THE THEOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
one should specifically note the rediscovery of five critical biblical doctrines that had been obscured from public view by the medieval roman catholic church. the roman church still opposes these doctrines;
1. SOLA SCRIPTURA (scripture alone) the reformers were united in their belief that the Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for salvation and christian living (II pet. 1:1-4). they held the word of God to be the only standard by which men's consciences may be bound. rome, on the other hand, then and now, denies sola scriptura by elevating papal decrees and church tradition to wha they say are equal (but are in reality greater) positions of authority than that of the Bible. where the meaning of the Bible differs from the opinion of the pope or official doctrine (as is very often the case) the word of God plays a mute second fiddle.
2 SOLA GRATIA (by grace alone) the reformers understood that salvation is not a cooperative event carried out by God and man working in partnership. in salvation, sinners are rescued from God's wrath by His grace alone (titus 3.3-7). God's grace is His spontaneous and unmerited favor, granted to the spiritually dead and helpless sinner through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. God mercifully releases those whom He is saving from their own willful bondage to sin and thus enables them to repent and believe ( john 3.3; 6.44; rom. 8.6-8; 9.16). interestingly, this point of doctrine is disputed today also by evangelicals outside the roman church.
3. SOLA FIDE (through faith alone) 'justified' is the biblical term that describes a person as forgiven, not guilty, and perfectly righteous in God's sight. according to scripture, justification is bestowed on the sinner by grace alone through faith alone, 'not as a result of works, so that no one can boast' (eph. 2.8-9; gal. 2.16). according to official roman catholic teaching, however, using the word 'alone' after the word 'faith' will earn one a pronouncement of anathema (formal damnation). rome actually forbids you to believe or repeat what the Bible plainly states! they insist that while justification begins with faith, it can only be completed through the sinner's personal effort. in roman catholic theology, one may not say, 'therefore, HAVING BEEN justified by faith', or 'HAVING NOW BEEN justified by His blood' (the exact words of paul in rom. 5.1 and 5.9) according to rome, one may only believe that he is being justified - by faith plus words.
4. SOUS CHRISTUS (because of Christ alone) the reformers understood that the salvation of God's people was the work of Jesus Christ alone. His death was a sufficient and effective sacrifice for sin (heb. 9.12,26,28; 10.12,14). He is the only mediator between God and men (I tim. 2.5). only Christ's righteousness (not the sinner's personal righteousness) merits the believing sinner's justification (II cor. 5.21). rome, on the other hand, commands the performance of seven essential works of merit (sacraments) for justification. rome also insists that mary (not Jesus) is the dispenser of grace. while Rom denies that Christ's righteousness may be imputed to the believing sinner, mary is said to have vast amounts of excess righteousness which can be imputed to sinners. this form of blasphemy against the Son of God is bad enough, but it culminates in blasphemy against God the Father - the idolatry of mary worship. mary is praised as the 'co-redemptress' and 'co-mediatrix with Christ. rome even refers to her in some places as the savior of mankind, the one who commands God to save whom she will.
5. SOLI DEO GLORIA (for the glory of God alone). it is obvious that in roman catholic theology mary receives equal (if not greater) credit than God for the salvation of sinners. rome openly glorifies her. also, God is robbed of His glory by making the sinner the one who ultimately performs (via the sacrments) or suffers (via purgatory)his own way into heaven. but the Bible insists, and the reformers recognized, that God saves sinners by Himself. therefore He alone should receive all praise and glory. and the God of the Bible is a jealous God (ex. 20.5). He will not share His glory with another (isa. 42.8; 48.11).
so what was reformed (or recovered) during the reformation? in the final analysis, it was the gospel of God's grace.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
10.25.09 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!
this week was spent meeting new people, getting to know my neighbors and prepping pieces that are slated to make up a reconstructed front porch. i thank God that i haven't quit. in fact one day this week i worked with a special 'vengeance'..a reminder of the way i used to work..and the thot came that that was the first time in memory that i worked on my own property in that fashion. may God give me a steady stream of diligence no matter what i am doing. i want to work just as hard on things i don't want to do as i do on those i do want to do. the pieces were in bad shape so the prep has been going slow but most now are scraped, sanded and primed. the weather has been beautiful and mild until friday at which point i went under cover of the barn. trying to take each day as from God.
i sense a society which is becoming ever more isolated. i sense that i need to do my little part in the face of this alienation of people. what comes is that my part is to set a goal to try to make eye contact however briefly and smile at every person i encounter. (a little sunbeam in the dark dank) practicing this out back this week produced two new neighbor acquaintances and dispensed a bit of warmth to a great number of people who are frozen in the 'stranger' mode. may God enable me to continue to do this for it is truly counter-cultural. sometimes you feel absolutely REPELLED away. may God help me keep joining eyes and keep smiling into dark , possibly very lonely, needy worlds even though most of the time i receive 'frost' back. He loves each one..
God continues to wean me away from trusting in and depending on anyone(thing) but Him. i think of how confidently i had put my trust in a person who has withdrawn and in the withdrawing i lost the EXPECTED completion of this year's pay. i was comforted this week by psalm 146 - 'put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. in that very day his thots perish. happy is he that hath the God of jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: which made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever, which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. the Lord looseth the prisoners. the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind. the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down...'
these come to me as wonderful and create a sonrisa to You...'MANY, o Lord my God, ARE Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and THY THOTS TO US-WARD. they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee. if i would declare and speak of them, THEY ARE MORE THAN CAN BE NUMBERED'..psalm 40.5 another is, 'how precious are THY THOTS UNTO ME, o God! HOW GREAT IS THE SUM OF THEM! if i should count them, THEY ARE MORE THAN THE SAND; when i awake, i am still with Thee..wow, in a world where few thots are directed my way other than irritation, rancor, deceit-hypocrisy and hatred what a contrast! the Lover of my soul is thinking precious and good things about me..AND NONE OF THEM ARE true, but all of them are POSITIONALLY AND PROPHETICALLY TRUE! even though a miserable wretch yet He
1. chose me IN CHRIST, before the foundation of the world, that i should be holy and blameless before Him..
2. predestinated me to adoption as a son BY JESUS CHRIST to Himself..
3. He made me accepted IN THE BELOVED..
4. i have redemption THRU HIS BLOOD..
5. i have forgiveness of my sins according to the riches of HIS GRACE..
6. He made known to me the mystery of His will which He purposed IN HIM..(at the end of time all things will be summed up IN HIM..
7. IN HIM i have obtained an inheritance..
8. He is working all things after the counsel of His own will that i should be to the praise of His glory, who..trusted IN CHRIST..
9. i trusted IN HIM after i heard the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation..
10. i believed IN HIM..
11. i was sealed with the Holy Spirit, whom JESUS sent.
12. this Holy Spirit is the earnest of my inheritance until God redeems me, His purchased possession..
13. He has already made me alive together WITH HIM..
14. He has already raised me up WITH HIM..
15. He has already seated me in the heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS..
16. He did all this so that in the coming ages He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to me IN CHRIST JESUS..
17. i am His workmanship..He created me IN CHRIST JESUS for good works which He ordained beforehand that i should walk in them..
18. now, IN CHRIST JESUS, i who was far off have been brought near BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST..
19. HE is my peace..
20. He has reconciled me to Himself and every other person BY THE CROSS..
21. IN CHRIST i have boldness and access to God with confidence BY FAITH IN HIM..
22. He grants..the CHRIST may dwell in my heart by faith..that i may be able to comprehend..and know the love OF CHRIST..
23. to me He gives grace according to the measure of the gift OF CHRIST..
24. He enables me to speak the truth in love, thereby growing up into HIM in all things, even CHRIST...
well i've run out of time just trying to tell the reasons God is thinking good of me all the time and i didn't even get all the way thru ephesians..HOW PRECIOUS ARE YOUR THOTS TO ME OH LORD!!!!
have a good week. love, dad
i sense a society which is becoming ever more isolated. i sense that i need to do my little part in the face of this alienation of people. what comes is that my part is to set a goal to try to make eye contact however briefly and smile at every person i encounter. (a little sunbeam in the dark dank) practicing this out back this week produced two new neighbor acquaintances and dispensed a bit of warmth to a great number of people who are frozen in the 'stranger' mode. may God enable me to continue to do this for it is truly counter-cultural. sometimes you feel absolutely REPELLED away. may God help me keep joining eyes and keep smiling into dark , possibly very lonely, needy worlds even though most of the time i receive 'frost' back. He loves each one..
God continues to wean me away from trusting in and depending on anyone(thing) but Him. i think of how confidently i had put my trust in a person who has withdrawn and in the withdrawing i lost the EXPECTED completion of this year's pay. i was comforted this week by psalm 146 - 'put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. in that very day his thots perish. happy is he that hath the God of jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: which made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever, which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. the Lord looseth the prisoners. the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind. the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down...'
these come to me as wonderful and create a sonrisa to You...'MANY, o Lord my God, ARE Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and THY THOTS TO US-WARD. they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee. if i would declare and speak of them, THEY ARE MORE THAN CAN BE NUMBERED'..psalm 40.5 another is, 'how precious are THY THOTS UNTO ME, o God! HOW GREAT IS THE SUM OF THEM! if i should count them, THEY ARE MORE THAN THE SAND; when i awake, i am still with Thee..wow, in a world where few thots are directed my way other than irritation, rancor, deceit-hypocrisy and hatred what a contrast! the Lover of my soul is thinking precious and good things about me..AND NONE OF THEM ARE true, but all of them are POSITIONALLY AND PROPHETICALLY TRUE! even though a miserable wretch yet He
1. chose me IN CHRIST, before the foundation of the world, that i should be holy and blameless before Him..
2. predestinated me to adoption as a son BY JESUS CHRIST to Himself..
3. He made me accepted IN THE BELOVED..
4. i have redemption THRU HIS BLOOD..
5. i have forgiveness of my sins according to the riches of HIS GRACE..
6. He made known to me the mystery of His will which He purposed IN HIM..(at the end of time all things will be summed up IN HIM..
7. IN HIM i have obtained an inheritance..
8. He is working all things after the counsel of His own will that i should be to the praise of His glory, who..trusted IN CHRIST..
9. i trusted IN HIM after i heard the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation..
10. i believed IN HIM..
11. i was sealed with the Holy Spirit, whom JESUS sent.
12. this Holy Spirit is the earnest of my inheritance until God redeems me, His purchased possession..
13. He has already made me alive together WITH HIM..
14. He has already raised me up WITH HIM..
15. He has already seated me in the heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS..
16. He did all this so that in the coming ages He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to me IN CHRIST JESUS..
17. i am His workmanship..He created me IN CHRIST JESUS for good works which He ordained beforehand that i should walk in them..
18. now, IN CHRIST JESUS, i who was far off have been brought near BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST..
19. HE is my peace..
20. He has reconciled me to Himself and every other person BY THE CROSS..
21. IN CHRIST i have boldness and access to God with confidence BY FAITH IN HIM..
22. He grants..the CHRIST may dwell in my heart by faith..that i may be able to comprehend..and know the love OF CHRIST..
23. to me He gives grace according to the measure of the gift OF CHRIST..
24. He enables me to speak the truth in love, thereby growing up into HIM in all things, even CHRIST...
well i've run out of time just trying to tell the reasons God is thinking good of me all the time and i didn't even get all the way thru ephesians..HOW PRECIOUS ARE YOUR THOTS TO ME OH LORD!!!!
have a good week. love, dad
Monday, October 19, 2009
10.19.09 AMERICA HEADED FOR POVERTY?
below are quotes from two governors of indiana. small print is current gov. mitch daniels, a conservative. large, former gov. evan bayh, a liberal. (as reported in world mag., 10.10,09, p6)
state govt finances are a wreck. the drop in tax receipts is the worst in half century. fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. only anemergency infusion of printed federal funny money is keeping most state boats afloat right now.
AMERICA IS ON AN UNSUSTAINABLE FISCAL PATH THAT THREATENS OUR FUTURE. CHANGING COURSE IS IMPERATIVE...
most governors i've talked to are so busy bailing that they haven't checked the long-range forecast. what the radar tells me is that we ain't seen nothing yet. what we are being hit by isn't a tropical storm that will come and go with sunshine soon to follow. it's much more likely that we're facing a near permanent reduction in state tax revenues that will require us to reduce the size and scope of our state govts. the time to prepare for this new reality is already at hand.
LAST MONTH THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET PREDICTED THAT THE NATIONAL DEBT WILL INCREASE BY $9 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT DECADE - $2 TRILLION MORE THAN FORECAST JUST FOUR MONTHS EARLIER. GOVT NET INTEREST PAYMENTS EXCEED $1 TRILLION IN 2019, UP FROM $382 BILLION THIS YEAR. BECAUSE PROJECTED DEFICITS EXCEED PROFECTED ECONOMIC GROWTH, THE GAP WILL BE SELF-PERPETUATING.
the coming state govt reset will be particularly wrenching after the happy binge that preceded this last recession. during the last decade, states increased their spending by an average of 6% per year, gusting to 8% during 2007-8. much of the govt institutions built up in those years will now have to be dismantled.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALL THIS WILL NOT BE BENIGN. A WORLD SATURATED WITH U.S. CURRENCY WILL EVENTUALLY LOOK ELSEWHERE TO INVEST, CAUSING THE DOLLAR'S VALUE TO DROP. FOREIGN CREDITORS, THEIR CONFIDENCE SHAKEN BY OUR FISCAL PROFLIGACY, WILL DEMAND HIGHER PAYMENTS TO KEEP HOLDING OUR DEBT. THE NET EFFECT WILL BE 'STAGFLATION', THAT PERNICIOUS COMBINATION OF SLOWER GROWTH, HIGHER INFLATION AND INTEREST RATES, AND LOWER LIVING STANDARDS...
even if americans wanted to go back to their high spending, high borrowing ways, will anyone lend them the funds to spend like it's 2007 all over again? consumer credit will remain tighter as a matter of both sound business and new govt regulation. home equity appreciation is gone as a huge source of collateral, even if lenders were either willing or permitted to loan freely against it.
THESE EVENTS WILL DIMINISH OUR GLOBAL INFLUENCE, BECAUSE FISCAL STRENGTH IS ESSENTIAL TO DIPLOMATIC LEVERAGE, MILITARY MIGHT, AND NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. NO GREAT NATION CAN RELY UPON THE GENEROSITY OF STANGERS OR THE FORBEARANCE OF POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES TO MEET ITS SECURITY NEEDS. AMERICA IS DOING BOTH. CHINAA USES ITS MONETARY RESERVES TO CURRY FAVOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ONCE IN THE US SPHERE OF INFLUENCE; WE MUST BORROW TO PAY FOR THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
what to do?
1. seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
2. do not be conceited
3. do not fix your hope on riches
4. fix your hope on God who richly supplies all things to enjoy
5. do good
6. be rich in good works
7. be generous
8. be ready to share
...and when you have that operating , then
1. reduce your living standard, by degrees, to poverty level...content with covering and simple, nourishing food.
2. pay off all debt.
3. become 100% self-sufficient
4. and barter for whatever you can't produce yourself
state govt finances are a wreck. the drop in tax receipts is the worst in half century. fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. only anemergency infusion of printed federal funny money is keeping most state boats afloat right now.
AMERICA IS ON AN UNSUSTAINABLE FISCAL PATH THAT THREATENS OUR FUTURE. CHANGING COURSE IS IMPERATIVE...
most governors i've talked to are so busy bailing that they haven't checked the long-range forecast. what the radar tells me is that we ain't seen nothing yet. what we are being hit by isn't a tropical storm that will come and go with sunshine soon to follow. it's much more likely that we're facing a near permanent reduction in state tax revenues that will require us to reduce the size and scope of our state govts. the time to prepare for this new reality is already at hand.
LAST MONTH THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET PREDICTED THAT THE NATIONAL DEBT WILL INCREASE BY $9 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT DECADE - $2 TRILLION MORE THAN FORECAST JUST FOUR MONTHS EARLIER. GOVT NET INTEREST PAYMENTS EXCEED $1 TRILLION IN 2019, UP FROM $382 BILLION THIS YEAR. BECAUSE PROJECTED DEFICITS EXCEED PROFECTED ECONOMIC GROWTH, THE GAP WILL BE SELF-PERPETUATING.
the coming state govt reset will be particularly wrenching after the happy binge that preceded this last recession. during the last decade, states increased their spending by an average of 6% per year, gusting to 8% during 2007-8. much of the govt institutions built up in those years will now have to be dismantled.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALL THIS WILL NOT BE BENIGN. A WORLD SATURATED WITH U.S. CURRENCY WILL EVENTUALLY LOOK ELSEWHERE TO INVEST, CAUSING THE DOLLAR'S VALUE TO DROP. FOREIGN CREDITORS, THEIR CONFIDENCE SHAKEN BY OUR FISCAL PROFLIGACY, WILL DEMAND HIGHER PAYMENTS TO KEEP HOLDING OUR DEBT. THE NET EFFECT WILL BE 'STAGFLATION', THAT PERNICIOUS COMBINATION OF SLOWER GROWTH, HIGHER INFLATION AND INTEREST RATES, AND LOWER LIVING STANDARDS...
even if americans wanted to go back to their high spending, high borrowing ways, will anyone lend them the funds to spend like it's 2007 all over again? consumer credit will remain tighter as a matter of both sound business and new govt regulation. home equity appreciation is gone as a huge source of collateral, even if lenders were either willing or permitted to loan freely against it.
THESE EVENTS WILL DIMINISH OUR GLOBAL INFLUENCE, BECAUSE FISCAL STRENGTH IS ESSENTIAL TO DIPLOMATIC LEVERAGE, MILITARY MIGHT, AND NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. NO GREAT NATION CAN RELY UPON THE GENEROSITY OF STANGERS OR THE FORBEARANCE OF POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES TO MEET ITS SECURITY NEEDS. AMERICA IS DOING BOTH. CHINAA USES ITS MONETARY RESERVES TO CURRY FAVOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ONCE IN THE US SPHERE OF INFLUENCE; WE MUST BORROW TO PAY FOR THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
what to do?
1. seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
2. do not be conceited
3. do not fix your hope on riches
4. fix your hope on God who richly supplies all things to enjoy
5. do good
6. be rich in good works
7. be generous
8. be ready to share
...and when you have that operating , then
1. reduce your living standard, by degrees, to poverty level...content with covering and simple, nourishing food.
2. pay off all debt.
3. become 100% self-sufficient
4. and barter for whatever you can't produce yourself
Saturday, October 17, 2009
10.18.09 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!
SONRISA! i love the spanish word for smile. just saying it makes me warm and glowing all over. it acts as a Christ-talisman upon me...recalling His smile upon me...even on a dreary, cold, rainy day like today..even after over 2 days of this weather..even after i have abysmally sinned against Him again and again. GOD IS GOOD, is all i can say!
He has been teaching me to really BELIEVE what He says in I john 1.9..if we confess (say the same thing as) our sins (to Him), He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness...all i can say is that He is shrinking the horrid, toxic period that occurs between the moment i realize my sin against Him and the moment it is GONE! GOD IS GOOD! may i give myself wholly to Him.
this week got 3 hours of work and am out of work now with one possibility coming up. my loving, heavenly father is teaching me a much needed lesson in the area of counting-chickens-before-they-hatch, or, viewed another way, really depending on myself and/or other people while masquerading as one who depends completely on God alone. thot i had all the 09 hours to and average of 20 hr weekly in the bag and now find myself short by just over 300 hours with 2.5 months to go. for the last two years my work has largely faded in the winter months...so my spirit rejoices that this is an opportunity to DEPEND (lit. hang from!) God and receive what He deems good to send GOOD.
this week 25% of the miracle of 09 was completed. after years of sitting in the house in terrror as the sump pump operated continuously during heavy rain storms..cursing myself for being-'unable'-to-do-it, that is fix the stupid thing, i now sit through rain day and night hardly ever hearing the sump pump operate. mind you (God must be changing me..) i do not have my usual boasting/arrogant spirit that occurs just having completed X. no self-congratulation. just a tentative looking to God to somehow make up for any unnoticed shortcomings in the project and petitions that it might work effectively into the distant future. may this, i take it to be a, grace from God spread over my whole life. GOD IS GOOD.
windows need to be caulked up, as usual, to keep out the winter winds (ed, who is in kate's-mom's-eddie's front northern-facing bedroom, when asked if he wanted me to winterize the window, opted to still crack the streetside window at night! he wasn't kidding when he said he was a polar bear..i think i'm going to have to override this wish..). front porch needs to be prepped and painted (25%) and fence sanded and rust-reformed, painted and reestablished (25%) are next, by God's grace...then there's the real miracle..300 hrs work... one step at a time with You, Lord...WITH YOU.
the more i ponder circumcision, a thing that has never come into play for the vast, non-jewish part of the world's peoples, the more i am seeing that it could well be a type of code word for any bite-sized thing that we subtly, or not so subtly, put our trust in. one person may think that they are righteous if they do x, another if y, another if z...and on and on it goes throughout the world in a never-ending variety of various types of 'circumcisions' that we as people put our trust in. we are really making gods out of ourselves, putting ourselves before the God of the Bible by saying that what we say goes over what He says. how pitiful. how awful when humanity stands one by one before the great white throne and judges our lives. i see 'circumcision' in meticulously keeping one's car under 25 mph in a school slow zone or in wearing a suit and tie or...well, the varieties are endless..and so handy...we can make them small enough not to cramp our style and live the way we want, we can change them when they become too hard or circumstances change or...go to a certain building on sunday. may God have mercy on us all...all us self-righteousized people. Lord, not one of us can fool You, YOU ARE GOOD! THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS ALTOGETHER. more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold. sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. moreover by them is Thy servant warned..
last sunday pm the musico was SO LOUD at one point that my ears hurt...no, they literally hurt!!! the thot crossed my mind, is loudness-in-praise a 'circumcision' of sorts...heard of men but not of God? i know i have bowed at that altar many times...and will probably many more. am really enjoying spanish though and am getting used to the idea of being alone in the church. God seems to be subtly encouraging my heart with the fact the He alone is enough. anywhere with Jesus i can safely go..anywhere with Jesus i am not alone. the hearing of spanish is becoming clearer and am able to distinguish more words. speaking and reading are shooting forth their first green sprouts. GOD IS GOOD. i am enjoying the learning of the language and looking forward eagerly to when i can begin to make myself understood and understand in conversation.
i've written down nearly 300 words, mostly those which are not obvious to the english ie. car - caro etc. am hopeful to start grouping words by category as an aid to learning comprehension. either this is an indication of my love of language or God's moving me to learn/use spanish for Him..hopefully both. am now half way through genesis 3 and am beginning to be spoken to by the text for the first time. the first thing noticed that touched my heart was how the spanish 2nd person/familiar form, reserved for more intimate relationships such as family and friends, is used when God calls out to and speaks with adam and eve after they have chosen to disobey Him. the message to me is, You love us even when we are in our sin. how beautiful You are Lord. how beautiful and other-than-human Your love and patience. then this am came to where God speaks to the serpent after adam and eve shift the blame/shame of their disobedience down to him. 'she will wound your head and TU (familiar form as opposed to usted) will wound her heel'. He felt compassion for an animal who had become a willing accomplice of satan to bend all of God's creatures away from Him..staggering! i have seriously wondered if i will meet judas, hitler and others ,who none of us 'better' people would never expect to see in heaven, by the side of Jesus...the prostitutes and the tax-gatherers will come into the kingdom while you yourselves will be thrust out...
rummage sale this week: open-toe slippers that would 'accept' thick woolen socks!, small backpack to replace my rapidly dying one, 'dress' shoes (fuzzy sneakers) i really like, Bible ? (2500 of them) game for $3.50. went back on the $2 a bag sale and squeezed 4 pairs of dungarees (my last work pants will soon be in shreds), nice, soft bedtime shorts for hot weather..not to be seen by anyone..which have red flames shooting out of blackness and 'hot stuff' in red..the Lord and i know this is a lie..(perfect for hot, humid nights on the third floor), a real wood pull over, a ladle (at last, i've been asking for one for a long time...so many times i really can use one! the Lord is good!), 12 frozen food containers (the Lord has given me so many tiny yellow and orange tomatoes this year that i've almost used up all the ones i have!..just like He seemed to indicate in the spring when i wanted to pull out all the many, many plants that sprouted from last year's...'no, no..you'll need alot this coming winter..) and three books stuffed into the top of the bag that i need like a hole in the head...but, one never knows..maybe that is just what i need..maybe these will prove themselves useful. thank You, Lord.
tomorrow am i head up to the muslim day parade in nyc. it starts at 12:30am at 41st st. and works its way down madison avenue to 23rd st. with a food bazaar at the end. i go feeling like a little orphan in a howling sandstorm far from any human help. the Lord's comfort came this am during memorization time when i reached, in psalm 139, verse 17 'how precious also are Thy thots unto me, o God! how great is the sum of them! if i should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when i awake, i am still with Thee. in my lowness and fear He came quietly and said, 'stephen..take your thumb out - of - your - mouth, straighten up your backbone and...TAKE HOLD OF MY HAND.. I'll take you where I want you to go tomorrow. then when i was saying psalm 91 these words came, comfort-laden...
I am your refuge..
I..your fortress..
I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
I will deliver you from the noisome pestilence
I will cover you with My feathers..
under my wings you will trust..
My truth shall be your shield and buckler..
you shall not be afraid for the terror by night..
nor for the arrow that flieth by day..
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness..
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday..
1000 shall fall at your side..
10,000.. at your right hand but it shall not come nigh you.
only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked
there shall no evil befall you..
neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling (no state-mandated vaccinations?)
I will give my angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways..
they shall bear you up in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone..
you shall tread upon the lion and adder
the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot
BECAUSE YOU HAVE SET YOUR LOVE UPON ME (Lord, i don't love You but will You help me to be obedient to You..)..
I will deliver you..
I will set you on high, because you have known My name.
you shall call upon Me and I will answer him.
I will deliver you
I will honor you
with long life (i should say! i'm never going to die!!!!) will I satisfy you..
I will show you My salvation.
..that's what the Lord will do. NOW FOR WHAT I MUST DO..
i will say of the Lord, He is my refuge..my fortress..my God..in Him will i TRUST.
just went up to the desk and asked my sweetheart, melanie, if, since there are few people here, if i could have a bit more time today (sorry to make you suffer! just press DELETE!..AND YOUR FREE....) and in her loving way (love is kind..the word means to make yourself useful to the beloved) she had 60! more minutes for me. i said with a wide, feeling-loved smile, 'melanie! i feel just now like little jack horner who stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plumb and said, 'WHAT A GOOD BOY AM I! (God and i know that's a lie..)..so i continue a bit..i have so much to say today!
then, this am when i was saying psalm 146 God, the third time, comforted me..'praise ye the Lord. praise the Lord, o my soul. while i live will i praise the Lord. i will sing praises unto my God while i have any being. (one cannot REALLY praise the Lord when they are in anyway looking to men for anything..) put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. in that very day his thots perish. HAPPY is he that HATH the God of jacob for his HELP, whose HOPE is in the Lord his God..
at maria's house, where i am spanish-tutored, in the bathroom i discovered a long, written, framed thing that had a sort of tarnished glow. with her permission, i took the treasure home and polished a bit. this is the result..
I WILL NEVER AGAIN (RIGHTLY) THINK..
I CAN'T X ..for i can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me. phil. 4.13
I LACK X..for my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. phil.4.19
I FEAR X.. for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind II tim. 1.7
I DON'T BELIEVE GOD..for God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. romans 12.3
I AM TOO WEAK..for the Lord is the strength of my life psalm 27.1
I AM OVERCOME BY SATAN..for greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world I john 4.4
I AM DEFEATED..for God..always causeth us to triumph in Christ II corinthians 2.14
I AM SICK-WITHOUT- A -CURE..for with his (Jesus') stripes we are healed. isaiah 53.5
I AM WITHOUT ANYONE TO CARE..for casting all your care upon Him for He carETH for you. I pet.5.7
I MUST SIN..for 'if you continue in My word..you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free...whoever committeth sin is the servant of sin..if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed'. john 8.31-2, 34,36
I AM CONDEMNED/CURSED/DOOMED..for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. romans 8.28
I AM ALONE/ABANDONED.. for I will never leave nor forsake you. hebrews 13.5
gotta go. have a good week. love, dad
He has been teaching me to really BELIEVE what He says in I john 1.9..if we confess (say the same thing as) our sins (to Him), He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness...all i can say is that He is shrinking the horrid, toxic period that occurs between the moment i realize my sin against Him and the moment it is GONE! GOD IS GOOD! may i give myself wholly to Him.
this week got 3 hours of work and am out of work now with one possibility coming up. my loving, heavenly father is teaching me a much needed lesson in the area of counting-chickens-before-they-hatch, or, viewed another way, really depending on myself and/or other people while masquerading as one who depends completely on God alone. thot i had all the 09 hours to and average of 20 hr weekly in the bag and now find myself short by just over 300 hours with 2.5 months to go. for the last two years my work has largely faded in the winter months...so my spirit rejoices that this is an opportunity to DEPEND (lit. hang from!) God and receive what He deems good to send GOOD.
this week 25% of the miracle of 09 was completed. after years of sitting in the house in terrror as the sump pump operated continuously during heavy rain storms..cursing myself for being-'unable'-to-do-it, that is fix the stupid thing, i now sit through rain day and night hardly ever hearing the sump pump operate. mind you (God must be changing me..) i do not have my usual boasting/arrogant spirit that occurs just having completed X. no self-congratulation. just a tentative looking to God to somehow make up for any unnoticed shortcomings in the project and petitions that it might work effectively into the distant future. may this, i take it to be a, grace from God spread over my whole life. GOD IS GOOD.
windows need to be caulked up, as usual, to keep out the winter winds (ed, who is in kate's-mom's-eddie's front northern-facing bedroom, when asked if he wanted me to winterize the window, opted to still crack the streetside window at night! he wasn't kidding when he said he was a polar bear..i think i'm going to have to override this wish..). front porch needs to be prepped and painted (25%) and fence sanded and rust-reformed, painted and reestablished (25%) are next, by God's grace...then there's the real miracle..300 hrs work... one step at a time with You, Lord...WITH YOU.
the more i ponder circumcision, a thing that has never come into play for the vast, non-jewish part of the world's peoples, the more i am seeing that it could well be a type of code word for any bite-sized thing that we subtly, or not so subtly, put our trust in. one person may think that they are righteous if they do x, another if y, another if z...and on and on it goes throughout the world in a never-ending variety of various types of 'circumcisions' that we as people put our trust in. we are really making gods out of ourselves, putting ourselves before the God of the Bible by saying that what we say goes over what He says. how pitiful. how awful when humanity stands one by one before the great white throne and judges our lives. i see 'circumcision' in meticulously keeping one's car under 25 mph in a school slow zone or in wearing a suit and tie or...well, the varieties are endless..and so handy...we can make them small enough not to cramp our style and live the way we want, we can change them when they become too hard or circumstances change or...go to a certain building on sunday. may God have mercy on us all...all us self-righteousized people. Lord, not one of us can fool You, YOU ARE GOOD! THE JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS ALTOGETHER. more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold. sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. moreover by them is Thy servant warned..
last sunday pm the musico was SO LOUD at one point that my ears hurt...no, they literally hurt!!! the thot crossed my mind, is loudness-in-praise a 'circumcision' of sorts...heard of men but not of God? i know i have bowed at that altar many times...and will probably many more. am really enjoying spanish though and am getting used to the idea of being alone in the church. God seems to be subtly encouraging my heart with the fact the He alone is enough. anywhere with Jesus i can safely go..anywhere with Jesus i am not alone. the hearing of spanish is becoming clearer and am able to distinguish more words. speaking and reading are shooting forth their first green sprouts. GOD IS GOOD. i am enjoying the learning of the language and looking forward eagerly to when i can begin to make myself understood and understand in conversation.
i've written down nearly 300 words, mostly those which are not obvious to the english ie. car - caro etc. am hopeful to start grouping words by category as an aid to learning comprehension. either this is an indication of my love of language or God's moving me to learn/use spanish for Him..hopefully both. am now half way through genesis 3 and am beginning to be spoken to by the text for the first time. the first thing noticed that touched my heart was how the spanish 2nd person/familiar form, reserved for more intimate relationships such as family and friends, is used when God calls out to and speaks with adam and eve after they have chosen to disobey Him. the message to me is, You love us even when we are in our sin. how beautiful You are Lord. how beautiful and other-than-human Your love and patience. then this am came to where God speaks to the serpent after adam and eve shift the blame/shame of their disobedience down to him. 'she will wound your head and TU (familiar form as opposed to usted) will wound her heel'. He felt compassion for an animal who had become a willing accomplice of satan to bend all of God's creatures away from Him..staggering! i have seriously wondered if i will meet judas, hitler and others ,who none of us 'better' people would never expect to see in heaven, by the side of Jesus...the prostitutes and the tax-gatherers will come into the kingdom while you yourselves will be thrust out...
rummage sale this week: open-toe slippers that would 'accept' thick woolen socks!, small backpack to replace my rapidly dying one, 'dress' shoes (fuzzy sneakers) i really like, Bible ? (2500 of them) game for $3.50. went back on the $2 a bag sale and squeezed 4 pairs of dungarees (my last work pants will soon be in shreds), nice, soft bedtime shorts for hot weather..not to be seen by anyone..which have red flames shooting out of blackness and 'hot stuff' in red..the Lord and i know this is a lie..(perfect for hot, humid nights on the third floor), a real wood pull over, a ladle (at last, i've been asking for one for a long time...so many times i really can use one! the Lord is good!), 12 frozen food containers (the Lord has given me so many tiny yellow and orange tomatoes this year that i've almost used up all the ones i have!..just like He seemed to indicate in the spring when i wanted to pull out all the many, many plants that sprouted from last year's...'no, no..you'll need alot this coming winter..) and three books stuffed into the top of the bag that i need like a hole in the head...but, one never knows..maybe that is just what i need..maybe these will prove themselves useful. thank You, Lord.
tomorrow am i head up to the muslim day parade in nyc. it starts at 12:30am at 41st st. and works its way down madison avenue to 23rd st. with a food bazaar at the end. i go feeling like a little orphan in a howling sandstorm far from any human help. the Lord's comfort came this am during memorization time when i reached, in psalm 139, verse 17 'how precious also are Thy thots unto me, o God! how great is the sum of them! if i should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when i awake, i am still with Thee. in my lowness and fear He came quietly and said, 'stephen..take your thumb out - of - your - mouth, straighten up your backbone and...TAKE HOLD OF MY HAND.. I'll take you where I want you to go tomorrow. then when i was saying psalm 91 these words came, comfort-laden...
I am your refuge..
I..your fortress..
I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
I will deliver you from the noisome pestilence
I will cover you with My feathers..
under my wings you will trust..
My truth shall be your shield and buckler..
you shall not be afraid for the terror by night..
nor for the arrow that flieth by day..
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness..
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday..
1000 shall fall at your side..
10,000.. at your right hand but it shall not come nigh you.
only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked
there shall no evil befall you..
neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling (no state-mandated vaccinations?)
I will give my angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways..
they shall bear you up in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone..
you shall tread upon the lion and adder
the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot
BECAUSE YOU HAVE SET YOUR LOVE UPON ME (Lord, i don't love You but will You help me to be obedient to You..)..
I will deliver you..
I will set you on high, because you have known My name.
you shall call upon Me and I will answer him.
I will deliver you
I will honor you
with long life (i should say! i'm never going to die!!!!) will I satisfy you..
I will show you My salvation.
..that's what the Lord will do. NOW FOR WHAT I MUST DO..
i will say of the Lord, He is my refuge..my fortress..my God..in Him will i TRUST.
just went up to the desk and asked my sweetheart, melanie, if, since there are few people here, if i could have a bit more time today (sorry to make you suffer! just press DELETE!..AND YOUR FREE....) and in her loving way (love is kind..the word means to make yourself useful to the beloved) she had 60! more minutes for me. i said with a wide, feeling-loved smile, 'melanie! i feel just now like little jack horner who stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plumb and said, 'WHAT A GOOD BOY AM I! (God and i know that's a lie..)..so i continue a bit..i have so much to say today!
then, this am when i was saying psalm 146 God, the third time, comforted me..'praise ye the Lord. praise the Lord, o my soul. while i live will i praise the Lord. i will sing praises unto my God while i have any being. (one cannot REALLY praise the Lord when they are in anyway looking to men for anything..) put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. in that very day his thots perish. HAPPY is he that HATH the God of jacob for his HELP, whose HOPE is in the Lord his God..
at maria's house, where i am spanish-tutored, in the bathroom i discovered a long, written, framed thing that had a sort of tarnished glow. with her permission, i took the treasure home and polished a bit. this is the result..
I WILL NEVER AGAIN (RIGHTLY) THINK..
I CAN'T X ..for i can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me. phil. 4.13
I LACK X..for my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. phil.4.19
I FEAR X.. for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind II tim. 1.7
I DON'T BELIEVE GOD..for God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. romans 12.3
I AM TOO WEAK..for the Lord is the strength of my life psalm 27.1
I AM OVERCOME BY SATAN..for greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world I john 4.4
I AM DEFEATED..for God..always causeth us to triumph in Christ II corinthians 2.14
I AM SICK-WITHOUT- A -CURE..for with his (Jesus') stripes we are healed. isaiah 53.5
I AM WITHOUT ANYONE TO CARE..for casting all your care upon Him for He carETH for you. I pet.5.7
I MUST SIN..for 'if you continue in My word..you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free...whoever committeth sin is the servant of sin..if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed'. john 8.31-2, 34,36
I AM CONDEMNED/CURSED/DOOMED..for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. romans 8.28
I AM ALONE/ABANDONED.. for I will never leave nor forsake you. hebrews 13.5
gotta go. have a good week. love, dad
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
10.13.09 CAN TRUTH BE KNOWN?
the field of philosophy that deals with how we know is called epistemology. it is enough for our case to give evidence for the fact that we do know reality; it is not necessary at this point to fully explain how this occurs...the evidence below is not an answer to the ? how do we know? but rather, do we know?
first principles of knowledge
aristotle said that 'demonstration must be based on premises prior to and better known than the conclusion'.. aquinas..'anything whence something proceeds in any way we call a principle..a first principle does not signify priority in time, but origin'..james b. sullivan.. 'the most general judgements conceivable and the most evident, which presuppose no others in the same order for their proof, and are implicit in every judgement'...geisler..'the ultimate starting point from which all conclusions may be drawn in a given area of knowledge or reality. first principles are necessary constituents of all knowledge, but they do not supply any content of knowledge. there are as many of them as there are orders of knowledge and reality'..l.m. regis..'a first principle is..a first among firsts..first principles must therefore be understood to mean a group of judgements by which the intellect observes the existence of necessary bonds between several primary concepts, bonds that oblige it to identify them in affirmation or to separate them by negation'..they are self-evident and need no proof. they show themselves to be true...aquinas..'perfect knowledge requires certitude, and this is why we cannot be said to know unless we know what cannot be otherwise'..aristotle and aquinas make two assumptions..1. 'there exists a reality that is independent of the human mind, to which the mind can either conform or fail to conform. in other words, what we think does not create or in any way affect what we are thinking about. it is what it is, whether we think about it or not and regardless of what we think about it. 2. that this independent reality is completely determinate..(principle of contradiction)..nothing can both be and not be at the same time. anything which does exist cannot both have and not have a certain attribute at one and the same time'..
first principles- each is true in the area of *being (ontology) and applies to the area of #knowledge (epistemology)
1 IDENTITY (B IS B) - *a thing must be identical to itself. if it were not, then it would not be itself and #being is intelligible. if it were not we could not conceive of anything.
2 NONCONTRADICTION (B IS NOT NON-B) - *being cannot be nonbeing, for they are direct opposites..and opposites cannot be the same and #there are at least twways to express this principle: 1 it is impossible that contradictory statements be simultaneously true; 2 if one
1
first principles of knowledge
aristotle said that 'demonstration must be based on premises prior to and better known than the conclusion'.. aquinas..'anything whence something proceeds in any way we call a principle..a first principle does not signify priority in time, but origin'..james b. sullivan.. 'the most general judgements conceivable and the most evident, which presuppose no others in the same order for their proof, and are implicit in every judgement'...geisler..'the ultimate starting point from which all conclusions may be drawn in a given area of knowledge or reality. first principles are necessary constituents of all knowledge, but they do not supply any content of knowledge. there are as many of them as there are orders of knowledge and reality'..l.m. regis..'a first principle is..a first among firsts..first principles must therefore be understood to mean a group of judgements by which the intellect observes the existence of necessary bonds between several primary concepts, bonds that oblige it to identify them in affirmation or to separate them by negation'..they are self-evident and need no proof. they show themselves to be true...aquinas..'perfect knowledge requires certitude, and this is why we cannot be said to know unless we know what cannot be otherwise'..aristotle and aquinas make two assumptions..1. 'there exists a reality that is independent of the human mind, to which the mind can either conform or fail to conform. in other words, what we think does not create or in any way affect what we are thinking about. it is what it is, whether we think about it or not and regardless of what we think about it. 2. that this independent reality is completely determinate..(principle of contradiction)..nothing can both be and not be at the same time. anything which does exist cannot both have and not have a certain attribute at one and the same time'..
first principles- each is true in the area of *being (ontology) and applies to the area of #knowledge (epistemology)
1 IDENTITY (B IS B) - *a thing must be identical to itself. if it were not, then it would not be itself and #being is intelligible. if it were not we could not conceive of anything.
2 NONCONTRADICTION (B IS NOT NON-B) - *being cannot be nonbeing, for they are direct opposites..and opposites cannot be the same and #there are at least twways to express this principle: 1 it is impossible that contradictory statements be simultaneously true; 2 if one
1
Sunday, October 11, 2009
10.11.09 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!
there's so much i want to share with you! alas i only have 1 hour and 55 minutes in which to do so. so, here goes..Lord, guide my thots.
even though i am a wicked saint yet You keep pouring out Your love on me. i am SO BLESSED! help me love you Lord.
first want to share a song by chris rice called 'thirsty'. it describes me, in spirit, exactly as far as desire goes. my prayer it will describe what i do/be not only what i desire to do/be.
i'm so thirsty, i can feel it
burnin' thru the furthest corners of my soul
deep desire, can't describe this
nameless urge that drives me somewhere
though i don't know where to go.
seems i've heard about a river from someone who's been
and they tell me once you reach it, oh you'll never thirst again
so i have to find the river. somehow my life depends on the river.
holy river, i'm so thirsty
other waters i've been drinkin'
but they always leave me empty like before
satisfaction - all i'm askin'
could i really be this thirsty if ther weren't something more?
I'M ON THE SHORE NOW (this is how i feel increasingly) of the wildest river
and i kneel and beg for mercy from the skiess
but no one answers -gotta take my chances
'cause somethin' deep inside me's cryin'
'THIS IS WHY YOU ARE ALIVE'
so i plunge into the river with all that i am
prayin' this will be the river where i'll never thirst again
I'M ABANDONED TO THE RIVER (this is where i want to LIVE!)
and now my life depends on the river
holy river
i'm so thirsty.
yesterday i came in here to try to get a spanish grammer (failed) and get a head start writing to you (failed). it's too long to explain what happened but approximately an hour of typing was lost. precious Jesus! ever since allentown, precious Jesus!, my heavenly father has been tightening the chain on me. oh how FURIOUSLY, HATEFULLY my flesh rages against Him. but the spirit knows instinctively that every painful lash He gives is exactly right. i huffed out of here yesterday ready, in flesh, to go into full scale rebellion and just DO WHAT I WANT! i got home and God worked it that scott was there working on the porch and the Lord kept me working until 9:30 pm, under the lights finishing up the priming of all the bare wood stuff scott had installed. by then He had gotten me over the worst of my rage and pout and He put me to bed pretty much without much rebellion, except for a bit of cursed bedtime gluttony... and we blame God for bad health without a thot about all our destructive habits!
all the pillars are installed and primed. who knows but shirley's porch (and mine!) may somehow be miraculously finished this fall. that would, weatherwise and otherwise (i need to work, is my thot anyway, for i am still 300+ hours short of the 1040 hrs for 09) , be a notable miracle. tomorrow i will finally get more sanding implements for the grinder and be able to keep plodding thru what seems another impossiblity..but at the same time i am sensing a strong need to try and get the water drain off from the house replaced and made free flowing (another miracle). i finish my last job tomorrow dv and so hope to start digging up and exposing the water system. Lord help me to trust You.
last week i came within a whisker of quitting like i always have done when i face doing things i don't want to do. instead i slogged thru mud up to my neck logging 9.5 hr work and about 20 at home. it is ugly-wretched Lord but thank You for that small victory.
the most urgent of many prayers lately are against gluttony, how to relate at mision evangelica, the-intense-desire-cum-action toward/to leave all my possessions behind and follow Jesus, lips that pour forth the goodness of God, EVERY DAY meditate on/thru 100 verses, satan be put to utter flight in bill's marriage now heading for divorce..reconciliation in Christ...Lord help me/us....
may have lost another friend. joan has been extremely friendly for a long time now. she does dangerous things like giving me her address and phone number on a piece of writing she did, dating a guy she is a total stranger to and then having to fight him off and things like that. in order to create a bit of distance i moved from the role of 'friend' to that of 'father figure' when she started to do some crazy things. she doesn't know Jesus and is certifiably 'boy crazy', a dangerous combination that leads millions of women, desperate to escape aloneness at all costs, to lives of unending misery. so i've been doing my little part. my message: YOU DON'T NEED A MAN, YOU NEED JESUS!!!!!!!! i've been encouraging her to read the gospel of john which she has no interest in. last week i gave her my first written message. it said, 'Jesus says, come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall have rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.' she's fading fast. Jesus, rescue joan from spiralling down into unrelenting anger and bitterness toward men because she 'can't get one'.
me llamo es pebapadoodle froda pagan. translated 'my name is ...' paine, my surname, comes from 'pagan'. (this i found in some geneological writing on the family name) paganus is christian latin for a countryman, villager, rustic, civilian, non-militant as opposed to mIlEs (long vowels capped) for soldier, on of the army or heathen as opposed to christian or jewish. (tertullian, augustine) the christians called themselves mIletEs 'enrolled soldiers' of Christ, members of His militant church, and applied to non-christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were 'not enrolled in the army'. it is thot that outlying areas still had lingering ancient idolatry after christianity had been accepted in the roman empire. the etymology of the surname fits well for i am a wretched sinner, i am a pagan with all that is within me...and would totally abandon Christ and His church were it not for the mystery i experience of Christ dwelling within...the hope of glory.
frodo is the hobbit in tolkien's lord of the rings who by an action was God's instrument to bring great good and blessing to the world. this took the supreme effort of destroying what 'protected' him from danger...and he had to do it himself without any help from another. unnoticed and quietly living beneath the earth at bagend in the community of hobbits inhabiting the shire he went straight into the jaws of hell to accomplish the mission and returned a changed man. the surname is where i'm coming from, the middle name a dream, a vision of where i am going? as soon as i read, i sensed deeply that this was a calling of sorts. if it ever issues out and how it issues out remain in doubt.
when i was made a grandfather against my will (no one consulted me, at least) my thot was, ' i'll be ready for that in 30 to 40 years (the plan was, and still is, to sneak out of here early by God's grace... and thus escape) but You do say, in the vein of it being a blessing, '...yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon israel.' so i best not argue. but anyway they started asking me what i wanted to be called. i didn't have a clue. no name i had ever heard appealed to me. so they started calling me different names in the presence of the child but i, like zacharias, was dumb. then on the occasion of silas' first birthday party, while making his gift of three building blocks and ready to sign the last block, the muse came upon me and i knew my name was to be pepapadoodle...a little etymology. yankee doodle, a ditty song of at least 190 verses, was written by a british army surgeon, dr. richard schuckburg, during the 1750's. the occasion was the french and indian war when the american troops from new england joined the british general braddock in preparation for war. they were a motley crew in buckskins and furs and presented quite a contrast to the spit and polish of the british. it was a mock song. but with so many mocks in life, they can sometimes turn unexpectedly to mock the mocker. some 20 years later yankee doodle was played by the americans when the british surrendered at cornwallis ending the american revolution. my flesh has joined AND AIDED the world and the devil in laying my life waste. i am truly a fool and a miserable failure taken by any measurement...but God may have a last word...
the etymology of the first syllable pe is from pee of low and unnameable origin...at least in public. 'wee' is a cognate. truly, 'he who exalts himself will be humbled' is very descriptive of my experience.
finally bapa, the center, reveals the heart of the grandfather for the bairnie(s?). abba is the aramaic, i believe, word for God and is used in the new testament to describe the believer-to-God-the-Father relationship. abba is inscribed indelibly on our hearts as we relate to God. ba was gandhi's name in his older years and also used by my favorite uncle, hugh in the same time frame...but, after all this vain verbiage...really...what's in an earthly name. i wait for the new name God will give ..'to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and ill give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it' (rev . 2.17).
have a good week! love, dad
even though i am a wicked saint yet You keep pouring out Your love on me. i am SO BLESSED! help me love you Lord.
first want to share a song by chris rice called 'thirsty'. it describes me, in spirit, exactly as far as desire goes. my prayer it will describe what i do/be not only what i desire to do/be.
i'm so thirsty, i can feel it
burnin' thru the furthest corners of my soul
deep desire, can't describe this
nameless urge that drives me somewhere
though i don't know where to go.
seems i've heard about a river from someone who's been
and they tell me once you reach it, oh you'll never thirst again
so i have to find the river. somehow my life depends on the river.
holy river, i'm so thirsty
other waters i've been drinkin'
but they always leave me empty like before
satisfaction - all i'm askin'
could i really be this thirsty if ther weren't something more?
I'M ON THE SHORE NOW (this is how i feel increasingly) of the wildest river
and i kneel and beg for mercy from the skiess
but no one answers -gotta take my chances
'cause somethin' deep inside me's cryin'
'THIS IS WHY YOU ARE ALIVE'
so i plunge into the river with all that i am
prayin' this will be the river where i'll never thirst again
I'M ABANDONED TO THE RIVER (this is where i want to LIVE!)
and now my life depends on the river
holy river
i'm so thirsty.
yesterday i came in here to try to get a spanish grammer (failed) and get a head start writing to you (failed). it's too long to explain what happened but approximately an hour of typing was lost. precious Jesus! ever since allentown, precious Jesus!, my heavenly father has been tightening the chain on me. oh how FURIOUSLY, HATEFULLY my flesh rages against Him. but the spirit knows instinctively that every painful lash He gives is exactly right. i huffed out of here yesterday ready, in flesh, to go into full scale rebellion and just DO WHAT I WANT! i got home and God worked it that scott was there working on the porch and the Lord kept me working until 9:30 pm, under the lights finishing up the priming of all the bare wood stuff scott had installed. by then He had gotten me over the worst of my rage and pout and He put me to bed pretty much without much rebellion, except for a bit of cursed bedtime gluttony... and we blame God for bad health without a thot about all our destructive habits!
all the pillars are installed and primed. who knows but shirley's porch (and mine!) may somehow be miraculously finished this fall. that would, weatherwise and otherwise (i need to work, is my thot anyway, for i am still 300+ hours short of the 1040 hrs for 09) , be a notable miracle. tomorrow i will finally get more sanding implements for the grinder and be able to keep plodding thru what seems another impossiblity..but at the same time i am sensing a strong need to try and get the water drain off from the house replaced and made free flowing (another miracle). i finish my last job tomorrow dv and so hope to start digging up and exposing the water system. Lord help me to trust You.
last week i came within a whisker of quitting like i always have done when i face doing things i don't want to do. instead i slogged thru mud up to my neck logging 9.5 hr work and about 20 at home. it is ugly-wretched Lord but thank You for that small victory.
the most urgent of many prayers lately are against gluttony, how to relate at mision evangelica, the-intense-desire-cum-action toward/to leave all my possessions behind and follow Jesus, lips that pour forth the goodness of God, EVERY DAY meditate on/thru 100 verses, satan be put to utter flight in bill's marriage now heading for divorce..reconciliation in Christ...Lord help me/us....
may have lost another friend. joan has been extremely friendly for a long time now. she does dangerous things like giving me her address and phone number on a piece of writing she did, dating a guy she is a total stranger to and then having to fight him off and things like that. in order to create a bit of distance i moved from the role of 'friend' to that of 'father figure' when she started to do some crazy things. she doesn't know Jesus and is certifiably 'boy crazy', a dangerous combination that leads millions of women, desperate to escape aloneness at all costs, to lives of unending misery. so i've been doing my little part. my message: YOU DON'T NEED A MAN, YOU NEED JESUS!!!!!!!! i've been encouraging her to read the gospel of john which she has no interest in. last week i gave her my first written message. it said, 'Jesus says, come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall have rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.' she's fading fast. Jesus, rescue joan from spiralling down into unrelenting anger and bitterness toward men because she 'can't get one'.
me llamo es pebapadoodle froda pagan. translated 'my name is ...' paine, my surname, comes from 'pagan'. (this i found in some geneological writing on the family name) paganus is christian latin for a countryman, villager, rustic, civilian, non-militant as opposed to mIlEs (long vowels capped) for soldier, on of the army or heathen as opposed to christian or jewish. (tertullian, augustine) the christians called themselves mIletEs 'enrolled soldiers' of Christ, members of His militant church, and applied to non-christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were 'not enrolled in the army'. it is thot that outlying areas still had lingering ancient idolatry after christianity had been accepted in the roman empire. the etymology of the surname fits well for i am a wretched sinner, i am a pagan with all that is within me...and would totally abandon Christ and His church were it not for the mystery i experience of Christ dwelling within...the hope of glory.
frodo is the hobbit in tolkien's lord of the rings who by an action was God's instrument to bring great good and blessing to the world. this took the supreme effort of destroying what 'protected' him from danger...and he had to do it himself without any help from another. unnoticed and quietly living beneath the earth at bagend in the community of hobbits inhabiting the shire he went straight into the jaws of hell to accomplish the mission and returned a changed man. the surname is where i'm coming from, the middle name a dream, a vision of where i am going? as soon as i read, i sensed deeply that this was a calling of sorts. if it ever issues out and how it issues out remain in doubt.
when i was made a grandfather against my will (no one consulted me, at least) my thot was, ' i'll be ready for that in 30 to 40 years (the plan was, and still is, to sneak out of here early by God's grace... and thus escape) but You do say, in the vein of it being a blessing, '...yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon israel.' so i best not argue. but anyway they started asking me what i wanted to be called. i didn't have a clue. no name i had ever heard appealed to me. so they started calling me different names in the presence of the child but i, like zacharias, was dumb. then on the occasion of silas' first birthday party, while making his gift of three building blocks and ready to sign the last block, the muse came upon me and i knew my name was to be pepapadoodle...a little etymology. yankee doodle, a ditty song of at least 190 verses, was written by a british army surgeon, dr. richard schuckburg, during the 1750's. the occasion was the french and indian war when the american troops from new england joined the british general braddock in preparation for war. they were a motley crew in buckskins and furs and presented quite a contrast to the spit and polish of the british. it was a mock song. but with so many mocks in life, they can sometimes turn unexpectedly to mock the mocker. some 20 years later yankee doodle was played by the americans when the british surrendered at cornwallis ending the american revolution. my flesh has joined AND AIDED the world and the devil in laying my life waste. i am truly a fool and a miserable failure taken by any measurement...but God may have a last word...
the etymology of the first syllable pe is from pee of low and unnameable origin...at least in public. 'wee' is a cognate. truly, 'he who exalts himself will be humbled' is very descriptive of my experience.
finally bapa, the center, reveals the heart of the grandfather for the bairnie(s?). abba is the aramaic, i believe, word for God and is used in the new testament to describe the believer-to-God-the-Father relationship. abba is inscribed indelibly on our hearts as we relate to God. ba was gandhi's name in his older years and also used by my favorite uncle, hugh in the same time frame...but, after all this vain verbiage...really...what's in an earthly name. i wait for the new name God will give ..'to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and ill give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it' (rev . 2.17).
have a good week! love, dad
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
10.7.09 WHAT IS TRUTH?
TRUTH IS THAT WHICH CORRESPONDS TO REALITY OR REFLECTS REALITY-WHAT REALLY IS.
metaphysical truth is that which corresponds with reality or reflects reality - what really is. by correspondence we mean agreement with something, in this case a thot of statment about reality agrees with reality. by reality we mean that which is or exists.
subjectivism is where truth or reality is determined internally by the subject or person.
aristotle: truth relies on the actual existence of the thing which a thot/statement is about. ..'if there is a man, the statement whereby we say that there is a man is true, and reciprocaly - since if the statement whereby we say that there is a man is true, (then in reality) there is a man. and whereas the true statementis in no way the cause of the actual thing's existence, the actual thing does seem in some way the cause of the statement's being true: it is because the actual thing exists or does not the athe staement is called true or false.'
norman geisler: truth is what corresponds to its referent (the idea to which a word refers). truth about reality is what corresponds to the way things really are. truth is 'telling it like it is'. this correspondence applies to abstract realities as well as actual ones. ther are mathematical truths. there are also truths about ideas. in each case there is a reality, and truth accurately expressed it. falsehood, then, is what does not correspond. it tells it like it is not, misrepresenting the way things are...
relativism is the theory that 'there is no objective standard by which truth may be determined, so that truth varies with individuals and circumstances'. ..2 propositions: truth is not relative to space and time and truth is not relative to persons.
regarding the first the relativist would say that the statement, 'the pencil is to the left of the pad', is relative since it depends on which side of the desk you are standing. place is always relative to perspective, they say. but truth can be time bound as well. at one time, it was perfectly true to say, 'reagan is president', but one can hardly say that now. it was true at one time, but not now. the truth of such statements is irrevocably contingent on the time at which they are said'..but that perspective is understood in statements about space and time..'as regards time and place, the perspective of the speaker, temporal and spacial, is understood in the statement. for example, 'reagan is president', when said in 1986 is true and IT ALWAYS WILL BE TRUE. if someone uses the same words in 1990, then he is making a new and different truth claim, because the present tense is now four years removed from the context of the other statement. the spatial and temporal context of statements is an ingerent part of the context which determines the meaning of that assertion. however, if 'reagan is president' (said in 1986) is always true for everyone, everywhere, then it is an absolute truth. the same can be said about the pencil on the dest. the perspective of the speaker is understood as part of the context. it is an absolute truth.
truth not relative to persons..
'while rain is falling here, that rain is not synthesized existentially with 'not falling'. that is absolute. it is not relative to the observer...'
mortimer adler - the remark 'that may be true for you, but not for me is not mistaken but often misinterpreted. the misinterpretation 'arises from the failure to distinguish between the truth or falsity that inheres in a proposition or statement and the judgment that a person makes with regard to the truth/falsity of the statement in question. we may differ in our judgment about what is true, but that does not affect the truth of the matter itself'..the truth or falsity of a statement 'derives from its relation to the ascertainable facts, not from its relation to the judgments that human beings make'.. adler thus distinguishes between the objectivity of truth and subjectivity of judgment.
self-defeating nature of relativism..'either relativism is a genuine theory in which a real assertion is made or else it isn't. but any attempt to assert relativism without relying on just-plaine (absolute) truth would inevitably fail, because it would generate an infinite regress. and, of course, any assertion of relativism that does rely on just-plain (absolute) truth would be self-defeating. so it looks like any apparent assertion of relativism is either self-deeating or else is not a real assertion, but something more like an empty slogan.
the 'infinite regress' mentioned above 'occurs when the relativist claims that the theory of relativism is true. the theory is true either absolutely (for all people, at all times and all places or relatively. if the theory is true absolutely, then relativism is false for at least one truth is true absolutely. but if the theory is only relatively true, the ? must be asked, 'to whom is it true (relatively)? suppose it is true relative to some person named john. the relativist is then asserting that relativism is true for john. but is this claim (that relativism is true for john true absolutely or relatively? if absolutely, then relativism must be false; but if relatively, then relative to whom? relative to john? relative to someone else? suppose the claim that relativism is true for john is true relative to some other person named suzie. now the relativist will have to explain whether this truth is absolute or relative, and if the latter, for whom it is true. bnd by now the relativist is well on his way to nowhere. eventually, the person will either have to admit that at least one truth is absolutely true, in which case relativism is false, or else he will be unable to say what is really being asserted when he claims that relativism is true. so relativism is either self-defeating, and therefore false, or unassertable
if relativism were true, then the world would be full of contradictory conditions. for if something is true for me but false for you, then opposite conditions exist. for if i say 'there is milk in the refrigerator' and you day 'there is not any milk in the refrigerator' - and we both are right. then there must both be and not be milk in the refrigerator at the same time and in the same sense. but that is impossible. so, if truth were relative, then an impossible would be actual.
absolute truth is denied because of the desire to be accepted; to be 'with it', fashionable, avant garde; aversion to difficulty that adherence to the truth brings; the belief that the 'reality' of ever-changing evolution makes absolutes impossible; adverseness to anything that would judge and condemn them.
taken from mcdowell's 'evidence that demands a verdict'
metaphysical truth is that which corresponds with reality or reflects reality - what really is. by correspondence we mean agreement with something, in this case a thot of statment about reality agrees with reality. by reality we mean that which is or exists.
subjectivism is where truth or reality is determined internally by the subject or person.
aristotle: truth relies on the actual existence of the thing which a thot/statement is about. ..'if there is a man, the statement whereby we say that there is a man is true, and reciprocaly - since if the statement whereby we say that there is a man is true, (then in reality) there is a man. and whereas the true statementis in no way the cause of the actual thing's existence, the actual thing does seem in some way the cause of the statement's being true: it is because the actual thing exists or does not the athe staement is called true or false.'
norman geisler: truth is what corresponds to its referent (the idea to which a word refers). truth about reality is what corresponds to the way things really are. truth is 'telling it like it is'. this correspondence applies to abstract realities as well as actual ones. ther are mathematical truths. there are also truths about ideas. in each case there is a reality, and truth accurately expressed it. falsehood, then, is what does not correspond. it tells it like it is not, misrepresenting the way things are...
relativism is the theory that 'there is no objective standard by which truth may be determined, so that truth varies with individuals and circumstances'. ..2 propositions: truth is not relative to space and time and truth is not relative to persons.
regarding the first the relativist would say that the statement, 'the pencil is to the left of the pad', is relative since it depends on which side of the desk you are standing. place is always relative to perspective, they say. but truth can be time bound as well. at one time, it was perfectly true to say, 'reagan is president', but one can hardly say that now. it was true at one time, but not now. the truth of such statements is irrevocably contingent on the time at which they are said'..but that perspective is understood in statements about space and time..'as regards time and place, the perspective of the speaker, temporal and spacial, is understood in the statement. for example, 'reagan is president', when said in 1986 is true and IT ALWAYS WILL BE TRUE. if someone uses the same words in 1990, then he is making a new and different truth claim, because the present tense is now four years removed from the context of the other statement. the spatial and temporal context of statements is an ingerent part of the context which determines the meaning of that assertion. however, if 'reagan is president' (said in 1986) is always true for everyone, everywhere, then it is an absolute truth. the same can be said about the pencil on the dest. the perspective of the speaker is understood as part of the context. it is an absolute truth.
truth not relative to persons..
'while rain is falling here, that rain is not synthesized existentially with 'not falling'. that is absolute. it is not relative to the observer...'
mortimer adler - the remark 'that may be true for you, but not for me is not mistaken but often misinterpreted. the misinterpretation 'arises from the failure to distinguish between the truth or falsity that inheres in a proposition or statement and the judgment that a person makes with regard to the truth/falsity of the statement in question. we may differ in our judgment about what is true, but that does not affect the truth of the matter itself'..the truth or falsity of a statement 'derives from its relation to the ascertainable facts, not from its relation to the judgments that human beings make'.. adler thus distinguishes between the objectivity of truth and subjectivity of judgment.
self-defeating nature of relativism..'either relativism is a genuine theory in which a real assertion is made or else it isn't. but any attempt to assert relativism without relying on just-plaine (absolute) truth would inevitably fail, because it would generate an infinite regress. and, of course, any assertion of relativism that does rely on just-plain (absolute) truth would be self-defeating. so it looks like any apparent assertion of relativism is either self-deeating or else is not a real assertion, but something more like an empty slogan.
the 'infinite regress' mentioned above 'occurs when the relativist claims that the theory of relativism is true. the theory is true either absolutely (for all people, at all times and all places or relatively. if the theory is true absolutely, then relativism is false for at least one truth is true absolutely. but if the theory is only relatively true, the ? must be asked, 'to whom is it true (relatively)? suppose it is true relative to some person named john. the relativist is then asserting that relativism is true for john. but is this claim (that relativism is true for john true absolutely or relatively? if absolutely, then relativism must be false; but if relatively, then relative to whom? relative to john? relative to someone else? suppose the claim that relativism is true for john is true relative to some other person named suzie. now the relativist will have to explain whether this truth is absolute or relative, and if the latter, for whom it is true. bnd by now the relativist is well on his way to nowhere. eventually, the person will either have to admit that at least one truth is absolutely true, in which case relativism is false, or else he will be unable to say what is really being asserted when he claims that relativism is true. so relativism is either self-defeating, and therefore false, or unassertable
if relativism were true, then the world would be full of contradictory conditions. for if something is true for me but false for you, then opposite conditions exist. for if i say 'there is milk in the refrigerator' and you day 'there is not any milk in the refrigerator' - and we both are right. then there must both be and not be milk in the refrigerator at the same time and in the same sense. but that is impossible. so, if truth were relative, then an impossible would be actual.
absolute truth is denied because of the desire to be accepted; to be 'with it', fashionable, avant garde; aversion to difficulty that adherence to the truth brings; the belief that the 'reality' of ever-changing evolution makes absolutes impossible; adverseness to anything that would judge and condemn them.
taken from mcdowell's 'evidence that demands a verdict'
10.7.09 WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND WHO HAS THE ANSWERS?
4 BASIC QUESTIONS -
1.where did i come from?
2.what's my purpose?
3.why is there sin and suffering?
4. is redemption possible?
1.where did i come from?
2.what's my purpose?
3.why is there sin and suffering?
4. is redemption possible?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
10.4.09 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!
Lord, You are so good. take me to be with You soon! and until You do help me use every second to love You.
this week was total chaos. as far as the fence is concerned i had constant blockages from a multitude of angles. i had originally planned to have the entire 100' or so of fence completely sanded and 'rust converted' by friday pm. as of that time i had a little less than two of the 18 sections sanded. the man who was going to fix the front porch has, for various reasons, not come yet. i keep moving all the posts out and then moving them back to the barn. God unexpectedly provided an about 24 hour job out of the blue which was completed. all that i had planned to do on 54 in other areas has not been accomplished. i'm grateful for the Lord's unexpected provision but the rest of work related things are in wreckage.
i have guidance to do certain things which are continually thwarted in a variety of ways. i remember nee saying that the Lord will give direction but then we need to wait on His time as to the completion of what He wants done. He seems to be really focusing on that area right now. He is taking a totally impetus person and changing him in this area from glory to glory even by the Lord the Spirit. my flesh is sooo bonkers but in spirit i rejoice in His patient recreation-in-His-image work within. everything seems to have a design factor: bring steve to utterly reject doing anything by his own power and, instead, make him absolutely depend (literally, hang from!) Me for EVERYTHING. the flesh absolutely hates and rebels against this and so the Lord has to work patiently...and painfully to make this change within. the spirit He gently nudges toward is a spirit of absolute joy in Him and praise and TRUST in the face of IMPOSSIBILITY. x is what I want you to do (read that 'this is what I will do...and i'll let you help)
the seven daily rocks (absolute essentials that nothing else pushes out of the way) continue to be another absolute battlefield. i am still far from 'bomb-proof' in the area of a rocklike commitment to make sure these are done no matter what else may be left undone. right now the fight is especially intense in the area of scripture memory/daily meditation (review) of 100 verses. i'm sure my enemy is not happy that ephesians 1 and II sam. 23.1-7 have just been added to the memorized passages. Lord, i cry to You. help me! give me a great love for Your word, to love to spend time listening to Your voice, to Your heart, to Your desires for me.
running has been another casualty along with up-at-5-and-down-at-10 sleep. the last two nights i have not gotten to bed before 1:30 am...i am rereading e.stanley jone's song of ascents for the third time (i think this is a second..i don't reread books)...and here once again about a man who under a lifelong crush of incredible activity/responsibility always stole away two times a day, no matter what was happening, to be with You and Your Word. i also think of psalm 127 where it talks about the incredible challenge of 'building a house' (ie. provision of needs and loving of spouse and raising of children) and there part of the dictum is 'it is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows (worry!) for so He gives His beloved sleep.' Lord! order my life by the template of Your word. the entrance of Your word giveth light...you shall know the truth (Thy word is truth!) and the truth shall set you free! i give my wreck of a week, my wreck of a self to You once again oh You who restoreth (again and again and again and again an...well you get the never-ending blessed picture!) my soul.
i am once again beginning to look at people in the eyes and smile..and if possible..to greet everyone i touch in any way.
had an 8 hour discussion with a brother this week surrounding this question: is it sin to fail to respond? he did not, as i feel, believe it to be sin. i kind of tried to distill the essence of, the nature of non-response to make my point. he expressed that no one had the right to compel another to respond. i'm not sure he ever 'heard' me but i made it as clear as i knew how that compulsion was not what i had in view by asking the ?.
i asked if he thot that there was ever a time when God did not respond to us when we called to Him. He says, in one of a myriad of ways, call to Me AND I WILL SHOW YOU great and mighty things which you know not. so, if God keeps His word the answer would be yes HE ALWAYS RESPONDS..yes, no, not yet. if He does and we are to be imitators of God as beloved children, i would assume that means that anyone who claims to be God's child would have in their heart to respond.
i shared that response, evidently considered a little thing by many, is indicative of bigger things AS VIEWED BY GOD. Jesus said, 'he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.. (lk.16.10) if we can think of the biggest thing we feel that God would want us to do for Him, that thing must include and have as a precursor responding. if i can't respond..meaning that i am in circumstances that make response impossible that is one thing. if i feel i can't currently respond or that i am not able to(will not) respond then i need to make that known.
i also began to, as it were, 'blow up' non-response so as to aid in the investigation of it's essential nature (ie. what does non-response mean when it is given and what does it do when it is experienced? where does it reside on the good-evil continuum for the average person) ala : it is easy to disregard living human beings being ripped to pieces when they are incapable of making any noticable response and when this is done behind walls and doors out of sight...it is increasingly difficult to disregard more and more public and personally identifiable shredding of human bodies ie. watching your child (or someone supremely near and dear to your heart) screaming in terror and pain as their body is similarly destroyed in one's presence.
i began with, would it be acceptable to you if a total stranger you just met refused to respond when you talked to them? how would that feel? what would you think? how about an acquaintance? a close friend? your child or another close relative? what about your wife? up to the last, amazingly, he was able to maintain his position that 'i do not have the right to compel or expect another to respond to me' but that position crumbled and he said that it would not be acceptable and he would then seek to address it with a view to removing it from the relationship.
we discussed other factors. there are definitely instances where lack of response is appropriate. proverbs says, 'do not answer a man ACCORDING TO HIS FOLLY..(why?) lest you be like him', but that is not the normal nature of the interactions we experience.
i'm open to learn more and to grow in this area. possibly i'm missing something. but i would say that, given the amount of non-response (let alone abusive, non-encouraging response) that i regularly experience among other people who would claim to be God's children that there is a deep and very toxic anti-relational element in relationship...again as i experience. i often think of the proverb that talks about the rich person having many friends but the poor man running after, thru lack of response, even the members of his own family...so that needs to be factored in in my situation since i have little or nothing to offer that is attractive under the sun. yet, to me, this is an absolute crisis. it is no surprise that there is so little real relationship if the basics of relationship are not even practiced. another indication of this ubiquitous cancer is indicated by the fact that, across the board, 99% of 'relationship' that i experience is either totally superficial or me focusing on (asking questions, listening to) 'the other' in the relationship.
i make matters worse by having the temerity to, in certain cases, challenge 'the other' about their lack of response. the near universal response to this is lack of any response! and i would assume, on the part of 'the other', a moving even further away from real relationship where there is an ongoing MUTUAL concern and response. i view the reality of genuine, mutually-nourishing/chreishing relationship largely from the perspective of jeremiah. it seems it would not take much to puncture and deflate the thin skin of public civility (ie. public hypocrisy) to reveal the monstrosity that lurks..ubiquitous..beneath. he says, 'o Lord, Thou hast deceived me and i was deceived; Thou hast overcome me and prevailed. i have become a laughingstock all day long. everyone mocks me. for each time i speak, i cry aloud, i proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. but if i say, 'i will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones and i am weary of holding it in and i cannot endure it. for i hav heard the whispering of many, 'terror on every side! denounce him; yes, let us denouce him!' all my trusted friends, watching for my fall, say; 'perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him'. but the Lord is with me like a dread champion, therfore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail...' (20.7f)
my sense, possibly my congenital touch of paranoia, is that i do not dwell far from jeremiah's reality. were i to speak the truth in love more than i do, which is an inner compulsion i -to my shame - often supress, i would, in am convinced, live in his reality...there is only one person i do not consciously repond to immediately and that is doug, a man who now lives in a group home but who lived at 54 for 10 months. the distinct thot occurred to me a while back that i was treating him like i am so often treated. i decided to stop my lack of response for even though, to my perspective, calls to no real purpose and says trite, inane, ludicrous things...he is a mirror of how i evidently am perceived by others who i contact. God responds to me carefully, attentively, immediately..He ratchets it up! He is constantly with me, knowing everything about me. His thots toward me are multitudinous. how can i do less than respond to a fellow-inmate in this insane asylum called earth? all he seeks is at least a drop of water (to hear something beside the echo of his own voice) in this scorching desert we all trod.
it is monday evening. i have just typed for an hour finishing thots on response, above. today i got up and realized i had 'hit the wall' again and so have spent the day largely comatose, at the reading level. may You help me talk to You constantly did to Your father when You were here, in the constant press of need and ministry. this related thot from john wesley, i believe..be diligent. never be unemployed. never be triflingly employed. never trifle away time. never spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary.
in the paraphrased words of james taylor i am a hunk of steamin' junk and yet somehow You love me! thank You for Your love, Lord..so faithful and true.
am reading thru genesis in spanish and found a beauty in 1.18..that the sun, moon and stars were to sAnyOrer (a cognate of senor-mister..really master) over the day and the night. as i contemplated that along side of the spanish word used for 'Lord" (senor) it was a beautiful picture of the length and breadth, the bestowing nature of lordship. there's nothing gonna happen when all the lights go out, the breadth of lordship..the lights, on, bestow so much of what constitutes life. Lordship's giving and essentiality, in this picture, seem to almost cause Lordship's control and direction and command...just a very nourishing picture/truth to chew on.
sunday decided to pray in spanish during my quiet time. not as difficult as i had thot and a very real and special time of speaking to the Lord. so far i have written over 100 words in my little dictionary and i only write things that are new to me so i'm enthused so far to be inching forward in my understanding of spanish. my profesora and i locked horns on friday but had a very good session over all.
this week was led to examine whether or not i really am believing the promises of God. do i really believe that when i admit a wrong thot, word, deed, do i really believe (ie. experience) that You have forgiven and cleansed me from all unrighteousness.
the things i witness, and especially last week witnessed, in the slow-down-to-15-mph-as-you-pass-the-front-of-the-school zone are of the normal tragicomedy we call life here on earth. i won't get started but simply refer to an article by janiebchenny (or something like that) in the 9.26.09 edition of world mag where she posits what i have thot - that children these days are gods, that women especially have a virulent infection of this particular disease and that it, in part, is a direct result of the massive, one-third-of-a-generation abortions that have been chosen to tidy-up and enhance millions of women's lives. the zone out front is one of the places of worship of those who have survived.
this week was total chaos. as far as the fence is concerned i had constant blockages from a multitude of angles. i had originally planned to have the entire 100' or so of fence completely sanded and 'rust converted' by friday pm. as of that time i had a little less than two of the 18 sections sanded. the man who was going to fix the front porch has, for various reasons, not come yet. i keep moving all the posts out and then moving them back to the barn. God unexpectedly provided an about 24 hour job out of the blue which was completed. all that i had planned to do on 54 in other areas has not been accomplished. i'm grateful for the Lord's unexpected provision but the rest of work related things are in wreckage.
i have guidance to do certain things which are continually thwarted in a variety of ways. i remember nee saying that the Lord will give direction but then we need to wait on His time as to the completion of what He wants done. He seems to be really focusing on that area right now. He is taking a totally impetus person and changing him in this area from glory to glory even by the Lord the Spirit. my flesh is sooo bonkers but in spirit i rejoice in His patient recreation-in-His-image work within. everything seems to have a design factor: bring steve to utterly reject doing anything by his own power and, instead, make him absolutely depend (literally, hang from!) Me for EVERYTHING. the flesh absolutely hates and rebels against this and so the Lord has to work patiently...and painfully to make this change within. the spirit He gently nudges toward is a spirit of absolute joy in Him and praise and TRUST in the face of IMPOSSIBILITY. x is what I want you to do (read that 'this is what I will do...and i'll let you help)
the seven daily rocks (absolute essentials that nothing else pushes out of the way) continue to be another absolute battlefield. i am still far from 'bomb-proof' in the area of a rocklike commitment to make sure these are done no matter what else may be left undone. right now the fight is especially intense in the area of scripture memory/daily meditation (review) of 100 verses. i'm sure my enemy is not happy that ephesians 1 and II sam. 23.1-7 have just been added to the memorized passages. Lord, i cry to You. help me! give me a great love for Your word, to love to spend time listening to Your voice, to Your heart, to Your desires for me.
running has been another casualty along with up-at-5-and-down-at-10 sleep. the last two nights i have not gotten to bed before 1:30 am...i am rereading e.stanley jone's song of ascents for the third time (i think this is a second..i don't reread books)...and here once again about a man who under a lifelong crush of incredible activity/responsibility always stole away two times a day, no matter what was happening, to be with You and Your Word. i also think of psalm 127 where it talks about the incredible challenge of 'building a house' (ie. provision of needs and loving of spouse and raising of children) and there part of the dictum is 'it is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows (worry!) for so He gives His beloved sleep.' Lord! order my life by the template of Your word. the entrance of Your word giveth light...you shall know the truth (Thy word is truth!) and the truth shall set you free! i give my wreck of a week, my wreck of a self to You once again oh You who restoreth (again and again and again and again an...well you get the never-ending blessed picture!) my soul.
i am once again beginning to look at people in the eyes and smile..and if possible..to greet everyone i touch in any way.
had an 8 hour discussion with a brother this week surrounding this question: is it sin to fail to respond? he did not, as i feel, believe it to be sin. i kind of tried to distill the essence of, the nature of non-response to make my point. he expressed that no one had the right to compel another to respond. i'm not sure he ever 'heard' me but i made it as clear as i knew how that compulsion was not what i had in view by asking the ?.
i asked if he thot that there was ever a time when God did not respond to us when we called to Him. He says, in one of a myriad of ways, call to Me AND I WILL SHOW YOU great and mighty things which you know not. so, if God keeps His word the answer would be yes HE ALWAYS RESPONDS..yes, no, not yet. if He does and we are to be imitators of God as beloved children, i would assume that means that anyone who claims to be God's child would have in their heart to respond.
i shared that response, evidently considered a little thing by many, is indicative of bigger things AS VIEWED BY GOD. Jesus said, 'he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.. (lk.16.10) if we can think of the biggest thing we feel that God would want us to do for Him, that thing must include and have as a precursor responding. if i can't respond..meaning that i am in circumstances that make response impossible that is one thing. if i feel i can't currently respond or that i am not able to(will not) respond then i need to make that known.
i also began to, as it were, 'blow up' non-response so as to aid in the investigation of it's essential nature (ie. what does non-response mean when it is given and what does it do when it is experienced? where does it reside on the good-evil continuum for the average person) ala : it is easy to disregard living human beings being ripped to pieces when they are incapable of making any noticable response and when this is done behind walls and doors out of sight...it is increasingly difficult to disregard more and more public and personally identifiable shredding of human bodies ie. watching your child (or someone supremely near and dear to your heart) screaming in terror and pain as their body is similarly destroyed in one's presence.
i began with, would it be acceptable to you if a total stranger you just met refused to respond when you talked to them? how would that feel? what would you think? how about an acquaintance? a close friend? your child or another close relative? what about your wife? up to the last, amazingly, he was able to maintain his position that 'i do not have the right to compel or expect another to respond to me' but that position crumbled and he said that it would not be acceptable and he would then seek to address it with a view to removing it from the relationship.
we discussed other factors. there are definitely instances where lack of response is appropriate. proverbs says, 'do not answer a man ACCORDING TO HIS FOLLY..(why?) lest you be like him', but that is not the normal nature of the interactions we experience.
i'm open to learn more and to grow in this area. possibly i'm missing something. but i would say that, given the amount of non-response (let alone abusive, non-encouraging response) that i regularly experience among other people who would claim to be God's children that there is a deep and very toxic anti-relational element in relationship...again as i experience. i often think of the proverb that talks about the rich person having many friends but the poor man running after, thru lack of response, even the members of his own family...so that needs to be factored in in my situation since i have little or nothing to offer that is attractive under the sun. yet, to me, this is an absolute crisis. it is no surprise that there is so little real relationship if the basics of relationship are not even practiced. another indication of this ubiquitous cancer is indicated by the fact that, across the board, 99% of 'relationship' that i experience is either totally superficial or me focusing on (asking questions, listening to) 'the other' in the relationship.
i make matters worse by having the temerity to, in certain cases, challenge 'the other' about their lack of response. the near universal response to this is lack of any response! and i would assume, on the part of 'the other', a moving even further away from real relationship where there is an ongoing MUTUAL concern and response. i view the reality of genuine, mutually-nourishing/chreishing relationship largely from the perspective of jeremiah. it seems it would not take much to puncture and deflate the thin skin of public civility (ie. public hypocrisy) to reveal the monstrosity that lurks..ubiquitous..beneath. he says, 'o Lord, Thou hast deceived me and i was deceived; Thou hast overcome me and prevailed. i have become a laughingstock all day long. everyone mocks me. for each time i speak, i cry aloud, i proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. but if i say, 'i will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones and i am weary of holding it in and i cannot endure it. for i hav heard the whispering of many, 'terror on every side! denounce him; yes, let us denouce him!' all my trusted friends, watching for my fall, say; 'perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him'. but the Lord is with me like a dread champion, therfore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail...' (20.7f)
my sense, possibly my congenital touch of paranoia, is that i do not dwell far from jeremiah's reality. were i to speak the truth in love more than i do, which is an inner compulsion i -to my shame - often supress, i would, in am convinced, live in his reality...there is only one person i do not consciously repond to immediately and that is doug, a man who now lives in a group home but who lived at 54 for 10 months. the distinct thot occurred to me a while back that i was treating him like i am so often treated. i decided to stop my lack of response for even though, to my perspective, calls to no real purpose and says trite, inane, ludicrous things...he is a mirror of how i evidently am perceived by others who i contact. God responds to me carefully, attentively, immediately..He ratchets it up! He is constantly with me, knowing everything about me. His thots toward me are multitudinous. how can i do less than respond to a fellow-inmate in this insane asylum called earth? all he seeks is at least a drop of water (to hear something beside the echo of his own voice) in this scorching desert we all trod.
it is monday evening. i have just typed for an hour finishing thots on response, above. today i got up and realized i had 'hit the wall' again and so have spent the day largely comatose, at the reading level. may You help me talk to You constantly did to Your father when You were here, in the constant press of need and ministry. this related thot from john wesley, i believe..be diligent. never be unemployed. never be triflingly employed. never trifle away time. never spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary.
in the paraphrased words of james taylor i am a hunk of steamin' junk and yet somehow You love me! thank You for Your love, Lord..so faithful and true.
am reading thru genesis in spanish and found a beauty in 1.18..that the sun, moon and stars were to sAnyOrer (a cognate of senor-mister..really master) over the day and the night. as i contemplated that along side of the spanish word used for 'Lord" (senor) it was a beautiful picture of the length and breadth, the bestowing nature of lordship. there's nothing gonna happen when all the lights go out, the breadth of lordship..the lights, on, bestow so much of what constitutes life. Lordship's giving and essentiality, in this picture, seem to almost cause Lordship's control and direction and command...just a very nourishing picture/truth to chew on.
sunday decided to pray in spanish during my quiet time. not as difficult as i had thot and a very real and special time of speaking to the Lord. so far i have written over 100 words in my little dictionary and i only write things that are new to me so i'm enthused so far to be inching forward in my understanding of spanish. my profesora and i locked horns on friday but had a very good session over all.
this week was led to examine whether or not i really am believing the promises of God. do i really believe that when i admit a wrong thot, word, deed, do i really believe (ie. experience) that You have forgiven and cleansed me from all unrighteousness.
the things i witness, and especially last week witnessed, in the slow-down-to-15-mph-as-you-pass-the-front-of-the-school zone are of the normal tragicomedy we call life here on earth. i won't get started but simply refer to an article by janiebchenny (or something like that) in the 9.26.09 edition of world mag where she posits what i have thot - that children these days are gods, that women especially have a virulent infection of this particular disease and that it, in part, is a direct result of the massive, one-third-of-a-generation abortions that have been chosen to tidy-up and enhance millions of women's lives. the zone out front is one of the places of worship of those who have survived.
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