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Just like the previous devotional entry, I picked a chapter full of precious jewels.
For this one, I focused on verse 15. He's made known to us all that the Father has taught him. There are no secrets with God. He won't speak deceit or lies. He is straightforward since He only speaks one language - truth. And so should I. I should first and foremost be upfront and honest with God. Then, one of the hardest, is that I should be honest with myself - I have to ask myself the tough questions, or else someone will do it for me: where am I faltering in my relationship with Jesus? What can I do to mend bad or strained relationships? Who can I build bridges with in order to share the Gospel? What can I do to contribute to the Body of Christ? What I can I do to provide for my family? How can I best represent Jesus?
I have to answer these and many other questions honestly and to change or grow to glorify God.
August 31, 2009
August 27, 2009
John 8
This was quite the debate between Jesus and the religious leaders. In the end, the religious leaders found whatever excuse they needed to try to get rid of Jesus. Verse 28 gets my attention, though: Jesus does nothing of himself, but only what the Father taught him and he isn't alone because Father God is there with him and Jesus only does what pleases the Father. Awesome challenge for me! If Jesus, God the Son, was so in line with the Father that he did nothing of himself, where does that leave me? I know I'm not in line with the Father in many areas of my life. I'm glad He allowed me the opportunity to believe in Jesus. Now it's all about consciously acknowledging God's presence and His involvement in ALL areas of my life.
Engkrateia
I began a program for myself that would allow me to practice self-discipline once again. It started in the physical aspect: I'm to do a progressive regime that would start slowly so my body can become accustomed to it, with each cycle matching the number of days with the number of reps. So that means, since yesterday was the first day, I did 10 push-ups, 10 squats, and one pull-up. Then the second day, today, I did 20 push-ups and 20 squats and two pull-ups. I'll do the same tomorrow. Then after that I'll do 30/30/3 three days in a row. Then I rest for a day. I start the day after that with four days worth of 40/40/4. I'll take one day rests until after the 60s, then I'll take two day rests after each cycle. After the 90s, I'll rest for two days, then I'll do the 100s, but this time, I will rest for one day after day 5. By the time this is all done, it'll be the end of October. I hope to be ripped by then.
And every day I will do 30 min cardio and 100 reps of any ab exercise. I'm thinking about adding a few more weight training routines as supplemental to all the exercise mentioned so far. I'm making all of this as manageable as possible while still challenging myself.
Likewise, with writing, even though I'm not to spend all my time blogging, as suggested by my wife, I would still like to log experiences and thoughts on a consistent basis. Doing so would allow me to think I'm doing something daily and consistently. I don't need to get overboard with writing, but at least I should write a little something on both of my blogs. I'm also on a program of writing what I learned in my devotionals to Em. Might as well write it in my 12th Letter blog.
I'm looking forward to developing more self-control and discipline because it will spill over into other areas of my life and the outcome will be quite beneficial to me and to others in my life.
And every day I will do 30 min cardio and 100 reps of any ab exercise. I'm thinking about adding a few more weight training routines as supplemental to all the exercise mentioned so far. I'm making all of this as manageable as possible while still challenging myself.
Likewise, with writing, even though I'm not to spend all my time blogging, as suggested by my wife, I would still like to log experiences and thoughts on a consistent basis. Doing so would allow me to think I'm doing something daily and consistently. I don't need to get overboard with writing, but at least I should write a little something on both of my blogs. I'm also on a program of writing what I learned in my devotionals to Em. Might as well write it in my 12th Letter blog.
I'm looking forward to developing more self-control and discipline because it will spill over into other areas of my life and the outcome will be quite beneficial to me and to others in my life.
August 25, 2009
Religion
There are only 5 references to the word "religion" in the Bible for the NIV
And for the word "religious," there are 6 references for the NIV
- Acts 25:19
Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.
- Acts 26:5
They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.
- 1 Timothy 5:4
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
- James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
- James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Acts 26:5
Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
- Galatians 1:13
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
- Galatians 1:14
And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
- James 1:26
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
- James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
And for the word "religious," there are 6 references for the NIV
- Amos 5:21
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
- Amos 8:10
I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
- Acts 17:22
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
- Colossians 2:16
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
- Hebrews 10:11
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
- James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
- Acts 13:43
Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
- James 1:26
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
August 17, 2009
What You Can Live Through
Mayor Barrett of Milwaukee fought off an attacker and was injured in the process. He was just leaving the Wisconsin State Fair with his family when an elderly woman called out for help from a man harassing her and her grandchild. Mayor Barrett stepped in to calm the man down and just when he took out his cell phone to call 911, the man attacked the mayor with a metal pipe. The mayor fought back by punching the attacker in the face and fracturing his hand in the process. The suspect ran off and the mayor was sent to the hospital, still conscious and conversational.
Now that's the way to defend your city!
Now that's the way to defend your city!
August 12, 2009
The Spirit of the Age
Zeitgeist, the documentary, has a lot of problems. The following are some notes I took:
You don't have to be Christian to realize that Zeitgeist's first premise of the Horus/Jesus connection is inaccurate and over-simplified. If you've read ancient world myth, and I was a big fan of Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and Chinese myth, you will see that the director weaved his own ideas of mythical stories throughout the first section, making the common theme of a Messiah born of a Virgin more ancient and pagan, taking away the foundations of the miracles of Jesus.
The film's premise, most likely influenced by evolutionary thought-processes, states that Jesus is merely the hybridized, higher form of Horus. As the filmmaker explains the Horus myth, error alarms went off in my mind. Any reader of myth (or Stargate fan) would know that Horus is not the sun god, Ra is the sun god. And Set is not the god of the underworld, that would be Osiris. If you look at their heads, Horus is the sky god and is represented by the falcon and Set is the river god and is represented by the crocodile head. That myth of light and darkness clashing daily sounds more Meso-American, or even Babylonian, than it is Egyptian.
From the Christian worldview, it is a given that humans from the dawn of time have had this internal desire for a Savior and that there is this sense that a Savior will come. God even said how He will provide the Way to salvation to Adam and Eve, so as the human race grew and spread, every culture would have had an idea of a Savior. This is true for the Flood account, in that almost every culture will include a flood or some watery deluge as part of their origins stories.
Also, God said from the beginning that the heavenly bodies are to be used as more than just measuring devices: they are to give signs about events that are to unfold. I don't believe in astrology, that's another discussion, but I do believe that the heavenly bodies coincide with many major events that transpired in the Bible, even the arrival of the Messiah. To say that Biblical events are merely the result of an ancient writer's imagination using the stars, moon, and sun as his inspiration is myopia on the grandest scale. Archeology and various historical data are showing with each passing year the reliability of the Bible's historicity.
The quote from Justin Martyr was taken way out of context. What the filmmaker just passed off as cartoonish, that the Devil had the foresight to influence Christ's characteristics in the pagan world, was actually true. Justin believed that demons perpetrated the myths of sons of gods born to virgins after those demons found out what God was planning. God told the prophets hundreds of years before Christ's birth what to look for in the coming Messiah. No myth resembling Jesus' life occurred before 800 BC, which was around the time when the Israelite prophets were becoming a force in their world. Greek myth, for instance, didn't begin or wasn't solidified in that culture until around 800 BC. Most every myth that had any connection whatsoever to Jesus occurred after Jesus' resurrection, which includes the Mithraic myths also.
Wow, and he actually said that not one of the ancient writers in Jesus' time mentioned his existence in any detail and that Josephus had a discredited account of Jesus. Sadly, this documentary is just the rehashing of the outdated and poor scholarship of the Jesus Seminar and other modern research into discrediting the historical Jesus. Also, it's apparent that Joseph didn't read the Bible but parroted others who have used verses in the Bible to give proof of their ideas.
Each point he makes is done logically so it seems to make sense, but there is no credible scholarship and the research is shoddy, much like the child who can prove that Santa exists because he received presents with boxes labeled "from Santa."
The point of this film was to make people seek out the truth for themselves and not allow authority to think for you. For me, I was raised to question authority figures (not directly taught, but my mother told me many times that I was rebellious, so it follows...) which led me to question my beliefs in-depth when I was in college. Maybe it was my dad's influence as well, because he wrote against the Vietnam war and was almost kicked out of his college for it. Either way, I became one who won't accept assertions at face value unless I've done my own digging. So to me, the point of this film was already a given and it freed me to question the film's assertions. I'm usually skeptical of what skeptics say. I prefer the truth. As a Christian I question everything, but I understand that there are absolutes and that those absolutes should be individually applied. As a Christian I listen to authority, but I also speak up when authority is wrong, no matter where it's from or who it is.
You don't have to be Christian to realize that Zeitgeist's first premise of the Horus/Jesus connection is inaccurate and over-simplified. If you've read ancient world myth, and I was a big fan of Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and Chinese myth, you will see that the director weaved his own ideas of mythical stories throughout the first section, making the common theme of a Messiah born of a Virgin more ancient and pagan, taking away the foundations of the miracles of Jesus.
The film's premise, most likely influenced by evolutionary thought-processes, states that Jesus is merely the hybridized, higher form of Horus. As the filmmaker explains the Horus myth, error alarms went off in my mind. Any reader of myth (or Stargate fan) would know that Horus is not the sun god, Ra is the sun god. And Set is not the god of the underworld, that would be Osiris. If you look at their heads, Horus is the sky god and is represented by the falcon and Set is the river god and is represented by the crocodile head. That myth of light and darkness clashing daily sounds more Meso-American, or even Babylonian, than it is Egyptian.
From the Christian worldview, it is a given that humans from the dawn of time have had this internal desire for a Savior and that there is this sense that a Savior will come. God even said how He will provide the Way to salvation to Adam and Eve, so as the human race grew and spread, every culture would have had an idea of a Savior. This is true for the Flood account, in that almost every culture will include a flood or some watery deluge as part of their origins stories.
Also, God said from the beginning that the heavenly bodies are to be used as more than just measuring devices: they are to give signs about events that are to unfold. I don't believe in astrology, that's another discussion, but I do believe that the heavenly bodies coincide with many major events that transpired in the Bible, even the arrival of the Messiah. To say that Biblical events are merely the result of an ancient writer's imagination using the stars, moon, and sun as his inspiration is myopia on the grandest scale. Archeology and various historical data are showing with each passing year the reliability of the Bible's historicity.
The quote from Justin Martyr was taken way out of context. What the filmmaker just passed off as cartoonish, that the Devil had the foresight to influence Christ's characteristics in the pagan world, was actually true. Justin believed that demons perpetrated the myths of sons of gods born to virgins after those demons found out what God was planning. God told the prophets hundreds of years before Christ's birth what to look for in the coming Messiah. No myth resembling Jesus' life occurred before 800 BC, which was around the time when the Israelite prophets were becoming a force in their world. Greek myth, for instance, didn't begin or wasn't solidified in that culture until around 800 BC. Most every myth that had any connection whatsoever to Jesus occurred after Jesus' resurrection, which includes the Mithraic myths also.
Wow, and he actually said that not one of the ancient writers in Jesus' time mentioned his existence in any detail and that Josephus had a discredited account of Jesus. Sadly, this documentary is just the rehashing of the outdated and poor scholarship of the Jesus Seminar and other modern research into discrediting the historical Jesus. Also, it's apparent that Joseph didn't read the Bible but parroted others who have used verses in the Bible to give proof of their ideas.
Each point he makes is done logically so it seems to make sense, but there is no credible scholarship and the research is shoddy, much like the child who can prove that Santa exists because he received presents with boxes labeled "from Santa."
The point of this film was to make people seek out the truth for themselves and not allow authority to think for you. For me, I was raised to question authority figures (not directly taught, but my mother told me many times that I was rebellious, so it follows...) which led me to question my beliefs in-depth when I was in college. Maybe it was my dad's influence as well, because he wrote against the Vietnam war and was almost kicked out of his college for it. Either way, I became one who won't accept assertions at face value unless I've done my own digging. So to me, the point of this film was already a given and it freed me to question the film's assertions. I'm usually skeptical of what skeptics say. I prefer the truth. As a Christian I question everything, but I understand that there are absolutes and that those absolutes should be individually applied. As a Christian I listen to authority, but I also speak up when authority is wrong, no matter where it's from or who it is.
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