![\"Lahaina's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/07\/Maui-Lahaina-PioneerInn-wide.jpg\")
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So far as I recall, I first came to the island of Maui in 1970.\u00a0 (I visited the Hawaiian Islands for the first time, and for the only time prior to 1970, when I was five years old.\u00a0 But I think that we went only to Oahu and Kauai on that occasion, and not to Maui.)\u00a0 I remember staying in the old Pioneer Inn, in Lahaina.\u00a0 It\u2019s still there, beside a very impressive and very old banyan tree.\u00a0 From there, one day, I walked along the beach to Kaanapali.\u00a0 If there was any development in Kaanapali at the time, it didn\u2019t stick with me.\u00a0 There may have been one or two hotels, or not, but what I really remember was the vast, richly green expanse ascending up the flank of the much-eroded West Maui Volcano.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty clear that the volcano had gone extinct by then.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve published several columns about Hawaii, usually (if not always) prompted by a visit to one or more of the Islands.\u00a0 Here is a list of them that I think<\/em> is more or less complete:<\/p>\n \u201cThe still point of the turning world\u201d<\/a> (20 February 2014)<\/p>\n \u201cDiving into the afterlife in Hawaii\u201d<\/a> (22 February 2014, with William J. Hamblin)<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018They were dead \u2014 but \u2026 they were all so happy!\u2019\u201d<\/a> (9 October 2014)<\/p>\n \u201cRemembering the history of the LDS Church<\/a> on the Hawaiian Islands\u201d<\/a> (18 February 2016)<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018O thou who changest not, abide with me!\u2019\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 (23 February 2017)<\/p>\n \u201cThe twilight of the Hawaiian gods came suddenly\u201d<\/a> (3 March 2017, with William J. Hamblin)<\/p>\n \u201cEncountering a landmark of Japanese Buddhism in Hawaii\u201d<\/a> (21 July 2017, with William J. Hamblin)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Sacred History of the Church in Hawaii\u201d<\/a> (18 May 2021, for Meridian Magazine<\/em>)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Surprising Latter-day Saint Connections in Hawaii\u201d<\/a> (9 February 2022, for Meridian Magazine<\/em>)<\/p>\n See also, among others, this 12 August 2017 blog entry:\u00a0 \u201cGeorge Q. Cannon and seeing the Savior\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some observations on Acts 1:15-26, which reads as follows in the New International Version or NIV:<\/p>\n 15\u00a0In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)\u00a016\u00a0and said, \u201cBrothers and sisters,\u00a0the Scripture had to be fulfilled\u00a0in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.\u00a017\u00a0He was one of our number\u00a0and shared in our ministry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 18\u00a0(With the payment\u00a0he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field;\u00a0there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.\u00a019\u00a0Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language\u00a0Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 20\u00a0\u201cFor,\u201d said Peter, \u201cit is written in the Book of Psalms:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u00a0\u2018May his place be deserted;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n let there be no one to dwell in it,\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n and,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u00a0\u2018May another take his place of leadership.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n 21\u00a0Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us,\u00a022\u00a0beginning from John\u2019s baptism\u00a0to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness\u00a0with us of his resurrection.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 23\u00a0So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.\u00a024\u00a0Then they prayed,\u00a0\u201cLord, you know everyone\u2019s heart.\u00a0Show us which of these two you have chosen\u00a025\u00a0to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.\u201d\u00a026\u00a0Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The term \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u1f74\u03bd, at Acts 1:20, is translated in the NIV as \u201c[his] place of leadership\u201d but is rendered in the King James Bible at Acts 1:20 \u00a0as \u201c[his] bishoprick\u201d (that is, in modern English, as \u201cbishopric\u201d).\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that any Latter-day Saint reader has ever actually been confused by the phrase in Acts 1:20,\u00a0\u201chis\u00a0bishoprick\u00a0let another take.\u201d \u00a0But I can\u00a0imagine<\/em>\u00a0such confusion. \u00a0Wasn\u2019t Judas an\u00a0apostle<\/em>? \u00a0Why, then, is there a reference to his \u201cbishopric\u201d?\u00a0 Our word\u00a0bishop<\/em>\u00a0actually comes<\/em> from this same Greek word-family, and specifically from the term \u03b5\u03c0\u03af\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 or<\/span>\u00a0ep\u00edskopos. \u00a0<\/i>(Just remove the initial\u00a0e<\/em>\u00a0and take off the masculine nominal ending \u2013os<\/em>, and you\u2019re left with\u00a0-piscop-<\/em>, which should make the resemblance pretty obvious.)<\/p>\n But the word\u00a0ep\u00edskopos\u00a0<\/i>(from\u00a0epi-<\/em>, \u201cover,\u201d or \u201cupon,\u201d and\u00a0skopos<\/em>, which conveys the idea of \u201clooking,\u201d as in\u00a0telescope<\/em>,\u00a0microscope<\/em>, and so forth) very literally means\u00a0\u201coverseer\u201d (thinking Germanly) or, also very literally (but thinking Latinly), \u201csuperintendent.\u201d \u00a0And, while that fits the duties of a bishop quite well, the word seems pretty clearly in this case to have been used more broadly.<\/p>\n Browsing through other, more modern, English translations, you\u2019ll find that what the KJV translates as \u201chis bishopric\u201d rendered most commonly as \u201chis position\u201d or \u201chis office.\u201d \u00a0You\u2019ll also occasionally find such things as \u201chis place of leadership,\u201d \u201chis job,\u201d \u201chis place of service,\u201d \u201chis position of responsibility,\u201d \u201chis overseership,\u201d \u201chis work,\u201d and \u201chis ministry.\u201d\u00a0 I would think that \u201chis stewardship\u201d wouldn\u2019t be too far wrong. \u00a0Maybe even, more loosely, \u201chis calling.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, appointment to the apostleship in the earliest Christian church, just like such appointment in today\u2019s restored Church, seems pretty clearly to have entailed administrative responsibilities.<\/p>\n Some critics of the Church, including some of its own members, have expressed disappointment that today\u2019s apostles bear managerial responsibilities and aren\u2019t simply wandering charismatic preachers.\u00a0 But that seems always to have been the case. \u00a0At Acts 4:32-37<\/a> and 5:1-11<\/a>, for instance, the ancient apostles are deeply involved in managing the material possessions of the members of the church. \u00a0In fact, according to Acts 6:1-4<\/a>, such management became so burdensome to them that they felt impelled to call assistants to help them meet the responsibility. \u00a0Acts 10<\/a>\u00a0and Acts 15<\/a> show the apostles making crucial decisions relating to the direction to be taken by the infant Christian church. \u00a0And so forth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n As Acts 1:21-26 (quoted above) clearly shows, both Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas (or Justus) were qualified, spiritually and by personal experience, to become witnesses of Christ\u2019s resurrection. \u00a0But only one of them was to be chosen to assume responsibility for the\u00a0\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u1f74\u03bd \u2014 the administrative or leadership position \u2014 that Judas had forfeited because of his transgression.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I close with a quintet of appalling horrors from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u00a9 that I don\u2019t believe that I\u2019ve shared here previously:<\/p>\n \u201cChurch Partners with Women of Faith to Help Survivors of December 2022 Floods in Kinshasa\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cChurch Donates New Clinic in Umguza District, Zimbabwe:\u00a0The new Maboleni clinic will bring medical services much closer to over 15,000 residents of the Umguza District.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cChurch Members in DR Congo Help Mothers Pay their Hospital Bills and Be Home for Christmas:\u00a0Lighting the world by following Christ\u2019s example of charity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJustServe and Magic Yarn Project Unite to Help Children with Cancer:\u00a0More than 350 volunteers participated in the project that donated 159 wigs of all kinds and colors for children in need\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
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