl and Connie have not only been good  great friends, they have gone the extra mile to help me out, like when they brought their heavy equipment from the far side of the metro area to move my heavy equipment (mill, lathe, etc.) to our new shop.  Thank you Karl and Connie for the support, for the help, and most of all for the friendship!