tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45275818224206769862024-03-12T22:06:30.455-07:00Wanderings and wonderings...A few words on the physical doings, the mental musings and the spiritual journey of Adam Elwer...
His wandering through life and his attempt to recapture a sense of childlike wonder...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-77166227855734310022013-03-16T22:05:00.001-07:002013-03-16T22:18:56.172-07:00Can't See the Forest for the Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There's this weird story in the book of Mark about Jesus healing a blind man. No not the one where he spits in his eyes, and not the one where he makes mud and tells him to wash it off, and not even the one where he just says he's healed. No Im talking about the one where the guy gets "healed" but everybody looks like trees walking around, a la Treebeard from the second Lord of the Rings movie. And then Jesus has to heal him again. Then everybody looks like people. The second time he gets healed. No joke. Treepeople. Not the weirdest story in the bible, but its up there on the list. <br />
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'They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man's eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked up. "I see men. They look like walking trees." So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus. Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, "Don't enter the village." (Mark 8:22-26 MSG)'<br />
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Why do I bring this story up? Its goofy, its not in the other synoptics, and the story seems like Jesus didn't heal him right the first time and he's not as all-powerful as we might like. <br />
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But keep reading. <br />
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As we keep going in Mark 8 we see a conversation take place between Jesus and Peter. <br />
"Who do the people say that I am?" Jesus asks, and they tell him, but then he says,<br />
"Who do YOU say that I am?"<br />
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No one answers at first, then Peter speaks up. "You are the Christ, the Messiah"<br />
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In Matthew's Gospel Jesus then says this of Peter - "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. (Matthew 16:17, 18 MSG)<br />
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Peter, 1 - Other disciples, 0<br />
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But wait. Then he goes on to start teaching them about what is still to come<br />
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"Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it." (Mark 8:30-32 MSG)<br />
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And then Peter opens his mouth. His big fat mouth.<br />
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But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works." (Mark 8:33 MSG)<br />
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Peter sees something clearly (that Jesus is the Messiah) but doesn't see other things (like that the Messiah is going to die) - this is much like our blind man who sees partially at first, and only later sees the whole truth. <br />
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I wonder how many trees I see walking around.<br />
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My pastor was preaching on an entirely different passage in Mark tonight where he asks- "What do you want me to do for you" first of James and John and later of a blind man. He straight-up heals the bind man, but it's a little more complicated for James and John - he doesn't give them their heavenly assigned seats they wanted but when they pressed him and he asked if they could "drink from the same cup" he was going to and then said they would suffer for it (and history tells us they did). I'm just going to say... Im not sure that's exactly what they meant when they came to Jesus with their question. <br />
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"What do you want me to do for you" Asks Jesus.<br />
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I don't know.<br />
I mean at one point I thought I knew, and I thought this would be an easy question to answer.<br />
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But it's not, not really. I have these vague sort of internal things I'd like him to do. Struggle less with anger and lust and perfectionism and shame and depression and feeling like I have to have all the answers all the time. Be a better friend. Be a better dad. Be a better husband.<br />
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I also have all these self-centric external things too. I want to have time to write a book, I want to have a fulfilling job, I want to be able to take care of my family. I want to be in ministry. I want to be a part of healthy community<br />
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But then after all of that these other things come in. I just want to help people. I want them to know Jesus like I know Him. I want their trust in Him not to be fleeting and based on emotions, but comes from being built up in knowledge and truth. I want my life to count for something. <br />
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I dont feel like any of these things are "bad" things. Im not asking God to give me the winning lotto tickets or put brimstone on my neighbor. But neither does it seem bad for Peter to stand up and say "No!" when Jesus says he has to die.<br />
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Which of the things I might ask Jesus for are my "trees" - things I see that I want, that seem good, and yet are not the clear seeing that Jesus has. No body asks for suffering, not even James and John, but that is where good things and growth come out of. <br />
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And I have some ideas of what these trees are - my mental extrapolations of how I think I should use my natural gifts and talents as well as the spiritual gifts I have been growing up into. And I know that God will use them! But I also know from the biblical example that he uses those things I try so hard to keep hidden: weakness, imperfection, unknowing, insecurity. <br />
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So what's my answer to the question? I want to see clearly and be of some use to Him.<br />
But in my insecurity I'd just like some glimpse of that future and present use so that I can stop chasing after the trees.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-61208764312605662912011-06-15T16:12:00.000-07:002011-06-16T17:22:06.549-07:00Thirty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirG-S185Y-K1Sv9YgUmSLprqHtRrE-E-L8ERfpM4HvKm9zgH_bZQDfln7nHq18UOGwPAN0irO1HWZCviPZVxTMpiqLucGkqNBDMryj7WCgczmb1cR659hufv9R_XOmFOWlLl3bKuQtcioq/s1600/30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirG-S185Y-K1Sv9YgUmSLprqHtRrE-E-L8ERfpM4HvKm9zgH_bZQDfln7nHq18UOGwPAN0irO1HWZCviPZVxTMpiqLucGkqNBDMryj7WCgczmb1cR659hufv9R_XOmFOWlLl3bKuQtcioq/s320/30.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summer is here. As a teacher its like hitting a brick wall of unbusyness- I go from 14 hour days with 100 or so students to almost nothing. Some of that time will be spent working but there are no immediate demands on my time</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I turned thirty recently.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its been a good decade, different than what I set out to achieve as I graduated high school.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I graduated college, got married, had my first kid. Im not sure what the next decade will bring, but it will probably be something unexpected. I keep reading over the story of Joseph. He was always in places where I can only assume he didn't want to be (like the bottom of a pit or in jail) and yet he was faithful and eventually was used in mighty ways for the protection of an entire country as well as his own family. The lesson for me is to be faithful where I am at and hopeful for the future.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-45823644833832278272011-03-12T07:40:00.000-08:002011-03-12T07:40:37.142-08:00Tape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-mOp5utUzTMEwD5UxLLQZZWHtMvpk0D246xUY0bTPSz_OpPmr5ueB1kgc1JdPDS0pzOAu-OLXRAqQb-CqpWBtGqSuOCk0Z3HP6x9uKhsU-juXhxcPxgmonGq1OoPGzgb-UsULuvy3tjS/s1600/scotch-tape.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-mOp5utUzTMEwD5UxLLQZZWHtMvpk0D246xUY0bTPSz_OpPmr5ueB1kgc1JdPDS0pzOAu-OLXRAqQb-CqpWBtGqSuOCk0Z3HP6x9uKhsU-juXhxcPxgmonGq1OoPGzgb-UsULuvy3tjS/s320/scotch-tape.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our pastor at church has been talking about this word "Legacy", those things that we pass on to the next generation. Last week he talked about a the people of Israel demanding a king, which God reluctantly gave them (He tells Samuel, "<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Sa&c=8&v=7&t=ESV#7">They arn't rejecting you, they are rejecting Me</a>") which got me thinking about a few things. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, why did they reject God- what was the legacy from past generations that caused them to want a man king instead of a God king? The legacy of the Judges? Samuel? In the first two chapters of Judges, you can see the pattern already. God does something great, the people rejoice, God gives a command, the people dont follow through, God punishes them ("<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jdg&c=2&v=3&t=ESV#top">they will become thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare for you</a>") This is a pattern that seems to repeat over and over through the book of Judges, but looking past that, it is how the people behaved under Joshua's command, in the wilderness, all the way back to the beginning of the bible. God is great, yet his people still reject him. (Think Adam and Eve) Rebellion is that sin that we reserve for teenagers - "hes just going through that rebellious stage" - but it seems to me that most, if not all of our sin, is linked to some sort of rebellion. If our hearts were tape, we've stuck it to so many other things that it doesn't stick to God very well. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, how many times do we reject what God is doing and wants for us because of a person's of group of people's legacies in out own life? We justify our own rebellion based on the rebellion of others. Samuel was <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Sa&c=8&v=1&t=ESV#1">getting old</a>, his sons <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Sa&c=8&v=1&t=ESV#3">were corrupt</a>. The people felt justified (and I think I would have too) in saying give us something better than your sons Samuel. And yet God saw it as a rejection of him. CS Lewis argues this as one of the hardest things for us to get in our heads, that all sin, even when directed at other people is really about rebellion against God. We justify our actions with other peoples actions, but its all rebellion against God. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third, what are we doing that's causing people to reject God? Samuel put his sons in charge. It never says God told him to do this. It doesn't seem that there is a rule that the priesthood has to get passed from father to son -think of Samuel himself- he got the post from Eli. Samuel saw Eli's family get rejected by God for having corrupt sons but yet did nothing about his own sons. What rebellions have we cultivated in our own lives, justifying our actions (or inactions as the case may be) with the actions of others. People are waiting to see something worth following- as my pastor asked "would you recommend your life as a model for others to follow?" And I dont believe hes asking if I'm following a particular set of rules set forth by my particular sect of Christianity. Rule following only is its own socially acceptable form of rebellion from God. Just give me the rules, tell me how to act, so I can live out my life inside of those boundaries, looking godly, but never really connecting to God himself. Legalism is an act of resignation, and not of active pursuit of God.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its time for us to lay down the arms of our rebellion, and seek the one true God. I pray that God would help us in this. That he would make our tape sticky once again as He has been faithful to do so many times in the past.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-8211282388383679042011-01-20T17:24:00.001-08:002011-01-20T17:24:27.817-08:00A season of grace<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"...the darkness of the soul mentioned here...puts the sensory and spiritual appetites to sleep... It binds the imagination and impedes it from doing any good discursive work. It makes the memory cease, the intellect become dark and unable to understand anything , and hence it cause the will also to become arid and constrained, and all the faculties empty and useless. And over all this hangs a dense and burdensome cloud which afflicts the soul and keeps it withdrawn from God."<br />
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"...Oh then, spiritual soul, when you see your appetites darkened, your inclinations dry and constrained, your faculties incapacitated for any interior exercise, do not be afflicted; think of this as a grace, since God is freeing your from yourself and taking you from your own activity."</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-31421370111865304342010-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:002010-11-10T12:50:27.850-08:00Convinced<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish was more convinced. Hard to see current realities in the light past triumphs, either personally or corporately. Its a myopic veiw that doesnt serve me well, but I dont know how to change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one."</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Romans 8:31-39, The Message</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I wish was more convinced</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-52393982949724472522010-10-01T17:52:00.000-07:002010-10-18T18:47:38.544-07:00Grooves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHit7R8BhMknMXrn7gumVZ8dl6MkQUq373wnxJcbACebhMSI7OMJevNupRjqIxZQ1lb6K5WCoUDAt_9_PdzZOsecrBj5UpnI4I1PGPAOEJrpPlUCbEkD75DZ3b3TwLtml8gJ4Dp09pvimU/s1600/record.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHit7R8BhMknMXrn7gumVZ8dl6MkQUq373wnxJcbACebhMSI7OMJevNupRjqIxZQ1lb6K5WCoUDAt_9_PdzZOsecrBj5UpnI4I1PGPAOEJrpPlUCbEkD75DZ3b3TwLtml8gJ4Dp09pvimU/s320/record.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not, like Stella, gotten my groove back. I moved to a new school this year, and so far, I'm just not getting the hang of it. The schedule is funky (the title alone should scare you- "a rotating modified drop block schedule") and I just feel always off balance. Theres so much to do and not enough time to do it in. But thats not all of it. Theres something else... something I can't put my finger on so its hard to talk to anybody about it. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desafinado- I'm out of tune. It's probably because I don't read my bible much or pray much any more. I remember feeling like the bible was alive, now when I read its like dust in my mouth. I cant just read it for relationship and edification. All my education, my studying, my time spent in the word comes back and smacks me in the face. Sometimes I wish I could go back to a simpler time in my faith, where I wasn't thinking about systematic theology or the Caledonian definitions, and I could enjoy a reading of Jesus feeding the 5000 or to stand in awe at the parables Jesus used instead of thinking about the most prevalent views interpreting those parables.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And prayer scares me even more. I know, its relationship and communication and fellowship and all those other things we call it, but in some sense, I don't want to know what God thinks right now because I'm afraid he might actually want to speak. I'm weary and leaderless. I'm afraid he might actually want me to be leading others. And I don't have the time or the energy. I fall asleep on my lunch break so I cant even imagine running something. Its not that its not something I want to do. But you have to eat, right? So I spend my time and my energy on a job that's paying my bills even if its not what I want to do forever. People keep telling me its a ministry. So I try to wrap my head around that and serve those in front of me, but its wearing thin. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all this goes through my head I think to all the books and encouragement I've received through the words of those that I will probably never meet in this life, and I have some spark of hope that this isn't for nothing, that struggles are producing something. To paraphrase Jack Lewis, who I am is no mystery to God, and someday it will no longer be a mystery to me. But hope deferred makes the heart grow weak. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-79827584340511143172010-07-22T03:54:00.000-07:002010-07-22T03:54:23.280-07:00Remiss<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">I have been remiss as of late to blog as much has been going on! Its summer and as a friend of mine says "The top three things about being a teacher are June, July, and August!" Lots has been going on. I got a new job! I am officially the new science teacher at <a href="http://www.linfield.com/">Linfield</a> in Temecula. I'll have 3 Chemistry classes, an AP Chemistry class, and one Physics class. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">I taught both chemistry and physics last year but this will be my first year teaching AP which I guess is a step in the right direction for my eventual goal of teaching on a university level at some point though I probably wont be teaching in the sciences. Linfield is sending me to an AP conference for 5 days in August before school starts in San Diego. It will be a sort of mini vacation, working in the day then having fun in San Diego in the evening- going to the Organ Concert, the Zoo and maybe even a Padres game if they are home that week.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">I have been working around the house a lot, some personal stuff, some stuff for our friends next door, to keep busy.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Its good honest work that leaves me tired but feeling accomplished at the end of the day. There's some thing honest about working with your hands and the good night sleep that accompanies a weary body. I've always told Wifey I'd like to own a farm some day, and working around here only reinforces that. We started a patio garden earlier this year when I gave my wife a small tomato plant. That garden has grown to two tomato plants, a pepper plant and some cucumbers. The strawberries gave us 5 or six juicy red fruits before it was attacked by the crow. It never really recovered after that. An expansion plan is already swirling in my head.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The messages at church have been good, though I've been feeling disconnected from the people there. It probably has something to do with the fact that we now live a lot farther away so connecting with people from church becomes more of an effort and the fact that I used to be a lot more involved than I am now. Two memorable messages were from Dave Snow and Buzzy Enniss. Dave spoke on July 4 about how we were made to be connected to God and people- Happy Dependence Day. Buzzy spoke on father's day, and had a choose your own adventure story about Moses being asked to do great things for which he was either unprepared or just thought he was unprepared. But he gave a great point that I keep thinking about - Success is not found in the outcome but rather in the obedience. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Lastly (though these points are not in any sort of chronological order) Wifey, B, and I went to Pasadena for a weekend. Wifey went to a womens conference and B and I wandered around the city. We went and checked out Fuller Theological Seminary and I really liked it! I'm hoping at some point to be able to go back to school. I have this dream, and some day it might work out of working part time as an associate pastor at a church, teaching one or two adjunct classes and writing books about theology and church history. Oh and having a farm too. Someday. But for now, I work to eat and support my family, which is ministry number one. </span></span></div><div><br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-62033526589089007082010-06-17T12:49:00.000-07:002010-06-17T12:49:03.194-07:00Nothing But Blue Skys<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three Paintings I am working on for Bennett's room!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN-nCTURsaNGIms6rV4VKRARYY7l8C35zOvMI-RvAACWhboidp_JPNfKzWMeWAIG-jkY1l03XEVovJZj8969WcUaynqDJ2owfTQSSyFJdQbzZtVztbFlk7MyHk2bdw0sDQSG690QFcMDw/s1600/IMG_6936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkN-nCTURsaNGIms6rV4VKRARYY7l8C35zOvMI-RvAACWhboidp_JPNfKzWMeWAIG-jkY1l03XEVovJZj8969WcUaynqDJ2owfTQSSyFJdQbzZtVztbFlk7MyHk2bdw0sDQSG690QFcMDw/s320/IMG_6936.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgsI5UIUpSTYBCGpdWhzs03fhf0Cg_bO34uiQp6qv7XM4eqg8mMRwv5qv-flsk6oZu3W5-Q3FZNNEGR0tbZZQ2IXnlR_P2htpIyHhOuCdlUZR9J2QN4QtK_9Spv1oHvBa8ZSjwthb-GgB/s1600/IMG_6908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdgsI5UIUpSTYBCGpdWhzs03fhf0Cg_bO34uiQp6qv7XM4eqg8mMRwv5qv-flsk6oZu3W5-Q3FZNNEGR0tbZZQ2IXnlR_P2htpIyHhOuCdlUZR9J2QN4QtK_9Spv1oHvBa8ZSjwthb-GgB/s320/IMG_6908.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQ8TinAFExU_Ko-B-UbhmDQySzLJ3a2ns5-hEMnFYdwtPOXFRw-KhN1aKT4LHnlnHQyStNB0OHFBsVKKU6ZVhmrTM1pc1wAnO63ymGDjCXf64MGwxgymjLPzCoqxaXIWocDRhGidsgRTk/s1600/IMG_6937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQ8TinAFExU_Ko-B-UbhmDQySzLJ3a2ns5-hEMnFYdwtPOXFRw-KhN1aKT4LHnlnHQyStNB0OHFBsVKKU6ZVhmrTM1pc1wAnO63ymGDjCXf64MGwxgymjLPzCoqxaXIWocDRhGidsgRTk/s320/IMG_6937.JPG" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of my projects for the summer are sorta mundane, necessary but not really interesting either in writing or in pictures (like shortening the blinds) but thought the process of making these is cool. Got a few hours (or days) left to go on them :)</span><br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-51193042806953432382010-06-09T10:28:00.000-07:002010-06-09T10:28:21.362-07:0010 Pins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://10pinbowlingequipment.co.uk/images/urethane%20bowling%20ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://10pinbowlingequipment.co.uk/images/urethane%20bowling%20ball.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Ten Pins</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where did it come from?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe from primitive man,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throwing rocks at food?</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-2491263871787721242010-06-08T11:19:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:19:35.012-07:00Finals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUEMIgIZ90dUr-DQPHkJJJ0DjC4FuKU0g3GjOPhN3POcWNE995KA8xZLu5yYcITqbnjCEl0ZWrdr6ksJZXX8vYsVVn2GQPry1GRUWT3-DW5WI9JrJMx-nJQURlG71gnKCE0Ns3opmCtRb/s1600/Herald-MESSY-DESK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUEMIgIZ90dUr-DQPHkJJJ0DjC4FuKU0g3GjOPhN3POcWNE995KA8xZLu5yYcITqbnjCEl0ZWrdr6ksJZXX8vYsVVn2GQPry1GRUWT3-DW5WI9JrJMx-nJQURlG71gnKCE0Ns3opmCtRb/s320/Herald-MESSY-DESK.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Finals</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red pens, stacks of tests</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The part of teaching I hate</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But soon summer comes</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-64758242865254468292010-06-07T10:15:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:21:08.558-07:00The Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxqrOGX0WIuCJ6MJw-4RGu0dLGMtWnFeKdQS1PBQUfbsVd4P40uoTjU6bbI7Flx69ijlnSZlzxx_fLJ_Z9HX7jeu-e1K0IjlEslFnvLDiDdldPq4MbTOC_Kr57DF1hbdg2nznDXDBT-9v/s1600/37595954_dsc02396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxqrOGX0WIuCJ6MJw-4RGu0dLGMtWnFeKdQS1PBQUfbsVd4P40uoTjU6bbI7Flx69ijlnSZlzxx_fLJ_Z9HX7jeu-e1K0IjlEslFnvLDiDdldPq4MbTOC_Kr57DF1hbdg2nznDXDBT-9v/s320/37595954_dsc02396.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> The Future</span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the horizon,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A boat! Can't quite make it out...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What change will it bring?</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-63201571343488997772010-05-07T08:39:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:21:35.084-07:00I can smell it... can you?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirv1nEhMsVfpZ0YIuyvv32l1iaaEoOGV9gXo-4xxZ44X79GEejHfWq97UkX06mLSKoSj0kIb8CESNUK6rWqDacCSw6G_dOnZ62pzhV3uuDYZkV2jZ0L1yDJ1PqGzDh0hYzspUKZ-Oug8sO/s1600/Summer_Walk_3_by_ironicallife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirv1nEhMsVfpZ0YIuyvv32l1iaaEoOGV9gXo-4xxZ44X79GEejHfWq97UkX06mLSKoSj0kIb8CESNUK6rWqDacCSw6G_dOnZ62pzhV3uuDYZkV2jZ0L1yDJ1PqGzDh0hYzspUKZ-Oug8sO/s320/Summer_Walk_3_by_ironicallife.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Summer is Coming</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Soon, school will be out</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then projects, family and fun</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Almost can smell it...</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-73315680120010340902010-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:002010-04-22T15:55:27.692-07:00Earth Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwFATxbDCqOyIShyBkx7SOgr0cpd0lEZUWko-ZWinbBNNyvaZmhVX826pJt55AKDk5V1xgjdmhNW5dvqKccRc7aPgevqwbzYqNJNgJvqf24Jed6J1MtFg9FBacEHgXFyWOrj067AYCXk/s1600/Sarahplant3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwFATxbDCqOyIShyBkx7SOgr0cpd0lEZUWko-ZWinbBNNyvaZmhVX826pJt55AKDk5V1xgjdmhNW5dvqKccRc7aPgevqwbzYqNJNgJvqf24Jed6J1MtFg9FBacEHgXFyWOrj067AYCXk/s320/Sarahplant3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So tomorrow is Earth day. We have no plans as of yet, but I'm sure we will come up with something because it seems an important day of remembrance. God created the earth- and it was good. God had us name the animals and care for the garden and I think some of the principles derived from thinking about those things have become woven into our lives. This isn't a brag list, just some things that we've been able to do to as a family. There's always more we could do, some of them take an initial investment of money or time or an ongoing commitment that necessitate gradual implementation.<br />
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Cloth Diapers- I have nothing but good things to say (probably because my wife mostly is involved in this process, but truly she only has <a href="http://sarahelwer.blogspot.com/2009/07/simplicity.html">good things</a> to say too!) I think we became convinced of the rightness of this decision after hearing Rob Bell's "<a href="http://www.marshill.org/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=57_93_40&products_id=442">God is Green</a>" series and learned that 300 years from now that diaper (and its contents) will be unchanged as it sits in a land fill. So we decided (before we even started trying to have kids) to at least try to use cloth diapers. Ultimately they save us money, and if you have the time to do a couple extra loads of laundry a week we totally recommend them.<br />
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A clothes line- Our neighbor read this little book called "Serve God, Save the Planet" that contained some tips for being more "green" - #1 keep the sabbath - #2 ditch the dryer. So okay we haven't gotten rid of the dryer (though its old and seems to not be working as well so...) but we have a clothes line, and time of day permitting we hang stuff on it (mostly our diapers, see above). UV light from the sun is a great natural biotic killer so its great for diapers. Actually keeps them whiter and helps remove stains. (as a plus his organization is putting on a webcast this afternoon for Earth day- <a href="http://www.blessedearth.org/live/">check it out here</a>!)<br />
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Our Eating Habits- So trying to eat better as we become more informed about where our food comes from and how it is treated has led us to eat less and less processed food, and more and more food we have cooked ourselves. Our neighbor has a huge garden operation. He has a trailer with lights and watering system where he sprouts seed, a green house to accelerate early growth and an extensive raised bed area. He grows all year round with seasonal plant harvest with a canning operation for the vegetables that can be canned. We often get large bags of squash with the admonishment to simply "do our part." Some day I hope to follow in their foot steps, growing my own food and storing it for latter use, but for now, we are happy eating the excess, going to farmers markets and generally trying to make our food from scratch as much as possible.<br />
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Perhaps we will go and purchase some herb plants for our patio garden we have talked about. So far we have one plant, a tomato plant that my wife has been diligently keeping alive and now has 5 tomatoes growing on it!<br />
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Some interesting web sites i found today... <br />
<a href="http://www.blessedearth.org/blogs/">The blogs on blessedearth.com - serving God, saving the planet</a><br />
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A blog on <a href="http://ruralaspirations.wordpress.com/">homesteading</a> and the <a href="http://ruralaspirations.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/the-truth-about-plastic/">impact of our plastic waste</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-63796973264205179762010-03-26T15:24:00.000-07:002010-04-22T15:53:52.693-07:00What's that gotta do with Easter?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.christthesavioroca.org/images/Theotokosquicktohearicon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.christthesavioroca.org/images/Theotokosquicktohearicon.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><br />
So I am sitting here at school with spring break so close I can taste it. Im still here because I am letting some students finish a test that, due to a time overage in a schoolwide event, they ran out of time durring class to finish.<br />
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The event was attended by all physically, but mentally most were glad to spend an hour or so out of class and wistful for 2:45 and cessation of school work for the next two weeks. Students were handed a palm frond at the begining of a walk were to spend time moving from station to station remembering what Christ had suffered through. Most students walked by the stations while talking to their friends. The crucifixion is hardly given a second thought. During first period they were to write a prayer, a picture, a confession, anything really on a stone to place at the foot of the cross. Most had nothing to say. I suggested thank yous. I gave them historical quotes from the patristic tradition "that which He was He remained, that which He wasn't He became" or "That which is not assumed is not healed"<br />
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The saddest for me however was when I suggested one of my favorite verses that sums up a huge part of my beliefs about who God is, what He is like and what He has done for us, a student looked at me and said, "What does that have to do with Easter?"<br />
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The verse? From John 1- "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us"<br />
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How my heart sometimes aches for people to see and love the truth of God...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-23708931148628149112010-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:002010-03-20T13:24:18.585-07:00Sabbath Manifesto.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Sabbath-Manifesto-cell-phone-sleeping-bags-white-00351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Sabbath-Manifesto-cell-phone-sleeping-bags-white-00351.jpg" vt="true" width="266" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apparently Rabbis are encouraging a "</span><a href="http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/unplug"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">National Day of Unplugging</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" today, March 20th, in an attempt to reclaim the purpose and meaning behind a day of rest. Their list of </span><a href="http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10 principles</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> for the sabbath.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1- Avoid Technology- A little hard socially with cell phones and email, but personally hard because I am usually getting stuff ready for school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2- Connect with Loved Ones- A little easier. Sarah and I have set a goal to share our table with others at least once a month</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3- Nurture Your Health- Probably good. Take a walk, do some yoga. Exercise helps stress and lowers blood pressure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4- Get Outside- Get your vitamin D happy drugs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5- Avoid Commerce- How come you get a sabbath but the people serving your lunch don't?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6- Light Candles- I'm not sure of this one but I would be willing to try it. Maybe its a way of connecting the past with the present? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7- Drink wine- Blessed be the Lord, creator of the fruit of the vine...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8- Eat Bread- Yum, gluten here we come</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9- Find Silence-- Hard to do with a one year old. But I do usually wake up first so I do get some silence in the morning before the house gets moving.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10-Give Back- Interesting. All the other ones focus on self but this one is outward focused. I think you could do this especially in the exercising of biblical hospitality which we are learning needs to be geared towards those who are in need of hospitality and broadened to include the meeting of emotional and spiritual needs in addition to meeting physical needs.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-22315111076217116722010-02-25T11:36:00.001-08:002010-03-07T15:04:45.171-08:00Sackcloths and Ashes<span style="font-style: italic;">(I'm trying to post at least once a week and one larger post a month to work as part of my Epiphany day goals so I will be posting more often though maybe in a wider variety of genres)</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0ZCImWFL9z3jBQ2FPoGgj7-CsyDIKC0-LC6733FVHvq0jgkPRB7ZuMrELvgMl-uVLLoiYS-SSMYnGE21HV6xUiwlECSouT4nKTsIY9k8bcu_-GWfQVOPaMjywI2jU4sSl1gPhn8C0dc7/s1600-h/spicythai.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442267354121343170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0ZCImWFL9z3jBQ2FPoGgj7-CsyDIKC0-LC6733FVHvq0jgkPRB7ZuMrELvgMl-uVLLoiYS-SSMYnGE21HV6xUiwlECSouT4nKTsIY9k8bcu_-GWfQVOPaMjywI2jU4sSl1gPhn8C0dc7/s320/spicythai.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 197px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>These are pretty much the best chips ever. They are intensely spicy but not that Mexican sorta spicy that you cant get out of your mouth but that addictive sorta instant burn that goes away in a wash of warmth and goodness. They are slightly sweet with a bit of nutty goodness thrown in for good measure. I could eat the entire bag in one sitting with out a problem. I think I might even lick the bag if I could. And you would think something that yummy has MSG or food preservatives or something bad like that in it but there isn't a <a href="http://www.kettlefoods.com/site/files/KC%20Spicy%20Thai-0001.pdf">single weird ingredient</a>.<br />
<br />
Even as I searched today on the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Internet</span>, for pictures I discovered a whole new world wide community of my fellow "<a href="http://www.blisstree.com/bakingdelights/kettle-chips-spicy-thai/">spicy Thai lovers</a>". (or <a href="http://www.wineoffensive.com/blog/the-gluttons-manifesto/kettle-chips-thai-egg-salad/">here</a>, or <a href="http://currentconfig.com/2007/09/07/lord-have-mercy/">here</a>, or <a href="http://guiltycarnivore.com/2007/03/14/kettle-spicy-thai/">here</a>)<br />
<br />
And yet I was very disappointed today when my wife sent me the following picture in a text message.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytGYLG71meoNdmj_Ie-ZCSKYxKMWJRWwjKkpa9kMltr1CoTWDShMtaYX44ulq1tw8oqTxMge34EfZU0XZ96v4khXPy92-_NMUeXC4HJbD4kSN6TI8pk_SfV1uBwtqLsjyfygpyrtgnLUi/s1600-h/Discontinue.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442324993878686290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytGYLG71meoNdmj_Ie-ZCSKYxKMWJRWwjKkpa9kMltr1CoTWDShMtaYX44ulq1tw8oqTxMge34EfZU0XZ96v4khXPy92-_NMUeXC4HJbD4kSN6TI8pk_SfV1uBwtqLsjyfygpyrtgnLUi/s320/Discontinue.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>DISCONTINUED!?!?!?! Now its true that we have seen no bags of Spicy Thai chips in the last few weeks but discontinued? No more, ever! I tried to get Sarah to go round to all the stores and buy up a reserve, but she just laughed at our dilemma. Apparently she is not a true believer. But there is hope! It seems that Spicy Thai has not made the official list of "<a href="http://www.kettlefoods.com/retired_flavors/">retired flavors</a>" on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">KettleFoods</span>.com web site yet. So we need to get the petitions going! Stop emailing your congressmen (and women) and start <a href="http://www.kettlefoods.com/contact/contact_kettle/">emailing Kettle Foods</a>. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Don't</span> let them retire Spicy Thai and thus group it in with other failed flavors like Island Jerk, Red Peppers & Goat Cheese, and my personal favorite, Cheddar Beer. Get your picket signs ready and your walking shoes on! SAVE SPICY THAI! SAVE SPICY THAI!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-50570783648780541382010-02-24T00:59:00.000-08:002010-03-07T15:29:31.975-08:00The Prophet of Convenience<a href="http://s2.hubimg.com/u/1810205_f260.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://s2.hubimg.com/u/1810205_f260.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 369px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 260px;" /></a><br />
<br />
One of my (many) heroes of the faith is a Saint by the name of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Damascus">John</a> who lived in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&view=map&q=damascus&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.365962,63.984375&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Damascus,+Dimashq,+Syria&ll=33.220308,36.89209&spn=5.072394,7.998047&t=p&z=7">Damascus</a>. Now he was the last saint that was accepted by both the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox before the Great Schism (which properly refers to the split between east and west and not the protestant reformation). His writings leaned towards the east defending the use and veneration of icons, but he actually lived in a Muslim controlled area. There's a great story about how he gets accused of trying to convince the church to send troops to oust the Muslims, they cut off his hand, he grabs it, prays for it be reattached and goes right on writing.<br />
<br />
He writes a book called Heresy in which he outlines bad and outdated theology of various groups but the one that I think is relevant for today is about what he calls the Ishmaelites which if you are interested you can read <a href="http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx">here</a>. The real point being that voracity of the Koran is much to doubted.<br />
<br />
It seems that Mohamed was into what ever was convenient.<br />
<br />
He wrote an "edict from Allah" that allowed him to marry another man's wife.<br />
<br />
He wrote an "edict from Allah" that allowed for the inclusion of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba">pagan site of worship</a> to be included in Islam so as to help transition those already accustomed to worshiping there.<br />
<br />
At points in the Koran he has "edicts from Allah" some times extolling Jews and Christians as "people of the book" when he needed to find refuge among them from his enemies and other times calls them infidels that need to be converted or killed.<br />
<br />
Most of what he knew of Christianity came from heretical exiles of the church - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arian_controversy">Arians</a> mostly - who believed that Jesus was a created being and therefore separate from God. (If you want an historical treatment of why this is important to Christianity you can check out my post called "<a href="http://adamelwer.blogspot.com/2009/07/only-god-can-save-us.html">Only God Can Save Us</a>"<br />
<br />
All this to say that St John of Damascus considered Islam not to be its own religion but a heresy of Christianity, seeped in basic ignorance of key Christian beliefs (he thought the Trinity consisted of God, Jesus and Mary and that Mary and Moses were brother and sister) and in the idea of his own convenience.<br />
<br />
But this post isn't about Muslims, the Koran or Islam. Its about the fact that all to often, we as Christians become our own prophets, seeped in ignorance, giving preference to our own convenience.<br />
<br />
We ignore doctrines and practices that seem hard. We become satisfied with easy answers (the Trinity is like an Egg...) and turn away from God himself to the things of God because they seem more tangible. Church is easy - we can ignore the hard things sometimes spoken from the pulpit as meant for another and avoid those certain people that stir up wild emotions in us. We can suit our study of the word to avoid those difficult passages like Matthew 25 where it seems that we will be judged not for right beliefs but for right action, or for passages that call out our particular pet sins like Anger, Lust, and Covetousness. Even Christian service can be manipulated into making us feel good, or keeping us so busy that there is no time for true reflection.<br />
<br />
Convenience is the opposite of change.<br />
<br />
And prayer is the agent of change. By sitting down, stopping, and embracing who God is, what he has done for us and seeking him for guidance and direction we are really looking for change. We don't like when we are confronted with our need to change things about ourselves.<br />
<br />
At some level we all like ourselves or at least our habits. That's why we still do them. We feed what ever wisp of desire and appetite comes our way because we are not sure that any one else will. And we fill that desire with junk, what ever happens to be lying around because it may not be there if we wait to fill it. CS Lewis says its "not that our appetites are too strong, but rather that they are too easily pleased" and that "if it seems that nothing in this world can satisfy us, perhaps we were not meant for this world".<br />
<br />
Even as I write this, I feel convicted of my own relationship with Him. It has fallen off as of late. I'm afraid of change. I want a plan, I want to see the end of the road before I start something, and seeking Him about what He wants and not about what I want seems a little beyond my faith right now. I see the hungry people and cant figure out how these few scraps of food are supposed to feed so many. I'm afraid of Him asking me to do something crazy, to step out onto the sea. I'm afraid to even seek sometimes because I know he can and does speak.<br />
<br />
So in the old testament if a prophet was not of God, the people would throw stones at him till he died. So I'm picking up a stone for my own prophet of convenience. And it may take time, and there might be times when we shrink back, feel overwhelmed and are alone. But take heart for He is with us.<br />
<br />
<div class="bText" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="rl">"The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.</span> <span class="rl">You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father.</span> <span class="rl">Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it! - John 14:12-14<br />
<br />
</span></div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2972789257_6245ed35f0.jpg?v=0" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2972789257_6245ed35f0.jpg?v=0" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 419px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-63456588188249987212010-02-07T14:11:00.000-08:002010-03-07T15:07:05.413-08:00Subsistance Farming.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeQ5N-lAQkCz7zxx-a_v3gsUZUuEGZVeh5R695PUmToot5Do1EgojYei1Bfd2yixIhoi9i1yZZgYKlfepoh9b8Apx15SsJdhhO7LlHzV7qWKNfLYQhjg_qIYZl1Qe9LdOMepqNJaIXVZT/s1600-h/farm.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435956708188799106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeQ5N-lAQkCz7zxx-a_v3gsUZUuEGZVeh5R695PUmToot5Do1EgojYei1Bfd2yixIhoi9i1yZZgYKlfepoh9b8Apx15SsJdhhO7LlHzV7qWKNfLYQhjg_qIYZl1Qe9LdOMepqNJaIXVZT/s320/farm.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 238px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 198px;" /></a>I was listening to NPR and they were doing a report on the economy of some third world country, how there were rich foreigners there, and a few rich people but most lived below the poverty level and were subsidence farmers.<br />
<br />
And I thought to myself, being a subsistence farmer doesn't seem that bad. If you cant make it or grow it then its you don't have to worry about it. Sounds almost Amish. I wouldn't be doing it for religious reasons, worrying that I might get corrupted by the world. But rather for the simplicity it offers. I wouldn't worry about a job, I would be directly providing for my family instead of indirectly providing money to buy our needs. I wouldn't be worrying about a car or a new computer. But I also wouldn't be writing this blog or have access to modern medicine, nor a supply of food if there was some sort of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">weird</span> accident. But I think that I would exercise my faith more. Cause I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">don't</span> usually worry about what I will eat or what I will wear. I worry about dumb things that <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">don't</span> matter much. I almost wish that was all I had worry about.<br />
<br />
"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds." - Matthew 6:25-26Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-45951139096106882322010-02-03T14:31:00.000-08:002010-03-07T15:08:07.507-08:00City Life<div style="text-align: center;">I am feeling sort of wistful for the city.<br />
<br />
I like where I live, I like the space<br />
and the neighbors<br />
But I wish people lived closer...<br />
and people just sorta "stopped by"...<br />
and our church was closer<br />
and I could ride to the store...<br />
<br />
Our "<a href="http://www.walkscore.com/">Walk Score</a>" right now is a 3</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJcGyzGwxTlxUxt8dXbB1lVwud67yuCRStJ_4AF_OX6Nu_BLl64_ND2sBE5XgwtatE6ZV_PAp7RyegKYN8orUOncYbuARBZzGzdwMytRU1f74hqfZR-Rgy68SlX8LqqqMv1TiM5N9QdrW/s1600-h/Trinity.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434156265097893218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJcGyzGwxTlxUxt8dXbB1lVwud67yuCRStJ_4AF_OX6Nu_BLl64_ND2sBE5XgwtatE6ZV_PAp7RyegKYN8orUOncYbuARBZzGzdwMytRU1f74hqfZR-Rgy68SlX8LqqqMv1TiM5N9QdrW/s320/Trinity.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
This place has a walk score of 96. Someday...</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-73348838464731452312010-01-26T21:30:00.000-08:002010-03-07T15:11:17.020-08:00Intentionality Forstalls Contempt<div class="snap_preview">When my wife and I were dating, one of the things we though about was getting old. Not getting old like wrinkles and walkers and grey hairs. But getting old in the same way we say “This job is getting old” meaning I am through putting my energy into it and am ready to discard it. She worried that she or I would at some point decide that each other was “getting old”. “Familiarity breeds contempt” she would tell me. This went on for a while. She wouldn’t tell me she loved me because she had “been there, done that” with her feelings and emotions. She was guarding herself from hurt, and rightly so.<br />
So after thinking and praying about it, I realized she was right! The possibility was there that we would get old to each other and want out. There had to be some solution. Just like everything else in life you are either going forward or going back but how could we make sure to go forward only?<br />
Choices. And not big choices, but little choices. How we chose to treat each other every day. Spending time together. How we speak to each other. How we speak of each other in and out of their presence. Even how we think of each other.<br />
And sometimes we do better than others. But we arn't going to give up.<br />
Because it’s worth it. To us. To god. To those around us who need to see that there are some things in life that you shouldn’t give up on. There are some things in life where failure isn’t an option.<br />
Because only in choosing to succeed can we hope to get there.<br />
Because only intentionality forestalls contempt.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-50994214407333300482009-12-28T01:49:00.000-08:002010-03-07T15:12:48.255-08:00Sola Scriptura?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWSgtNEoby5FGQWY6DcZHAU9UvT4I0A_2Y53uN8Ce4kmzkYOnBRZUgsK0-_ACIYAnw2fybriDl5L909hp8kR-AiqpFx1wFmdorh0WCC8bI-lAtfJ6FuvjCuDx_wCq31EW_c92dIs5dnS8/s1600-h/jwstainedglassbyedmoultrie200.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420222255988573554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWSgtNEoby5FGQWY6DcZHAU9UvT4I0A_2Y53uN8Ce4kmzkYOnBRZUgsK0-_ACIYAnw2fybriDl5L909hp8kR-AiqpFx1wFmdorh0WCC8bI-lAtfJ6FuvjCuDx_wCq31EW_c92dIs5dnS8/s320/jwstainedglassbyedmoultrie200.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 283px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 202px;" /></a><br />
<br />
Last night I was talking to some friends of mine who happen to be Catholic. And not just casually catholic, attending mass and holding on to the faith of their parents, but Catholic in the best way, having converted to the faith later in life after studying and reading and discussing what the Catholic branch of Christianity has to offer, and studying hard at schools like oxford and UCLA. <br />
<div style="text-align: left;">And the discussion of infant baptism came up. Now I go to a Protestant where, although I have never seen nor heard of anyone in our denomination practice infant baptism, it is technically <a href="http://www.freemethodistchurch.org/pdfs/resources/2007_BOD/Chapters/Chapter%208%20-%20The%20Ritual.pdf" target="_blank">on the books</a> as a good and right practice. However with some understanding of how it is practiced in the Catholic church this form of infant baptism is completely different from what they practice. From reading the liturgy associated with infant baptism in my church it is easily seen that it really is a dedication by the parents to raise their children in accordance with Christian beliefs; its a symbol that doesn’t mean anything but allows those arround them to help keep them in accountability.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Catholic church on the other hand, sees baptism as the means that God uses to cleanse us of original sin. And though they get the general belief that baptism is important to the believer and commanded by God, the specifics of why they get baptized comes from another source- tradition. From the earliest of Christian writers, we can see that baptism was practiced to remove sin from the believer.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It wasn’t the topic of infant baptism that had me intrigued, rather it was the negation of that most important component of truth that is held by most protestant churches- Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone. Ask any protestant believer what they teach at their church, and the responses will be similar, well we just teach the bible. Which in itself is interesting because if all churches were to “just teach the bible” there would be no denominational distinctives, and therefor no reasons for denominations to exist. If we were honest with ourselves we would probably say that our church teaches our pastor’s view on the bible (hopefully informed by the holy Spirit). But even that isn’t entirely true either because most pastors, after choosing their passage for the week, read various sermons and commentaries on what other people who had more time or knowledge have said about scripture. So a Sunday morning sermon must be in part though to be a third party’s, often of unknown origins, ideas about the bible.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Now some might take that as a disrespect to the office of pastor, but the role of a pastor is primarily in communication of truth and personal ministry, and not as theologians proper but it does raise an important question- who does you pastor turn to for truth? Which theologians, historians, and church fathers are informing their understanding, and how is that informing yours? We say “Only Scripture” or “Just the bible” but even our most basic ideas about who God is, are informed by Scripture and Tradition.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Go to your favorite bible word search site (I like <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/">blueletterbible.org</a>) Now type in the word “Trinity” Go on, I will wait for you. Nothing? Lets try “Rapture”. Still nothing? Neither of these ideas is strictly from scripture though people support the ideas of each of these from scripture (The concept of the trinity has been around for 2000 years, and rapture for only about the last 150, which accounts for my reluctance to support the idea of a rapture of the church, but that is for another time) The point is, our understanding of who God is, the very core of our Christian faith, is defined in part by tradition.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://forgottenlines.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/quadrilateral1.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-38" height="168" src="http://forgottenlines.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/quadrilateral1.jpg?w=300&h=168" title="Quadrilateral" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now the Free Methodists do actually believe in tradition as a valid way of receiving truth along with Reason and Experience. Now I had to make my own picture because when I started looking for pictures of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral on the internet, mostly what I found was articles debasing the ideas that tradition was an acceptable source of truth for the believer (at which point I started looking for the non-existent comment button on their sites) Unlike Catholicism, which holds an about equal view of Scripture and Tradition, the Quadrilateral creates a hierarchy: Scripture, then Tradition and Reason, then Experience.</div><div style="text-align: left;">But all of this to say, I realize suddenly why it is hard for people to embrace and love church history in the way that I have come to love it- as a text for understanding who God is, what the Church is supposed to be like and how I fit into all of that. And without seeking that tradition, all we are left with is our own thoughts about God instead of the fullness of the history of Him interacting with his people.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I have come to love the words and lives of the saints, the creeds, the truth of God contained in the history. And I have realized that I do hold not to <i>Sola Scriptura</i>, but rather to <i>Prima Sciptura</i>, scripture first, but certainly not the whole.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-30737640538515173952009-09-01T16:53:00.001-07:002010-03-07T15:13:39.587-08:00Try<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroblvphtrcX9KzAn50OeLMrcBt2XpYOSNw_tc16hnRUF2ccECx86qEvxlyPEt0DDRbd-HyO5MhCbHH2pPlkezt7YrsfDY8g9YGFOsHMK1gdC6K-0XBb_sRauIf_8V2Zo16U35BANwsVtx/s1600-h/trinitysymbol+inverse.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376653205378360338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroblvphtrcX9KzAn50OeLMrcBt2XpYOSNw_tc16hnRUF2ccECx86qEvxlyPEt0DDRbd-HyO5MhCbHH2pPlkezt7YrsfDY8g9YGFOsHMK1gdC6K-0XBb_sRauIf_8V2Zo16U35BANwsVtx/s320/trinitysymbol+inverse.jpg" style="display: block; height: 318px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Here's a link to the commentary on a phrase that pervades<br />
Christian thought and in my opinion is harmful to believers.<br />
The phrase is:</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2009/08/29/who-said-the-trinity-try-to-understand-it-and-youll-lose-your-mind/">"Try To Understand The Trinity and you will lose your mind<br />
Try to deny it and you will lose your soul"</a><br />
<br />
And while I understand that the point is that you cannot ever<br />
fully understand the Trinity, thoughts and statements like this,<br />
keep people from ever trying, and just chalking every thing up to<br />
a "mystery" of God. He's bigger than we usually think and He's<br />
ready and willing to reveal himself to us. If we will only try.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-45948497757736898232009-08-22T07:43:00.000-07:002010-03-07T15:14:50.320-08:00Only God Can Save Us... So What?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRRelpb6yhJsMpywjBx7hYYgNpJseQIH5ZO9gEehCZmeOTNM2wXOp8smV0GxSUcSHnr1Iw8MYX0GbA_JO411AkefEqF1ENaLo1BsgbaU_ta88d77WHxuMlZeXYR_DntVTTMRJpXXxcHhl/s1600-h/mary+and+jesus" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372916594868097106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRRelpb6yhJsMpywjBx7hYYgNpJseQIH5ZO9gEehCZmeOTNM2wXOp8smV0GxSUcSHnr1Iw8MYX0GbA_JO411AkefEqF1ENaLo1BsgbaU_ta88d77WHxuMlZeXYR_DntVTTMRJpXXxcHhl/s320/mary+and+jesus" style="display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In Christ alone! who took on flesh</span></span></i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Fullness of God in helpless babe!</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This gift of love and righteousness</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Scorned by the ones he came to save:</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Till on that cross as Jesus died,</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The wrath of God was satisfied -</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For every sin on Him was laid;</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: silver;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Here in the death of Christ I live.</span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A few weeks ago I wrote a blog called "</span></span><a href="http://adamelwer.blogspot.com/2009/07/only-god-can-save-us.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #9999ff;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Only God can save us</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">" In it I gave the historical (and I think still relevant) defence for why Jesus was God. It was long, probably too long, but the reality is they didn't come to the conclusion that Jesus was God on a whim, but after careful searching of the Scriptures, their own reason, ministry experience, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">However in 2500+ words I left a rather important question unanswered... So what?</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So what if Jesus is God? Does it really make that big of a difference to the every day walking out of faith? And what do we mean by faith any ways? Is the belief that Jesus was God a core issue to Christianity, or can we take it or leave it. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Upfront I will say I don't know what "the list" of all the things a person has to believe to be a Christian or if even such a list exists, but I do however think there are some repercussions to beliefs held by both sides.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The starting point in all of this for me was a </span></span><a href="http://adamelwer.blogspot.com/2009/07/jesus-is-god-right.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9999ff;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">young man I met at Church</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> who did not believe that Jesus was God. He was raised in the Church, knew the bible stories, and wasn't under any sort of angst toward Church or God. He had just taken the phrase "Son of God" to mean that he wasn't God just as if I had said the "Son of the President" wasn't the president. It makes good logical sense but then what was Jesus to be to us? I asked that same young man the same question. His answer? Jesus wasn't God, he was the Son of God, just as we are to be Children of God, but where we fall short he succeeded and became the ultimate example of how we should live and even die. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now in some sense he's right. There is an aspect of practical Christianity in which Christ stands as our example for daily life through his actions and through his teaching. In fact, in some ways we often miss this aspect of His life in evangelical Christianity. He </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">is</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> an example. He did tell us to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> things. But was that all he was? </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If Jesus was just an example for us to follow, then what was his death on a cross about? Perhaps the fulfilment of Jesus' own words "</span></span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=5&v=39&t=NIV#39"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9999ff;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do not resist an evil person</span></span></a><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">" but then where does salvation come from. Not from His death but rather from our adherence to a certain set of ideals. If this is true, then how are we judged at the end of life here on earth? By our adherence to these rules and principles? By our intentions? By the amount of our improvement? And then aren't we in a sense saving ourselves? What about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ephesians 2:8-9- "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The reality is that if Jesus wasn't God, then we are still under the law because he was only able to "fulfill" the law for himself</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If Jesus wasn't God, then he couldn't have died for all our sins, because he was unable to know them.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If Jesus wasn't God, then we are left with a religion based on our works and not the work of God, and leaves our salvation in question on a minute by minute basis</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If Jesus wasn't God, then as Paul says we are to be most pitied</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Though I'm not sure what else is on "the list" I talked about earlier, it seems to me that the Gospel must include the idea that Jesus was God, that the Word of God, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us. That is where grace begins, that almighty immutable, all knowing, Lord and Creator of all, took on the fullness on man, to restore us to a right communion with Him. It is his vigorous pursuit of us that has accomplished this.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: sienna;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-84751169379902678832009-07-19T08:24:00.000-07:002010-03-07T15:17:55.678-08:00High Church.<div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div>I went to a wedding that included mass yesterday. <br />
<div>There's times where I wish I went to "high church"</div><div>I love the rich traditions and that every thing in</div><div>the liturgy has been thought through to glorify God</div><div>and express correct doctrine, instead of being done</div><div>on the fly, or used because the song has good music to</div><div>it. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I don't plan on converting anytime soon. </div><div>I just have the ability to appreciate it.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Here's an excerpt from the Eucharist (Which means</div><div>"thanksgiving" and what the protestant church typically</div><div>calls communion)</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Glory to God in the highest</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>and peace to his people on earth.</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Lord God, heavenly King,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Almighty God and Father,</i></span><br />
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>we worship you, we give you thanks,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>we praise you for your glory.</i></span></dd></dl></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Lord God, Lamb of God,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>you take away the sin of the world:</i></span><br />
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>have mercy on us;</i></span></dd></dl></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>You are seated at the right hand of the Father:</i></span><br />
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>receive our prayer.</i></span></dd></dl></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>For you alone are the Holy One,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>you alone are the Lord,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>you alone are the Most High,</i></span><br />
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Jesus Christ,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>with the Holy Spirit,</i></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"><i>in the glory of God the Father. Amen.</i></span></dd></dl></dd></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4527581822420676986.post-23543480077345876032009-07-07T20:49:00.000-07:002010-03-07T15:19:41.507-08:00Only God Can Save Us<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Only God can save us."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I love Church history, especially the theological development that the church has experienced in the last two thousand years. You see, I believe in revelation and that there are truths that exist that have either been forgotten or never discovered before, but have always existed. This is not just a theological idea but a world view. Though </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democritus"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Democritus</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> came up with the idea of the atom, and people like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bohr</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_model"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rutherford</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> drew us a clearer picture of the atom, the atom has been around as long as there had been matter in the universe. Truth exists, and through various means and ways we learn more about it, through the application of scientific knowledge, through logical reasoning, through tradition and through indirect and direct revelation. What I'm getting at here is that truth exists and belongs to the creator of that truth, God, and is not subject to change or alteration, however what we know of that truth is being revised and changed as we learn more. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When we apply this concept to who God is we can see that throughout the text of the Bible that God is constantly revealing more about who He is and what He is like. There's a progression of sorts, with a specific purpose that constantly gets brought up again and again. God is looking for a relationship with us. When I read through the book of Genesis I constantly have to remind myself of one thing - the bible didn't exist yet! They had no revelation other than what God had told them. They knew God didn't like murder and wanted sincere offerings from the story of Cain and Abel. They knew He wanted righteousness in all of man kind and was willing to punish the unrighteous from the story of Noah. They knew that God was willing to talk to people directly and even put up with people who questioned His authority and goodness. But no Ten Commandments. No Jewish food laws. No rules about building </span></span><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Deu&c=22&t=NIV#8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">parapets</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> on the roof of your house. No promise of a Messiah (and really, in their minds, probably no realization of the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">need</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of a messiah) He wasn't, in their minds, even really God as we know Him; God, the one and only. He was </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">their</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> God, but still just </span></span><i><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jos&c=24&v=14&t=ESV#14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span></span></a></i><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jos&c=24&v=14&t=ESV#14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> god among many</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Why is this important you might ask? Because there is a key distinction about change I am trying to point out, God does not change, but what we understand about Him does. In fact when we look at God revealing himself to humanity its lot like teaching math or a foreign language to somebody. I think, if you really wanted to. You could sit down with the whole corpus of knowledge of math books from elementary addition and number theory all the way up to calculus and you might have 4 or 5 large textbooks worth of information. And you could just sit down and read it. Straight through. Depending on your reading speed, it might take you a week or two, maybe as long as a month. So why do we spend 12-16 years studying math in school? Because the concepts and principles of mathematics must be learned, not just merely read about. The same is true about God, He waits for the people to get a concept before He moves on to the next one. In a sense He is teaching the human race what He is like, and how they should live in light of that revelation. It doesn't mean that what was revealed first is now irrelevant, rather it becomes the foundation on which the rest of the house is built. I have some beliefs about what those foundational things were and how they were revealed in Genesis but for now I just want to focus on one of those; God speaks. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I thank God all the time that He speaks. That He spoke in the past, that He's still speaking today. I do not think that Revelation 22:21 was the last thing God had to say to us. He has fleshed out the what was meant by the promise he made to Abraham, that Abraham's seed would be a blessing to the nations in the old testament. We see a new course of the fulfilment of that promise in the new testament. And through church history we see the application of that promise through the people of God. Which is why I think church history is important. It shows us how we got to where we are now and why we believe what we believe. The old testament and the Gospels are primarily a Jewish phenomenon. After Pentecost there started to be more and more gentile followers of what was called "The Way" called such because Jesus said he was the "Way to the Father and no man enters except by me." And there came a time when their process of conversion was called into question. Did they have to convert first to Judaism and all that entailed with the food laws and methods of dressing and so forth before they could become followers of the Messiah. So they got together all the big names in the Church at that time, Paul, Peter, James and others to come to some sort of decision. Their conclusion was that gentiles did not in fact have to become Jews to become Christians. And what did they base that decision on? Look at the end of Acts 15 - "It seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit." </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is where the idea for the church </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">councils</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> came from. Get together the best minds and the best leaders from the church and hammer out various issues as they arose. All of this to say, that while I don't believe that their conclusions at each of these </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">councils</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (there were seven that are generally accepted.) The thrust of these councils was usually theology, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">soteriology</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and heresy though they discussed all sorts of things and were pretty rich with intrigue (my favorite story involves the gift of ostriches to the king, but we'll save it for another time)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What I want to get to in this particular case is the first of these meetings. They were looking to answer a question that Jesus asked of his disciples; "Who do you say that I am?" They started with the idea that only God can save us. </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In fact</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Jesus' own name comes </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">from</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the name Joshuah which means </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">YHWH</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> saves. Now that presents us to with a small problem. Why? Because Jesus claims repeatedly to be the only way to salvation and eternal life.</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one form another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats...Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Mathew 25:31,36)</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The phrase "son of man" is one of the titles used of Jesus and the kings of Israel. Here he claims that it will be him, Jesus, who sits on the throne and will </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">separate</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the wicked from the good and send the wicked to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal life. But only God can save us.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (John 3:14-17)</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Everyone who </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">believes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the SON will have life. Not the Father, not </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">YHWH</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, but the son. And the world was saved through the son. But only God can save us</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"... whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> {John 4:14}</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus will give the spring of eternal life?</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does no honor the Father, who sent him."<br />
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">{John 5:21-24}</span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Son can give out life to whom he pleases? He </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">doesn't</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> have to consult with the father? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:40)</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again "every one who </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">believes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the Son"? This is blasphemy right? How could it not be? </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> more verses just like these where Jesus claims to the "the gate", "the way", "one with the Father", "the light of the world" or my favorite...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span><br />
<table><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td class="v-body" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms',arial,helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus said to her, </span></span></i><span class="esv_woc"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“I am the resurrection and the life.</span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,“and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”</span></span></i></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And its not like the people </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">around</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Jesus didn't know what he was talking about. He said "Hey! I can forgive your sins, give you abundant life here on earth, and eternal life in the life to come! As long as you </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">believe</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in me!" Well the scribes and the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Pharisees</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> under stood it </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">alright</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. They grumbled the first time they heard it, argued with him about it and finally plotted his death. </span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When the 1st Church </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Council</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> got underway they read these verses and others from the old and new testament and they wanted to know, was Jesus God or was he just very nearly God, higher and better than us, but not quite God? </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">two </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Greek</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> words they were </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">arguing</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> about.</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Was Jesus "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Homoousios</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">", of the same substance, or "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Homoiousios</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">", of a similar substance (this is where we get the phrase "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> change one iota", iota being the Greek letter "i"). They argued back and forth over the titles that Jesus and others called him, over his deeds in life, his death and </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Resurrection</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. But finally they found a starting point.</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Only God can save us.</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And yet Jesus claimed to save us. If he claimed to save us but was "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Homoiousios</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">", of a similar nature to God, then he was </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">really</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">heteroousios</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">" of a different nature than God. And if he's of a different nature, than he couldn't save us in the way that he claimed. And if that was untrue, what else did he say that was untrue? If he </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">couldn't</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> save us, what kind of man would that make him? At least tyrants and murderers only take the body. Here would be a man who takes the soul and the spirit. A cult leader or a </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">sociopath</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> at best, at worst a demon in some human form. If he was not of the same nature of God, then we should scrap the New Testament and take up the old ways of following the law, the sacrifices, and the rituals of seeking </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">YHWH</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then how do you explain the working of God in the lives of his followers? Amazing </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">miracles</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, exponential growth, daily </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">salivations</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. "He saved us" they said. "The evidence is there." Jesus was "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Homoousios</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">", the same nature as God, "made" from the same stuff, cut from the same cloth, in fact one with God. John 1 reflects that. "In the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">beginning</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." The </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Greek</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of the last phrase "the word was God" has both "Logos" and "</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Theos</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">" as genitive nouns- God and the Word are the same. Who is the word? Look down a few verses. He was with God in the beginning, all things were made through him, in him was life and light, and he became flesh and dwelt among us (actually the Greek word is verb form of tabernacle, so more than just living among us he </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tabernacled</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> among us)</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Their conclusion, that Jesus was God. </span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Did this cause some other issues? Yes! and they knew it. </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In fact</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> they much of the next 4 </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">counsels</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> figuring out the answer to the original question "Who do you say that I am" They were settled on the God-</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ness</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of Jesus but that left them with other </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">un-</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">answered questions: what is the relationship between the Father and the Son? What about the "one God" </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">belief</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of the Jews? Wait </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">wasn't</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Jesus human too? How does that work? Um yeah and the Holy Spirit? Who or what is that? But they had a starting point. Jesus was God. </span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Otherwise we end up in the condition that Paul wrote about in 1 Cor 15, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">believing</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in a "savior" who could not even save himself </span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Cor 15:19)</span></span></i></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But there was to much evidence then to ignore, pointing to the diety of Christ, that they knew that Jesus was who he claimed to be and did the things he claimed to be. And the corpus of that knowledge has only increased, changed lives, awakenings, people who were lost and now are found. Halleluia! </span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I will close with the creed, accepted by the church worldwide, that they wrote together to keep thier minds strait and thier worship of God focused on the truth of who he is and is named for the city in which the first counsel took place.</span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Nicene Creed</span></span></i></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.</span></span></i></div><div class="esv_midstream" style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2