A TASTE FOR ETERNITY
A Companion to Bram Stoker’s DRACULA
by Cedric Marc Klein
(c)1995
In homage to Dwight Frye
“Never yet have I found the woman I wanted
to bear my child, until I met this one, whom I
love. For I love Thee, O Eternity!”
Nietzsche’s Zarathustra
I: THE MASTER COMES
Purfleet, London, England
1887, September 25
Mad-
or aware?
Is there a difference?
I no longer know.
All I know is the Hunger- for Life.
And I know the food I need- the same food the Master requires.
Don’t be shocked. It’s in the Bible, “the blood is the life.”
But they call it madness. Lock me in Carfax Hospital. Commit me to the care of good
Dr. Jack Seward.
My name is Richard Manfred Renfield.
My goal is to preserve and extend life, to absorb Life, to become LIFE!
My hope is to sit at the right hand of the Master of Life.
From beyond the Eastern Sea, that borderland beyond the forest, he comes. On the wings
of the tempest, midst thundering winds and celestial fire, he has arrived. And I was the first to
welcome him to his new home. Oh, his appearance- ancient of days, flowing hair of awful
whiteness, piercing eyes of scarlet fire. Do you wonder why I fell before him? A warlord weary
of dull peasants, searching for a new empire to subdue. And such an Empire- the first to span the globe.
For months, I’ve heard his Call. Even before they locked me up. I labored- preparing
his way. Setting up the Carfax Abbey sale, which young Harker closed after my- detention.
How did I come to this cell? With the Call came the Hunger. I kept it at bay for a time,
with raw meat, insects, rodentia, birds. I sought a remedy at the Eucharist- but the mockery of
the priest, offering me pale weak wine as blood when the real stuff pulsed in his wrists- Is it any
wonder that I cast off all restraint?
So since the middle of May, I have been restricted to this diet of lesser lives. It will do,
for a while.
But regarding the Master- When a nobleman enters a land to take it, the first thing he
often takes is a woman of that land. The Master chose a young popular pretty miss named Lucy
Westenra. Delicious irony! (Sorry.) She was courted by Dr. Jack and his two best friends. She
had even picked Arthur Holmwood, a future lord. But in the end, the Master stole her heart from
them all- and sealed it with a kiss.
I had never met Miss Lucy when she was warm. But once she entered cold immortality,
he brought her for an introduction. I’ve never cared for pale people, all weak and placid, but she
was delightful, charming, even vigorous. And she had such hopes for the Marriage.
Those hopes are at the root of the mystery baffling the police. Toddlers with small bites,
telling of a “bloofer lady”. If they only knew-
Lucy only wants to bear him children.
II: THE MARRIAGE SUPPER
September 27
He was dead- and he is risen.
Praise to the Master.
A new bride he has taken.
Lucy was dead- and she is risen.
Thanks be to him.
They shall reign unto all ages- world without end- and I shall serve at their throne.
The infidels have joined against him- her jilted lover Lord Arthur, the Texan inventor
Morris, Dr. Jack- all led sheeplike by that old Dutch Wafer-worshiper Van Helsing. They loved
her, tried in vain to keep her from him, even poured their blood into her veins, and he feasted
well on it.
The heathen rage against him- and he laughs in derision.
Queen Lucy continues the hunt. But she is young in darkness, still a dainty maiden.
Wanting to give him children, but, like many of her tender age, she hasn’t yet gotten the nerve.
She has nipped the babes, sipped a little- not much. And if she cannot bring herself to
drink deep from them, even less can she bear to nurse them from her veins.
The Master hasn’t been around of late, but she has. Poor girl- she had his guidance in her
first three nights of rebirth, but now he neglects her for other business. She doesn’t understand
he must attend to his grand design- to win the British Isles first, then, gradually, the entire Empire to his blood covenant.
Left to himself, she stumbled, got a bad reputation, some notoriety in the press upon her
first night of new life. A foolish misunderstanding- she actually adores children. But now she
must be discreet. Yet she is too young in the Night to abstain from even one feeding. At her age, one evening’s fast would leave her too weak to leave her bed.
Lucy is distraught, irrational. She even considers visiting Dr. Jack, bestowing on him the
kisses she saved for Holmwood and instead devoted to our Lord. That would be most unwise
with the Dutchman lurking about.
I confide my own distress to Lady Westenra. Despite his word to me, the Master has not
sealed me to immortality. Thrice I broke free, storming his chapel, begging for his communion.
He promises, but never disposes. Yes, he has fed from me, and he has sent the lesser creatures
to satiate me. But they are so meager in comparison to that drink which he withholds.
Lucy smiles, relieved, having feared that my faith in our Lord might smother any sympa-
thy for her. We both revere him. We realize he must pursue his mission. But we should not be
so neglected! Would it be a betrayal of him to- minister to each other?
No.
It may even be his will.
And aesthetically, she is a much more pleasant fountain from which to sup.
I bow to her- humbly offering my wrist for her kiss. Only expecting her to feed me from
her delicate hand.
She laughs at such humility, takes my hair, bends back my head, and opens my throat to
her lips’ embrace.
Strange how girlish, how demure she had seemed, as she now drinks with all the fury of
Lilith. Well worthy of the three men and the god who contended for her.
Wondrous pain as her pointed pearl-teeth burrow under my flesh. Violent, violet torrents rage through my veins as she greedily consumes her first taste of strong adult blood.
Her lightly teasing tongue quickens the flow. The rich wine trickles bubbling into her purring
throat.
Pale blue petals of her undead mouth bloom to dawning rose onto dusky crimson as their
velvet caresses writhe to my ever-hastening heartbeat. Ravenous and relentless she feeds till the
sweet agony in my brain flares and subsides in oceans of mist.
She forces herself away. Standing over me- her flesh Heaven-carved marble beset by
magenta flame, her hair a cascade of silken sunset fury. She fears she may have taken too much
until I rouse from my blissful stupor.
“Dear Richard, good and faithful servant, enter now into our Kingdom...” She kneels,
cradling my head in her lap, folding back the bridal linen to allow me full access to the bounty of
her winepress. A delicate fingernail taps the spring beneath her maidenwhite flesh. Her fingers
entwine in my hair to press my parched lips to that inviting font.
And, with no further details I can, as a gentleman, give, she feeds me- Eternity.
Hail, Miss Lucy.
Thank you, Lord, for gracing me with her favors.
You have loosed this poor lunatic from the bonds of death and Hell.
Behold, the Marriage of our Lord has come. The Bride has made herself ready. Blessed
am I who am called to their Supper.
III: DESOLATION
September 30
Howl, you children of the night!
Wail- for the abomination that maketh desolate!
How long, O Lord, till the blood of your bride be avenged?
They sharpen a branch. They defile sacred wafers. They bring the dearest of all women
to a bloody frothing end!
Blast you, Arthur Holmwood, Lord Godalming! You loved her, betrothed yourself to her.
Were you so jealous she chose the Eternal One over your feeble lordship?
Curse you, Dr. Jack and Quincey Morris! You steadied him as he plunged the stake
between those breasts you desired.
And thrice-damn you, thick-headed Dutch Papist Doctor Abraham Van Helsing! You
have driven them all to unpardonable blasphemy.
Granted, she couldn’t behave. I thought to give her a taste for stronger stuff, to sway her
from childish things. Still, she would not abandon her little playmates.
Yet she did them no harm. Did it so disturb those men that their dearly departed lived on
at the side of another? Did they have to insure she was truly dead?
She wanted to kiss Holmwood into Life Eternal. Indeed, she would have happily brought
each one of them through, even Van Helsing. Lucy always did seem too promiscuous with her
feelings.
Those men, so manipulated, so emotionally broken by Van Helsing’s ravings, couldn’t
hear her entreaties. Rather, they could be little more than his puppets.
Abraham Van Helsing- a new Herod to greet the Return of our Lord, a modern Nero to
martyr the faithful. In the Age to Come, his name will be a profanity.
But one thing overshadows my contempt for him.
Why did the Master not defend her?
Did he not know?
Or didn’t he care?
Even worse, might he have wanted her dead?
Was her play getting too much notice? Was she too clinging to him? Or not servile
enough? Was he jealous? Did he regard her visit to me as infidelity?
Silence, Renfield! He had nothing to do with her murder. He also mourns her. He
must...
Later, that same day
I’ve dreamt of her. Glorious. Beautiful beyond that of her resurrected life.
“Why mourn?”, she asks. “I am not here. I’m alive. Unbound.”
Unbound? From what?
“You drank, Richard, but you still thirst. I now drink of His spring, never to thirst again.”
His spring? The Master’s?
She turns away, “Not that Master...”
Not him, then who?
A whisper, “Him, Resurrection... and Life.”
But isn’t our Master the Resurrection?
Even more faintly, she replies, “Not Resurrection. Not alive. Not dead... Nosferatu.”
What is it? My own doubts- or a message? Even with her transfixed to the grave, does
our union live on? Does her blood truly call from the ground?
Dr. Jack saw me earlier. Soon after my dream. I was calm and happy, then- just having
seen her again, not yet recalling all she had said. And now that I’m all perplexed, he informs me
that I have a lady caller.
Lucy? Surely not! But who?
Just a visitor, passing through the house, meeting everyone, claims Dr. Jack.
Very well, then. Just as soon as I tidy up. Thus, I consume my zoo. I sit quietly, savoring the thrill as their lives absorb into mine. Now, Dr. Jack, you may bring in whomever you wish.
Not Lucy, though I could testify that she’d suddenly passed through the cell. Instead, this
is a dark, serious genteel lady, near Lucy in physical age, far older in aspect.
“You’re not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you?”, I blurt, hastily correcting
myself. “You can’t be, you know, for she’s dead.”
Mad and idiot self! I’ve hurt her in my bafflement. She smiles, blinking back tears, and
introduces herself as Mrs. Harker.
Yes, Lucy had told me of her dearest friend, Mina. Also the wife of him who sold Carfax
to the Master. Strange how it all ties together. While I try to sort it out in my mind, Dr. Jack is
doing the same in his, demanding to know how I knew of his beloved. I hastily concoct a tale of
hospital gossip, the impossibility of keeping a secret from the patients. I babble on about philosophy, about my own pathology, which I refer to in the past tense. She confounds me, recalls my affection for Lucy, and transfers it to herself. But she has no awareness of her effect
upon me.
Dr. Jack knows something is amiss. He finds a way to excuse himself and the lady,
probably fearing my prattling will quicken into ravings.
She bids me farewell, as I wonder if my feelings about her could be shared by the Master.
But that might not be in her best interests.
Even my own feelings might endanger her. I have even injured Dr. Jack to get his blood.
How might I harm her when the Thirst attacks?
“Good-bye, my dear,” I gasp, “I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. May He bless and keep you.”
No, I swear before God that Mrs. Harker, Madame Mina, shall suffer no harm from me.
Nor from the Master.
IV: HE MUST INCREASE, I MUST DECREASE
October 1, 4 a.m.
God will not damn a poor mad soul.
Will He?
But am I mad?
To know good, but not do it- that is sin.
By that law, I am not mad.
But I am damned.
Christ have mercy on a weak man. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from him.
He is- so strong.
I must see Dr. Jack!
A company of witnesses God gathers to assail me. The lovers and slayers of dearest Lucy.
Holmwood, whose father I had known long ago in the Windham Gentlemen’s Society.
Morris, the scholar-adventurer who plays at being a rough cowboy.
Harker, beloved to Madame Mina and pawn in the arrival of the Master.
And Van Helsing, Lucy’s murderer and redeemer.
I only wanted my doctor. Why must her other men come to torment me?
They say nothing of her. Why should they? They know nothing of what we shared. They regard me as but a mere curiosity.
Except for Van Helsing. He suspects something, though even he is not aware of who
enslaves me, and I can not tell him.
I implore Dr. Jack to release me, bound, shackled, straitjacketed, if need be, but do not let me remain here!
I flatter them. I strive for rational discourse. I appeal to the benevolence of my intentions. Just let me depart this place before I invite disaster!
But I can not tell them why, for I am not my own master.
They will not listen. They do not comprehend that I beg for the sake of another. That not only my soul but that of their beloved and living hope is at stake.
But I may not tell.
“Let me go!
“I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for my soul!”
They turn away.
Remember later, Dr. Jack, that I did all I could to warn you.
Still before dawn, the men leave the house, leaving only the patients and the staff, and
Madame Mina.
And now him, needing me to admit him.
Why, Master? There are only poor mad souls from which to feed.
He has his reasons, his needs to satisfy, and he bids me open his way. But he laughs at my reticence, and makes me promises.
I look out upon the lawn. From behind the bushes, out of the trees, from everywhere- rats! Rats!! Rats!!! Myriads of rats, and dogs and cats to eat them, all compounding years of
life for me!
“All these lives, and more, and greater, will I give you, through all ages, world without
end, if you but fall down and worship me.”
A bloody mist envelops me, a pillar of cloud and fire, as I genuflect.
“Come in, Lord and Master.”
From now on, he no longer needs me to make straight his highway.
But what could he seek here? Who would be a worthy prey, midst all these unfortunate
lunatics?
No.
Not her. Please.
But he has his reasons. His ways are not mine, and he is so strong.
Forgive me, God..., Lucy.
...Mina.
V: A PLAGUE OF SOULS
October 1, afternoon
He ignores my warning, my plea to be removed. Now he wants to see me once more.
Damned thick-headed Dutchman with his idiotic brain-theories!
Why waste any words on him?
I know my only recourse.
Now comes his pet, Dr. Jack, no doubt in wonder why I rebuffed his esteemed mentor.
But Dr. Jack does wish me well, not just interested in how I can demonstrate some theory. Except that he wants to know why I no longer bother with flies.
I mock him with pseudo-profundity, which he does not comprehend. “The fly... it’s wings typify the aerial powers of the psychic faculties.” What rot. “The ancients did well to
typify the soul as a butterfly.”
Good analytical Dr. Jack, he finds the point that concerns me, and drives it home.
“Oh, it’s a soul you want now?”
No! Not souls. Life alone, but not the souls. And I have all the life I need.
“So you are a god, commanding life?”, he supposes, condescendingly.
I return his condescension. “Not at all. God’s realm is spiritual. Mine purely earthy,
though I occupy the terrestrial position that Enoch occupies spiritually.” As Enoch “walked with
God”, I walk with one of His contemporaries.
The doctor does not follow the Enoch analogy, and I cannot enlighten him. Thus, he
returns to the issue of souls and lives, and my casual attitude towards both.
Why would I want souls? I cannot eat or dri- absorb them. Regarding life, I have all I
need. With good friends, like Dr. Jack, I shall never lack.
Why did I tell him that? I have given far too much away. He notes my smirk at my own
stupidity. I cannot continue this exchange. He departs as I fall into a sulk.
Why did I speak as if the good doctor were only part of that great chain of being at which
I feed? I would never want to do him harm. I regret my attack on him over two weeks ago. Even less would I want his soul, anyone’s soul, anything’s soul.
Lives, souls, are they inseparable? Miss Lucy gave the Master her new life, did he also
take her soul? Did she regain that soul when her men staked her? Will he take Madame Mina’s
soul? Could she ever regain it?
What of the lives I’ve taken? Do I possess their souls? Am I their keeper- a god to the
souls of flies and spiders, birds and rodents? Is my soul a hybrid of them all?
What of the human souls I might deliver up to him? He took Lucy without my aid. Yet
he needed my cooperation to get to Mina. Will her soul also plague me in the Aetherial realms?
Doctor Jack returns! How glad I am to see him.
“What about souls?” I ask.
“What about them yourself?”
“I don’t want any souls!”
“You like life, and you want life?”
“Oh yes! But that is all right. You needn’t worry about that.”
“But how might we get a life without the soul also? A fine time you’ll have out flying
with all the insect and bird and cat souls about you. You’ve got their lives and you must deal
with their souls.”
Damn him and his constant prattle of souls. Much as I try to avoid it, it never ceases to
agitate me. I turn away till he offers me sugar for my flies.
I laugh, “Flies are such poor things after all. But I still don’t want their buzzing souls
about me.”
“Spiders?”, he suggests.
“What good are they? Not much to eat or dri-, consume... ‘Small deer’... I’m past all that. You might as well ask a man to eat molecules with chopsticks as to interest me in lesser
carnivora, when I see what I have before me.”
“Ah, big things to sink your teeth in? An elephant, perhaps?”
“Ridiculous nonsense!”, I mutter. Yet he wonders what an elephant soul might be like.
“I don’t want any souls, elephant or whatever! Damn you and your souls! Isn’t there
enough to cause me pain and worry, to distract and bother me, other than souls?”
He signals the keepers for the restraints. I must behave. I cannot afford to be bound, lest
he appear tonight.
“Forgive me, Doctor. There’s no need for help. I’m so worried I tend to be irritable. If
you knew the problem I must work out, you would understand. I must think freely, and can’t do
so when bodily restrained. Please. I know you’ll understand.”
He relents.
“Thank you, Dr. Seward, for your consideration. I am very grateful.” I shake his hand,
clasp his shoulder. He starts, but realizes I intend no harm, and so, he departs.
Flies. They do sound good now. I’ll need all the strength I can get.
Doctor Jack returns with Van Helsing. I am too occupied to bother with them.
All through the day, unto the night, not even a blow-fly. He enters without a word, even
a glance to me, with no resistance from me. I can do nothing but pray; the spirit willing, the
flesh so weak.
Later, as he leaves, he doesn’t even smell the same.
I almost thought Madame Mina had arrived.
VI: WRESTLING UNTO DAWN
October 2
I could not resist last night.
I must tonight.
Doctor Jack has fetched Madame Mina for me. I must be assured that she is well,
unharmed.
But she is so white, so diluted. Has he fed so much from her already? She’s become one of those pale people so repulsive in their listlessness. The Beast has kissed her, but has yet to feed her.
God willing, he never shall.
I treat her tenderly, holding back my affliction of the mind, working to be sane and strong for her sake. I can’t warn her of the coming darkness. She could not bear it and he still will not let me.
As she departs, I grab her hand. She does not start. She knows I would never hurt her. Rather, she motions for Dr. Jack to leave me be as I kiss her hand and, for the last time, request the Lord’s blessing upon her.
She will see tomorrow. I likely will not.
But I mean to take him with me.
I have eaten well. Not just my standard fare of lives, which has been plentiful, but even the typical meal served all the patients. Madmen are said to have great strength, and I shall need it all.
Jacob held onto the Angel till dawn and became Israel.
I shall hold the Demon till dawn and become redeemed.
“Even though he slay me, yet will I trust God.”
Not exactly what Job meant, but near enough.
The sun is long set. I perch on my window ledge, watching the ruined abbey through the newly reinforced bars. I would have small chance of breaking these. What chance have I of breaking him?
Fog breathes from the earth, creeps through the ruins into the hospital garden. A casual observer would see nothing amiss, but for a curious occasional flash of red. “Only a will o’ the wisp,” they’d think.
But I know his eyes.
I retreat to the far corner, bowing down. Streams of mist flow through the bars, merging in a dark lupine sea. He no longer requires my welcome. As his cloud fills my cell, I spring to those scarlet sparks in its midst and grab for his throat.
I feel his response, a mixture of rage, and amusement, and wonder, and even a little
admiration. Fog withdraws into form to do battle with me.
How long do we contend? Long enough to further enrage him. Long enough that I wonder if I might win.
Until I err, and look into his face, and see his eyes, and see what he has seen. Four centuries of Hell.
Seas of blood, midst piles of flesh shredded under his saber. Forests of Turk-bearing stakes. Disemboweled mistresses and incinerated beggars. All while he was just mortal.
As he lay dying, encompassed by his Mohammedan foes, he bargains, not with them, but
with Hell.
Hell consents. It will not take him from the Earth.
He shall bring It here.
Four centuries, he has languished in his homeland. Broken battlements and peasant
superstitions shielding his paltry household of two mistresses and a cousin, a countess named Elizabeth Bathory. All ruling a meager Rumanian cattlepen of terrified dullards.
Little wonder he came here.
Soon as he felt strong enough to travel.
Six months in England has yielded almost as many children here as did 400 years there.
Soon he will reach for Buckingham, then the globe.
I know full well whom I now fight.
He is not the Devil
But he sits at the right hand of that Prince.
He flows through my arms like water, or blood.
One thing more I realize.
“You never intended to grant me life!”
He laughs, “Always there will be weak souls at my command. Why grant one my
immortality?”
“That was why you let Lucy die!”
“Your faculties of reason are becoming impressively clear, Herr Renfield, as your passion overrides your madness. Yes. The little fool could not stay out of the kindergarten. Once public notice arises, there must be extreme remedies. Still, I would have sheltered her, till she whored her gift to a foolish fly-eating old man. That crime had to be punished. The vigor of her blood had to be broken.”
“So that the power of Undeath in my own blood might be stilled.”
“Quite correct. Now step aside and I shall have mercy.”
“Not quite, Impaler Vlad, Count Dracula!
“For Lucy, for Mina, for Christ Himself!”
I entangle my arms in his cloak, to delay him, so I might call for help.
Crimson fury propels me upward, storms through my brain. Skull and spine shattering.
“God! God! God!”
The Angel of Death slithers out to mate. Pray God my screams reach them before he
reaches her.
October 3, past midnight
A horrible dream. I awaken. Doctor Jack and Van Helsing hover about, with surgical
tools. Take off my bonds. I cannot move. So weak. Such pain.
A sip of brandy alerts me. Morris and Godalming stand round. No dream, but horrible
reality.
Dying, at least my brain is. Before I die, or worse, I must confess my cowardice, my
surrender to his lures, and my delivering a new bride to his embrace.
They bolt out. Dear God, let them be in time.
No. My words only delayed them. My testimony only gave him time to consummate the
marriage.
Communion is served.
She is sealed to the Beast.
Communion- if only Van Helsing had remained to give me last rites. He has- a dispensation.
Serve it to Mina, rather, that Eternal Blood purify undead bile.
Kyrie eleison.
Lord Christ, mercy.
For my idolatry, my gluttony, my service to Thine ancient foe.
Take me back.
Cleanse my soul of his mark.
Miss Lucy, pray for me, that I die sane and Christian- and that Madame Mina escape your fate.
And that, after I die, I rise only at that Last Day, and not before.
Dreadful and gracious Jehovah, guide Van Helsing. Strengthen the hands of Harker and
Morris as they strike him whom I now know to be Anti-Christ.
Sweet Jesus, into Thy hands-
Ah, Lucy-
POSTSCRIPT
From the desk of Dr. Jack Seward, not included in
the phonograph diary or in the materials given the
Irish writer, B. Stoker-
1887, October 3
Mrs. Harker defiled, the Count escaped, poor Renfield dead.
His look of sane repose convinces me that he had died as he had hoped, a sane man who
had won back his soul. The grace of God shine upon him and grant him peace.
Now to insure he is truly free...
Van Helsing drains the body of blood, diluting it with holy water, pouring it onto the ground of St. Andrew’s churchyard, where the body shall be interred.
I sever the head from the body, searing the wounds, and applying garlic to both halves ofthe neck. We remove the heart, cremating it in a fire of garlic, wild rose, and hawthorn, cooling the ashes with Van Helsing’s blessed water, and casting them also in the churchyard.
Finally, we do bury him, the Host in his mouth, a crucifix clasped to his chest.
He rests, I pray. He is the first to die in our cause, but I fear, not the last. God have mercy on us all.
Of the many questions about Richard M. Renfield, two perplex me most:
Did the Count incite his madness or merely exploit it? But more bothersome-
How did he know about Lucy?
THE END
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Yet another Gospel Message- one I apparently wrote in Feb 2001...
The other day, I found a near-decade-old printout of an e-mail I'd written a friend of a friend... For some reason, I gave my summary of The Gospel. As I read it, I thought "Dang, this is still pretty good!"... so here goes!
Life, the Universe and Everything is rooted in and flows out of the Triune God Who is Lover and Beloved and the Mutual Love among Them (aka Father and Son and Holy Spirit). Out of that Love, They created all of this and all of us. All the rules and regulations and laws and rewards and punishments They give us to live by is part of that same Triple Infolding Love.
Of course, by our first parents' acts of defiance and distrust and defensiveness against God, we are born into a whole cycle of distrust against God, each other and ourselves, which is why God gave us the Law and the Prophets to guide us through it.
Eventually, He dove into the middle of this chaos as Jesus- God Who takes on human life from the inside and Who takes on Himself all the punishment for what has gone wrong and then overcomes it by His Resurrection- which He then invites us to join in through trusting and loving Him.
Now, it is our choice to what extent we will love and trust and commit ourselves to Him and allow His Spirit to flow through us~ and based on those choises is the degree we will know His grace and peace in this life and face reward and punishment in the Afterlife. Fortunately, that same Love that kindled all lives is the same Love that lived and died and rose as Jesus and will be the same Love that pursues us in this life and the Afterlife.
Everything that can be redeemed about our lives will be redeemed. Everything that cannot be salvaged in our lives will be trashed and burned in the Fire of God's Awful Love. It will hurt agonizingly the same way intensive psychotherapy and radical surgery and a refinery furnace hurts but it will also be part of God/Jesus's Redeeming Love. It may be that some people will be so bound up in resistance to that Love that the Fire may leave little to nothing of them left to be redeemed. However, I also trust God/Jesus enough to trust that most of us, when fully confronted by Him, will just melt.
Amen!
Life, the Universe and Everything is rooted in and flows out of the Triune God Who is Lover and Beloved and the Mutual Love among Them (aka Father and Son and Holy Spirit). Out of that Love, They created all of this and all of us. All the rules and regulations and laws and rewards and punishments They give us to live by is part of that same Triple Infolding Love.
Of course, by our first parents' acts of defiance and distrust and defensiveness against God, we are born into a whole cycle of distrust against God, each other and ourselves, which is why God gave us the Law and the Prophets to guide us through it.
Eventually, He dove into the middle of this chaos as Jesus- God Who takes on human life from the inside and Who takes on Himself all the punishment for what has gone wrong and then overcomes it by His Resurrection- which He then invites us to join in through trusting and loving Him.
Now, it is our choice to what extent we will love and trust and commit ourselves to Him and allow His Spirit to flow through us~ and based on those choises is the degree we will know His grace and peace in this life and face reward and punishment in the Afterlife. Fortunately, that same Love that kindled all lives is the same Love that lived and died and rose as Jesus and will be the same Love that pursues us in this life and the Afterlife.
Everything that can be redeemed about our lives will be redeemed. Everything that cannot be salvaged in our lives will be trashed and burned in the Fire of God's Awful Love. It will hurt agonizingly the same way intensive psychotherapy and radical surgery and a refinery furnace hurts but it will also be part of God/Jesus's Redeeming Love. It may be that some people will be so bound up in resistance to that Love that the Fire may leave little to nothing of them left to be redeemed. However, I also trust God/Jesus enough to trust that most of us, when fully confronted by Him, will just melt.
Amen!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The "Purpose-Driven" Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation as a Diagram for Christian Growth
This is an outline for a Bible study I conducted in Autumn 2004.
While Revelation has been used, rightly and wrongly, as a picture of early Church history, ongoing history, and the future, near and far, Revelation is also packed with references to Hebraic and Christian worship, is outlined as a Covenant Document, and is applicable to personal spiritual development as well as a tool for intepreting the past and preparing for the future. I prepared this outline to show how the five points of Rick Warren's best-selling "Purpose Driven Life" align with the five-point Covenant structure discovered by Bishop Ray Sutton, the five aspects of Christian worship, and the five sections of The Book of Revelation.
Pastor Rick Warren (SBC) "The Purpose Driven Life"
1.) You were planned for God's Pleasure.
2.) You were formed for God's Family.
3.) You were created to become like Christ.
4.) You were shaped for God's Service.
5.) You were made for God's Mission.
Father Ray Sutton (Reformed Episcopal)
Author of "That You May Prosper"
(a study of the five-point Biblical Covenant structure)
1.) Transcendence- Who is in charge?
2.) Hierarchy- To whom do I report?
3.) Ethics- What is expected of me?
4.) Oath- What do I get?
5.) Succession- How long does this last?
Christian Worship Service:
1.) God (Father-Son-Spirit) meets with
2.) We the Church in our prayer, confession, praise & worship.
3.) The Word is ministered in Bible reading and preaching.
4.) The Ordinances/Sacraments of the Altar Call &/or Eucharist confirm us in the Faith.
5.) The Blessing is bestowed, sending us forth to live out our Faith in Christ.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John the Divine (i.e. Theologian)
(inspired by Orthodox Presbyterian Rev. David Chilton's "The Days Of Vengeance")
1.) Jesus Christ is our King-Priest. ~ Ch. I.
2.) Christ Challenges us to be His Church. ~ Ch. II-IV.
3.) Christ Charges us with His Commands. ~ Ch. V-XI.
4.) Christ Confirms us in His Communion Meal. ~ Ch. XII-XIX.
5.) Christ Commissions us to live out His Kingdom. ~ Ch. XX-XXII.
The Revelation unveils Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and Savior through liturgy- God indwells & moves through our worship; in the first century A.D.- Christ raises up the Church as Jerusalem & Rome fall; through history- Christ and His Church always contend against Bestial Tyranny and Harlot Compromise in every age; in the future- Christ shall ultimately defeat Satan and reign with us forever; and personally- in our lives, we either embrace the Seal of the Lamb to be His Bride or the Mark of the Beast to be its Harlot, and go into the Fire of God's Furious Love.
The Purpose Driven Apocalypse Five Point Alignment
COV-Covenantal Structure REV-Revelation PDL-Purpose Driven Life
COV1.) Transcendence- Who is in charge?
REV1.) Jesus Christ is our King-Priest. ~ Ch. I.
PDL1.) You were planned for God's Pleasure.
COV2.) Hierarchy- To whom do I report?
REV2.) Christ Challenges us to be His Church. ~ Ch. II-IV.
PDL2.) You were formed for God's Family.
COV3.) Ethics- What is expected of me?
REV3.) Christ Charges us with His Commands. ~ Ch. V-XI.
PDL3.) You were created to become like Christ.
COV4.) Oath- What do I get?
REV4.) Christ Confirms us in His Communion Meal. ~ Ch. XII-XIX
PDL4.) You were shaped for God's Service.
COV5.) Succession- How long does this last?
REV5.) Christ Commissions us to live out His Kingdom. ~ Ch. XX-XXII.
PDL5.) You were made for God's Mission.
While Revelation has been used, rightly and wrongly, as a picture of early Church history, ongoing history, and the future, near and far, Revelation is also packed with references to Hebraic and Christian worship, is outlined as a Covenant Document, and is applicable to personal spiritual development as well as a tool for intepreting the past and preparing for the future. I prepared this outline to show how the five points of Rick Warren's best-selling "Purpose Driven Life" align with the five-point Covenant structure discovered by Bishop Ray Sutton, the five aspects of Christian worship, and the five sections of The Book of Revelation.
Pastor Rick Warren (SBC) "The Purpose Driven Life"
1.) You were planned for God's Pleasure.
2.) You were formed for God's Family.
3.) You were created to become like Christ.
4.) You were shaped for God's Service.
5.) You were made for God's Mission.
Father Ray Sutton (Reformed Episcopal)
Author of "That You May Prosper"
(a study of the five-point Biblical Covenant structure)
1.) Transcendence- Who is in charge?
2.) Hierarchy- To whom do I report?
3.) Ethics- What is expected of me?
4.) Oath- What do I get?
5.) Succession- How long does this last?
Christian Worship Service:
1.) God (Father-Son-Spirit) meets with
2.) We the Church in our prayer, confession, praise & worship.
3.) The Word is ministered in Bible reading and preaching.
4.) The Ordinances/Sacraments of the Altar Call &/or Eucharist confirm us in the Faith.
5.) The Blessing is bestowed, sending us forth to live out our Faith in Christ.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John the Divine (i.e. Theologian)
(inspired by Orthodox Presbyterian Rev. David Chilton's "The Days Of Vengeance")
1.) Jesus Christ is our King-Priest. ~ Ch. I.
2.) Christ Challenges us to be His Church. ~ Ch. II-IV.
3.) Christ Charges us with His Commands. ~ Ch. V-XI.
4.) Christ Confirms us in His Communion Meal. ~ Ch. XII-XIX.
5.) Christ Commissions us to live out His Kingdom. ~ Ch. XX-XXII.
The Revelation unveils Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and Savior through liturgy- God indwells & moves through our worship; in the first century A.D.- Christ raises up the Church as Jerusalem & Rome fall; through history- Christ and His Church always contend against Bestial Tyranny and Harlot Compromise in every age; in the future- Christ shall ultimately defeat Satan and reign with us forever; and personally- in our lives, we either embrace the Seal of the Lamb to be His Bride or the Mark of the Beast to be its Harlot, and go into the Fire of God's Furious Love.
The Purpose Driven Apocalypse Five Point Alignment
COV-Covenantal Structure REV-Revelation PDL-Purpose Driven Life
COV1.) Transcendence- Who is in charge?
REV1.) Jesus Christ is our King-Priest. ~ Ch. I.
PDL1.) You were planned for God's Pleasure.
COV2.) Hierarchy- To whom do I report?
REV2.) Christ Challenges us to be His Church. ~ Ch. II-IV.
PDL2.) You were formed for God's Family.
COV3.) Ethics- What is expected of me?
REV3.) Christ Charges us with His Commands. ~ Ch. V-XI.
PDL3.) You were created to become like Christ.
COV4.) Oath- What do I get?
REV4.) Christ Confirms us in His Communion Meal. ~ Ch. XII-XIX
PDL4.) You were shaped for God's Service.
COV5.) Succession- How long does this last?
REV5.) Christ Commissions us to live out His Kingdom. ~ Ch. XX-XXII.
PDL5.) You were made for God's Mission.
Bio
Friar Ted Klein holds a B.A. in Political Science, a M.S. in Counseling, ordination in World Christianship Ministries, and has produced the independent spiritual romantic melodramatic film "The Living Years". He also works in retail sales.
He is not a real "Friar" (ordained monk in the Catholic tradition) but he does play one on the Internet.
Actively Christian since age 13 in 1975, Ted was raised Christmas & Easter Catholic until age 8, when his family started attending the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in which he grew in his own faith in Christ. He has also been involved in interchurch Charismatic ministry, a Manifest Sonship group, The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, the John Birch Society & various Christian conservative organizations.
However, he had maintained consistent membership in his local (Southern Indiana) Assembly of God since 1984.
In spite of his theological gallivanting, Friar Ted insists he is not a flake, though he acknowledged that he is a Pisces, which is pretty much the same thing.
His patron saint is C.S. "Jack" Lewis, author of the Narnia series, "Mere Christianity", "The Great Divorce", "Till We Have Faces" and much more. He has a nostalgic appreciation of Hal Lindsey, whose 1970s books, starting with "The Late Great Planet Earth" jumpstarted his Christian commitment, though his End-Times-Prophecy views are 90% historic Premillenialist, 5% Rapturist, 5% Preterist Postmillenialist. The Revelation is his favorite book of The Bible.
Other favorite authors include libertarian thinker Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem), Catholic conspiracy-buff Taylor Caldwell (Dear and Glorious Physician, Captains and the Kings), southern Catholic existentialist Walker Percy (Love in the Ruins, Lancelot, The Second Coming), Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein).
Favorite movies overall are- It's A Wonderful Life, The Bride of Frankenstein, A Clockwork Orange.
He is not a real "Friar" (ordained monk in the Catholic tradition) but he does play one on the Internet.
Actively Christian since age 13 in 1975, Ted was raised Christmas & Easter Catholic until age 8, when his family started attending the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in which he grew in his own faith in Christ. He has also been involved in interchurch Charismatic ministry, a Manifest Sonship group, The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, the John Birch Society & various Christian conservative organizations.
However, he had maintained consistent membership in his local (Southern Indiana) Assembly of God since 1984.
In spite of his theological gallivanting, Friar Ted insists he is not a flake, though he acknowledged that he is a Pisces, which is pretty much the same thing.
His patron saint is C.S. "Jack" Lewis, author of the Narnia series, "Mere Christianity", "The Great Divorce", "Till We Have Faces" and much more. He has a nostalgic appreciation of Hal Lindsey, whose 1970s books, starting with "The Late Great Planet Earth" jumpstarted his Christian commitment, though his End-Times-Prophecy views are 90% historic Premillenialist, 5% Rapturist, 5% Preterist Postmillenialist. The Revelation is his favorite book of The Bible.
Other favorite authors include libertarian thinker Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem), Catholic conspiracy-buff Taylor Caldwell (Dear and Glorious Physician, Captains and the Kings), southern Catholic existentialist Walker Percy (Love in the Ruins, Lancelot, The Second Coming), Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein).
Favorite movies overall are- It's A Wonderful Life, The Bride of Frankenstein, A Clockwork Orange.
Major Questions of Life~~~
Who are we?
What are we supposed to be?
What's wrong with us?
How do we get better?
What does God have to say about it all?
Glad you asked!
Let's assume that the Bible actually contains messages from God that may help us answer these questions.
Does this sound reasonable? If not, just go along with it for a while.
Genesis 1 tells us that God designed the world, concluding with making us in His Image to take care of everything in the world that comes into our hands.
How have we done so far?
How have you done taking care of your own life? Of doing what you know to be right or of shunning what you know to be wrong?
Need improvement? Yep, me too. Same as everyone else.
Genesis 3 tells us that our first parents messed up big. Whether there was an outside tempter or their inner conflicts, they decided to distrust God, to take something that did not yet belong to them. That resulted in a fracture between them, and a break in the very order of Creation. They were cast out of their haven and sent out into a wild world- having grabbed knowledge but not yet learning wisdom. Their kids just added to that mess. With each generation, God gave guides and guardians and blessings and disasters and rescuers. You know the tales- the Flood & Noah's Ark, Abraham & Sarah & Isaac, Moses & the Exodus & the Commandments, King David...
Yet it all got worse. Even the heroes & heroines He sent couldn't do everything right & got in their own messes.
So at the right time, God stepped in directly. He always planned to. He hints it at Genesis 3:15. He outright claims it through Isaiah (700 years before Jesus)-59:15-21.
15. Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
However, He would come undercover- as a Servant, a Suffering One (Isaiah 53).
Along comes Jesus, the Christ (aka "Messiah"- Anointed Priest/King of David's lineage), the Son of God.
John calls Him the Word, the Expression of God, which is just as much God (John 1).
He taught Law and He taught Love. He healed and forgave and taught obedience to God and himself and showed compassion on those to weak to obey and anger on those to proud to obey (read any of the Gospels at random).
The last group torture-killed Him.
That was all right tho. He planned for it, even provoked them to do it.
A recent hit movie tried to show how bad it was, but if it really revealed the worst of it, that movie would have been banned & the makers jailed. They could not have shown how Jesus took into His own heart the guilt of every monstrous abuser and the pain of every wounded victim, along with the petty faults and small hurts of everyone's life.
Compared to that, the pain of hanging by nails in his wrists under a blazing sun might have seemed a relief. That was what released His scream "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?"
But He still died forgiving, and consoling, and trusting and triumphant. Three days later, He rose even more triumphantly. To call us into His life. To be the earthly ambassadors for His Heavenly Kingdom. To apply His Love & His Law to our own lives and into whatever area of life we can, even entire societies & cultures, until His Return.
You know what Jesus teaches- about life & work & marriage & family & love & death & sorrow & joy, even about our words & thoughts. You might not know He gives you the ability to follow Him- by the power of His Spirit, the support of His Assembly (aka "Church"), the guiding of His Word (aka "Bible").
What if you refuse?
Jesus tells us in Chapter 3 of John's Gospel-
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21. But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Re-read verse 19- God's Judgment is that His Light invades the world, while those committed to the world want to stay in the Dark, just as our first parents in Genesis 3 tried to hide from God after their rebellion. But God would not let them hide. Neither can anyone hide from Him/Jesus in Eternity. We who serve God/Jesus, who are uplifted as His friends, who are adopted as His children will continue to live & learn & grow in His Light (Revelation 21-22). Those who refuse Him will become lovers of darkness, immune to His Love, tormented by His Light, which beats down on them as HellFire, with no promise of an relief (Revelation 14).
You probably don't hate God/Jesus. But you might not trust Him either. What you decide now is a step in one of those directions. Either step is a risk. Stepping to Him risks losing the faulty yet maybe pleasant life you know. Stepping away from Him risks becoming a thing that never wants to love Him or know His love.
Which path do you want to risk?
What to do if you want to embrace Jesus?
>Pray to commit yourself to God/Jesus/Their Spirit, turn from what you know is wrong on God's terms (the Bible), ask Him to give you His power to do what is right by His Holy Spirit.
>Study the Bible & pray regularly. Find a caring church that teaches the Bible & the Gospel explained above. If you've never been baptized, do it- if you have been, renew it with a public commitment to Christ.
>Share your faith- with fellow believers in regular churchgoing & fellowshipping & taking Communion; and with the non-believers in your life (with care and compassion, not judgment or hysteria).
>Live your life with Jesus as your guide & your guard to supply you with the grace & gifts needed to do your best & obey Him. Try not to mess up but if you do, run TO Him for forgiveness & help to do better.
Jesus dares you to trust Him. What is keeping you from His challenge?
~Ted~ August 2005~
What are we supposed to be?
What's wrong with us?
How do we get better?
What does God have to say about it all?
Glad you asked!
Let's assume that the Bible actually contains messages from God that may help us answer these questions.
Does this sound reasonable? If not, just go along with it for a while.
Genesis 1 tells us that God designed the world, concluding with making us in His Image to take care of everything in the world that comes into our hands.
How have we done so far?
How have you done taking care of your own life? Of doing what you know to be right or of shunning what you know to be wrong?
Need improvement? Yep, me too. Same as everyone else.
Genesis 3 tells us that our first parents messed up big. Whether there was an outside tempter or their inner conflicts, they decided to distrust God, to take something that did not yet belong to them. That resulted in a fracture between them, and a break in the very order of Creation. They were cast out of their haven and sent out into a wild world- having grabbed knowledge but not yet learning wisdom. Their kids just added to that mess. With each generation, God gave guides and guardians and blessings and disasters and rescuers. You know the tales- the Flood & Noah's Ark, Abraham & Sarah & Isaac, Moses & the Exodus & the Commandments, King David...
Yet it all got worse. Even the heroes & heroines He sent couldn't do everything right & got in their own messes.
So at the right time, God stepped in directly. He always planned to. He hints it at Genesis 3:15. He outright claims it through Isaiah (700 years before Jesus)-59:15-21.
15. Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
However, He would come undercover- as a Servant, a Suffering One (Isaiah 53).
Along comes Jesus, the Christ (aka "Messiah"- Anointed Priest/King of David's lineage), the Son of God.
John calls Him the Word, the Expression of God, which is just as much God (John 1).
He taught Law and He taught Love. He healed and forgave and taught obedience to God and himself and showed compassion on those to weak to obey and anger on those to proud to obey (read any of the Gospels at random).
The last group torture-killed Him.
That was all right tho. He planned for it, even provoked them to do it.
A recent hit movie tried to show how bad it was, but if it really revealed the worst of it, that movie would have been banned & the makers jailed. They could not have shown how Jesus took into His own heart the guilt of every monstrous abuser and the pain of every wounded victim, along with the petty faults and small hurts of everyone's life.
Compared to that, the pain of hanging by nails in his wrists under a blazing sun might have seemed a relief. That was what released His scream "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?"
But He still died forgiving, and consoling, and trusting and triumphant. Three days later, He rose even more triumphantly. To call us into His life. To be the earthly ambassadors for His Heavenly Kingdom. To apply His Love & His Law to our own lives and into whatever area of life we can, even entire societies & cultures, until His Return.
You know what Jesus teaches- about life & work & marriage & family & love & death & sorrow & joy, even about our words & thoughts. You might not know He gives you the ability to follow Him- by the power of His Spirit, the support of His Assembly (aka "Church"), the guiding of His Word (aka "Bible").
What if you refuse?
Jesus tells us in Chapter 3 of John's Gospel-
16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21. But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Re-read verse 19- God's Judgment is that His Light invades the world, while those committed to the world want to stay in the Dark, just as our first parents in Genesis 3 tried to hide from God after their rebellion. But God would not let them hide. Neither can anyone hide from Him/Jesus in Eternity. We who serve God/Jesus, who are uplifted as His friends, who are adopted as His children will continue to live & learn & grow in His Light (Revelation 21-22). Those who refuse Him will become lovers of darkness, immune to His Love, tormented by His Light, which beats down on them as HellFire, with no promise of an relief (Revelation 14).
You probably don't hate God/Jesus. But you might not trust Him either. What you decide now is a step in one of those directions. Either step is a risk. Stepping to Him risks losing the faulty yet maybe pleasant life you know. Stepping away from Him risks becoming a thing that never wants to love Him or know His love.
Which path do you want to risk?
What to do if you want to embrace Jesus?
>Pray to commit yourself to God/Jesus/Their Spirit, turn from what you know is wrong on God's terms (the Bible), ask Him to give you His power to do what is right by His Holy Spirit.
>Study the Bible & pray regularly. Find a caring church that teaches the Bible & the Gospel explained above. If you've never been baptized, do it- if you have been, renew it with a public commitment to Christ.
>Share your faith- with fellow believers in regular churchgoing & fellowshipping & taking Communion; and with the non-believers in your life (with care and compassion, not judgment or hysteria).
>Live your life with Jesus as your guide & your guard to supply you with the grace & gifts needed to do your best & obey Him. Try not to mess up but if you do, run TO Him for forgiveness & help to do better.
Jesus dares you to trust Him. What is keeping you from His challenge?
~Ted~ August 2005~
What are we supposed to be?
What are we supposed to be?
What keeps us from that purpose?
How do we get repaired?
Consider for a moment that the Bible addresses all three concerns.
Genesis tells us-
>God made us in His Image,
male and female,
entrusting us to care for His Creation
(1:26- all Ch. 2).
>Our first parents broke trust with God,
hid from Him, turned on each other
and had to face the world in distrust and defensiveness.
That same heritage has fallen to us (Gen. 3).
>God cares for us even in exile from Eden (3:21),
promising that He will send a Son through a Woman to defeat Evil,
even as the Son is wounded (3:15).
The Hebrew Scriptures relate that many heirs to that promise arose,
struggling with evil. Some surrendered to it. Others held true.
However, none could fully prevail.
Isaiah, around 700 B.C., saw that God Himself
would take on the job no one else could do-
as a Warrior King (59:15-21) disguised as a Suffering Servant (52:13-53:12).
God's Eternal Creating Word became flesh (John 1).
An untouched maiden bore a son (Matthew 1).
You all know His name-
Jesus Christ- Yeshua Messiah- Savior and Anointed Priest-King.
He lived and taught God's Law with compassion and severity-
compassion to those too weak to obey,
severity to those too proud to give or receive grace.
The latter group torture-killed Him on Golgotha's tree.
He planned it- even provoked them to do it,
taking on the pain of every violation and the guilt of every violator,
setting aside the joy of God's Fullness to endure the Horror of His Absence.
He died forgiving and trusting and triumphant.
Three days later, He arose even more so.
He challenges us to join in His New Life as we heed His Words (the Bible),
are baptized into His Family (the Church), breathe His Holy Spirit,
partake of His Body and His Blood at His Table,
and hold onto Him to the very end (Matthew 28, John 20-21).
We have another choice-
we can risk rejecting Jesus to the point that we dread His light
and cling to darkness- forever (John 3:19-21).
What keeps you from rising to His challenge?
What keeps us from that purpose?
How do we get repaired?
Consider for a moment that the Bible addresses all three concerns.
Genesis tells us-
>God made us in His Image,
male and female,
entrusting us to care for His Creation
(1:26- all Ch. 2).
>Our first parents broke trust with God,
hid from Him, turned on each other
and had to face the world in distrust and defensiveness.
That same heritage has fallen to us (Gen. 3).
>God cares for us even in exile from Eden (3:21),
promising that He will send a Son through a Woman to defeat Evil,
even as the Son is wounded (3:15).
The Hebrew Scriptures relate that many heirs to that promise arose,
struggling with evil. Some surrendered to it. Others held true.
However, none could fully prevail.
Isaiah, around 700 B.C., saw that God Himself
would take on the job no one else could do-
as a Warrior King (59:15-21) disguised as a Suffering Servant (52:13-53:12).
God's Eternal Creating Word became flesh (John 1).
An untouched maiden bore a son (Matthew 1).
You all know His name-
Jesus Christ- Yeshua Messiah- Savior and Anointed Priest-King.
He lived and taught God's Law with compassion and severity-
compassion to those too weak to obey,
severity to those too proud to give or receive grace.
The latter group torture-killed Him on Golgotha's tree.
He planned it- even provoked them to do it,
taking on the pain of every violation and the guilt of every violator,
setting aside the joy of God's Fullness to endure the Horror of His Absence.
He died forgiving and trusting and triumphant.
Three days later, He arose even more so.
He challenges us to join in His New Life as we heed His Words (the Bible),
are baptized into His Family (the Church), breathe His Holy Spirit,
partake of His Body and His Blood at His Table,
and hold onto Him to the very end (Matthew 28, John 20-21).
We have another choice-
we can risk rejecting Jesus to the point that we dread His light
and cling to darkness- forever (John 3:19-21).
What keeps you from rising to His challenge?
Various TheoLogue Musings
"After all is Completed, Jesus is All that will Be and All that will Be is Jesus."~ A paraphrase from Dame Julian of Norwich's Shewings of Divine Love
"You may pray for the Rapture and prepare for the Tribulation, but always adore Christ & care for others, and in doing so, strive for the Kingdom."
"In Jesus, Creator & Creation both undergo death, rebirth & reconciliation."
"In the End, all who will be saved will be saved. All who won't still will not escape the unfailing Love of God- they will just hate it. We may hope that no one ends up in that company."
"This is the Essence of the Good News:
The Incarnation- God/Jesus is with us.
The Atonement- God/Jesus wipes out our sins.
The Resurrection- God/Jesus gives us Eternal Life.
The Holy Spirit- God/Jesus guides us by The Spirit inside us & the Bible, The Church & Creation outside us.
The Kingdom- God/Jesus reign above us & in us & is bringing that Reign to Earth forever."
"You may pray for the Rapture and prepare for the Tribulation, but always adore Christ & care for others, and in doing so, strive for the Kingdom."
"In Jesus, Creator & Creation both undergo death, rebirth & reconciliation."
"In the End, all who will be saved will be saved. All who won't still will not escape the unfailing Love of God- they will just hate it. We may hope that no one ends up in that company."
"This is the Essence of the Good News:
The Incarnation- God/Jesus is with us.
The Atonement- God/Jesus wipes out our sins.
The Resurrection- God/Jesus gives us Eternal Life.
The Holy Spirit- God/Jesus guides us by The Spirit inside us & the Bible, The Church & Creation outside us.
The Kingdom- God/Jesus reign above us & in us & is bringing that Reign to Earth forever."
~The Christian Faith of The Golgothic Grove & The Sangrael Circle~
~The Christian Faith of The Golgothic Grove & The Sangrael Circle~
Yahweh God is Creator, Word & Love aka Father, Son & Spirit forever.
Jesus joins together Creator & Creation in His life, death, resurrection & reconciliation.
God's Love/Wisdom is His Spirit (LifeBreath), our Mother, Who grows us into God's children, His Daughter Church, Christ's Bride.
Every attribute of Yahweh God and all of Creation is rooted in and flows from the Love of the Trinity, Who is the Lover and the Beloved and the Love between Them.
God's Word comes, in this order, as Jesus, the Bible, the Church, every person, all Creation.
We're all God's children- some of us more messed up than others, but God loves us all anyway.
The Bride Church invites all to learn God's Word, eat Christ's Feast, breathe Holy Spirit.
Our faith in God/Jesus is no greater than our treatment of others.
Live for Jesus as much as you can and trust Him to take you where you can't.
In the End, the hateful & petty will concentrate against those of good will, who will concentrate around Jesus. Jesus will return to bring peace, justice & love forever.
All who can be saved will be saved as we plunge into the Fire of God's Love and Justice. Those who will not open to God will experience His Fire as Hell, while even we who open to love and trust Christ will endure blessedly painful cleansing to enter His fullness.
Yahweh God is Creator, Word & Love aka Father, Son & Spirit forever.
Jesus joins together Creator & Creation in His life, death, resurrection & reconciliation.
God's Love/Wisdom is His Spirit (LifeBreath), our Mother, Who grows us into God's children, His Daughter Church, Christ's Bride.
Every attribute of Yahweh God and all of Creation is rooted in and flows from the Love of the Trinity, Who is the Lover and the Beloved and the Love between Them.
God's Word comes, in this order, as Jesus, the Bible, the Church, every person, all Creation.
We're all God's children- some of us more messed up than others, but God loves us all anyway.
The Bride Church invites all to learn God's Word, eat Christ's Feast, breathe Holy Spirit.
Our faith in God/Jesus is no greater than our treatment of others.
Live for Jesus as much as you can and trust Him to take you where you can't.
In the End, the hateful & petty will concentrate against those of good will, who will concentrate around Jesus. Jesus will return to bring peace, justice & love forever.
All who can be saved will be saved as we plunge into the Fire of God's Love and Justice. Those who will not open to God will experience His Fire as Hell, while even we who open to love and trust Christ will endure blessedly painful cleansing to enter His fullness.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
In my efforts to dominate all forms of Internet media...
Golgothic Justice~
Irritating Fellow Christians on Both Sides~
Irritating Fellow Christians on Both Sides~
Friday, August 20, 2010
Irritating Fellow Christians on both sides- Blood Atonement & Universal Salvation
In my never-ending quest to play all sides of the Christian World, and get everyone upset with me- I enter a Christian discussion that involves Substitutionary Blood Atonement and Universal Salvation...
A liberal Christian complained-
“Penal substitution is simply pagan blood sacrifice finding its way into modern theology.”
Exactly. That is why it’s true. Every ancient faith, no matter how high-minded & philosophical, knew that indeed “the blood is the life”.
He continued-
“Who wants to worship a God who would kill his own son for the sins of his creation?”
I do… understanding that
-”Father & Son” are metaphorical terms for the relationship between the Eternally Begetting First Person (The Theos) and the Eternally Begotten Second Person (The Logos Who is With The Theos and Who is Theos) of YHWH Elohim, and that the entirety of the Passion was experienced in all it’s gut-wrenching agony by Father, Son & Spirit- AS both Victimizer AND Victim;
-for the Father, it was less hurting/killing a “Son” and more “ripping His own heart out”; and…
-the Atonement as YHWH Elohim taking on Himself full responsibility for the sins that He permits to occur, including the Penalty of Death, Hades & Gehenna.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A conservative Christian complained-
"If everybody did (get to God) then my Lord and Saviour is a liar………that would upset me just as much as it does knowing that millions upon millions of people die and go to hell."
Since I went to bat for Penal Substitutionary Atonement (see above)- now I'll do the same for HOPEFUL Universalism....
Christ said the wicked would go into "aionion fire" and "aionion punishment- literally lopping-off" (pruning, perhaps even correction). "Aionion" can mean Eternal, especially when referring to essential attributes of God, such as the life He promises to His faithful ones. However, its primary meaning is "aion-lasting". And it is quite possible that the wicked goes into the Aionion Fire which is Punishing & perhaps Corrective, and come out embracing Jesus as Lord & Savior, hence being Eternally Corrected. (Matthew 25:46)
Paul in Colossians 1 speaks of God by the Blood of Christ reconciling ALL THINGS to Himself. In I Corinthians 15, he explains that Christ will reign until He puts all things under Him, including Death, and delivers His Kingdom to the Father, and thus God becomes All in All.
Revelation 14 shows the Beast-worshippers enduring the Wrath of Fire & Theoin (Sulfur/Brimstone as Divine Fumigation) IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LAMB AND THE ANGELS, with their Ordeal ascending for the Aions of the Aions. And then those sent to the Lake of Fire in Revelation 20 are shown in Rev 22 outside the Gates of the New Jerusalem. THAT is followed by the Divine Invitation to "Come Drink of the Water of Life". Is that Invite just directed to us readers OR TO THEM ALSO?
I believe that all humanity, all creation shall be enveloped in the Embrace of YHWH Elohim- that some even at the Great White Throne might throw themselves before Jesus Christ in love & adoration & be accepted, but that some, perhaps many, may fight & hate & despise Him so that the Glory of His Presence is a tormenting Lake of Fire to them. So I hope for Universal Salvation but believe in the possibility of Eternal Torment.
A liberal Christian complained-
“Penal substitution is simply pagan blood sacrifice finding its way into modern theology.”
Exactly. That is why it’s true. Every ancient faith, no matter how high-minded & philosophical, knew that indeed “the blood is the life”.
He continued-
“Who wants to worship a God who would kill his own son for the sins of his creation?”
I do… understanding that
-”Father & Son” are metaphorical terms for the relationship between the Eternally Begetting First Person (The Theos) and the Eternally Begotten Second Person (The Logos Who is With The Theos and Who is Theos) of YHWH Elohim, and that the entirety of the Passion was experienced in all it’s gut-wrenching agony by Father, Son & Spirit- AS both Victimizer AND Victim;
-for the Father, it was less hurting/killing a “Son” and more “ripping His own heart out”; and…
-the Atonement as YHWH Elohim taking on Himself full responsibility for the sins that He permits to occur, including the Penalty of Death, Hades & Gehenna.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A conservative Christian complained-
"If everybody did (get to God) then my Lord and Saviour is a liar………that would upset me just as much as it does knowing that millions upon millions of people die and go to hell."
Since I went to bat for Penal Substitutionary Atonement (see above)- now I'll do the same for HOPEFUL Universalism....
Christ said the wicked would go into "aionion fire" and "aionion punishment- literally lopping-off" (pruning, perhaps even correction). "Aionion" can mean Eternal, especially when referring to essential attributes of God, such as the life He promises to His faithful ones. However, its primary meaning is "aion-lasting". And it is quite possible that the wicked goes into the Aionion Fire which is Punishing & perhaps Corrective, and come out embracing Jesus as Lord & Savior, hence being Eternally Corrected. (Matthew 25:46)
Paul in Colossians 1 speaks of God by the Blood of Christ reconciling ALL THINGS to Himself. In I Corinthians 15, he explains that Christ will reign until He puts all things under Him, including Death, and delivers His Kingdom to the Father, and thus God becomes All in All.
Revelation 14 shows the Beast-worshippers enduring the Wrath of Fire & Theoin (Sulfur/Brimstone as Divine Fumigation) IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LAMB AND THE ANGELS, with their Ordeal ascending for the Aions of the Aions. And then those sent to the Lake of Fire in Revelation 20 are shown in Rev 22 outside the Gates of the New Jerusalem. THAT is followed by the Divine Invitation to "Come Drink of the Water of Life". Is that Invite just directed to us readers OR TO THEM ALSO?
I believe that all humanity, all creation shall be enveloped in the Embrace of YHWH Elohim- that some even at the Great White Throne might throw themselves before Jesus Christ in love & adoration & be accepted, but that some, perhaps many, may fight & hate & despise Him so that the Glory of His Presence is a tormenting Lake of Fire to them. So I hope for Universal Salvation but believe in the possibility of Eternal Torment.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Satan/demons as symbols of human evil? I wish!
I've heard some fellow Christians try to explain away Satan/demons as symbols of human evil. I'd like to believe that the Bible was intended to be read that way. However...
1.) If the Bible writers meant that, they could easily have said it.
2.) If the demonic=human evil, then the human mind indeed has some paranormal powers.
3.) When I look at how entire cultures can become corrupted-
how the most cultured nation of the early 20th century Germany
can be swayed into genocidal 'eugenics',
how Christendom can be seduced into Crusades, Inquisitions,
Witch Hunts & Pogroms,
how Russia & China can succumb to atheistic collectivist statist tyranny,
how a substantial population of men can degenerate to regard
children as appropriate sexual partners
and a substantial population of women can be pressured into ending
their unborn children's lives-
then I see the Antithesis of what I see when I look at the Origins of
the Cosmos, of Life, of Humanity, of Israel, of Jesus.
For in those latter things, I see Almighty All-Loving Intelligent Design.
In the former things, I see a limited but very palpable intelligent design of Evil.
1.) If the Bible writers meant that, they could easily have said it.
2.) If the demonic=human evil, then the human mind indeed has some paranormal powers.
3.) When I look at how entire cultures can become corrupted-
how the most cultured nation of the early 20th century Germany
can be swayed into genocidal 'eugenics',
how Christendom can be seduced into Crusades, Inquisitions,
Witch Hunts & Pogroms,
how Russia & China can succumb to atheistic collectivist statist tyranny,
how a substantial population of men can degenerate to regard
children as appropriate sexual partners
and a substantial population of women can be pressured into ending
their unborn children's lives-
then I see the Antithesis of what I see when I look at the Origins of
the Cosmos, of Life, of Humanity, of Israel, of Jesus.
For in those latter things, I see Almighty All-Loving Intelligent Design.
In the former things, I see a limited but very palpable intelligent design of Evil.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
ODE by Arthur O'Shaughnessy
From Appletons' Journal, Vol 10, No 237, Oct 4, 1873, page 440:
AN ODE.
(Arthur O'Shaughnessy)
We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams;
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory;
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three, with a new song's measure,
Can trample a kingdom down.
We in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming,
Unearthly, impossible seeming—
The soldier, the king, and the peasant,
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their Present,
And their work in the world be done.
They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising,
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going;
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart,
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
And, therefore, to-day is thrilling
With a past day's late fulfilling;
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted;
And, scorning the dream of to-morrow,
Are bringing to pass as they may
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.
But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing—
O men, it must ever be—
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing
A little apart from ye.
For we are afar with the dawning,
And the suns that are not yet high;
And out of the infinite morning,
Intrepid, you hear us cry,—
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.
Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling, unknown shore,
Bring us hither your sun and your summers,
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before;
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers
And a singer who sings no more.
—London Athenaeum
AN ODE.
(Arthur O'Shaughnessy)
We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams;
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory;
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three, with a new song's measure,
Can trample a kingdom down.
We in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming,
Unearthly, impossible seeming—
The soldier, the king, and the peasant,
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their Present,
And their work in the world be done.
They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising,
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going;
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart,
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
And, therefore, to-day is thrilling
With a past day's late fulfilling;
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted;
And, scorning the dream of to-morrow,
Are bringing to pass as they may
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.
But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing—
O men, it must ever be—
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing
A little apart from ye.
For we are afar with the dawning,
And the suns that are not yet high;
And out of the infinite morning,
Intrepid, you hear us cry,—
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.
Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling, unknown shore,
Bring us hither your sun and your summers,
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before;
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers
And a singer who sings no more.
—London Athenaeum
Our Divine Destiny- a few TheoLogues...
From my Facebook
7.18.10 Messiah Jesus- the Ground & the Goal of All Being,
of Whom All Humanity was created to be His Bride
and every individual created to be a Son or Daughter
by The Eternal Father & thru the Holy Spirit~ Amen.
7.15.10 The final destiny of every being is
to be enveloped in the Kindness & Fairness of YHWH God
through the Authority of King Messiah Jeshua (Jesus)-
each being's level of trust & surrender to YHWH-Jeshua
determines whether their destiny is Glorious Paradise or Gehenna Fire.
Mark C- Interesting. Is this your own theological formulation or are there other scholars/writers from whom you draw?
Me- The great CSL, of course, but also, the idea of Hell as the rejected Love of God shows up in a lot of Eastern Orthodox writings. I noticed the TONS of Fire-Imagery used for God in OT & NT both, and thought "Why are we taught that the Fire of God is different from the Fire of Hell? Couldn't it be the same Fire?" Well, Isaiah 30:33 says the Breath of YHWH kindles the Fire of Tophet (Gehenna) like a stream of burning sulfur. In Rev 14, the Beast-worshippers are tormented "In the Presence of the Lamb & His Holy Angels" with fire & sulfur, the Greek word for sulfur being "Theion"- sulfur used to fumigate & purify in the service of God. Then I found the idea had been in Eastern Orthodoxy for centuries & I wasn't just some heretical nut. (I may be a heretical nut, but not for that reason, anyway.)
Also, I will admit- it's a great way to reconcile my hope for Universal Salvation, my belief in free will, & my wariness of completely challenging the traditional view of eternal damnation. To confuse the issue further, I'm not at all sure we can be dogmatic about souls being immortal & I see no Biblical problem with God possibly allowing souls to pass out of existence.
Mark C.- Do you hope that in the end all people will be saved, as in eternal rest within the spirit/presence of god?
Me- Part of me does hope so. Altho there I am not really bothered by the idea of eternal torment for certain persons & types of people- Hitler, Mengele, Stalin, Mao, child abusers. But even with them, I know my salvation isn't because I'm so darn good but because of the Grace of Christ. Now, Christ certainly speaks of a time of Intense Suffering for people who neglect or hurt innocents- but that does not rule out a possible rehabilitative result. "Eternal punishment" in Matthew 25 in Greek is "kolasin aionion"- which literally is "cutting-off aion-enduring"- does that mean eternal torment or prolonged exile or even correction? I just can't be dogmatic on the issue
7.11.10 I worship YHWH God because He can squash me like a bug. I adore Him because loves me so much He came as Messiah Jesus to redeem me.
7.18.10 Messiah Jesus- the Ground & the Goal of All Being,
of Whom All Humanity was created to be His Bride
and every individual created to be a Son or Daughter
by The Eternal Father & thru the Holy Spirit~ Amen.
7.15.10 The final destiny of every being is
to be enveloped in the Kindness & Fairness of YHWH God
through the Authority of King Messiah Jeshua (Jesus)-
each being's level of trust & surrender to YHWH-Jeshua
determines whether their destiny is Glorious Paradise or Gehenna Fire.
Mark C- Interesting. Is this your own theological formulation or are there other scholars/writers from whom you draw?
Me- The great CSL, of course, but also, the idea of Hell as the rejected Love of God shows up in a lot of Eastern Orthodox writings. I noticed the TONS of Fire-Imagery used for God in OT & NT both, and thought "Why are we taught that the Fire of God is different from the Fire of Hell? Couldn't it be the same Fire?" Well, Isaiah 30:33 says the Breath of YHWH kindles the Fire of Tophet (Gehenna) like a stream of burning sulfur. In Rev 14, the Beast-worshippers are tormented "In the Presence of the Lamb & His Holy Angels" with fire & sulfur, the Greek word for sulfur being "Theion"- sulfur used to fumigate & purify in the service of God. Then I found the idea had been in Eastern Orthodoxy for centuries & I wasn't just some heretical nut. (I may be a heretical nut, but not for that reason, anyway.)
Also, I will admit- it's a great way to reconcile my hope for Universal Salvation, my belief in free will, & my wariness of completely challenging the traditional view of eternal damnation. To confuse the issue further, I'm not at all sure we can be dogmatic about souls being immortal & I see no Biblical problem with God possibly allowing souls to pass out of existence.
Mark C.- Do you hope that in the end all people will be saved, as in eternal rest within the spirit/presence of god?
Me- Part of me does hope so. Altho there I am not really bothered by the idea of eternal torment for certain persons & types of people- Hitler, Mengele, Stalin, Mao, child abusers. But even with them, I know my salvation isn't because I'm so darn good but because of the Grace of Christ. Now, Christ certainly speaks of a time of Intense Suffering for people who neglect or hurt innocents- but that does not rule out a possible rehabilitative result. "Eternal punishment" in Matthew 25 in Greek is "kolasin aionion"- which literally is "cutting-off aion-enduring"- does that mean eternal torment or prolonged exile or even correction? I just can't be dogmatic on the issue
7.11.10 I worship YHWH God because He can squash me like a bug. I adore Him because loves me so much He came as Messiah Jesus to redeem me.
We Christians Don't TOTALLY Escape Hell Either!
My Facebook post 7.11.10
A complaint against Christian teaching is-
believers get off scot free before God for horrible sins
while unbelievers suffer forever for petty offenses.
Fair enough.
It's not fair, not right & not true.
Believers DON'T get off, tho it's often taught we do-
actually, we get taken up into YHWH God thru Jesus & so,
we look into the Horror that Christ took on for us at Golgotha.
Our trust in Him takes us thru it into His Resurrection Life.
But we'll always be seared thru in His Glorious Gehenna Fire.
A complaint against Christian teaching is-
believers get off scot free before God for horrible sins
while unbelievers suffer forever for petty offenses.
Fair enough.
It's not fair, not right & not true.
Believers DON'T get off, tho it's often taught we do-
actually, we get taken up into YHWH God thru Jesus & so,
we look into the Horror that Christ took on for us at Golgotha.
Our trust in Him takes us thru it into His Resurrection Life.
But we'll always be seared thru in His Glorious Gehenna Fire.
Teddy Roosevelt sez "Go to Church! Bully!" 8-{D
Teddy Roosevelt on Why we should go to church.
You gonna argue with Teddy R.?
He'll whup your hind end & speak softly while he does it!
Now read it! :D
Theodore Roosevelt's Nine Reasons Why a Man Should Go to Church
1In this actual world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down grade.
2 Church work and church attendance mean the cultivation of the habit of feeling responsibility for others.
3 There are enough holidays for most of us. Sundays differ from other holidays in the fact that there are fifty-two of them every year. Therefore, on Sundays go to church.
4 Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in a man's own house as well as in church. But I also know, as a matter of cold fact, that the average man does not thus worship.
5 He may not hear a good sermon at church. He will hear a sermon by a good man who, whith his wife, is engaged all of the week in making hard lives a little easier.
6 He will listen to and take part in reading some beautiful passages from the Bible. And if he is not familiar with the Bible he has suffered a loss.
7 He will take part in the singing of some good hymns.
8 He will meet and nod or speak to good, quiet neighbors. He will come away feeling a little more charitable toward all the world, even toward those excessively foolish young men who regard churchgoing as a soft performance.
9 I advocate a man's joining in church work for the sake of showing his faith by his works.
8-{D
This is the Teddy Roosevelt Smiley!
Bully!
You gonna argue with Teddy R.?
He'll whup your hind end & speak softly while he does it!
Now read it! :D
Theodore Roosevelt's Nine Reasons Why a Man Should Go to Church
1In this actual world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down grade.
2 Church work and church attendance mean the cultivation of the habit of feeling responsibility for others.
3 There are enough holidays for most of us. Sundays differ from other holidays in the fact that there are fifty-two of them every year. Therefore, on Sundays go to church.
4 Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in a man's own house as well as in church. But I also know, as a matter of cold fact, that the average man does not thus worship.
5 He may not hear a good sermon at church. He will hear a sermon by a good man who, whith his wife, is engaged all of the week in making hard lives a little easier.
6 He will listen to and take part in reading some beautiful passages from the Bible. And if he is not familiar with the Bible he has suffered a loss.
7 He will take part in the singing of some good hymns.
8 He will meet and nod or speak to good, quiet neighbors. He will come away feeling a little more charitable toward all the world, even toward those excessively foolish young men who regard churchgoing as a soft performance.
9 I advocate a man's joining in church work for the sake of showing his faith by his works.
8-{D
This is the Teddy Roosevelt Smiley!
Bully!
A rant to the "Will We Know Each Other in Heaven?" Q...
From my FB 7.10.10
On The 700 Club someone just asked a variation of "Will we know each other in Heaven?"
Why are people so confused about this?
If YHWH/Jesus's two greatest commandments are Love God & Love Others,
then why do many believers fail to see that we'll have interpersonal relationships in Eternity?
Specifically, the lady asked
"Will we be so busy worshipping God/Jesus that we won't notice other people?"
Which is a sad comment on the popular (anti-Biblical) idea that God wants us
to be content with Him alone & not need anyone else.
GOD WASN'T CONTENT TO BE ALONE- EVEN IN TRINITY!
That's why The Triune YHWH created anyone else besides Him/Them.
Then after creating Man & it was just God & Man,
God said it wasn't good to Man to be alone
& did one better by creating Woman (yay God!)
& He created them to multiply.
God wants company & He made us to want company
& that will not change in Heaven-
Yes, God is to be our One & Only God
but not our one & only companion! Sheesh!
On The 700 Club someone just asked a variation of "Will we know each other in Heaven?"
Why are people so confused about this?
If YHWH/Jesus's two greatest commandments are Love God & Love Others,
then why do many believers fail to see that we'll have interpersonal relationships in Eternity?
Specifically, the lady asked
"Will we be so busy worshipping God/Jesus that we won't notice other people?"
Which is a sad comment on the popular (anti-Biblical) idea that God wants us
to be content with Him alone & not need anyone else.
GOD WASN'T CONTENT TO BE ALONE- EVEN IN TRINITY!
That's why The Triune YHWH created anyone else besides Him/Them.
Then after creating Man & it was just God & Man,
God said it wasn't good to Man to be alone
& did one better by creating Woman (yay God!)
& He created them to multiply.
God wants company & He made us to want company
& that will not change in Heaven-
Yes, God is to be our One & Only God
but not our one & only companion! Sheesh!
Friar Ted's Purgatorio et Paradisio...
From my FB 7.08.10
Previously, I said "In the End,
everything will be enveloped
in God thru Jesus
& there will be no worst Hell
than to be locked inside of God
& raging to get out."
But for those willing to surrender in love to Him,
there will be no finer Purgatory
and no more glorious Paradise
than to be enveloped in that Eternal Trifold Fire
of Father, Christ & Spirit.
Previously, I said "In the End,
everything will be enveloped
in God thru Jesus
& there will be no worst Hell
than to be locked inside of God
& raging to get out."
But for those willing to surrender in love to Him,
there will be no finer Purgatory
and no more glorious Paradise
than to be enveloped in that Eternal Trifold Fire
of Father, Christ & Spirit.
Friar Ted's Inferno...
Expanded from my Facebook 7.02.10
Is Hell a Dante'-esque Theme Park of Agony? Not according to the Bible.
Christ tells of Aionion Fire & Cutting-Off,
Weeping & Gnashing of Teeth (a sign of rage, not sorrow),
Outer Darkness, Undying Worms,
Plucked Eyes & Severed Limbs.
The whole Bible Genesis-to-Revelation identifies that Fire-
YHWH God's Sheer Unmuted Presence.
In the End, everything will be enveloped in God thru Jesus
& there will be no worst Hell than to be locked inside of God & raging to get out.
Genesis 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates...
Gen 19: 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;...
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night
Exo 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
That was from Torah. Next the Prophets...
Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones...
33 For Tophet (Gehenna) is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Finally, the New Testament...
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
II Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Revelation 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone IN the presence of the holy angels, and IN the presence of the Lamb...
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
The Fire of Abraham's Covenant and Sodom's Destruction,
the Blaze of Moses's Bush and Israel's Exodus,
the Flaming Stream which Isaiah saw as God's Breath & Daniel saw flow from God's Throne,
the Refining Fire of Malachi,
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit & Fire foretold by John the Baptist,
the Tongues of Flame at Pentecost,
the Brightness of Christ's Coming destroying the Wicked One seen by Paul,
the Consuming Fire of God in Hebrews,
and the Presence of Christ in the Lake of Fire & Divine Sulfur...
it's all the Same Fire-
the Fury of the Love & Justice of YHWH-Jahshua-Shekinah-
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit-
delight & glory to those who love Him
and terror & travail to those who hate Him.
Appended comment:
Actually, the concept is from Eastern Orthodoxy. While I do think Sheol-Hades in "a place" that lost souls inhabit until The Resurrection & Last Judgment, I think Gehenna/The Lake of Fire is more an experience the anti-God rebels endure in God's Inescapable Presence.
A Scripture I forgot from Jesus Himself-
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
I can very easily see Satan & all who commit to him cowering Gollum-like forever with their head tucked under their arms trying to shield themselves from the Unflinching Light & Love of Christ.
God does not torture them, nor does He have them be tortured by demons.
The only thing torturing them is their own self-absorbtion & refusal to surrender to the Embrace of God.
Is Hell a Dante'-esque Theme Park of Agony? Not according to the Bible.
Christ tells of Aionion Fire & Cutting-Off,
Weeping & Gnashing of Teeth (a sign of rage, not sorrow),
Outer Darkness, Undying Worms,
Plucked Eyes & Severed Limbs.
The whole Bible Genesis-to-Revelation identifies that Fire-
YHWH God's Sheer Unmuted Presence.
In the End, everything will be enveloped in God thru Jesus
& there will be no worst Hell than to be locked inside of God & raging to get out.
Genesis 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates...
Gen 19: 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;...
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night
Exo 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
That was from Torah. Next the Prophets...
Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones...
33 For Tophet (Gehenna) is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Finally, the New Testament...
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
II Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Revelation 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone IN the presence of the holy angels, and IN the presence of the Lamb...
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
The Fire of Abraham's Covenant and Sodom's Destruction,
the Blaze of Moses's Bush and Israel's Exodus,
the Flaming Stream which Isaiah saw as God's Breath & Daniel saw flow from God's Throne,
the Refining Fire of Malachi,
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit & Fire foretold by John the Baptist,
the Tongues of Flame at Pentecost,
the Brightness of Christ's Coming destroying the Wicked One seen by Paul,
the Consuming Fire of God in Hebrews,
and the Presence of Christ in the Lake of Fire & Divine Sulfur...
it's all the Same Fire-
the Fury of the Love & Justice of YHWH-Jahshua-Shekinah-
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit-
delight & glory to those who love Him
and terror & travail to those who hate Him.
Appended comment:
Actually, the concept is from Eastern Orthodoxy. While I do think Sheol-Hades in "a place" that lost souls inhabit until The Resurrection & Last Judgment, I think Gehenna/The Lake of Fire is more an experience the anti-God rebels endure in God's Inescapable Presence.
A Scripture I forgot from Jesus Himself-
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
I can very easily see Satan & all who commit to him cowering Gollum-like forever with their head tucked under their arms trying to shield themselves from the Unflinching Light & Love of Christ.
God does not torture them, nor does He have them be tortured by demons.
The only thing torturing them is their own self-absorbtion & refusal to surrender to the Embrace of God.
We Need the Bleedin' Charity...
From my Facebook 7.01.10
C.S. Lewis in "The Great Divorce" has a soul in Limbo saying "I just want what's due me. I always paid my own way. I don't ask for no Bleedin' Charity."
The Heavenly spirit sent to help him challenges that "Then do so- ask for the Bleeding Charity."...
We're the same way. Fair's fair. Just give us what we deserve. We'll pay our own way.
Until we make the one mistake- an error, a crime, a sin- that can't be repaired. The hurt is too deep. The damage too permanent. The fine too large.
And we're driven to our knees- to beg for the Bleeding Charity of Mount Calvary. That is when we realize that Karma can do for a while but it must inevitably step aside for Grace if one is to avoid utter damnation.
C.S. Lewis in "The Great Divorce" has a soul in Limbo saying "I just want what's due me. I always paid my own way. I don't ask for no Bleedin' Charity."
The Heavenly spirit sent to help him challenges that "Then do so- ask for the Bleeding Charity."...
We're the same way. Fair's fair. Just give us what we deserve. We'll pay our own way.
Until we make the one mistake- an error, a crime, a sin- that can't be repaired. The hurt is too deep. The damage too permanent. The fine too large.
And we're driven to our knees- to beg for the Bleeding Charity of Mount Calvary. That is when we realize that Karma can do for a while but it must inevitably step aside for Grace if one is to avoid utter damnation.
The Old Testament Heritage to New Testament Faith...
FB posting 6.26.10
I saw this in a Christian discussion on R. Crumb's graphic novel of GENESIS...
"As far as I am concerned, the OT does not truly offer anything of substance. Jesus claimed to have fulfilled the OT and to me that means rendering it obsolete. Genocide, rape, incest, monarchs, and God’s wrath have NOTHING to do with Jesus. I guess it could be used as an “or else” scare tactic, as in if Jesus had not died on the cross, this is what the world would be like. That, though, sounds like sinners in the hands of an angry God stuff and that has only destroyed people’s faith."
My response...
Genocide, rape, incest, monarchs and God’s wrath have EVERYTHING to do with Jesus. It was the History which led up to Him and that He enveleped into Himself. Jesus died on the cross and this is what the world IS like. Jesus was not ashamed to call The Old Testament YHWH “Abba” and if we are, the fault is in ourselves, not in YHWH. The worst fault in ourselves- to count ourselves as more civilized & holier than YHWH. Fulfilling the OT does not make it obsolete, it makes it more relevant than ever. It is the reality that most of the non-Christianized world and much of the Christianized world deals with every day. The OT gives us life as it is; The NT as it should be & can become, and even the NT Possible Ideal World is not the CandyLand we’d like it to be- it’s a World whose Constitution is engraved into the Torn Flesh & Shed Blood of Jesus and energized with the Fire of the Holy Spirit, Which is the Same GodFire which kindles Gehenna.
My friend Mark C challenges- Can't respond fully right now, only with a question to stir the pot. Why does YHWH of the Hebrew Bible often appear as the out of control step-child who requires theological gymnastics in order to explain away the parts we find offensive?
Me- Ooo! Good question! I think He appears that way to us because we have let the Gracious Merciful image of the Father given to us by Jesus domesticate us too much. Jesus knew the Hebrew Bible backward & forward & never hesitated to call that wild raging bloody God "Abba". Now, it's a good thing for the most part that we've become so skittish, but then again, we're skittish about birthin' our own babies, slaugherin' our own meat, preparin' our own dead- all the core experiences of life & death. And we are both blessed and cursed to live in a society that allows such skittishness (O brave new world!)- a great part of humanity still live in a Savage Reservation in which YHWH would seem a restrained & reasonable God.
My friend Tom A chimes in- Ced...ever think that God wanted us to take upon us the image and life of Jesus as opposed to the 'old testemant' blood & guts that you seem to love so much. Why did he not come out with a part three that combined or decided which he really prefers? Again I have to point out that while the Bible is inspired by God it is obviously written by imperfect MEN...no women and also some books decided in some out and I am not sure God decided that....but MEN...again no women.Again there are many in the world who are not the least bit skittish...they go about raping, killing and mutalating with little thought of mans or God's law. If you beleive that Christ is THE CHRIST then I think you have to give more importance to the New as opposed to the old....and as usual this is just my own damn opinion so you can't tell me I am WRONG! Ü But I would love to hear your opinion.
Mark C- Is our only way of addressing the violent God of the Hebrew Bible to throw our hands up in defeat and say that "God's ways are higher than our ways"? I remember that line from the C&MA and I still hear it once in a while in my own church, but it has never set well with me. I can't accept a God whose nature includes the slaughter of people for the sake of accomplishing a divine plan. I also can't understand the idea that God's holiness demands punishment. It seems to me that an omnipotent, omniscient God could easily craft a way that preserves human life. This is at the heart of the 20th century Christian malaise that has sent people looking elsewhere for place to practice a faith. I am constantly drawn back to the the two greatest commandments according to Jesus; love God and love neighbor. These sum up the Torah and it seems like this would be a better lense through which to struggle with Scripture. Just sayin.
Me- To Tom- Of course Christ-likeness is supposed to be our ultimate goal. Jesus is our model of Deity and of essential human kindness & fairness (I prefer those terms as being more practical & less open to distortion than "Love" and "Justice"). My Anglo-Israelism & Christian Reconstructionism aside, I certainly don't want to go back to the brutality of Old Testament days. Now, I do believe there are times for Just Wars & Capital Punishment - but for the most part, I believe that Peace & Rehabilitation should be our main goals. Btw, that also was the priority in the Old Testament- "Wrath" was described as God's "strange work"- a dirty job that sometimes had to be done. But as far as blood & guts, I only really like that in books & movies. Heck, I couldn't major in Psych as that required Biology courses with dissection! *L*Quick aside- the stories of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah in Genesis, of Deborah and Jael in Judges, the books of Ruth & Esther, the Bridal part of the Song of Solomon, certain passages of Proverbs- all show a woman's touch and may actually have been essentially authored by the women in question. Same with the account of Mother Mary & family in Luke 1-2 and Mary Magdalene's meeting with the Risen Jesus in John 20. More later.... and Mark, I'll certainly get to your comments.
>Continuing my response to Tom- and this also addresses some of Mark's issues-The Old Testament of full of grace & forgiveness & inclusiveness- If it wasn't, all of the great Biblcal 'heroes' and all of Israel itself would have been incinerated. The only God-ordained "genocides" were of the child-sacrificing, sex-worshipping Canaanites and the ruthless Amalekites who had launched a genocidal campaign against Israel first- reprobate degenerates & homicidal maniacs who acted, not in ignorance of the Light, but it defiance of it. Canaan had once been God-honoring allies of Abraham. The Amalekites attacked Israel's weaker lagging areas, fully knowing that God has brought the people there out of Egypt. Other than those two groups, Israel was never told by God to conquer or eradicate anyone, but to either, as with the Philistines, defend themselves, honor God & live peacably with them when possible, or in the case of the Gentile Empires (Babylon-to-Rome), surrender to their rule, honor God, & live peacably & productively within the Empires. The ultimate goal of Israel, in the visions of the prophets, was a peaceful world where Israel was an example leading all nations to worship God and everyone had their own homes. raised families, & tended to their own gardens.
>OK now to your concerns, Mark- Even tho it's not "direct" either by Active Miraculous Smiting or a Divinely-Commanded Army, alas, somehow the deaths of people every day are part of the Divine plan- and that applies whatever religion one is. I've had Wiccans challenge my beliefs with "Why does your God allow this to happen?" when their Lord/Lady allows the very same thing. We just object when God seems to take a direct hand in those deaths and bunches them up, rather than letting Nature take care of it over time.
Now, He no longer seems to take Direct Smiting Action, I am glad to say, and when disasters happen to people, we should be front & center with aid & resources (which we really are), but I just don't see where we are allowed in the teachings of Jesus to repudiate the Old Testament as an account for how God indeed once had to deal with people. The OT is part of our spiritual heritage. Maybe it is part that we are now called to grow beyond, not because it was wrong, but because more is now expected of us, but it was still a God-ordained part of where we came from & still has lessons for us as to where we are.
As to "God's holiness demanding punishment"- it depends on what we mean by punishment. I do not believe in Hell as an Eternal Torture Chamber (or in my better turn of phrase- a Dante-esque Theme Park of Agony- feel free to use that). I do believe in Hades as a state of suspension & chastisement, even possible reconciliation, until the Resurrection, and in Gehenna/the Lake of Fire as being absorbed into the Divine Presence, either for a last chance at reconciliation, or extinquishing, or perhaps eternal travail for those who refuse reconciliation in the inescapable Divine Light. I do not know if God really made human souls to be immortal or not.
Yes, I believe the Two Laws of Loving God (specifically the Triune YHWH- not just any Higher Power) and Loving Neighbors are supreme, and are the Ground and the Goal of Torah. But we do an injustice when we substitute Torah-faithful Lovingkindness & Fairness with a skittish niceness that repudiates any unpleasantness.
I saw this in a Christian discussion on R. Crumb's graphic novel of GENESIS...
"As far as I am concerned, the OT does not truly offer anything of substance. Jesus claimed to have fulfilled the OT and to me that means rendering it obsolete. Genocide, rape, incest, monarchs, and God’s wrath have NOTHING to do with Jesus. I guess it could be used as an “or else” scare tactic, as in if Jesus had not died on the cross, this is what the world would be like. That, though, sounds like sinners in the hands of an angry God stuff and that has only destroyed people’s faith."
My response...
Genocide, rape, incest, monarchs and God’s wrath have EVERYTHING to do with Jesus. It was the History which led up to Him and that He enveleped into Himself. Jesus died on the cross and this is what the world IS like. Jesus was not ashamed to call The Old Testament YHWH “Abba” and if we are, the fault is in ourselves, not in YHWH. The worst fault in ourselves- to count ourselves as more civilized & holier than YHWH. Fulfilling the OT does not make it obsolete, it makes it more relevant than ever. It is the reality that most of the non-Christianized world and much of the Christianized world deals with every day. The OT gives us life as it is; The NT as it should be & can become, and even the NT Possible Ideal World is not the CandyLand we’d like it to be- it’s a World whose Constitution is engraved into the Torn Flesh & Shed Blood of Jesus and energized with the Fire of the Holy Spirit, Which is the Same GodFire which kindles Gehenna.
My friend Mark C challenges- Can't respond fully right now, only with a question to stir the pot. Why does YHWH of the Hebrew Bible often appear as the out of control step-child who requires theological gymnastics in order to explain away the parts we find offensive?
Me- Ooo! Good question! I think He appears that way to us because we have let the Gracious Merciful image of the Father given to us by Jesus domesticate us too much. Jesus knew the Hebrew Bible backward & forward & never hesitated to call that wild raging bloody God "Abba". Now, it's a good thing for the most part that we've become so skittish, but then again, we're skittish about birthin' our own babies, slaugherin' our own meat, preparin' our own dead- all the core experiences of life & death. And we are both blessed and cursed to live in a society that allows such skittishness (O brave new world!)- a great part of humanity still live in a Savage Reservation in which YHWH would seem a restrained & reasonable God.
My friend Tom A chimes in- Ced...ever think that God wanted us to take upon us the image and life of Jesus as opposed to the 'old testemant' blood & guts that you seem to love so much. Why did he not come out with a part three that combined or decided which he really prefers? Again I have to point out that while the Bible is inspired by God it is obviously written by imperfect MEN...no women and also some books decided in some out and I am not sure God decided that....but MEN...again no women.Again there are many in the world who are not the least bit skittish...they go about raping, killing and mutalating with little thought of mans or God's law. If you beleive that Christ is THE CHRIST then I think you have to give more importance to the New as opposed to the old....and as usual this is just my own damn opinion so you can't tell me I am WRONG! Ü But I would love to hear your opinion.
Mark C- Is our only way of addressing the violent God of the Hebrew Bible to throw our hands up in defeat and say that "God's ways are higher than our ways"? I remember that line from the C&MA and I still hear it once in a while in my own church, but it has never set well with me. I can't accept a God whose nature includes the slaughter of people for the sake of accomplishing a divine plan. I also can't understand the idea that God's holiness demands punishment. It seems to me that an omnipotent, omniscient God could easily craft a way that preserves human life. This is at the heart of the 20th century Christian malaise that has sent people looking elsewhere for place to practice a faith. I am constantly drawn back to the the two greatest commandments according to Jesus; love God and love neighbor. These sum up the Torah and it seems like this would be a better lense through which to struggle with Scripture. Just sayin.
Me- To Tom- Of course Christ-likeness is supposed to be our ultimate goal. Jesus is our model of Deity and of essential human kindness & fairness (I prefer those terms as being more practical & less open to distortion than "Love" and "Justice"). My Anglo-Israelism & Christian Reconstructionism aside, I certainly don't want to go back to the brutality of Old Testament days. Now, I do believe there are times for Just Wars & Capital Punishment - but for the most part, I believe that Peace & Rehabilitation should be our main goals. Btw, that also was the priority in the Old Testament- "Wrath" was described as God's "strange work"- a dirty job that sometimes had to be done. But as far as blood & guts, I only really like that in books & movies. Heck, I couldn't major in Psych as that required Biology courses with dissection! *L*Quick aside- the stories of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah in Genesis, of Deborah and Jael in Judges, the books of Ruth & Esther, the Bridal part of the Song of Solomon, certain passages of Proverbs- all show a woman's touch and may actually have been essentially authored by the women in question. Same with the account of Mother Mary & family in Luke 1-2 and Mary Magdalene's meeting with the Risen Jesus in John 20. More later.... and Mark, I'll certainly get to your comments.
>Continuing my response to Tom- and this also addresses some of Mark's issues-The Old Testament of full of grace & forgiveness & inclusiveness- If it wasn't, all of the great Biblcal 'heroes' and all of Israel itself would have been incinerated. The only God-ordained "genocides" were of the child-sacrificing, sex-worshipping Canaanites and the ruthless Amalekites who had launched a genocidal campaign against Israel first- reprobate degenerates & homicidal maniacs who acted, not in ignorance of the Light, but it defiance of it. Canaan had once been God-honoring allies of Abraham. The Amalekites attacked Israel's weaker lagging areas, fully knowing that God has brought the people there out of Egypt. Other than those two groups, Israel was never told by God to conquer or eradicate anyone, but to either, as with the Philistines, defend themselves, honor God & live peacably with them when possible, or in the case of the Gentile Empires (Babylon-to-Rome), surrender to their rule, honor God, & live peacably & productively within the Empires. The ultimate goal of Israel, in the visions of the prophets, was a peaceful world where Israel was an example leading all nations to worship God and everyone had their own homes. raised families, & tended to their own gardens.
>OK now to your concerns, Mark- Even tho it's not "direct" either by Active Miraculous Smiting or a Divinely-Commanded Army, alas, somehow the deaths of people every day are part of the Divine plan- and that applies whatever religion one is. I've had Wiccans challenge my beliefs with "Why does your God allow this to happen?" when their Lord/Lady allows the very same thing. We just object when God seems to take a direct hand in those deaths and bunches them up, rather than letting Nature take care of it over time.
Now, He no longer seems to take Direct Smiting Action, I am glad to say, and when disasters happen to people, we should be front & center with aid & resources (which we really are), but I just don't see where we are allowed in the teachings of Jesus to repudiate the Old Testament as an account for how God indeed once had to deal with people. The OT is part of our spiritual heritage. Maybe it is part that we are now called to grow beyond, not because it was wrong, but because more is now expected of us, but it was still a God-ordained part of where we came from & still has lessons for us as to where we are.
As to "God's holiness demanding punishment"- it depends on what we mean by punishment. I do not believe in Hell as an Eternal Torture Chamber (or in my better turn of phrase- a Dante-esque Theme Park of Agony- feel free to use that). I do believe in Hades as a state of suspension & chastisement, even possible reconciliation, until the Resurrection, and in Gehenna/the Lake of Fire as being absorbed into the Divine Presence, either for a last chance at reconciliation, or extinquishing, or perhaps eternal travail for those who refuse reconciliation in the inescapable Divine Light. I do not know if God really made human souls to be immortal or not.
Yes, I believe the Two Laws of Loving God (specifically the Triune YHWH- not just any Higher Power) and Loving Neighbors are supreme, and are the Ground and the Goal of Torah. But we do an injustice when we substitute Torah-faithful Lovingkindness & Fairness with a skittish niceness that repudiates any unpleasantness.
Advice for my fellow political activists- particularly on the Right...
Posted on my Facebook 6.25.10
Fight for a worthy cause, but be a Happy Warrior-
fighting FOR more than AGAINST,
fairly & kindly but vigorously,
not out to hurt people & break things
but who won't take any crap either.
Ronald Reagan-wonderful.
Sarah Palin tries- Pros: street-smart, personable, tried to be a reformer/Cons: ill-informed, intellectually shallow, perceived as a quitter.
Right now, the best heir to Reagan I see- Mike Huckabee.
Fight for a worthy cause, but be a Happy Warrior-
fighting FOR more than AGAINST,
fairly & kindly but vigorously,
not out to hurt people & break things
but who won't take any crap either.
Ronald Reagan-wonderful.
Sarah Palin tries- Pros: street-smart, personable, tried to be a reformer/Cons: ill-informed, intellectually shallow, perceived as a quitter.
Right now, the best heir to Reagan I see- Mike Huckabee.
Why I believe... A Facebook TheoLogue 6.23.10
6.23.10 The question arose on a forum: Believers, why are you so sure of your beliefs?
This was my answer-
I see design in the Cosmos. Thus, I think there's a Designer. It's a greater leap for me to believe that Mind developed from Mindless Matter in Motion than to believe that a Mega-Mind crafted it all.
I see the Jews survive & thrive in spite of every attempt to oppress & destroy them. Therefore, I believe that the Mega-Mind is also the LORD God of Israel.While the Saga of Israel is compelling, it has not made itself relevant to the nations of the world & has indeed kept mostly to itself out of sheer necessity to maintain its survival.
However, in the Person of Jesus, His Gospel and His Church, I see The LORD With a Message and a Heritage for all humanity.
If you don't see any of those things, OK.
>Then, a questioner asked me for detail on how I saw Design in a Cosmos largely absent of Life and how I could regard the Jews' history as evidence of God since they were lucky to be alive after so much suffering-
and I responded thusly-Since you brought up the emergence of life in a seemingly hostile Universe, that is indeed where I think we have to begin with Mindful Design instead of Mindlessness. I don't believe it was inevitable life would eventually emerge out of the vastness, much less Self-aware & Self-determining Life.
Re the brutality of Jewish history- their own founders and sages noticed it (even predicted it, if you will) and saw two possibilities in it- that it validated the Covenant by showing what penalties fall on Israel for violating it (Deuteronomy 28-32) and that the Righteous of Israel have a destiny as God's Servant suffering for the wrongs of not only the sinners of Israel, but of all humanity (Isaiah 52-53).
And I think their survival is due to something more than luck.
>Finally he said...That helps, although, with regard to the Suffering Servant, don't you take that to be a prophecy about Jesus? Are you saying that all of Israel is to take the 'sins of humanity' on?
My response-I do take that as a prophecy of Jesus but many religious Jews take that as a reference to the Righteous of Israel. I actually could see it as being both- with Jesus being the Individual Personification of the Righteous of Israel.
This was my answer-
I see design in the Cosmos. Thus, I think there's a Designer. It's a greater leap for me to believe that Mind developed from Mindless Matter in Motion than to believe that a Mega-Mind crafted it all.
I see the Jews survive & thrive in spite of every attempt to oppress & destroy them. Therefore, I believe that the Mega-Mind is also the LORD God of Israel.While the Saga of Israel is compelling, it has not made itself relevant to the nations of the world & has indeed kept mostly to itself out of sheer necessity to maintain its survival.
However, in the Person of Jesus, His Gospel and His Church, I see The LORD With a Message and a Heritage for all humanity.
If you don't see any of those things, OK.
>Then, a questioner asked me for detail on how I saw Design in a Cosmos largely absent of Life and how I could regard the Jews' history as evidence of God since they were lucky to be alive after so much suffering-
and I responded thusly-Since you brought up the emergence of life in a seemingly hostile Universe, that is indeed where I think we have to begin with Mindful Design instead of Mindlessness. I don't believe it was inevitable life would eventually emerge out of the vastness, much less Self-aware & Self-determining Life.
Re the brutality of Jewish history- their own founders and sages noticed it (even predicted it, if you will) and saw two possibilities in it- that it validated the Covenant by showing what penalties fall on Israel for violating it (Deuteronomy 28-32) and that the Righteous of Israel have a destiny as God's Servant suffering for the wrongs of not only the sinners of Israel, but of all humanity (Isaiah 52-53).
And I think their survival is due to something more than luck.
>Finally he said...That helps, although, with regard to the Suffering Servant, don't you take that to be a prophecy about Jesus? Are you saying that all of Israel is to take the 'sins of humanity' on?
My response-I do take that as a prophecy of Jesus but many religious Jews take that as a reference to the Righteous of Israel. I actually could see it as being both- with Jesus being the Individual Personification of the Righteous of Israel.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Debra Kay Sivley~ Sept 11,1963 to Dec 27, 2009
Debra Kay Sivley9-11-1963 to 12-27-2009
Forever Friend, Occasional Girlfriend, Counselor, Cat (and Dog) Lady
Rest in the Love and Comfort of Lord Jesus.
Debra Kay Sivley, born September 11, 1963, passed away on December 27, 2009 after a brief illness.
Her last residence was in Henderson, Kentucky where she had worked in Mental Health Counseling and was studying Criminal Justice. She had earned her B.Sci. in Psychology from Hanover College, 1985, and later her M.Sci. in Psychology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
She is survived by her mother Lillian J. Sivley, her brother David and sister Cheryl, her nieces and nephews, and her cats and dogs. She was preceded in death by her father Rev. Millard B. Sivley.
She loved helping people, caring for her cats and dogs, reading, listening to and playing music. She had entrusted herself to Christ and belonged to the Presbyterian Church USA. Eternal Rest grant her, O Lord, and may Your Light Perpetual shine upon her~ Amen.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Explanation of "FaceBook TheoLogues"
I'm a FaceBook Addict and I've taken to posting either quotes by others or my own comments on "Life, the Universe and Everything" (42), so every once in a while, I bundle up a bunch of them & post them together. Doesn't mean they have to be related at all. And since more than half of them usually have something to do with my Christian faith- I dub them "TheoLogues". Isn't that precious?
Monday, June 21, 2010
FaceBook Theologues 03-24~04-25-2010
4-25-10
This is the Good News- We are made to be the sons & daughters of God. Though we all fail to live up to that potential thru our times of distrust & disobedience, we are restored by clinging in trust to The Unique Divine Son Messiah Joshua Who lived the perfect life, died the atoning death, rose immortal & shares His Spirit to live through us.
4-7-10
Community, yes~ Statism, no. Individuality, yes~ Egotism, no. Living faith, yes~ Restrictive religiosity &/or shallow sloppy spirituality, no & heck no. And King Messiah Jesus over all.
4-6-10
The greatest voice for the Lord Jesus Christ I have ever found on the Internet was silenced yesterday. Michael Spencer of internetmonk.com and boarsheadtavern.com passed away yesterday evening of cancer, which had only been diagnosed in last November. Rest well in Christ, Brother Michael, until He once more puts you in...to His active service- and pray for us even as we pray for you & your family.
4-5-10
Another person here who is about sick of "sides"- Right, Left & Center. When it comes down to it, only two sides are important- those who seek to protect & strengthen the weak & helpless and those who seek to enslave and destroy them- and there are plenty of both in the Right, the Left, and the Center. For hath not the prophets* said...
'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is The LORD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.'
*Ezekiel, Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L. Jackson
4-3-10
Rest in peace, John Forsythe, age 92- his first words in Heaven?
"Good morning, Angels..."
4-3-10
A song for the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I can imagine Mary Magdalene thinking something like this....
Lyrics by David Lynch, Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Why did you go? Why did you turn
away from me?
When all the world seemed to sing
Why, why did you go?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
How can a heart that's filled with love
Start to cry?
When all the world seemed so right
How, how can love die?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
When did the day with all it's light
turn into night?
When all the world seemed to sing
Why, why did you go?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
Questions in a world of blue
4-1-10
We can commit the worst crimes out of the purest motives. Also, desperation and circumstances can drive us to actions we would before have considered unthinkable. Then when the horrible truth crashes in on us, the guilt threatens to choke all hope, indeed all life out of us. And so we look at the tragedy of Judas Iscariot...
We only know two things about Judas- he betrayed Jesus and he killed himself out of guilt for that. We do not know why he did it and we do not know what happened afterwards. It's reasonable to think that as Judas died before Jesus arose, they both met again in Hades. If redemption was at all possible, we can be sure that Jesus offered it. We have no idea how Judas responded.
We can also be sure of this. Whatever we have done, as long as we draw breath (perhaps even after), redemption is possible- not because we are so good, but because we have such a good Redeemer. Guilt is a two-edged sword- it can be either God's Agent of Grace to drive us into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ or Satan's tool of destruction to throw us into the Darkness.
Even at the gates of your own personal Hell, there is still a road which leads back to Paradise.
From the midst of your dark prison, you can still be set ablaze by the Life & Love of Father God through Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit.
Below is a selection of numbers showing Judas' descent into that Darkness, followed by two songs of Divine Grace, both from unexpected sources~
Heaven on Their Minds~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watchv=sF2lwwxoQNU&feature=related
Everything's Alright~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKNm7BasWU
Damned for All Time/Blood Money~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd_uXBW-3Vg
Judas' Death~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1xL6vtLM9U&feature=related
Alanis Morrisette as God in DOGMA~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSPgcZgnh0
Chrissy Hynde & The Pretenders- I'll Stand by You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl2drtHqUvo
3-31-10
I've heard some fellow Christians say they prefer to refer to this Sunday as Resurrection Sunday as "Easter" supposedly comes from pagan fertility goddesses- the Saxon Eostre or the MidEastern Astarte/Ishtar. Actually, it comes from the Germanic words for "Sunrise/Spring/Resurrection". BUT the Biblical book of Esther...... SHE was named for Ishtar! http://www.wcg.org/lit/church/holidays/celebrat.htm
3-29-10
Blessed Pesach (Passover) at sunset this evening. Exodus 12:23 ...when he sees the blood, the LORD will pass over & not allow the destroyer to smite you. Matthew 26:26-28 Jesus took the bread & said "Take, eat, this is My body" & He took the cup & said "Drink, this is My blood of the New Covenant, shed for the remission of sins."
3-28-10
Blessed Palm Sunday! Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Lord YHWH!
3-25-10
I'm not a fan of more statist programs in the name of compassion, but then again, I'm also not a fan of private insurance companies shafting customers as soon as they actually need the services they've been paying for. But I'm totally appalled at the profanities, death threats & vandalism aimed at legislators, their fa...milies & party offices. Thank God that the FBI's on your tail, ya idiots!
3-24-10
The Word According to St. Johnny Cash- watch 'em all because stopping before the end will leave you on a downer...
The Man Comes Around http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IfHDi-2EA
God's Gonna Cut You Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc&feature=related
Hurt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go&feature=r...elated
Ain't No Grave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66QcIlblI1U&feature=related
Peace In The Valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcqC6Ba1xk&feature=related
This is the Good News- We are made to be the sons & daughters of God. Though we all fail to live up to that potential thru our times of distrust & disobedience, we are restored by clinging in trust to The Unique Divine Son Messiah Joshua Who lived the perfect life, died the atoning death, rose immortal & shares His Spirit to live through us.
4-7-10
Community, yes~ Statism, no. Individuality, yes~ Egotism, no. Living faith, yes~ Restrictive religiosity &/or shallow sloppy spirituality, no & heck no. And King Messiah Jesus over all.
4-6-10
The greatest voice for the Lord Jesus Christ I have ever found on the Internet was silenced yesterday. Michael Spencer of internetmonk.com and boarsheadtavern.com passed away yesterday evening of cancer, which had only been diagnosed in last November. Rest well in Christ, Brother Michael, until He once more puts you in...to His active service- and pray for us even as we pray for you & your family.
4-5-10
Another person here who is about sick of "sides"- Right, Left & Center. When it comes down to it, only two sides are important- those who seek to protect & strengthen the weak & helpless and those who seek to enslave and destroy them- and there are plenty of both in the Right, the Left, and the Center. For hath not the prophets* said...
'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is The LORD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.'
*Ezekiel, Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L. Jackson
4-3-10
Rest in peace, John Forsythe, age 92- his first words in Heaven?
"Good morning, Angels..."
4-3-10
A song for the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I can imagine Mary Magdalene thinking something like this....
Lyrics by David Lynch, Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Why did you go? Why did you turn
away from me?
When all the world seemed to sing
Why, why did you go?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
How can a heart that's filled with love
Start to cry?
When all the world seemed so right
How, how can love die?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
When did the day with all it's light
turn into night?
When all the world seemed to sing
Why, why did you go?
Was it me? Was it you?
Questions in a world of blue
Questions in a world of blue
4-1-10
We can commit the worst crimes out of the purest motives. Also, desperation and circumstances can drive us to actions we would before have considered unthinkable. Then when the horrible truth crashes in on us, the guilt threatens to choke all hope, indeed all life out of us. And so we look at the tragedy of Judas Iscariot...
We only know two things about Judas- he betrayed Jesus and he killed himself out of guilt for that. We do not know why he did it and we do not know what happened afterwards. It's reasonable to think that as Judas died before Jesus arose, they both met again in Hades. If redemption was at all possible, we can be sure that Jesus offered it. We have no idea how Judas responded.
We can also be sure of this. Whatever we have done, as long as we draw breath (perhaps even after), redemption is possible- not because we are so good, but because we have such a good Redeemer. Guilt is a two-edged sword- it can be either God's Agent of Grace to drive us into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ or Satan's tool of destruction to throw us into the Darkness.
Even at the gates of your own personal Hell, there is still a road which leads back to Paradise.
From the midst of your dark prison, you can still be set ablaze by the Life & Love of Father God through Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit.
Below is a selection of numbers showing Judas' descent into that Darkness, followed by two songs of Divine Grace, both from unexpected sources~
Heaven on Their Minds~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watchv=sF2lwwxoQNU&feature=related
Everything's Alright~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKNm7BasWU
Damned for All Time/Blood Money~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd_uXBW-3Vg
Judas' Death~JCS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1xL6vtLM9U&feature=related
Alanis Morrisette as God in DOGMA~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSPgcZgnh0
Chrissy Hynde & The Pretenders- I'll Stand by You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl2drtHqUvo
3-31-10
I've heard some fellow Christians say they prefer to refer to this Sunday as Resurrection Sunday as "Easter" supposedly comes from pagan fertility goddesses- the Saxon Eostre or the MidEastern Astarte/Ishtar. Actually, it comes from the Germanic words for "Sunrise/Spring/Resurrection". BUT the Biblical book of Esther...... SHE was named for Ishtar! http://www.wcg.org/lit/church/holidays/celebrat.htm
3-29-10
Blessed Pesach (Passover) at sunset this evening. Exodus 12:23 ...when he sees the blood, the LORD will pass over & not allow the destroyer to smite you. Matthew 26:26-28 Jesus took the bread & said "Take, eat, this is My body" & He took the cup & said "Drink, this is My blood of the New Covenant, shed for the remission of sins."
3-28-10
Blessed Palm Sunday! Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Lord YHWH!
3-25-10
I'm not a fan of more statist programs in the name of compassion, but then again, I'm also not a fan of private insurance companies shafting customers as soon as they actually need the services they've been paying for. But I'm totally appalled at the profanities, death threats & vandalism aimed at legislators, their fa...milies & party offices. Thank God that the FBI's on your tail, ya idiots!
3-24-10
The Word According to St. Johnny Cash- watch 'em all because stopping before the end will leave you on a downer...
The Man Comes Around http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IfHDi-2EA
God's Gonna Cut You Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc&feature=related
Hurt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go&feature=r...elated
Ain't No Grave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66QcIlblI1U&feature=related
Peace In The Valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcqC6Ba1xk&feature=related
FaceBook Theologues 06-03~16-2010
06-16-10
I became actively Christian back in 1975 at age 13. I'll admit that I was caught up *heh heh* into Rapture Theology, reading Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth & being fascinated with how the State of Israel, the European Community, the Soviet Union & Red China all seemed to fit into End-Times Bible Prophecy. That was where I started but I didn't remain there.
I've pretty much abandoned Rapturism but I retained these aspects from my Bible Prophecy studies...
A Wonder at how the Jews have survived and thrived in spite of millenia of persecution even to the point of restoring their nation after 1878 years in exile and their capital city 19 years later (I still believe there is Biblical prophetic significance to the State of Israel & Jerusalem- but not of the Rapturist type);
The Revelation to John gives a perspective to the rise and fall of civilizations in the Christian Era- the 70 AD Siege of Jerusalem, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Northern & Eastern barbarians, the Fall of the Eastern Roman Empire to Arabic & Turkish Islamic armies, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution, and now the Age of Globalization- and how through it all, against the various manifestations of the Beast's Tyranny and the Harlot's Apostasy, The Christian Faith and The Church abide and Jesus Christ reigns as Lord over it all;
As the Scriptures say "The Son of Man cometh at a time you think not" and "The Day of the Lord shall come as a Thief in the Night' and I do believe those passages mainly refer to the Return of Jesus at The End, I also believe they apply to those throngs of people who every minute find that their world has ended and they now facing Christ to account for their lives; Finally,- Jesus brings meaning, significance, and hope in the midst of what seems to be a cold chaotic lonely world. Some may find it easy to believe that all this is mindless matter in motion- I do not. I see Design and therefore a Designer- and of the panoply of Gods offered to us by all the world religions- Jesus is the Epitome' of what I want God to be- One Who makes & keeps Covenant with humanity, One Who takes all the evils we suffer & we perpetrate upon Himself, and One Who offers Eternity to all who throw themselves upon Him.
06-14-10
God is Ever-Kind (Love) and Ever-Fair (Just)- When His Kindness & His Fairness would seem to clash, He put Himself in the Middle of that Collision- on the Tree of Golgotha upon which His Right Hand of Love & His Left Hand of Justice were spiked. It is into Those riven Hands we all shall eventually fall, and it is a Aweful thing to Fall into the Hands of The Loving God.
We sprang out of the Forge of His Love and shall eventually be pulled back into that Eternal Triple-Flamed Love. Let us surrender in Trust to His Refining Remaking Presence.
06-11-10
We are all children of Lord Adam and Lady Eve, and that, to paraphrase Lewis' Aslan, is honor enough to raise the lowliest beggar and shame enough to humble the greatest king- for we are created in God's Image but falter into sin and death. But thanks to God, the "Real Aslan" Christ Jesus rebirths us by His Passion so that we may entrust ourselves to Him and so be raised immortal with Him.
06-07-10
Sun AM Church- Jeff Little spoke on Genesis 26:1-24- God repeats the Promises He gave Abraham to Isaac. Isaac & Co. dwell among the Philistines & dig wells in spite of opposition. Do they give up? No, they move on & keep digging until they come to a place where God's Promises are fulfilled. So whatever comes, we are to Keep Trusting, Keep Moving & Keep Digging!
06-06-10
Gandhi reportedly said "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians". Now whether or not he really did like the Biblical Jesus ( Who is both the Prince of Peace and the Righteous Judge and Warrior), he made a good point. In the same way, I fully embrace the historic Fundamentals but I shy from grouping myself among some (not all- maybe not even most) Fundamentalists.
These were the original Fundamentals- Nothing about alcohol, dancing, or Halloween among them! *L*
The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this.
The virgin birth of Christ
.The belief that Christ's death was the atonement for sin.
The bodily resurrection of Christ.
The historical reality of Christ's miracles.
Just to be honest- depending on the issue, I can get just as Fundy as Jerry Falwell (who was a much kinder & personable man than some of his rhetoric would indicate) or as ultra-conservative as 1960s-70s Barry Goldwater.
I mean, I am a member of the Madison Assembly of God and I was a Bircher from 1980-82 & again 1989-90.
I am for the most part an Evangelical Christian, economic libertarian, anti-95%-abortions, America-&-Israel First/Get US out of the UN conservative. I just see a wide range of possibilities within that philosophy & I really hate the rhetoric that comes out of my co-religionists/politicos when they get riled up.
06-03-10
Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.~ The Great Lion Aslan, "Narnia Book I"
She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.~ The Great Lion Aslan, "Narnia Book I"
I became actively Christian back in 1975 at age 13. I'll admit that I was caught up *heh heh* into Rapture Theology, reading Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth & being fascinated with how the State of Israel, the European Community, the Soviet Union & Red China all seemed to fit into End-Times Bible Prophecy. That was where I started but I didn't remain there.
I've pretty much abandoned Rapturism but I retained these aspects from my Bible Prophecy studies...
A Wonder at how the Jews have survived and thrived in spite of millenia of persecution even to the point of restoring their nation after 1878 years in exile and their capital city 19 years later (I still believe there is Biblical prophetic significance to the State of Israel & Jerusalem- but not of the Rapturist type);
The Revelation to John gives a perspective to the rise and fall of civilizations in the Christian Era- the 70 AD Siege of Jerusalem, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Northern & Eastern barbarians, the Fall of the Eastern Roman Empire to Arabic & Turkish Islamic armies, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution, and now the Age of Globalization- and how through it all, against the various manifestations of the Beast's Tyranny and the Harlot's Apostasy, The Christian Faith and The Church abide and Jesus Christ reigns as Lord over it all;
As the Scriptures say "The Son of Man cometh at a time you think not" and "The Day of the Lord shall come as a Thief in the Night' and I do believe those passages mainly refer to the Return of Jesus at The End, I also believe they apply to those throngs of people who every minute find that their world has ended and they now facing Christ to account for their lives; Finally,- Jesus brings meaning, significance, and hope in the midst of what seems to be a cold chaotic lonely world. Some may find it easy to believe that all this is mindless matter in motion- I do not. I see Design and therefore a Designer- and of the panoply of Gods offered to us by all the world religions- Jesus is the Epitome' of what I want God to be- One Who makes & keeps Covenant with humanity, One Who takes all the evils we suffer & we perpetrate upon Himself, and One Who offers Eternity to all who throw themselves upon Him.
06-14-10
God is Ever-Kind (Love) and Ever-Fair (Just)- When His Kindness & His Fairness would seem to clash, He put Himself in the Middle of that Collision- on the Tree of Golgotha upon which His Right Hand of Love & His Left Hand of Justice were spiked. It is into Those riven Hands we all shall eventually fall, and it is a Aweful thing to Fall into the Hands of The Loving God.
We sprang out of the Forge of His Love and shall eventually be pulled back into that Eternal Triple-Flamed Love. Let us surrender in Trust to His Refining Remaking Presence.
06-11-10
We are all children of Lord Adam and Lady Eve, and that, to paraphrase Lewis' Aslan, is honor enough to raise the lowliest beggar and shame enough to humble the greatest king- for we are created in God's Image but falter into sin and death. But thanks to God, the "Real Aslan" Christ Jesus rebirths us by His Passion so that we may entrust ourselves to Him and so be raised immortal with Him.
06-07-10
Sun AM Church- Jeff Little spoke on Genesis 26:1-24- God repeats the Promises He gave Abraham to Isaac. Isaac & Co. dwell among the Philistines & dig wells in spite of opposition. Do they give up? No, they move on & keep digging until they come to a place where God's Promises are fulfilled. So whatever comes, we are to Keep Trusting, Keep Moving & Keep Digging!
06-06-10
Gandhi reportedly said "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians". Now whether or not he really did like the Biblical Jesus ( Who is both the Prince of Peace and the Righteous Judge and Warrior), he made a good point. In the same way, I fully embrace the historic Fundamentals but I shy from grouping myself among some (not all- maybe not even most) Fundamentalists.
These were the original Fundamentals- Nothing about alcohol, dancing, or Halloween among them! *L*
The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this.
The virgin birth of Christ
.The belief that Christ's death was the atonement for sin.
The bodily resurrection of Christ.
The historical reality of Christ's miracles.
Just to be honest- depending on the issue, I can get just as Fundy as Jerry Falwell (who was a much kinder & personable man than some of his rhetoric would indicate) or as ultra-conservative as 1960s-70s Barry Goldwater.
I mean, I am a member of the Madison Assembly of God and I was a Bircher from 1980-82 & again 1989-90.
I am for the most part an Evangelical Christian, economic libertarian, anti-95%-abortions, America-&-Israel First/Get US out of the UN conservative. I just see a wide range of possibilities within that philosophy & I really hate the rhetoric that comes out of my co-religionists/politicos when they get riled up.
06-03-10
Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.~ The Great Lion Aslan, "Narnia Book I"
She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.~ The Great Lion Aslan, "Narnia Book I"
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