Investigations and Ruminations

Why The Bible Still Applies - part 1

2009-10-05T13:03:00.005-06:00

People have presented arguments all different ways about the Bible questioning how it can apply in any way today. I've been asked why I should go by a book that's out of date, over 2000 years old; I've also been asked why we should go by a newer book like the Bible when more ancient religions were developed closer to creation itself.

The main reason the Bible still applies is that people are still the same. We require laws and consequences, we need guidelines on how to treat each other, and we need guidelines on how to set up a successful society. The specifics in the scripture don't apply to every society today but the principles they come from certainly do. Things like being required to help even an enemy get an ox out of a ditch may never be a situation you come across but helping someone get his car out of a ditch may. Though if you DO come across someone whose ox has fallen into a ditch, I can't imagine a reason you would not feel obligated to try and help.

Many have trouble when reading things like this:
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

I'm sure anyone in America or other western societies have a serious problem with this. But it's not like it seems now anyway. For one, we have to consider that Moses wrote it and it was applied to a lifestyle where an unmarried woman had no real recourse to anything but being cared for by some man. Instead of "taking" women and discarding them when they were tired of them, these men were taught that women must be taken care of one way or another.

The verses where a raped woman is required to be married to her attacker gives me the creeps but since a woman was considered ruined and would be left uncared for from then on, a man needed to think twice before raping someone. He doesn't get to just apologize or go to jail for a while then be done with it while the woman has been destroyed forever. He has to marry her and take care of her for the rest of his life. Yes, it's still a horrible nightmare for the woman but the only feasible best option is that no man rape a woman in the first place. Since that won't ever happen, this was a protection for women. Is it really so much better now that a woman has to pay taxes and support the man in jail? (I think yes to that, at least she doesn't have to see him again but it's better if he has to pay for all her therapy if she chooses it, pay to support her at least as long as she's too traumatized to work, etc. If a woman takes advantage of it, oh well, guess he'll know better next time. Scripture requires a man to provide for his victim.)

There are other issues, slavery for one. People are in slavery in the world now, don't know why people act like the bible specifically condones slavery, it merely addresses slavery. Being kidnapped and held as a sex slave wasn't the issue in the bible so the instructions for slaves and masters there don't apply; these are for a society where it's expected or at least accepted. And if we're all honest, we have to admit that there are people in America that would be better off as slaves than not - the ones who can't manage to care for themselves but don't mind being told exactly what to do because decisions are beyond them.

Health concerns are addressed as well, before anyone knew about germs, the Jews knew to use running water and how to make antibacterial soap (germ killing soap anyway, is there a difference?) Certain foods were to be avoided, pork for example. It's probably wise to continue to avoid these things, there may be other reasons than simply that they were unsafe in that area at that time due to lack of refrigeration and the swine diet. For some reason, people decided that following these health instructions made them not just healthy, but holy; that caused some trouble. Right in scripture it says that as long as you follow these laws, I will keep you from the diseases of the (surrounding peoples). Their good health was meant to be an indication of the power and glory of their God to the other people.

The only problem I can see about the OT is that when I AM gave a revelation or instruction to a prophet, people seemed to take everything that person said from then on as directly from the mouth of God. Perhaps they were meant to but only if the prophet refrained from ever speaking his own words as they were supposed to. Can you imagine how difficult that would be?

No Man Comes To The Father But By Me

2009-09-25T21:02:00.002-06:00

This seems obvious to many but the traditional way of looking at it doesn't work for me. We don't say this in English, at least not anymore. What did it mean then? The word "by" in this case, according to lexicons and such, means basically "by way of" or "through". That supports the usual view but what sense does it make?

We might say, "I met this guy through my work," or "To get an appointment with him, you'll have to go through his dragon of a secretary first." So we get to the Father through the Son? Almost makes sense but people had been able to communicate with the Father many years before Yeshua was born. Plus Yeshua said we were to pray directly to the Father.

Okay, maybe it's that I AM gave all authority to the son, we now are the son's problem to deal with and the Father told him he didn't want his son losing any of us. So now we supposedly can't get to the Father at all without the son introducing us? The son is supposed to make us presentable first, then we can go in? Maybe.

Even that has a problem though. Yeshua said, "No man comes to the Father..." not "no man is allowed in to see Him". We are only drawn to the Father by way of the son, that's the method He uses to call us. That would have nothing to do with imputed righteousness, sacrifice, none of the things I've been taught to believe it means. Since the son is "the way, the truth, and the life", he is the embodiment of life with the Father. I found the following at a place called christianspirituality.org:

One receives that Life by following the Way, the Way that He demonstrated and taught because He was the embodiment of the Way, He was the Word made flesh Who was the walking and living Human Example of the Way.

Those who met him were drawn to the Father because they saw the Almighty in him. We are to follow that same way and draw others to the Father because of the spirit in us - that's why the comforter, the holy spirit was sent after Yeshua died and rose again. How could we walk as he did, live as he did, drawing others to I AM without the same spirit that was in the Son? That's how we come to the Father "by" Jesus/Yeshua.

Faith and A Debt to the Awesome I AM

2009-09-18T07:45:00.002-06:00

Eric on SavageSoto has just posted about Grace THROUGH Faith, I love this guy's blog, thinking, faith...his picture gets to me every time, he's so young (maybe it's an old photo, who knows?). He's clear and articulate and quite persuasive. Even if I didn't agree with what he writes, I'm sure I'd be searching hard to figure out where and how exactly I disagreed. But the more I study and pray, the more I agree and appreciate his writing.

Faith comes from God in the first place, I discovered that long ago. It's never been our doing to "work up" faith - I know, I tried that. All those years of being told I should 'just believe' sent me that way, I tried but it made no sense. It felt like I was trying to believe what someone told me; doubt meant I wasn't sure whoever told me had it right, what did that have to do with God's worthiness to be trusted? On EliYah.com I read in a forum about the etymology and context of the Greek and Hebrew words which led me to realize it's not just a matter of turning off one's brain; often in the OT God said his people could trust him because he had shown them so. It was always up to him to show the people and/or reveal to their hearts and minds that he was trustworthy - only after that were they expected to remember just who they were talking to!

Reading Grace Through Faith today reminds me again how much of a reason there is to love God and be grateful - it always puts me in a good mood and changes my outlook to put my mind on God and not my circumstances. I started a different blog that is to explore how much I AM intervenes in our daily lives because often I don't like what's going on. Stepping back and looking at the overall big picture often makes a difference.

Eric also talks about universal reconciliation, something I discovered just a couple of years ago. I believe scripture supports this which means those 'called' now must have some purpose beyond just being picked out randomly. It may be simple, be the incarnation of the spirit of God so that all can see how wonderful life with him is. Christians have such a bad rep in so many places, I'm thinking we're missing something. It's HARD to focus on something other than one's own circumstances! When I meet someone who hates God, doesn't believe, is skeptical or totally indifferent, it makes me wonder, "Why did I AM reveal himself to me? Why do I get to see miracles, know his love, trust him? Why not him? Or her?" That usually makes me determined to be a personification of the spirit to everyone, it makes me want to go out and see as many people as possible so that they can feel I AM near.

He Is Who He Is No Matter What I Do Or Don't Understand

2009-08-09T20:02:00.002-06:00

Something I am so very glad for is that no matter how hard I try to figure out I AM/God and how he works, what exactly he is, and all that, it doesn't matter. If I never know, he's still who he is and I'm very glad about that.

No Entrecard? :- (

2009-08-09T19:57:00.003-06:00

I can sign in to entrecard, it says i'm logged in, all looks good but I can't drop any cards. It acts like I'm not signed in no matter what! Entrecard did send two replies to my emails but on their end it all looks fine and they figure I'm not signed in.

I'M NOT IGNORING PEOPLE, just to let you know. I like to drop cards, it helps me find sites I like and i can support them but it isn't working!!

On The Subject Of Prayer

2009-08-07T18:07:00.003-06:00

Some of my beliefs and thoughts are very strange, even to myself. I believe prayer is in part answered through our own brains/energy/something else like that. When we are connected to God, we have the power scripture tells us about. He doesn't have to "come down" or "reach down" and change our circumstances. I believe (maybe) that we are created in his image and therefore are already set up to accomplish the needful things.

It struck me that always asking for the Father to fix things for us is a bit lazy. I even wrote a Hub about it: In The Image Of YHWH because totally trusting I AM is not the same as refusing to do anything but wait. Good works are prepared and waiting for US. We have already been equipped. Even if this means others can do some of the same things doesn't take away from the fact that the power and ability to do so came from the Almighty in the first place - others just don't give credit where credit is due. There are stories of great things happening when no one was praying about it and things that didn't happen when someone was praying.

Perhaps it's true that many times it's just the Father saying no, not yet; perhaps it's a test or a needed character-building trial; perhaps those involved didn't have enough faith. But faith comes from I AM in the first place, it's not like we can 'decide to go get some more'. I considered that our minds can heal our bodies or contribute to the healing of others by knowing more specifically what needs to be done, like how this disease works or how certain body organs need to function so that we can focus on that. And it seems to be true to a small degree. But that leaves a lot of healings and lack of healings unexplained! Really, my major experiences come when I freely admit to the Almighty that I'm clueless, he's not, please do whatever is best. Is that a lack of faith? Is that the same as saying, You didn't tell me what to do so I'll just sit here and let you do whatever'? Should I be so connected to him that his spirit flows through me and I know what comes next? Hard to say.

Fascinated By The Human Brain

2009-05-24T22:17:00.003-06:00

Behavioral biology, race and sex differences and non-differences, religion/spirituality, intelligence, morals, sanity/insanity, normal/abnormal - all these are subjects of great interest to me. They all involve neurobiology.

I read several reviews of a book I've got from the library called The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett. Truly I should probably quit reading so many reviews before reading the work, it often feels as if I no longer need to read the book! So far I'm disappointed to see that there is likely no specific discussion of neurobiological findings that correlate or not to the culturally induced differences in perception and thought between Asians and Westerners studied in this book. The whole reason I wanted to read this book was to find out if there are such differences and if so, are they genetic or environmental? Do the cultures actually change the physical brain? Now it seems that the focus is simply that culture 'determines' perception to a great extent - wasn't that always obvious?
Still, the first chapter brings up the question of the concept of free will so now I have to read it anyway.

The reviews of this book referred to another book that I definitely want to read - Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. This one addresses the fears of many that acknowledging genetic differences give rise to a justification of discrimination. I believe it also considers the opposite, that these differences will be used to excuse behaviors by saying "he couldn't help it, he's just made that way."

These two books will tie in quite well with the lecture series Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality that I just finished (watching, not writing, they're by Robert Sapolsky). Sapolsky teaches that the findings are showing experience literally changes the brain physically and chemically; then the behavioral outcome affects the environment of oneself and others which once again, changes or reinforces the brain's working. Fascinating!

I've wondered for a long time, since I've had children at least, how much one's innate traits can be directed. For example, a ... never mind, next post, it's late.

More expanded

2009-05-23T10:39:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I started reading The Da Vinci Code and found all this male/female stuff in it! I figured there was more to the story (the whole 'females are lesser to I AM" nonsense) but an actual conspiracy? It's always difficult in fiction to know what's true and what's based on fact but not actually true. That's all right, research never hurt me so far!

------------------
It's an interesting book but I don't see any particular need for research. I loved all that about the treasure hunts (I did a lot of those with my children and they had to break codes, great fun!), the codex (I found one of these before and wanted to buy one for one of my boys; at $400 though I couldn't justify it), mystery and intrigue, religion, etc., very interesting. But it's fiction after all, many points raised are probably worth pursuing but it's not something I care that much about. I certainly don't care about someone's bones, holy relics, etc. True interaction with the HOLY ONE is what matters, that's where truth comes from.

The Da Vinci Code wasn't as complex as I had expected from all the hype, especially since I recently finished a book called The Rule Of Four, same sort of religious/political intrigue that involved ancient cryptology and such, but way more complicated. I'm glad I read them both.

Faithfulness not just 'blind faith'

2009-05-22T22:22:00.004-06:00

It seems to be standard practice to consider 'coming to and being accepted by the Almighty' as a very easy, one-step thing. Faith in Jesus is all that's required. But since scripture says the faith OF Jesus, is that different? His faith somehow imputed to us, placed in us? Or faith of a similar magnitude?

What if it's true that the word was actually faithfulness? The same faithfulness displayed by Yeshua is required of us? Not so simple then. That would make sense of knowing that so many 'pray the prayer' but nothing in them changes. It would also help explain why some do change even while doubting since this faithfulness is a gift from I AM in the first place.

Musings

2009-05-22T13:41:00.002-06:00

I'm thinking there's too much anthropomorphism of God; God is spirit not a man. I AM fits better than God because God is from a word meaning "mighty one" or "mighty ones" and applies to more than the Almighty. I can understand I AM much better because as a concept those words encompass so much more than a god like one of the gods of Mt. Olympus or something. I AM is definitely 'something' outside of ourselves, but something/someone that we can interact with. (Saying 'something', and 'it' feels totally disrespectful but I certainly can't say 'He'; that disregards all the feminine aspects of being, isn't that even more disrespectful? Like saying half of I AM isn't worth our consideration...)

The Bible is a record of people's interaction with I AM and how they understood it. I haven't figured out how the Israelites are supposed to be an example since they failed miserably according to all the bible. Later there was a new covenant made with them where I AM wrote all spiritual laws on their hearts, meaning that these laws would be 'followed' naturally. They wouldn't keep a list of laws, they would do these things because the spirit in them naturally behaves in that way. This is the covenant non-Israelites are 'allowed' into as well, though gentiles were always accepted if they became "Jews".

Complete Human

2009-05-06T19:28:00.002-06:00

I wonder how much the whole X and Y chromosome business has to do with the story of Adam dividing into his male and female components?

THE NOTICER by Andy Andrews

2009-04-27T09:16:00.001-06:00

The Noticer is a GREAT book!
The character after whom the book is named - the Noticer - is a man named Jones, an otherworldly type of guy who shows up in people's lives with more knowledge than he should have about them. Even as they worry that this very old man who is a total stranger to them has their personal, intimate information, they find themselves drawn to him strongly. Everyone who meets the old man is eager to hear more of the words of wisdom he offers - wisdom that helps them make drastic changes in their lives just when they knew no hope was left. In the words of Jones himself: “I notice things about situations and people that produce perspective. That’s what most folks lack—perspective—a broader view. So I give them that broader view . . . and it allows them to regroup, take a breath, and begin their lives again.”

Andy Andrews, the author of The Noticer, also wrote The Traveler's Gift; I enjoyed The Noticer so much that I'm definitely planning to get his previous book!

The Noticer reminds me of a book by Jake Colsen called So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore, another book very worth reading. They both seem too simplistic in a way at first; they explain what seems obvious to apparently not-too-bright characters in the story. However, it's actually quite effective - upset people are people who need a new perspective on their situation and the man Jones in The Noticer makes it easy to accept. What seems at times obvious isn't necessarily so obvious when you think about it a little deeper and continue to consider it in light of one's own (as the reader) life situations.

Once again, this is a very worthwhile book in my opinion. You can take a look for yourself here:
The Noticer by Andy Andrews at brb.thomasnelson.com.

More Laughs!

2009-04-16T14:15:00.002-06:00

Another John Ortberg book, IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER, YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT, it's one I've seen around for a while and finally bought. I truly enjoy his humor!

God called Moses: Go to Pharaoh--the most powerful man on earth. Tell him to let his labor force leave without compensation to worship a god he doesn't believe in. Then convince a timid, stiff-necked people to run away into the desert. That's your calling.
And Moses said: Here am I. Send Aaron.

Intended For Growth

2009-04-15T15:16:00.002-06:00

Once again, I'm pretty sure the Bible was written for the most part by men given a message by the spirit of I AM, then wrote more that felt like obvious common sense according to what they knew and understood. I'm not sure it all makes sense here and now...different culture, different geography, different time, different understanding. That's why we need the principles and not necessarily the specifics; however, one problem with that is that many of the specifics still produce the intended results when combined with the spirit in us. If the Israelites couldn't manage to understand the principles and live them even after YHWH showed them how it would all look specifically in every situation, why do we think we can extract principles without them? It must have all been to show us we were never going to "get it" without His spirit in us, transformed into what we were intended to be but whined about. Really, it's a lot easier to just live without bothering to grow in any way.

Deal-Maker as opposed to Deal-Breaker

2009-03-31T17:38:00.002-06:00

Many people think our job is to get our afterlife destination taken care of then tread water till we all get ejected and God comes back and torches this place.

...we ended up with over a thousand people from our church - and thirty sorority sisters. This meant that scores of single young males suddenly felt God prompting them to serve also.

Regarding Job when wishing he had never been born: He requests "May those who curse days curse that day." (He doesn't tell us who 'those who curse days' are; it seems like a limited profession.)

Lines like these are deal-makers for me, these came from a book called God Is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg. It's full of meaningful spiritual insights AND it keeps making me laugh! It's about the fourth time I've read it, I was going to say I bought it about five years ago but it's publication date is 2005 and it's only 2009 now...

Atonement

2009-03-22T13:01:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been studying different views on The Atonement. There are so many problems with any view, most notably to me is the problem of human sacrifice. That's condemned in the Bible so why is it considered the best thing that ever happened for us? Something wrong there.

Then there's the issue of imputed guilt, something else scripture condemns - the punishment of an innocent man instead of the guilty. He became sin who knew no sin - is that from scripture or just a song? It is in the Bible but maybe not phrased that way exactly. It doesn't say he took our guilt, it says he became sin.

Then the sacrifice part, he made the sacrifice instead of being sacrificed, it's said. But Isaiah writes "it pleased YHWH to bruise him...", that it was asked of him. That IS different from requiring it.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin - that means it wasn't paying a debt; remission is forgiving. If you forgive someone of their debt, that means you don't require its payment.
Still a very confusing subject to me, I think it has way more to do with Yeshua's LIFE. Still, I will celebrate on Passover!

Ineffable God

2009-03-14T14:58:00.003-06:00

This is it, this is all I ever wanted to say, I KNEW someone else knew what I mean (and said it way long ago).

Excerpt from John Hick's site - John Hick:

But Dionysius ... makes the divine ineffability central and begins at least to struggle with its implications. In his central work, The Mystical Theology, he says in every way he can think of that God is utterly and totally transcategorial. God is ‘indescribable’, ‘beyond all being and knowledge’. God, the ultimate One, is ‘not soul or mind, nor does it possess imagination, conviction, speech, or understanding. . . It cannot be spoken of and it cannot be grasped by understanding . . It does not live nor is it life. It is not a substance, nor is it eternity or time. It cannot be grasped by the understanding . . It is neither one nor oneness, divinity nor goodness . . It is not sonship or fatherhood . . There is no speaking of it, nor name nor knowledge of it . . It is beyond assertion and denial’.

And Hick's commentary on the quoted passage:

This last statement, that that to which the term ‘God’ refers is beyond assertion and denial is crucial. For (Denys) is not simply doing negative theology, saying that God does not have this or that attribute but, much more radically, that our entire range of attribute-concepts do not apply to God at all, either positively or negatively. To apply them to God in God’s ultimacy is, in modern philosophical terms, a category mistake. To say, for example, that molecules are not stupid, although true, is misleading because it assumes that molecules are the sort of thing of which it makes sense to say that they are either stupid or not stupid. And to say that God is not ‘one nor oneness, divinity nor goodness’, although true would likewise, by itself, be deeply misleading because it assumes that God is the kind of reality to which such qualities could be rightly or wrongly attributed. We have to take on board the much more radical concept of a reality which is what it is, but whose nature lies beyond the scope of our conceptual and linguistic systems. When we speak about such a reality we are not, then, speaking about it as it is in itself, totally beyond the range of our comprehension, but about its impact upon us, the difference that it makes within the realm of human experience, to which our concepts and hence our languages do apply.

Blog Stop

2009-02-09T21:01:00.002-07:00

I'm dropping entrecard and blogging for a while at least. What I'm hoping to do is to have more time to follow and read the blogs and comment instead. I hope I can still do that without having a blog of my own! Besides, having two babies to care for again is a big change.

Good Reading, Had To Link It

2009-02-04T21:10:00.002-07:00

I just had to link to this, over on ChurchBlog, he says:

If we could glimpse Heaven's accounting ledger, I wonder what it would say about the return this generation was able to harvest in relation to the resources that were given to it?

And then this whole post of his: I Had An Acts 28 Moment.

No Immortality For The Wicked

2009-01-30T03:45:00.002-07:00

Luke 14:26-33 discusses the cost of being a disciple of Jesus, verse 28 is:

28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

This never made sense in light of the idea that YHWH will torture people throughout eternity for not following the Son! "Flee from the wrath to come does", but not an admonition to count the cost before we accept him.

Immortality is existing, living, forever. An eternity of torture is still immortality and immortality is only given to followers. The wicked are burned up, destroyed, no longer existing, dead, not alive and screaming in agony forever!

All Safe Now

2009-01-27T22:56:00.002-07:00

We have the babies!

Would You Die To Find The Truth? Review of Ted Dekker's Book "Kiss"

2009-01-27T08:26:00.004-07:00

Ted Dekker's book Kiss frustrated me! The story is of a woman (Shauna) who was in a coma for weeks after a car wreck and dealing with amnesia, then faces strange repercussions that she doesn't understand. People are furious at her and blaming her for the accident. She accepts that though she doesn't understand how she could have done what they said she did; it's claimed she was doing drugs. She had never been a drug user but for some reason believes it, that annoyed me. Of course, she has lost six months of memories and is totally disoriented. People around her are lying about so many things, she just gets more and more confused.
The problems worsen when she starts to remember things that don't fit, especially when people start dying! Then she has memories that she finally realizes are not her own. Now she has people trying to ensure she doesn't remember the truth because of their culpability, others that are trying to protect themselves, some are trying to protect her. What frustrated me were all the instances when people gave her cryptic hints and answers to her questions, I wanted to say, Just SAY it already!
Another annoying part is that the christian faith angle of the story, something I always expect in Dekker's books, seemed to be missing for the most part. It seemed that a couple of christian references were "thrown in" to be sure they were included but really had nothing to do with anything. That actually would fit into the storyline, the woman had lost any faith years ago and only occasionally considered what her mother had taught her so many years before, only occasionally did she mourn the loss of the comfort she remembered from childhood.
I suppose one thing we're supposed to consider is how much we are or are not willing to use others for our own needs. Shauna was "taking" memories from people - she could actually access a memory from someone else which was then no longer in their own memory. There were things she needed to know to save her own life but she constantly had to fight with herself to decide if it's right to steal them from someone else.
This book did not leave me feeling as if I had been shown something profound but it was a good fiction story. According to the cover, the point is "Is dying for the truth better than living with a lie?" That idea is interwoven throughout the story and is the main thought we are to ponder. Perhaps I mostly missed that because it doesn't occur to me to just accept what I know is a lie because it's safer. Would I do that if I really was facing death for truth?

Still Good Advice - Be The Change...

2009-01-25T20:58:00.006-07:00

This post is probably why I have the blog site Woo-Woo Wisdom saved in my favorites. The post is old, from October, and the author is planning not to even blog anymore but I really like this post. It reminds me of the saying to be the change you want to see.
It's here: Providing Value To The World. Here's one line I particularly enjoyed reading:

When you are being peace regardless of what activity
you are doing, you can bring peace to the world.

And I definitely want to check into this research:

Research has demonstrated that crime rates and accidents decrease when even a small percentage of the population of an area meditates (the Maharishi Effect).
Who did the research, what were the parameters, what was being tested, etc. I almost always enjoy reading results of research into spiritual effects and neurobiology.

Hard To Say

2009-01-24T05:04:00.002-07:00

The plot thickens - baby D did not escape or wander out on his own. He was found with his jacket zipped up and proper boots on. He can't even reliably put his jacket on and he certainly can't zip it himself. He was wearing his own boots, if he had dressed himself, he would have had bright pink boots on because his sister's boots are big and loose and he can put those on by himself. That would have been a sight, wouldn't it?
The police do seem to have tried to be the heroes and rescue him. Stories from the mom, the babysitter, and the police don't match up very well, and little A isn't talking. We still don't quite understand why my son is required to wait for a judge to give permission for him to get his own son, he isn't even allowed to see him. They're admitting it's not normal routine, that my son normally could get him but that since he didn't know about the baby missing until the mother called us several hours later, it's "too late".
It seems an obvious no-brainer that we should have laws that protect children from "bad" parents but how far does that go? It seems the default is that children belong to the government and that's TOO far. I'm trying to think what it was like when children had no government protection, it was horrible but is it really better now? It seems it must be but I'm not sure, I've known so many abused children, what have all these laws really done? Why did we give the children over to the state again?

This World's Government

2009-01-23T16:39:00.002-07:00

In the previous post, I meant to link this from Daffodils and Dragonflies because it's along the same lines really. How much of our lives is our government supposed to control? So many people yell "Wake Up America" as if we are ignoring the signs but even when we see them, what are we supposed to do? The media certainly isn't giving objective facts, where shall we get our information? I know there has been a lot more I could have done and still be doing to determine the best person for political positions but I don't see that any of the 'facts' put out are true anyway. We aren't given the choice in many situations - how many of our current laws did we actually agree to?

Does The State Own Our Babies?!

2009-01-23T12:16:00.006-07:00

There's a guy on Eliyah.com who writes about the legal aspects of a marriage contract in the U.S. I believe he's the one who mentioned that there is a difference between marrying with only you, your spouse, and YHWH and marrying with the legal sanction of the state. It makes marriage a contract that gives rights to children ("Fruit of the contract", is it really the word fruit?) to the state.
Baby D, my grandson, just got taken last night from his mother by the state and 'they' refuse to return him. He got out of a babysitter's house and wandered away. After several hours he was found so he's apparently safe but what happened to police rescuing a lost baby and being heroes for returning the baby to a hysterical mother?! Instead some government bureaucracy claims the "right" to keep the baby and determine if she's good enough to have her baby???
And my son isn't allowed to go get him either until a judge gives permission??!!! Why was my son not immediately called if 'they' didn't want to give him to his mother? And who said anyone has a right to keep him from Mommy in the first place??
Did our heavenly father bless governments with littles or us?

After this, I clicked on the Faith Lifts button to the left on my blog and read:
“I have not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love…” 2 Timothy 1:7

All Jews By The End

2009-01-22T17:56:00.004-07:00

As a small part of a discussion with Tom Usher on Real Liberal Christian, I quoted the verse about being grafted into Israel - all the covenants are made with Israel and we become 'children of Abraham' and heir to the promises of the covenant as well. Tom disagreed that we are to become part of Israel, many others take that to mean spiritually because we're not necessarily physical descendants and because scripture tells us that's not the sole criterion.

BUT

Isn't it likely after all the "Jewish" persecutions and dispersions, scattering, emigrations and immigrations, that we all by the last days will have Jewish blood in our line somewhere?

Bad Link?

2009-01-22T06:46:00.003-07:00

Someone told me my site links to youtube by itself, is anyone else having that problem? I don't know how something like that can happen, he said the whole background seems to be linked to youtube and that it's from JavaScript cursor. I don't know what a JavaScript cursor is but I'm afraid to put any links to other sites on here now. I was going to try to link some sites I read but I don't want to pass on any problems. The only new thing is the link to Faith Lifts, it's likely I did something wrong.
I DID go to youtube and watch videos after being inspired by a site with Saturday Songs (Casting Crowns, Kutless, etc), also when my friend was over, we watched country videos that she likes plus an Animaniac song that the kids liked. Now I can't get the Animaniacs song out of my head!
Anyway, I will try to figure this out.

Questions About The Kingdom

2009-01-19T20:28:00.006-07:00

“Malchut” is the Hebrew term for kingdom and kingship reign. The Sages of the faith compare the kingdom to the Shekinah, the glorious manifest presence of Yahweh. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says this word means “a rule; concretely a dominion: —empire, kingdom, realm, reign, royal, inceptively to ascend the throne...” It can be seen as the active rule and reign of Yahweh. The Malchut is not a place but a status; it is not a time but a rule, not for the future and political but present and powerful. “Who is the king of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh Tzvaoth,” Psalm 24:8.

This is from Emet Ministries and reading through the rest of it (you have to scroll way down) shows that it's supporting a view of the kingdom of Yahweh being right now. It says the kingdom is manifested where ever people submit to his rule in their lives here and now on earth as well as in the future afterlife. Yeshua did say the kingdom is (among?) you.
This reminds me of Ted Dekker's book, Blessed Child, about a child who walked in the presence of the Almighty just like Yeshua did, just as we are called to do. I really liked that book, I'm about to receive, read, and review another one of Dekker's books so it's on my mind.
Anyway, it's difficult to believe that the kingdom even CAN be here now but I guess I've seen it. It's hard to imagine living that way all the time, your perspective on people, love, life, everything is so different. It shouldn't feel so foreign and frightening, it's not frightening at all while you're in it. It's the looking back from a normal perspective that makes it so overwhelming. We really do have to die to the flesh for it to be with us.

Do you think it's meant for now and later? Or only for later? How do we live that way in this world now? But we can, it's just that it's not about morals and being loving to people when we don't want to. It's the spirit being in us and that's so different! It's not about "trusting" that He will provide what I need, it's not even about accepting it when for some reason He doesn't. It's about Him being so close that everything else is irrelevant.

Links and Widgets?

2009-01-16T22:30:00.005-07:00

I want to put links on my blog to other blogs but I want to use their widgets instead of just words. I saw Adgitize discussed on a couple of sites, perhaps that's how? Social networking, right?

All I really want is to quickly and easily access blogs whose most recent posts I want to keep up with. If I find a way to do that, will it be rude if I only leave them on for short periods of time? I may follow a discussion on someone's blog for a while, then find another when that's over. So far, I keep them in my favorites or have email sent but then I forget to go to them again or just TOTALLY LOSE THEM, that's why I need widgets right on my blog. I like widgets.

EDITED: This looks simple, don't know if it will work but I can do the changes right from my layout. I've tried a couple of things before that didn't work but if I keep this blog, I'll try again.

What We Believe or THAT We Believe?

2009-01-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Faith - Belief, maybe it's more for us than we really know. It's better for our health, our relationships, our lives. Sometimes I can't tell if it's more important what we believe IN or the having of belief and hope. No brainer, right? But what about 'better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all'? Is that true? Different for each of us?
We can believe people and the world is horrible, plenty of evidence to support it, but does that help anything? We can believe our heavenly father is watching over us and doing all for our good but when everything goes bad, does that mean it would have been better to have never believed it? I want to only believe things that are true...but I don't have all the facts that exist.

A few days ago I read a book I picked up from a used bookstore, it's called Mortal Memory by Thomas Cook. The story is about a man who was the sole survivor of his father's murder spree of his own family; evidence showed the dad had waited for two hours for the main character (a little boy at the time) to come home from school. The boy was spending the afternoon at a friend's house and that was what apparently saved his life. But what kind of life? He grew up, married, had a child, lived a normal life until some woman writing a book on family killers that tried to escape instead of making it a murder-suicide showed up with questions. She ended up taking this guy back into this horrifying memories until the guy started going crazy himself. His fury and hatred of what had been done to him and the strangeness and also the normalness of his childhood was always run through this defining trauma.

Nothing about that is strange but the way it turned out made me really think. Once the man started living in the past and constantly reviewing these memories, he started seeing his current life and family differently, started feeling like his father must have felt. It was hard to tell if he was going to do the same thing, if he had been part of it as a child or what.
It was sad to see him looking at his life so differently as he was led into deeply considering how his father could do such a thing, made me want that woman author to go away and leave him alone! And then the real shocker was: his father hadn't done it after all.

This man spent all this time thinking he had started feeling what his father had apparently felt, believing he had no real hope in life either, let his life fall apart and lost everything...for nothing. It was all because of what the situation looked like to the police and the extended family and therefore what the little boy grew up believing.

At The Mercy Of A Whimsical God?

2009-01-14T08:24:00.005-07:00

At Sharpening Iron, back on Dec. 3, he asked if we would still have faith if hideous things were happening, like being attacked by soldiers and tortured, watching our family be slaughtered. Faith that what? That God would intervene? He doesn't always. I haven't seen that our having faith forces God's hand. He isn't "up there" looking down and seeing people with immense faith and saying, "Oh, he believes entirely that I will fix this for him, I'd better run over and take care of that."

What are we having faith about? Faith in?

That He exists? Scripture says 'even the demons believe, and tremble'. Faith that all will work for our good? 'In this life you will have trouble'. Faith that He loves us? The Bible says yes, but how is that relevant to our daily lives?

He's working out a plan (a science experiment?) with people and the earth, I can easily see that this plan encompasses the overall good of the human race. Even if now what we see is how things work out when YHWH is NOT making us all do things His way, it's understandable that we will look at the earth and ourselves at the end, then be shown what would be (or currently IS in a parallel universe? I just saw a new article about that in Scientific American) if He had been micromanaging. I realize that we are seeing the contrast but what does that mean for us now?

No, it's not whimsy perhaps, but do we really have to do this?

Psychological Analysis of Messiah

2009-01-13T13:04:00.005-07:00

Think and Make It Happen by Augusto Cury is basically a self-help book with a slight twist. It includes something I've never seen before - a psychological analysis of Jesus - brilliant idea I think.
Cury offers twelve steps/techniques to take charge of your thoughts, putting yourself on the stage of your life instead of in the audience watching and just letting your life happen. He brings his own unique psychobabble to the book but he does explain what he means; one idea is "editing your memory windows". He points out that our negative experiences are constantly dredged up - triggered in a myriad of ways - which leads to reacting the same unhelpful way over and over because of the negative spin we put on each new situation. He shows how to recognize that happening, then what steps can be taken to edit that memory or at least edit the effect it currently has on one.
After each step, he shows Jesus as the model of living out these practices, demonstrating that Jesus was the most psychologically healthy man to ever live. Cury examines Jesus' way of dealing with horrible situations, his way of dealing with praise and acclaim, and how he deals with, helped, and encouraged others. Cury's steps are explanations of what Jesus did and how that will look in our lives now, how it can be applied practically. Loving one's neighbor for example, something we hear we should do - Cury discusses not what to do to be loving, but how that comes about internally.
This book comes across to me as a blueprint for working with the renewed spirit the Father gives us instead of concentrating only on constantly fighting our selfish nature. He advocates positive action and response as opposed to instinctual reaction.

Should Have Done This By Now

2009-01-12T16:06:00.006-07:00

By now I should have posted my book review on Think and Make It Happen; it's hard to decide what to write. Parts of it I felt I was slogging through, other parts were brilliant! I meant to take notes as i went through it so that I could remember to post certain points but then I never did - I just kept reading and thought I would come back to it. Time to truly do it for real now.

Some reviewers have hated the way this author psychoanalyzed Jesus' human self, I find it incredible. Another thing about it is that I was expecting the subject to be less of a self-help for attitudes and one's mental life than it was. That's what it SAYS it is right on the cover but I was thinking more along the lines of a study on changing things outside of oneself. I'll post the review in a little while, it really can be quite a helpful book.

LOL!

2009-01-09T19:38:00.005-07:00

This is great!
I read a post from December 18th on irritablereaching.blogspot.com about Christmas. He/she says:

"One way or another, however, we are barraged with diatribes berating us for forgetting the "reason for the season."
The part I totally love? His or Her next sentence:

The real reason for the season, however, is that it's so damn dark.

LOL!!!!

Truth and Reality - ALL AS ONE

2009-01-08T21:15:00.006-07:00

Often I'm comforted to know that my belief, disbelief, certainty, doubts have nothing to do with what is true and real. I may feel it's urgent to know exactly what truth and reality are but don't have to worry that I can somehow screw it up.

BUT THEN

I realize humans may create reality. We affect things by our actions and likely by our thoughts. Our unity or disunity may increase or disrupt reality.

Do we affect our own reality or REALITY? We're exhorted to be as one, in unity, one in Christ, one with I AM as Yeshua is one with him. Perhaps when we manage that (will that ever happen?!), that is when reality that is truly real will be here.

Edited To Finish

2009-01-06T12:07:00.002-07:00

So far I don't see anyone but Paul saying to quit following the laws given in the OT. Some of the laws don't make sense now because we don't live in a desert, tribal culture. That makes it seem that they don't apply at all but Jesus followed them. He fulfilled all the requirements and told us to do the same and more. More?! But that's what he said, that he was out of time but his followers should be doing greater things than he did.

It's difficult to separate the things that were actually commanded from the things that were set up in the religion that just made it more difficult. Like Jesus not ceremonially washing his hands before he ate (I have to add ceremonially because thinking he just didn't wash his hands at all seems rather gross, but the ceremony was the part he objected to); was there a commandment in the OT for everyone to go through some ceremony like that? And the sabbath, he kept the sabbath obviously but he refused to do all the heartless religious soul-sapping parts that were expected by then. Healing and doing good on the sabbath, was that ever proscribed before?

The OT law was given to show what a life of love for YHWH looked like and a love for your neighbor (fellow man/woman). I can easily see how people could start "doing the law" instead of letting it be the guideline and proof it was set up to be.

Edit - Studying Paul and doing word studies show he wasn't "authorizing" such a radical rewriting of God's laws anyway.
Something else I always think of is, if someone now is given a wonderful revelation, we tell everyone what we were shown, does that suddenly mean that every thought we have and every word we speak from then on comes directly from YHWH? No. So why do we do that to Paul?

Is This What He's Doing?

2009-01-05T19:43:00.006-07:00

The Bible is a crazy book. Sometimes I see it as people writing things they saw and understood through their perspective and current knowledge. Some parts are direct revelation.

Some parts seem to be directly from the Creator saying, Look people, this is how to do it if you want your individual lives to be right, your society to work well, the entire human race to function properly.

Then when people didn't listen, he said, Fine, try it like this but at least always remember this, and don't EVER do this.

Then he got to, You insist on doing it all a different way than I told you? I've warned you, I've shown you, but all right, try it. And in the end when you realize where it led, I'll be here to fix things for you but you realize, don't you, that I'm going to let you get so far that there's NO DOUBT left what the problem was. Because I will rescue you, yes, then show you again how it was supposed to be. You'll look at what you did, look over here where I had it all set up like I told you, and the difference is just so obvious.

Maybe that will knock some sense into you!

Personal and Progressive Revelation; too theological a name for this post

2009-01-01T11:41:00.011-07:00

I was just commenting on a blog but had to stop. I was getting way off track of the original conversation because I realized something. Loving people has always been hard for me, for everyone I suppose, are people "worth" love? Seeing people's self-centeredness, rudeness, cruelty, indifference, lack of the hallmarks that are what supposedly makes us human, makes it really hard to see the good. Why are we told to concentrate on the good?

A few blogs and forums are out there by people who used to believe and now don't. I can totally understand that, when you devote your whole life and being to something and then can't reconcile it to reality, what can you do? It's like freeing yourself from shackles (not that I've ever been shackled), from "working up faith to continue". When I was commenting, I remembered like I was re-living when I AM showed me. "He" was there, here, WITH me. Not in some soft little way, he was EVERYWHERE AND EVERYTHING. If He doesn't do that to/for everyone, how can they know anything?! I've been so scared to experience anything like that ever again but I know that's the whole point. And that's what I realized when I had to leave that blog I was reading.
I understand yet another reason to love people because of those experiences I had. Not just for their sake but for our own! Because:

You have to be wide open to other people when the Spirit of the Holy comes in you strongly or you will explode!

==========
Even more, now I understand what scripture meant when it said "For in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily." Same thing, Jesus was so open to loving others that the spirit flowed into and through him to everyone. Then it says we're made full that same way, kind of scary. We ARE made full or we CAN be?

Death and Resurrection

2009-01-01T08:25:00.004-07:00

There's something I don't understand. On Real Liberal Christian Church, there's a debate (not too friendly) between the host and a Roman Catholic man. One thing the RC man said to me was that RCs do NOT pray to Mary in the way others think of praying - that it's asking her for intercession with the Father. This was in response to my saying I've heard people pray TO Mary. So perhaps the official doctrine is not the same as people do but people do pray to her, asking her to save them from peril, etc.
What I don't understand is praying to dead people in the first place or asking them to intercede for you. If we're supposed to believe the dead saints are alive now then why are they waiting for the Resurrection? Why would there BE a resurrection? All through the Old Testament it's made quite clear that the dead are DEAD.
The New Testament tells of Yeshua saying, "I say unto you today you shall be with me in paradise," to another man on a cross next to him. No comma so where does the today go? Then there's “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.” (II Thessalonians 4:15) Also, the dead in Christ rise first.

It comforts many to think of those they've lost in this life in heaven with Yeshua now. But scripture doesn't say that, they're peacefully "sleeping", it's not a long terrible time for them. The next moment they know will be the resurrection. Besides, Yeshua saying "today" must go to "I say to you" (Old English, I need to check the Hebrew but of course, there was no punctuation anyway) because he didn't go to paradise that day! He was dead and when he DID ascend, first he saw the woman and told her not to touch him because he had not yet ascended to His Father.

All the crucifixion and resurrection accounts differ, some I assume because of what people saw from where they were positioned. But what about the righteous dead coming out of their graves and appearing to many? That's listed nowhere else and it would have meant Jesus was NOT the first resurrected from the dead and therefore not the firstfruits as he is. I also wonder why nobody recognized him - if he was so different, why? They recognized something about him after being with him, was he disguised?

Surprise Christmas after all

2008-12-29T00:20:00.006-07:00

It's difficult to not celebrate Christmas
when people think you're only not doing it
because you're too poor.

At 1:30 a.m. on December 24th, there was a horrendous banging on our door; when we finally opened the door we found boxes of food and a giant black bag full of gifts! There is no one who should have thought of doing that that I know of and my friend insists she has no idea about any of it, no knowledge, nothing. It was from the Mormon church I think. The food was welcome, yes, but it was just so odd. The kids were happy of course, it was fun.
I read on a blog that someone wrote, "We're not celebrating his birthday, we're celebrating his BIRTH." Nice point. Still I can't get past the command that says not to take the ways of the heathens and worship our God that way.

Deuteronomy 12:30 beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?' (NASB ©1995)

Leviticus 18:3 'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

Leviticus 20:23 'Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.

Substitution? Example?

2008-12-23T20:13:00.003-07:00

Something else I've wondered is how is it that Yeshua's death is a substitute death? Scripture says no man can pay the price for another (2 Chronicles 25), so... isn't it his LIFE that is accounted? We do still have to die after all, die daily to ourselves. Wasn't his death the physical demonstration of what we have to do?
Yet, scripture also says he died FOR us. He accepted the guilt of every sin ever committed when the Father laid it on him and he took the punishment of death. Here is where the analogies come in and start getting confused; when we become part of the body of Christ, death is in our past, we have died because of sin since he did. The confusion is calling ourselves the "bride of Christ", are we part of him or a bride? It's not literal so no big deal really. A wife and husband are "one" too, like Yeshua is with the Father and like we are to be with them both, so I guess it still would work. Not confusing after all.

YHWH = ?

2008-12-23T19:51:00.002-07:00

YHWH can't be directly translated as I AM. Someone told me that in Hebrew, I am is eimi. I think. Something like that anyway. It's just that there was a Hebrew tradition not to pronounce the holy name, they put a "gate" around it so that no one would inadvertently sin. How then could someone respond if asked, "Are you John, the one who these people were looking for?" They couldn't say, "Yes, I am." So what does it really translate to?
That's another reason I think it's odd that people claim Yeshua claimed to be the Almighty by saying I am when asked if he is the Messiah. He said I am. And? How does that mean anything but that he is the Son of God, the Messiah, the one who was promised? Did he say, "Yahweh"? If so, what would that have meant?

Are you the promised one?
Yahweh.
?

Being Perfect

2008-12-21T09:47:00.005-07:00

Scripture tells us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Yet the first response is always, "Well, we can't really be perfect, no one can. Only Yeshua was." What would it be if we told our children to behave as we have taught them and we heard them talking to each other, saying, "We can't really behave like they told us to. Don't worry, they didn't mean it. They don't truly expect us to do what we've been told. That's only possible when we're grown up."

I've considered and thought about what keeps me from being perfect. What even is perfect? It's easy enough to avoid the obvious evil things, I don't kill people, don't seduce people, don't steal or lie. So then, attitudes. If I am annoyed with someone, it's easy enough to change my point of view and try to think why they would behave the way they are. When it's difficult for me, I pray and ask the spirit of holiness in me to make my thinking right. "He" does. When someone wants my time, my attention, my belongings, I tighten my grip on MY. I have to ask him to help me remember things are not mine, I'm not even mine. That for me, is the hardest part. Not to give things but to give ME. Still, I don't see why it is that we can't be perfect as we were told. The spirit in us that He gave us is how we can be. Do we assume we can't so that we don't have to?

Micah 6:8

2008-12-19T08:38:00.001-07:00

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does YHWH require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

I know that's in my sidebar, I just love it and wanted to write it again.

Do I Control My Life If I've Given It Away?

2008-12-19T08:08:00.004-07:00

There has been so much said about The Secret and Think and Grow Rich and other such ideas, it's making me wonder. How much does our attitude and focus affect life? It must matter, scripture tells us to 'think on' good and noble things, to esteem others better than ourselves, that "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he", other such things.
Is this only to keep our individual selves "on the straight and narrow" or is it because when we all concentrate on good at once, the world will change? That seems likely to me, what seems unlikely is that it will ever happen. Is the only reason we shouldn't constantly concentrate on acquiring money because money isn't a worthy life goal? What if our reason for wanting money is that we want something to share with others?

I see attitude problems in my son, when he's determined to dislike something or be unable to succeed, it seems obvious that he won't. Why should that be unless attitude really does affect things? Does it only affect his own brain? I haven't tried to draw things to me and haven't taught him to do so but perhaps I should. He does know that complaining is wrong and that one's attitude has an effect on one's health and life. Does a negative, complaining attitude affect other people as well? Seems obvious that it does, we talk about people who are unpleasant to be around because of their negativity, and about people we love to be around because they make us feel good due to their contagious joie de vivre (sp?) But does attitude and focus really affect the material world as well? If so, why are there so many people convinced that this plan's a winner, our problems are finally over and they fail? Or abused children who are convinced that they will behave well enough and send out enough love to a parent that they will finally be loved but it doesn't happen?

I've agreed to read and review a book (I don't have the book yet, it's coming) concerning this subject. I thought it would be from a believer's point of view, but I'm not sure, I'll find out when it gets here. Scripture tells us the Father has good works prepared for us ahead of time, if poverty is required for these works to be available to us, why would we think we'll get rich just by concentrating on it? How can desiring many biological children give us those children if our purpose is to take in as our own, children who need a family without the "distraction" of a possible division into "our real children and our adopted ones"?

I find it quite difficult to draw the line between contentment/accepting the will of YHWH, and apathy. Hard to decide if HE put me "here" (whatever situation I may be in) to learn something or do something, or did my own actions do it? Should I be in this situation? How much control do I really have? If I acknowledge that I am not my own, are "my" actions really mine?

FaithWriters

2008-12-11T22:02:00.008-07:00

At FaithWriters.com, I've just spent the last hour and a half reading articles and responding to them. It's great! I guess I was just in the mood or maybe I just felt like running my mouth. It's quicker and easier than blogs since "category" and "search" on entrecard hasn't been working. I need to try it again so I can find and comment on the blogs I like and lost. But for now, this is wonderful!

EDITED TO ADD: Maybe I did something wrong, no one has responded to any comments or questions I left for them. If most didn't respond, I wouldn't be surprised but not even one? I left several so I'm a little confused by that. Some articles are ridiculous, not well-written at all, some are no more than a line or two of ranting but some are very well thought out and presented. I think I need a forum.

Did YHWH PreWire Us?

2008-12-08T23:04:00.003-07:00

The December 6th issue of ScienceNews has an essay called The Decider. The subject is the latest findings on our "illusion" of free will. It states:

"Free will" is not the defining feature of humanness, modern neuroscience implies, but is rather an illusion that endures only because biochemical complexity conceals the mechanisms of decision making.

It seems they've discovered some previously unidentified brain areas, parts that did things we didn't quite know about before. Certain parts of the brain are regularly involved in decisions that encourage or discourage "non-rewarding" choices. The main structure discussed is the habenula, a structure that fires neurons that slow dopamine neurons when a creature is faced with an unrewarding choice.
They're careful to point out that this brain structure is merely part of a large neural network involved in decision making, just that it's a part that is involved heavily. Rather disconcerting to think that people who continually make the same type of poor decisions may simply have an under- or over-active part in their brain. Does this mean they can have this section of the brain stimulated or suppressed and suddenly become successful in life?

Free will or not? It's still a big question.

Limiting BEING, How Can "He" Possibly Be Described?

2008-12-04T22:32:00.005-07:00

It's still too hard for me to refer to "God" or "YHWH" or "He". Too limiting, all of them. Saying He is too humanizing and even then leaves half off. God of course isn't even a name. YHWH is okay as long as I say the name with the translation of I AM in my mind. YHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah; they all sound like mythical deities when I say them. When I say I AM and remember what "He" showed me, it all makes sense and it works.
But even then...is Existence, Being, an entity? I don't think even "entity" can cover God. It's much easier to think of Yeshua/Jesus. An exact representation for us. But is he the model of what WE can and will be or what God is? Because if he was the image of what God is, then that's still what we have in store, but we didn't get to be with him while he was human like we are now. All we can go by are the stories and accounts - those are wonderful but not enough. Without direct experience, we can't possibly drop our jaws in amazement at the feeling of being near him, knowing that we are in the presence of The Almighty Holy One. If we are able to be full of the spirit of God as he was, one with God (which is what Jesus prayed), when is that supposed to be? Jesus kept saying the kingdom was here whenever God worked, so it seems to mean that's the option now.
Overall, it still seems that we will all be "absorbed" into one great force or power of existence.

I can see why God told people, "Look, think of me as the Father," it's all beyond words otherwise. What scientific understanding was available then?
Now we have much more science, but many kids have no fathers. What is the newest way to understand? I keep imagining these guys back then, the ones who wrote down the scripture, trying to come up with words to explain the totally inexplicable; not only was it hard to come up with words in their language that could encompass the meaning, but words that defied their understanding of how things were.
Kind of like the guys in a movie I just watched last night called The Ghost Particle about two scientists who were ridiculed and rejected by some, by others considered merely wrong, until just a couple of years ago. One thing was rather nice; even though one of the men had Alzheimer's by the time he was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physics, the other is still fully cognizant and thrilled to have his life's work vindicated while he's still alive! That's so wonderful, look at how many only get respect and recognition posthumously. (By the way, this was about neutrinos).

This post is way too long and convoluted now, I'll stop for a while. It's just that I watched the DVD about neutrinos last night and then Stephen Hawkings The Universe tonight; these things always get me started!

Entrecard, Blogging, and Weary Old Brains

2008-12-04T10:54:00.006-07:00

Is anyone else having major trouble with search and campaign on Entrecard? I can't use either and I'm really tired of it. I've loved entrecard because I have found so many blogs I want to keep reading but now I have to remember where each is -- and the url doesn't always match the blog name. I'm left only able to drop on those who have dropped on me, there are several who DON'T drop on mine that I want to follow and drop on.

I'm considering dropping this whole blog anyway because I end up spending time dropping cards and planning to "come back and read this one more thoroughly" once I'm done. Sometimes a quick glance is interesting but later I see naked pictures down in earlier posts and wish I had never dropped a card. If I can't even search or use the campaign button to find the ones I want, it isn't giving me what I need here. I like the blogrolls some people have, I want to start a new, unknown blog to practice posting pictures, linking, and things like that. It still counts as traffic without dropping a card I think, does anyone know? I want to support the blogs I like and find new ones. It's just that I really don't know what I'm doing and it's time to find out. Thinking I'm too old to bother with all this isn't working -- I keep waking up alive every day and may do so for a long time! Every time I find a job I'd like to apply for, I discover I don't know enough to qualify so guess I'd better put this weary old brain back to work.

A Job Maybe

2008-12-03T18:45:00.008-07:00

And now something else; my friend just called and told me her boss asked her if she knew someone to work a temp job at her work to run the register. No product expertise required! YES! She told him she does and would ask me if I'm interested as if she doesn't know I still am feeding a teenage boy! LOL! They're starving even when there IS food...
No guarantees but I'm definitely planning to talk to her bosses.

Karma?

2008-12-03T16:46:00.004-07:00

My son came home from work this morning and told his little brother, "Karma. It's karma. I've been trying to arrange things, trying to figure out what to do and the money just showed up." He asked me, "Isn't it amazing how these things work out?"
I need to look up karma; I've heard the word of course, but I realize I don't actually know what it means. Isn't it pretty much the Indian version of "you get what you give", "what goes around comes around" and the biblical mandate to "do these things that it will go well with you"?

So we're covered for another month of rent and the car is inspected and registered. No insurance yet, and bills aren't paid but I guess that will come too.

Maybe Meaning or Maybe Just The Vagaries of Life

2008-12-03T11:37:00.005-07:00

Life can get so depressing and it's all about money. Not all bad things are about money, of course, I know that quite well. But right now I have overdue rent, no job, a car overdue to be inspected, registered, and insured, no food. We're turning off the phone and the cable, sold the TV, I would advertise other things to sell but have no money to buy an ad!
I called to find out the status of the last job application I put in - the woman told me she had been out of town and would be again so she hasn't reviewed any of them yet. Then I even called to find out if I can go back to psycho land (the job I quit because of the scary people and stalkers!) and they have no openings.
AND THEN I got a speeding ticket that isn't legit. I've never refuted one before because I used to speed but this time I wasn't. My son and I had JUST been discussing why we had to go so slowly; I showed him that we had been in a school zone and the limit was only 20 mph. We still drove slowly because we had a flat tire and had just inflated it, we were checking it to see if it would hold or had to be repaired. That's when a cop stopped us for speeding! Nope, sorry, you're wrong buddy. My son even suggested I call "the real police to let them know about these men out here and what they're doing"! LOL!
Sometimes it would be easier to not know God at all, then I wouldn't be looking for some deep meaning behind all this. Nothing would be better but I wouldn't be trying to figure out if there was something I needed to learn or do, or if I had done something horribly wrong.

Made for the Butterfly Effect?

2008-12-01T21:09:00.006-07:00

I wonder how it would be if we are here for one specific purpose. I know it's not quite like this and I've mentioned this before, but what if one's reason for living is to do one specific thing or help one specific person? Anything else would be "icing on the cake".

So then, what would happen if you didn't do it -- if you weren't sure you should, thought you didn't have time, didn't know how, or thought it was your own mind coming up with ideas? Maybe you just didn't want to. Would the Father send someone else along to do it instead? Would it be left undone?

We have to stay so close, so connected to the source that we KNOW. But if we're not that close, will we realize it? Some beg to know God but He doesn't reveal Himself to them (or not for a very long time). Some think they DO know Him and don't find out until later that they hadn't after all. I assume some truly did know truth, but life destroys them to the point where it doesn't matter and they don't care anymore.

Sometimes this bothers me, often though, it strikes me as funny to think my whole purpose in living (or any one person's), could be to have a particular life story to tell a particular person at one point in their life. All the rest would be superfluous expenditure of energy. Perhaps life is full of Butterfly Effects.

All Things Work Together For The Good Of...

2008-11-24T16:47:00.006-07:00

Once again, what is it we trust God for? I don't mean why, I mean for what. We trust that all things will be worked out for our good but is that our own specific particular good or for the good of the human race as a whole, or believers as a whole? Because it seems a bit presumptuous and extreme to assume it means my good. It could be but what if what's good for me is bad for someone else? Or will it never turn out that way in the long run? And do we assume that staying alive is best? Are there no believers who have starved to death or frozen to death because they have nowhere to live even while they trusted God for things to work out for their good? Yeshua himself trusted YHWH for his good, it certainly wasn't his good in THIS life - betrayed, abandoned, ridiculed, tortured and murdered. The Father's approbation was his reward, I wonder if he 'looks down' at us and thinks, "Yes, they're worth what I went through for them."

If things fall to pieces and are really bad, is it because we're not seeking the kingdom of God first? Or are we simply meant to learn a lesson, see something, change something? All of them can be true but I don't know how to tell the difference; if I'm wrong about what's going on, my energies are aimed in the wrong direction. I have the book Secret of The Vine, I think that deals with this question, I need to read it again.

Now I Get It

2008-11-16T02:32:00.004-07:00

Maybe it's not that we should be seeing people as our Maker
intended us to be
but how He intends us to be.

Unexpectedly Ended Up At Church Today

2008-11-09T14:33:00.002-07:00

This morning I was looking for a nearby church to go to, the one I tried a couple of times is too far. I found one listed in the phone book that was close but it didn't have any starting times. Knowing this would be like all the other times that I just didn't bother, I drove to the corner store but instead of going in, I decided to go to the bookstore, dangerous idea, no need and no right to spend money but I could browse and enjoy myself for a while. Half an hour to sit in the parking lot until they opened so I decided to look up that church I had found listed. I arrived at the exact right time to attend! BUT I was wearing corduroys and a sweatshirt; I hadn't planned on actually making it to church. Then I saw a family going in, the kids were wearing jeans. Then the dad - jeans. Then the mom, jeans. Then another family, jeans and/or other casual clothes. So I went in and I'm glad I did.
It's very small, 30 people? 50? 60? I don't estimate very well so I don't know but it's definitely small. It's okay though because the spirit of the Holy One was there. These people weren't there for entertainment and they weren't there to show themselves as "good church people" either. (Not that people care about the latter anymore that I know of.) It was the perfect place to be this morning; if I hadn't left the coffee pot on and almost empty when I made "a quick drive down to the corner" and then been gone for over two hours, I would have stayed and talked to people afterward! Yah willing, there's always next time.

Dean Koontz and Spiritual Quests

2008-11-07T20:49:00.004-07:00

Every time I read a Dean Koontz novel, I'm surprised at how much I enjoy it. I've never been one for horror, I don't read that type of book or ever watch movies like that. But his books always include so much spiritual searching, contemplation, and at times insight that I can't help but be fascinated.
Many deal with the depravity and insanity of human behavior, every book involves a wonderful and gentle man, the epitome of kindness, and a woman who is noble and full of love. They are coupled as so in love that neither can imagine breaking the bond because who breaks their own life and the perfection of unity in their wedded love? They always step up in self-sacrifice to deal with whatever horror (and this man can come up with truly horrible horrors) threatens.
I just finished one that was truly awful called Hideaway, it explores the nature of evil in humans and its source - no 'answers' really but his characters don't have the whole answer any more than we do now. Koontz as an author seems to think about this a lot, wondering why, WHY would anyone be like that?
The other one I just read is The Taking, an apocalyptic story that was really very good. Totally wonderful. Freaky, creepy, spiritual, triumph of God over all. I think what I like about him is that he's a man who obviously spends much time contemplating the spiritual aspect of life.

"Creation" of Evil

2008-10-23T19:44:00.006-06:00

I just came across a post I had commented on a while ago and lost (I've finally started writing down where I comment).
On ec4religion.co.cc I left a comment on a post where the writer claimed God did not create evil. When I went back to look, he had responded that "We can quote the Bible out of context to support whatever positions we have but God did not originally create evil".
I'm totally offended. I did no such thing and I'm offended that I am accused of it. Phrased that way makes it an accusation as if I'm deliberately trying to vilify our Heavenly Father! Even if he had said, "That's out of context, it's really like this..." it would have been better. I DO want to read the rest of his post, that just stopped me cold for a bit! The poster says God did NOT originally create evil but scripture specifically says He did. It's a quote directly from Him through Isaiah.

When I first found those verses I quoted there on Did God Create Evil?, I was surprised and had to totally rethink what "evil" is.
************
1 Samuel 16:14 "..and an evil spirit from YHWH tormented him."
Judges 9:23 God sent an evil spirit..
Then there's Isaiah 45:7 which says, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I, YHWH, do all these things."
***********
Some translations have "calamity" or "disaster" in Isaiah. That's not what I ever considered "evil" before; I always thought it was an active and tangible force that stands against YHWH. So what does that mean for the idea that there is an evil spirit world? What is an evil, tormenting spirit? Especially one FROM YHWH?
I've also read that evil is man's own nature which is selfishness and wanting our own way instead of the way of righteousness that comes from the Holy, the nature we are intended to have.

Natural Outflow

2008-10-14T21:22:00.003-06:00

Today I was thinking about good works.

We don't seek out good things to do, doing good works should be our natural inclination from the spirit in us. If we're not "finding" things to do, we need to seek a closer relationship with the one who fills us with the spirit that good works flow from. Not recognizing what's next, what's needed, what's good and righteous means we're missing something very important. What's missing isn't "ideas", it's intimacy with the Holy One. Jesus had goodness, "good works", flowing from him everywhere he went. He's our model but not that we should only copy what he did - we can have what he had! A relationship with the Father, the spirit flowing in and through and from us. That's where true good works come from. They will flow from us because of him.

How Do I Answer Her?

2008-10-04T20:46:00.002-06:00

My friend called tonight, she returned from a funeral and was upset about a few things. One is that the pastor there made it clear that the deceased was gone from us but had the hope of the resurrection. My friend is upset that the pastor doesn't believe we are already immortal and death is just escaping from this life so we can immediately "be in heaven" with Jesus.

What could I say? I don't believe that either.

There is only one verse in scripture I can think of that sounds as if that's the case. Maybe two. Overall, there are many, many that say the dead are dead, the dead know nothing, we await the promised resurrection, eternal life is a gift for believers only, etc.
The other is where the kingdom is - in heaven or on earth. I can't give any worthwhile discussion on that, I just can't tell.

Why Does The "Proof" Go Both Ways?

2008-10-03T08:55:00.002-06:00

Word Studies drive me crazy! The evidence, the proof, and the truth of the matter always seems to depend on the agenda the "experts" are pushing. Linguists, bible scholars, historians - you can find groups of experts that agree but then another group of the varied professions can give evidence to prove the exact opposite! Is the evidence truly so confusing and inconclusive?

We All Win

2008-10-02T17:52:00.010-06:00

We get more out of an action (that seems cowardly to others) than they can imagine. It reminds me of this:

Little boy angry that he has to take a nap, tries to be the boss and demand that YOU have to take a nap too! You "submit to authority" and take a nap. He's feeling all cocky and dominant and thinks he 'won'. What do you think?

Way Better Than It Sounds!

2008-10-02T17:15:00.002-06:00

To correlate the phrase I was supposed to be discussing with the rest of the last post - Religion is the opiate of the masses - I say 'religion' may well be but spiritual truth isn't. When understood in practical terms, "be content" and "submit yourself to authority" seems to be a way to control groups of people. Maybe it is.

What the people who can't stand the thought of it and the people who are thrilled to take advantage of these principles don't understand is that those who follow them get way more out of it than others can know. (For years, the whole idea bugged me horribly and I traitorously, secretly believed it was a scam in a way. I don't blame myself anymore for that though, I only felt guilty because I was taught that any such thoughts were blasphemy.) How could I know the truth of the instructions if God didn't reveal it to me? All I could do was see it with my unchanged mind - in the natural world, it IS a bad idea and not a good survival skill.
Then I thought it was merely good instruction for a civilization to be run, to keep people in control. Perhaps, but who wants to be the controlled when the controllers are selfish and greedy, not looking out for the good of all?

It took God showing me the irrelevance of many things in this life before I could take it for what it is.
Being content IS practical, it keeps one from ruining his health and mental state railing against circumstances. I don't think it's possible without the spirit doing it though when things get bad. Being content doesn't negate taking advantage of opportunities that come one's way. It may be easier to recognize them when one isn't fuming at life.
Overall though, I don't think it's even that; it's knowing that a greater power is in charge. I don't believe the word "faith" means believing with no evidence. Isn't the word actually "faithfulness"? And isn't one faithful to one you know you can trust because they've SHOWN they are worth your trust?

It's Only Blaming God

2008-09-29T11:36:00.007-06:00

==
Religion Is The Opiate Of The Masses

That's the correct phrase, true? I heard about God and Jesus when I was 12, I didn't hear this phrase until I was 14. It's easy to see why people want no part of religion, Christianity at least, when considering it from a purely practical point of view. Besides, it doesn't do much for one's self-esteem now does it?
1. You can't do anything on your own
2. You're a worthless, degenerate sinner/loser
3. If God chooses not to show you, you'll burn in hell and be tortured for eternity
4. The Bible can only be proven by itself
5. You must deny any scientific evidence that contradicts the Bible

The list continues but that's enough right now.
We may know that the Bible claims God has revealed Himself in His creation to all; "...man is without excuse." That's true as far as it goes. People DO see it and wonder, search, consider. So why would we blame someone for searching and finding answers in science? It's like telling someone you hid a gift in the house, they search everywhere and finally decide you made it up. You never told them you meant it was in the house next door, not this one. Then you're angry they didn't keep searching, didn't believe you, didn't care enough to continue looking? How do they know it's worth the trouble anyway? They decided you played a trick on them for some reason.
Does anyone think it reasonable to blame a child for not winning the Nobel Prize? Blame is irrelevant, a child and adult reasoning and knowledge really have nothing to do with each other.

I think "blaming", condemning someone for not knowing God is meaningless. Scripture says no one can come to Him unless He draws them. It's like Jesus's disciple asking him "What about him?" and Jesus answered, "What's that to you? YOU follow me." Scripture also tells us to let no one judge us but the body of Christ and it tells us our concern for correcting people's beliefs and behavior is limited to those in the body. Our lives should be powerful and peaceful to the point that others see and come to us about it, not the other way around. I don't know quite what I think about evangelism, we are to tell people. But I don't see that it's intended to "convince" people, it's merely to inform those God is calling so they get a clue what's going on. Aren't we told to keep our mouths shut and only speak when God gives us something to say?

The list at the top contains some things that are only people's ideas anyway and some that are possibly found in the Bible. Eternal torment in hell for someone God chose to make as a "vessel of destruction" most likely isn't quite how it works. I don't believe it's true anyway but most things can be proven both ways in the Bible. The whole hell issue is a huge debate for good reason. Universal reconciliation can be shown as truth in scripture as can God making evil people that won't accept Him and then destroying them. Free will is clear in scripture as is the total lack thereof.

There's no way to blame someone for not accepting God if He doesn't show them truth. Many think they have been shown but they find they've only believed what they've been taught by other people. And it doesn't hold up. Kind of like my understanding of quantum physics, I may understand a little bit but I don't see any relevance in my daily life. Eventually it may all be (for everyone) common knowledge, obvious and simple but it isn't right now. Spiritual things are that way.
Right now it's more like seeing rows of people blindfolded and chained to train tracks and we walk along saying, "Wow, they're dumb. Glad that's not me." Some of us know to say "Thank you God that you set me free from that." Still others are desperate to free those people but take no tools, they just yell at the people, Don't you see a train is coming?! If the people have been there their whole lives, do they even know their situation isn't 'normal'?
All these are poor analogies I know, but it's on my mind a lot, that we have to understand that no one can just CHOOSE to be different and understand what they can't. It's not up to us and it's not up to them. Blaming each other for not saving them is senseless, even if we come up to them with bolt cutters to cut off the chains, they'll fight us and only hurt themselves and us. We have to let God call them, let them know someone is coming, and we have to listen ourselves to know who is waiting for us.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

2008-09-26T23:10:00.002-06:00

The Teaching Company has so many courses I want to take! One I'm especially interested in discusses the role neurobiology plays in individuality. I'm afraid to look again, is that the one that costs $519?! I just checked, it's not but at $255 it's still out of my reach. Time to hit the library and bookstores again.
So many fascinating things to study are available that it gets overwhelming, then also, knowing there's so much makes me wonder what good it will do to study all this. Each of us only has a relatively short time on this earth, what benefit is it to anyone to die with an abundance of knowledge?
One reason I want to study is because God amazes me more every time I find out something new that He has done. Not that it's new, or new knowledge, just new to me. Every perception and cherished belief that is destroyed is replaced by knowledge that reveals another entire layer of awesomeness. The very idea of that neurobiology course opens up all sorts of possibilities to me for seeing marvelous works.

It's All About The Heart

2008-09-24T11:29:00.002-06:00

Another reason I was able to see the difference I described in the previous post about the feasts is that I talked to my grandbabies' mother about their behavior. She was bemoaning the fact that they don't listen to her. When she gave me a couple of examples, I laughingly asked, "Haven't you ever heard of a wooden spoon?" She immediately responded that she will NEVER do that, it's abuse, I will never lay a hand on my kids.
If a parent refuses to spank a child, the kid misses out on the blessing of loving discipline but for a mother who has been abused (I think she may have been) and can not spank a child without thinking she's abusing them, her NOT spanking them is the blessing, because it's done out of love. Biblical discipline is the better way but her way is still loving her children and it's not wrong. She COULDN'T spank her children righteously. If she was always "beaten" no matter how it was done or how severely, she doesn't understand the love behind a true physical discipline that keeps a child off of a path that will do him or her harm. Motivation matters! Spanking your child because you see how their character is forming a little crooked and you know the likely future results of it and are determined to keep them from that harm, is SO different from hitting your child because he/she is getting on your nerves. At that point, it doesn't matter whether correction for their behavior is called for or not, it's not being done for the child.

I remember my parents "spanked" me once when I was way too old for a spanking. For a short time, I was furious and hated them for humiliating me like that. Like I said, a short time; it didn't take long before I was humiliated because I realized that, as old as I was, I had driven my parents to the point where they had no idea what to do. I knew it wasn't frustration they were "taking out on me", it was terror that I was not safe because of things I was doing. They loved me and were concerned to the point of fear! THAT'S what I did to these people who devoted so much of their time, attention, resources, and emotions to MY well-being?! I don't recall changing much of my behavior in my life but what I did do was make sure to show them how much I appreciated them and their care and concern for me. I tried to make sure I let them know I noticed and understood the things they did right as parents. God took an awkward situation that could have been disastrous to my relationship with my parents and brought good out of it. It's all about the heart.

The Feasts YHWH Called "My Feasts" (Lev 23)

2008-09-24T11:00:00.009-06:00

>
On Heart of Wisdom, Celebrating The Biblical Holidays, Robin wrote:
If we celebrate the holidays to earn righteousness there is no reason to observe them. By celebrating the biblical holidays I am no better than my friend who chooses not to observe these days.

The first part concerning doing something to earn righteousness is what people usually argue if I talk about keeping the feasts of God. It's as if no one will acknowledge that one may keep the feasts BECAUSE God has shown them what is right. I'm always told that no matter my reasons, doing anything lawful is trying to earn my way to heaven. Makes no sense, is the only way to please God to disobey everything He's said?

That part doesn't cause me a problem, I know I'm not going to stand before the Father and say, "I get to come in because I did all these things you said to do." However this part of what Robin said in her post: I am no better than my friend who chooses not to observe these days did make a difference to me. Not that I think I'm better than someone who doesn't do these things, but that I'm behaving better, pleasing Him. Something about that didn't feel right. When I read that part of Robin's post, I finally understood what bothered me about it all.

I realize it's more like two sons, one lives as he's been taught, one flouts all authority. Yes, one son is more "pleasing" in a way but the pleasing is that you know that son is safe. The obedient son is receiving the blessings that come from doing things the right and beneficial way. We teach our children to do the things we think will best benefit them in their lives, even criminals do that, don't they? They think their children will need to know how to manipulate and steal so they can get what they need to survive in life. Our Heavenly Father actually does know what is best, the true best for us. If I obey what He has said, I'm not more loved or more pleasing, I'm in a position to get the blessings that come from doing things well. I'm safe and He doesn't have to worry so much.

Is this too fine a distinction? I don't think so. I don't even know exactly how we are to be keeping the feasts now. What I do know is that doing so reveals further truth and understanding to me. They show me that there is a real plan that's unfolding, we're not simply a group of creatures flowing along until a great cosmic spirit being gets too sick of us and destroys us all.

Church or just something to do?

2008-09-22T05:51:00.002-06:00

This new church is something I can deal with as long as I don't consider the evening service as a "service" exactly. It's more of a time to hang out and enjoy yourselves kind of time. There was music, there was a sermon and it was where I needed to be but there was nothing that felt like a unified group of loving believers worshipping in the presence of the Lord. People were busy having conversations, popping up and down for refreshments (I'm totally serious, they served drinks and snacks); it was fine if I can see it for what was intended. I probably will go back and maybe get to know a few people but for church, for a service, I'll need to go in the morning. If I talk to someone after church, I want it to be about something that was spoken, something in the Bible, something about Yeshua or the Father and the kingdom, not about mundane things.

Hmph!

2008-09-22T05:33:00.002-06:00

What a pain! Last night I finally went back to the church my friend told me about. The sermon was all about how our relationship with God is intertwined completely with our relationships with other people. Am I hearing this everywhere because God wants me to pay attention or is this the newest trend in preaching? It IS totally biblical. Or maybe it's just that I keep noticing it because it's what's in my mind. But why is it in my mind?
Perhaps I shouldn't have quit my job, perhaps I should have handled it differently with the guy who kept watching me. You know how you can feel someone's intentions when they're about to attack you even if you can't see anyone? There were intentions coming from this man but not quite the same - more like biding his time. Perhaps I should have taken the girl I was talking with at the time and just walked up to this guy and said right out, "I notice you keep showing up and watching me, did you need to talk to me about something?"
Just as I decide to try again to arrange things again so that I never leave my house, I hear a sermon that tells me too bad, you have to. Some people have a "calling" to missions, do I have to accept that my "calling" is to be with psychos and insane evil people? I don't know where He's trying to put me but I'm fairly certain I'm going to go kicking and screaming every step of the way.

Kingdom - no new info, just musings

2008-09-20T10:28:00.004-06:00

The Kingdom Of Heaven, The Kingdom Of God, it's here now, it's coming later, it is now and will be, it will be perfect - no sorrow or sin, it will still have people that refuse to "come to my holy feasts" - Revelation. I just read about the kingdom in a way that makes sense but I don't remember where! Seeking Things Above? Shield of David's Live Journal? Mending Shift?

He described how it is that the kingdom is, was, and will be. I have BEEN in the kingdom but of course, not the way I've always thought of it. Like in a distant and far-away from here heaven. I think the kingdom is being in the presence of the Holy One, fully in the presence. There is nothing the same then. But it's not the whole kingdom reality while we're in these bodies, on this earth. I keep remembering the book I read long ago by Ted Dekker called Blessed Child; in it he described experiencing the kingdom and I know what he means. It sounded like an experience people doing drugs report but not because I think the presence of the spirit of God Himself is what our reality is meant to be. Our brains are probably wired to work that way.

Once again I wonder what Jesus meant when he said he AND the Father would come be with us (believers) forever and never leave. Cosmic spiritual entity. Absorbed into one.

2008-09-20T10:09:00.002-06:00

Two posts I erased described the weird, frightening situations at my work and the fact that I quit. This was right after I wondered if I was being shown how to love people and see them for what they are MEANT to be and not how we all are right now. I'm confused. Did I screw up by quitting? Should I have trusted God for safety and stayed in an environment that felt more like a prison or mental institution? How wonderful it will be if I ever manage to find a group of people (work) who believe in putting God and His ways first instead of thinking they're okay to follow until they get in the way! Every day I fight with the worry about loving a God who would make something like people and consider it a good thing. When I remind myself that His plan involves much more than what I see here now, I'm afraid that I'm justifying my beliefs to myself, that I'm really following an insane Deity. But I remember He showed me and He is everything, way beyond any thoughts I ever have. Once again I have to say, "Whatever. Do whatever, say whatever, put me wherever is right because I don't have a CLUE what you're doing here!" The dichotomy that is life usually leaves me feeling perplexed and hopeless. Is there really a point to all this nonsense and, if so, is it worth it?

Part Two

2008-09-14T07:16:00.003-06:00

God puts His spirit in us, we act from that spirit, that's why we are now good, no longer the sinful depraved creatures we started as. We are now holy but does the spirit run everything we say, do, and think? Should, but no. Scripture tells us not to even speak without the spirit giving us the words, how many of us do THAT? We get a message we are to share and then expand it with our common sense and emotions. Perhaps we aren't supposed to do that. Isn't that why Jesus was often silent even though people were asking him things he "could" answer? He had already given the message God wanted the people to hear, they wanted to continue babbling about it all because they wanted to argue about it; God's answer was that they had heard, nothing more needed to be said, it was up to them to hear - HEAR which meant truly accepting and obeying what they heard.

When I wonder why it is that I'm not walking around living fully in the spirit, it's not that I withdraw from it necessarily, like I usually think I must be doing, I just don't know HOW. It's nothing I can do on my own, if God isn't giving me specific words to speak, interactions to have, actions to perform, what am I to do? Live my normal life always aware of any time His spirit gives me something to say or do. There are times when that happens, it's so different than when I just use my reason and common sense in a conversation - those times are when someone's eyes open wide and they look as if they've had a revelation or been struck by lightning. Because if God is speaking through me, it IS a revelation or message from heaven for them. This is why I wonder about some of the people in the Bible, because God gives ME things to say and do, but I know I'm not a walking oracle and that everyone should hear all my words as directly from the throne of heaven.
When we pray for guidance with a decision in our lives, is it that we should be realizing that it doesn't matter? Where we go and what we do in this life doesn't matter at all compared to who we're going and doing with. There have been times - very few, very very few, when I knew that torture, death, tragedy, don't matter at all. It was irrelevant to true reality, I saw it all from a whole different perspective but what do I do with that? I certainly don't WANT to be tortured or see tragedy for my loved ones. Asking to see things from HIS perspective and being granted it is confusing. It left me not wanting to waste time being here. It makes me feel apathetic about this life. I'm realizing right now, I started realizing last night (again?) that He's teaching me to love people somehow with all this. Normally people aggravate me and make me question God - if we are His glory, a crowning achievement, it doesn't say much for God. But I think I'm supposed to see people as He intends them to be and maybe He will give me a way to see it for themselves.

The Nature Of Interactions With God

2008-09-14T06:24:00.003-06:00

It's hard to think of God as an entity, every word seems too small and limiting, too insignificant. God is the force of existence, the power, the very being-ness of everything. But He also interacts with us and that's just so bizarre. I don't see that God is like some huge person (man, woman, perfect "blend") because if He's as immense as He is, then we're like a speck in a microscope; how could He interact with us when our whole world is too small to withstand a breath? It seems we'd be more like sea monkeys in an aquarium in a child's room, the child may love the little creatures but would only be caring in a general way. Could a child distinguish between this sea monkey that helps the others and that one that attacks the others and steals food? Maybe so. God is more than a child but if He reaches in to help or change something, wouldn't it be like a child reaching in to a sea monkey and trying to do something specific? The very act of the child reaching into the water would disturb things and touching one would probably kill it due to the size difference.

I think this is how people in the Bible were in interaction with God, his Spirit filled them, at least for a time, and their actions showed there was another presence. I don't believe everything they said and did from then on was directly from God. Just like now, God may put His spirit in us but we don't seem to "hold onto it" very well. Are we to be a conduit? And if so, will it look the same in every person? How do our human personalities and understandings affect the message that comes forth?

This is why Jesus is seen as God by many I believe. He was full of the spirit and never acted on his own because God kept him in His presence always - when God does that, nothing of your own self seems to matter, there is no real desire to go anywhere else. We saw God in a human form and Jesus said we should be just like that as well. I definitely don't believe that all the immensity and everythingness that is God squished itself into a human man. Neither do I believe that God, the existence of everything, died.

Hear O Israel, YHWH our Elohim, YHWH is One, Blessed be the name of YHWH.
OR: Hear O Israel, YHWH is our Elohim, YHWH alone, blessed be the name of YHWH.

Jesus was the exact representation of the Father, when they looked at Jesus, they saw God. I know that scripture says there's no way to write all that Jesus said and did in a book but I sure wish they had written more! We have a few parables and teachings, a short scant record of his life, not enough! That probably was the point, we should be so full of the spirit of the Holy One ourselves that we're "writing" our own book with our own lives.

These Pictures Really Drive It Home!

2008-09-12T08:14:00.002-06:00

This "cartoon" is really, REALLY good!
The Cross and The Pain. I need to think more about crosses that I carry, do I carry one? What exactly does it mean? I know it's typical church jargon, it's right in scripture, but I need some practical examples of what carrying your cross means.

Perspective On Trials In Life

2008-09-07T16:24:00.007-06:00

WOW! I just read this older post from June 18 on The Internet Cafe, so incredible! It's called The Fourth Man.

Here's one part I especially like:
It is my desire to walk through the furnaces that God allows in my life in such a way that those passing by will be able to see the “Fourth Man” walking with me!

What a prayer and a hope to carry with you through trials - once again it's all about glorifying the Lord in all things.

Entrecard Won't Let Me In!

2008-09-07T15:59:00.003-06:00

Entrecard Won't Let Me In!!! For a couple of days now, I can't sign in to I & R here to drop cards and I'm quite annoyed. For help, I have to send a call for help from my dashboard - HELLO PEOPLE! I can't get there!
Maybe I'll just pretend I need a new password and that will fix things somehow. Or something.

Reason To Live Fully

2008-09-05T08:34:00.004-06:00

I don't see that life is a gift; it's just what is and what we deal with. I started praying and asking God to show me why one should care about living or dying instead of just dealing with whichever comes. I prayed that and then found this:

Psalm 71:18 (David's prayer) Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O Elohim, forsake me not; until I have shown your strength unto this generation, and your power to every one that is to come.

Iron Sharpens Iron?

2008-08-31T16:32:00.005-06:00

This was a very interesting find! I was looking for a certain blog and came across this site: astudent.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/iron-sharpens-iron

This guy has worked with metals and, as he pointed out, iron DOESN'T sharpen iron.
So what does the verse in Proverbs 27:17 mean? Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. This guy pointed out that a stone or rock is needed. The Rock! It's really a very good article.

Quote On The Kingdom

2008-08-31T06:53:00.002-06:00

This is a quote I just found on explorefaith.org by Rev Bill Stroop (don't know who he is yet, I still have to go follow his link):

God’s Kingdom is less a place or an idea than it is a total commitment to love one another, for it is through our love of one another that we become the agents of God willing to work to bring about God’s Kingdom on the earth in the present time. That Kingdom is a union of free human beings united to God and to each other; it is the fullest manifestation of the transcendent holiness and incarnate wholeness of Being. The Kingdom is already here, yet is still to come, and it will come by God’s grace with the free cooperation of the human race.

This is difficult because I believe the first sentence at least to be true. I keep wishing God's Kingdom were a place we escape to after this life, a place we're finally allowed into without all the mess of this life but I no longer believe it is. I still see it as a "place" different from this life but I'm not sure about that. We're told in scripture that there is a place for us AFTER this life on earth so this spiritual kingdom of God must encompass more than our new spiritual awareness and being. The one short time in my life that I experienced life from a totally different perspective, I was living in the kingdom, at least on some level. I wasn't looking at people or anything in life, NOTHING, with my own eyes.

I haven't figured out why I love the memory more than STAYING there?

The Poor

2008-08-30T15:48:00.003-06:00

Pure religion is this: to help the widow and orphan in their suffering. Why is this true? Since when is our main focus to be on other people and not the Holy One? I can see that this could be a way of showing our focus on Him, by caring for His children. But not really.
Besides, this sounds like the main focus is to be on this physical life. I can think of ways to explain and justify it all but is it true?

We give to others, that shows love and maybe can only be truly done with the love of the Holy One in us. Except that many help others without God being their motivation. He may be the cause they don't acknowledge, but that's not their reason.
It would be pretty cool if He eventually changes everyone to be as people were intended to be on this earth. Picturing that makes me think I want to be part of that! But truly I have no belief that that's what He'll do. What keeps coming to mind as I write this is a craftsman reaching into the mess of this world (are we really such a mess?) and pulling out the art. I'm thinking of a potter pulling out a shaped beautiful piece and wiping off the dross if that's what the excess is called in pottery. Usually even the thought of being part that is knocked off as excess doesn't bother me, it's all His plan and what He does is what He does. I'll just be wherever I am.

Back to the original thought, how is helping the poor pure and undefiled religion? Is it because it involves sacrifice and thinking of others instead of ourselves? Is it perhaps the mechanism by which we grow more than the act itself? Is it to keep us humble by realizing that could be our own situation through no fault of our own? Many are poor due to their own choices but many, many, many have just ended up that way because of life. Does it force us to be grateful for what we do have?
And what about those desperate for help, the ones we are to help? How does this do anything for them other than to keep them alive in this world? I think we should do more than just give a meal on occasion (if we can); we need to find ways to help people on a track to ... wait a minute. Aren't we supposed to trust the Father who clothes even the fields and feeds birds? Is it that we are to be the outworking of that promise? Because otherwise, He's NOT providing for them. The poor will be with you always.

Decisions and Being Temporary

2008-08-30T15:19:00.002-06:00

If God does not have a specific plan for each person's life, we are free and responsible to make our own decisions. What does that mean then, that we have to be wise and figure it all out ourselves? I don't particularly like the idea - I don't know the future, can't really know what is the best course to take, the best job, the best school for my son, where I should live. Being given the freedom and responsibility without also being given the knowledge and information necessary is a frightening prospect!
I was thinking about this a lot. The wisdom we are to use comes from God in the first place, it's the wisdom he promises us but is that only about spiritual things? We also have to remember that He does work all things together for good for those who love Him and that He has called according to His purpose. Does that mean He's working things out for good only in those specific instances where we've been "called for a purpose"? Or does it mean those who have been called and that everyone has? Not all things work out for the good for everyone and there would be no need to write such a verse specifying for whom things will work out if it applied to everyone.

Sometimes not being "told" exactly what to do in every situation feels like being neglected. But my son is like this, he wants to be given every detail of what is said, done, meant, and then for someone else to make all decisions for him. It drives me crazy so I figure I drive God crazy being that way too. It feels different sometimes because my attitude toward my son's indecision in some of the things he asks is, "Who cares? I don't care! Do whatever you want and if you can't tell what you want, don't do either." I've always been taught that God cares about EVERY thing we do and think (Rev ... every thought will be called into judgment) so does He give input on some of these decisions and I just didn't hear? I'm not sure why this matters so much to me right now, I have no decisions to make other than general life things like keep this job or look for another; move again because I like to, keep D in school or bring him back home. Nothing important. Yes, our whole lives but if we change nothing, we're fine. I love the temporariness of moving a lot and changing jobs. Hopefully I'm one the Father uses to say something needful in a person's life or show someone something and then I'm "moved on" to my next mission. I like the idea of being placed somewhere simply to help a particular person who may influence many others just because of what the Father had me do in His perfect timing. I think I wish I were an angel, showing up to reveal the Father to people on earth and then be gone - leaving them in wonder at the wonderful love and provision of our heavenly Father. I've liked that idea for years.

Decisions and God's Will

2008-08-24T20:11:00.003-06:00

Currently I'm rereading a book by Garry Friesen with Robin Maxson called decision making and the WILL OF GOD. (Yes, that's how the title is written!) I found it long ago at a time when I needed to understand whether or not God micromanages our lives. I don't think He does but at times it seems like it. Many other times it seems not though I wish He would!

The book goes into great detail concerning our freedom and responsibility within the moral will of God. It all seems to be like when my son says he feels like playing a video game and should he play the computer or his PSP? The only right decision is whichever he prefers at the time as long as he's not neglecting something he should already be doing. If it's his free time and there is no reason he may not play, it's up to him, neither is right or wrong.
I believe many decisions are like this in our lives; whether or whom to marry, which career path to pursue, take a nap or wash clothes first, etc. It may have been in this book that the author used the analogy of the co-author's children playing in their yard. As long as the children stayed within the boundaries of the yard and treated each other as they were supposed to, it didn't matter what game they played. This book is full of scripture examples that support this notion of our freedom and responsibility to choose wisely without worrying that we're "missing God's specific will for our lives".

The strange part is all the times when it seems God HAS intervened in a small, inconsequential event. I can't figure out why though it could have repercussions that I don't know of - that's an easy idea to accept.

If He doesn't make it a habit to manage our small details, why is it that we are put in similar circumstances repeatedly to learn a lesson or practice a developing character trait? Does He do things that way? I think so, but it may simply be that our MO leads to the same issues coming up again and again. A person without time management skills will end up facing time problems as a natural consequence. I'm trying to think of examples that involve NON-natural consequences but can't think of any; either it doesn't work that way or it would be too specific for each person to easily see a general principle. No, that makes no sense, but I still can't think of any. Maybe later, or maybe someone else will.

I've still not met someone named Melinda.

The Kingdom, Hurt People, And Paganism

2008-08-24T16:09:00.005-06:00

This whole Kingdom of God concept is making me crazy.

1) Is it on heaven or on earth? Maybe both?
2) Is it eternal or for 1000 years?
3) Is it here now or is it still to come?
4) Is it literal or spiritual?

There are plenty of evidences in the bible to back up all of these, some have more support than others, but all can be supported. If it's here now and spiritual only, the hype is more than it deserved. If it's only 1000 years - the millenial reign of Christ - then afterward is when satan is released for a while and THEN "eternity" starts. Scripture mentions those outside the kingdom and those who refuse to keep the sabbaths and the feasts in those days who will not be allowed access to the city of God.

Last night, my grandbabies' mom brought them over and was telling me of her plans to make them neo-pagans. I don't even quite know what that is, but she plans to take them to some vernal equinox celebration. She made it clear that she wants to get fully involved in whatever way she can as a rebellion against the Mormon church and the people in it. Her defining church moment was going to church as a teen and being accosted by some woman demanding to know how a bastard like she is dared to come into a church! This young woman has made some very bad choices in her life and is being condemned severely for them. I realize part of her is angry that someone dares to call her sin "sin". But I can't help but wish she was being loved into making good choices for herself. She's very much a young woman desperate to be married, she seems to believe marriage will solve all her problems, I'm pretty sure the Mormon religion encourages that point of view because of some of the doctrine that teaches only married people are acceptable to God.
Now she's closely following the talk about the Mayan calendar and is frightened that everyone will be dead in four years. She doesn't want to die. She believes that all children under eight are allowed into the kingdom of heaven automatically and little A will be eight in those four years. She's hoping/praying that if it's all true, that it will be the end before her little girl is no longer automatically safe, the other littles are younger.
So many young people are messed up by life, all of us are I guess. The Father sent us the answer in Jesus. Maybe she's the one I can study with. She's desperate, overwhelmed, and in her own words ready to give up.

Kingdom

2008-08-10T00:55:00.002-06:00

A link from Seeking Above led me to Brian McLaren's article on Sojourners (sojo.net) called Found In Translation. This reminds me of what I've read somewhere, that kings were to write the Bible themselves, a translation I suppose it meant, to always meditate on it and live by it.
Kingdoms were the norm in Yeshua's day, they no longer are; even when they exist, they don't have the same impact or meaning. Considering other ways to relate what is meant is a really good idea I think but how frightening! Wouldn't want to be wrong...and we can't let the ancient manuscripts fall by the wayside, anything else should be clearly marked as notes and translations.

Considering what a kingdom meant then and what connotes the same idea now got me thinking again about the whole priesthood setup. I've never known anything like that, I've read it in the Bible of course, and I know Catholics and Mormons have that. The whole sacrificial system added in to the idea is bizarre and strange to me. Not that I don't understand the symbolism of sacrificial living, it's the original that is strange. The idea of killing something to make up for someone else's wrongdoing is far out of my experience.
Too bad history is so convoluted, accounts changed, meaning different in one place than in another, names different; all that makes it so difficult to know the originally intended meaning of scripture. That's why the spirit is given.

Anticipating the Sabbath

2008-08-08T15:18:00.002-06:00

It happened again. I got a job, I had half decided that once again, everyone was right about the sabbath, working then is not a problem. But my new job runs Sunday through Thursday. I STILL have Saturday off. To me, this is a serious indication that I need to be sure and change whatever it is in me that doesn't "delight myself" in His sabbaths. I just make it a nothing day, I study, pray, and read the Bible, talk online about Him and all that He does, but I do that stuff anyway. How can I be delighted? I want to find out.

Sound Asleep and Driving

2008-08-07T08:24:00.004-06:00

A few nights ago I had a dream that was so obviously a metaphor for my life that I don't know how seriously to take it. Is this what I think of my life or was this sent? Does God send dreams like this?

I dreamed that my son woke me up because he was terribly frightened and I realized I was driving totally sound asleep with the lights off at night. I managed to get my eyes open and head up long enough to turn on the lights and asked him (rather facetiously!) if that was better. I knew I had to WAKE UP again and stay awake but all I could do was lift my head again enough to see that the windshield was covered with streaked mud and I couldn't possibly see through it to drive. A line from a country song called "Jesus take the wheel" went through my mind (actually that is the line, not just the title, that's the line I thought). My son told me he was always afraid while I was driving. I managed to get to the side of the road and park the car, still sleeping while I did so, then I woke up for real.

Faith

2008-08-06T22:05:00.003-06:00

On Imrah Ministries a few days ago, one of the posters (Nathan in this case) wrote What Is Faith?, it's part of a series he's doing. On Heart of Wisdom, Robin wrote about faith and decisions: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

These sorts of discussions and articles keep bringing to mind the whole idea of faith being seen as something one has to "work up", so many people seem to think this. The idea is often that we have to say we believe until we persuade ourselves. But as these articles show, that's not the case - the faith itself is a gift! Saying we believe when we have no reason to doesn't make sense. It's AFTER God shows us who he is and gives us faith, that we learn to trust Him. How can anyone trust someone they don't know? That's not trust and it isn't faith or faithfulness, that's thinking you're supposed to do something and hope you get it right.

Faith is the evidence according to scripture. That's always been a bit confusing, how can a feeling be evidence? But apparently faith is NOT just a feeling, just like the works that follow are not works we do to maintain faith. The works are what naturally follow because that faith is in us. Works are not goodness and kind acts that we do to show we love God, they're works that happen because that's what comes out of a faithful child of God.

The martyrs, did they work hard to refuse to deny Christ? Can a human body really maintain physical and mental sanity while suffering extreme, hideous torture? Or is it not their determination to withstand that everyone sees, but instead, the faith given them by the spirit inside that does that speaking and withstanding? If it was on a human level, wouldn't their mind not be able to do anything about it? And a human denying Christ to escape torture wouldn't change the truth of God anyway. I think it's the work of faith of the spirit in them, not the human that's holding on to it. That's how I would see faith as evidence, because no human could really do it. I hope I'm never in a position to find out though.

I Don't Know What To Call This Post

2008-08-05T23:13:00.004-06:00

Reading a few blogs has made me think about people who don't know or believe that there IS a spiritual world or even a spiritual aspect to life. Susan asked some questions here here that tie in with questions raised in my mind from Debunking Christianity.
I spent many years believing after I first found out about God and Jesus but it wasn't a convincing belief. There were too many questions and I usually heard that if I didn't believe everything this particular way, I was being deceived. What are we to do with our rational minds? I was able to understand that some things can not be understand with our human intelligence alone but it really does sound like a "cop-out". The concept of using a different part of our understanding made sense but I couldn't do it so it wasn't real to me.
Then when God's spirit came to me, showed him/it self to me, it was a completely different perspective, nothing like I ever knew about. This time when I KNOW it's a fundamental knowing, not like I learned something, it's the BASIS. If God doesn't give that to someone, they can't have it!
On Debunking Christianity, apparently a group of ex-pastors and church people have rejected all they "knew". It makes me question what could make someone do that? What could make me do the same thing now? I question all kinds of things in religion, in the Bible, in my experiences, but I can no longer question that there IS a God. Whatever God really is. These people seem to not be rejecting God so much as rejecting that there IS a God - big difference. What happened to the God they "knew"?
How do we know how far our own responsibility goes? As humans, there's only so much we can know and do, the rest is up to Him; if not all of it. I'm waiting to find out there's a biochemical reason for spiritual belief, there have been indications I think; the guy who blogs Brain Stimulant has posted an article or two indirectly concerning this.

The Sabbath Question

2008-08-04T22:18:00.002-06:00

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
Does this mean that it's a gift and that if we "can't" use it right now, it's okay? Kind of like someone giving you a beautiful quilt but it's summertime and it's too hot to use it? Or because it's a command, we keep the sabbath holy, set apart for God alone?

Some say it was changed to Sunday, I don't see that at all.
Some say that our entire lives are to be holy so we don't keep a sabbath any longer. That one almost makes sense to me but our entire lives were ALWAYS meant to be holy.
I'm trying to find out the truth on this because once again I can go get a job easily if i work on Saturday. I don't know how to tell if this keeps coming up because it's a test to see how faithful I'll be or if it's a way to draw my attention to it so that I see it's not necessary.

Rereading what I wrote made me think of one thing - the laws were instituted because the Israelites were NOT staying apart as they were intended to do. Maybe this was a minimum starting point.
No, guess not. They were commanded to remember the sabbath as if they already knew about it before the laws were specifically written down. Did the laws other people had include a sabbath (the laws of Hammarabi for example)?

Science and Religion

2008-08-04T14:04:00.001-06:00

I've read about irreducible complexity but only from a christian point of view. Last night I discovered this site: Debunking Christianity and finally found some scientific discussion and references to read about it. I haven't read much yet, just copied and pasted to print it out, I do much better reading while pacing. One thing pointed out is that many christians latch on to certain ideas and then don't keep up with current science findings. That is true! Drives me crazy.

Studying physics and biology so far doesn't make me doubt God, it used to because it was presented in such a way to do so. Also many religious arguments were not reasoned at all. When I read about Jesus seemingly going through a wall, I ignored it, figured it was part of uneducated people recording something they didn't understand. Now of course, physics is showing warping of space/time as a truth and trying to teleport subatomic particles successfully (actually the characteristics of particles, that I don't understand at all, sounds like merely semantics to say teleport in that case); still it's difficult to see why people would try so hard to "prove" there is no spiritual aspect to life. It's the quest for truth, most of these people would likely be satisfied if there were a way to truly prove God exists, just gets difficult when all the presupposed notions don't pan out. Religious ideas and understanding is proposed then everyone who doesn't believe it is considered an infidel and deserving of eternal torture in hell. No wonder people want to refute it.

Science discovers things, then they're proved or disproved. Religion understands things, then they're proved or disproved.

Something I've wanted to do for a long time is find something in the Bible that science denies and see what discovery would show it in a new perspective that would give us the real meaning and how it IS true. But so far, I'm not learned or smart enough to figure out how.

Biological Basis?

2008-08-04T08:27:00.005-06:00

In this article from March of 2007, Washington Post it's suggested that because research is showing a biological basis for homosexual orientation, that means God isn't real or that He's evil and cruel. I don't see why that would be the conclusion, hasn't it been discovered that there are biological reasons for obesity? That doesn't make gluttony right. And aren't there people predisposed to violence? That doesn't make assault and murder right. Retardation has a biological "basis" as well, that doesn't make it normal and good, it means something biologically went wrong.

The biology of all these things may be different, I need to check into it more but gay people would have more credence if they quit denying that it's EVER culturally or behaviorally induced. I know it is in some cases.

Right now I personally assume a gay was molested, influenced, or genetically messed up. Planned obsolescence in each person, planned obsolescence in the human race, that's just part of life. Things go wrong. I don't necessarily believe life is a gift, not sure that it's really testing either. Usually I lean more to the idea that we are a science experiment.

How Long Until It Doesn't Count?

2008-08-02T19:37:00.006-06:00

How long is a marriage a marriage without being intimate? One of my friends in particular is questioning this, her husband is not interested at all and won't say why. She is having a very difficult time because old boyfriends keep looking her up and asking if she's married or single, how are things and they are definitely interested. She does NOT want to have an affair but she's starting to wonder if she's considered married or not. She wonders if he is gay because she figures a guy who just isn't interested in her specifically would at least take advantage of what he has sometimes. (I'm trying to be careful how I phrase this.) She calls me when she's tempted but I no longer am sure what to say! Her husband doesn't want a divorce, doesn't want her to leave, she hasn't asked his opinion on her being with someone else, would it be a relief for him? She is no longer sure if it's marriage if they just act like roommates and good friends.
If he had been in some sort of accident and this was the result, it would just be what they had to deal with, right? So this may be no different.

If any guy can think of a reason they would never touch their wife for a year or more when she clearly wants you, could you enlighten me? Could it be normal for some reason, an explanation that we don't know? Anonymously is fine, tlminut and my mail is gmail dot com.

Doctrine and Living

2008-07-30T13:02:00.003-06:00

These are excerpts from Exposing Pharisaic Religiosity Among Us by Shield of David. Here's the repost: http://www.eliyah.com/forum2/Forum10/HTML/004435-2.html

Yahshua did not go around using his time to get into debates over doctrine with a single religious sect among the Jews, or all of them. He stayed outside of them and preached the simple Kingdom message,...

Yahshua did not build a school for academic study or teach his disciples or the masses to go try to get their own scroll copies and sit around for hours and study the Law. He instead took disciples OUT among the people, to show them how to manifest the Kingdom on earth as in heaven, in power, to the destruction of the kingdom of darkness. This shows he was much more concerned with his disciples being empowered and learning to walk in anointed power and compassion among people, than being academically "smart."
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Perhaps instead of worrying about doctrine, we can consider the above. It goes along with "by their fruits you will know them." I know that I often realize as I study that I should be LIVING it, not just studying it. Then I can't figure out how to live it, I go about my life with the consciousness of how to live but don't see anything in particular. There was a period in my life that was totally different than anything before or since; I walked around with a perspective that wasn't my own, said things that were meaningful to the person who heard them (and it didn't come from me, I'm rather socially inept on my own and generally wrong about people); I miss that time. Should it always be like that? I can't figure out what it was all about - if God was using me then, why no longer? Did I do something wrong or is He just finished?

The New Church, I Will Go Again

2008-07-28T23:11:00.004-06:00

We went to the new church last night, I'll go again. It was very casual, an evening service. There were the usual drums and guitars, all that that I like. What was odd to me was the service being held in a gymnasium instead of the sanctuary, the lights were low, food and drinks were available at the back, and everyone was seated at tables! About halfway through, I realized what it reminded me of - I told my friend it felt like we were in a club instead of church! She agreed but still, it was a great time for making new believing friends. (Not that I talked to anyone, not the first time I went!)

I still plan to go to a morning service, there were too many people that acted like they were there to see a show even though the "spiritual atmosphere" didn't feel like that to me. People even clapped after songs - the lead singer quickly stepped up to talk or pray to cut that off, for her that was definitely NOT what should be happening.
There wasn't a sermon, instead there was a guest speaker and his story, his testimony was incredible! He is one of those who managed to escape the Khmer Rouge (sp?) in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. This puts a face to the persecution going on in other countries, a face to my son's history lessons. I want to tell his story but first I'll see if he has it anywhere in writing - it's his story to tell, not mine. If it's not readily available, I'll go ahead and post it.

Is This The Place?

2008-07-24T20:46:00.004-06:00

I'm a bit worried, things may get intense, I don't know for sure. My friend knows I want to go to church and that most churches around here are Mormon and I'm not. (She is.) Someone she knows told her about a church that the woman is thrilled to have found and my friend and i have decided to go. The woman talked about the sermons. She mentioned activities and such when my friend asked for more info but her main emphasis was on the sermons, the Word Of God being preached. My friend and I stopped by a couple of days ago just to have a look. It looks like one of those three-ring circus churches, programs and coffee shop, on and on. But it doesn't feel like it's going to be that way.
I'm scared to death and can't wait to go.
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Now I'm feeling normal about it again. It's church.

Who Is This Little Boy?

2008-07-24T18:28:00.003-06:00

I don't know much about YouTube so I tried to copy this link so I don't lose it somewhere. Does anyone know who this little boy is? He's amazing!

Little Boy Singing

I'm hoping I did this right...never mind, i found out. It's a boy named Declan Galbraith. He's older now, that video was from about 10 years ago i guess. But the songs he sings now are kind of odd. I don't really know what he's saying in them but I sure like that first one Tell Me Why from when he was little.

Faith? Positive Thinking?

2008-07-23T11:27:00.004-06:00

For a long time I wondered what the difference was between "faith" and "positive thinking". I still am not quite sure that we haven't been given power to bring things about with creative words - literally creative i mean. Someone pointed out on a forum that faith itself isn't the power, it's the one in whom we have faith. Good point I think but it still could be that we have more power than we use, just need the right perspective on it. We are often exhorted to meditate on good and noble things, keep our thoughts in control; perhaps constantly concentrating on a desired outcome really can make things come to pass.

THEN

Tony on Seeking Things Above posted about seeing a familiar passage in scripture in a new light; I read that then went to Ima Blogger where Tony C. (different Tony) wrote:

The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is astounding as the Bible warns us of such a practice: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do . . .” (Mat. 6:7). For example, many motivational/success tapes, lectures, and seminars start you off by helping you make your thoughts repetitive.

I always thought of 'vain repetitions' as referring to drawing attention to oneself as discussed in the two previous verses. They're actually separate though, that's clear from verse 8 which says, "...for they think they will be heard because of their many words." This is my example of seeing something completely new in a familiar passage, why didn't I see that before?

New Bodies

2008-07-21T23:31:00.003-06:00

I don't suppose we're all intended to "be absorbed into one great cosmic spirit with I AM" because Jesus was given a new body and we're promised one as well. But it is intriguing to think of the things the new bodies will be able to do; live outside of time perhaps, rearrange molecules or fit in between them or such things as that!

Absolute Truth Or Not?

2008-07-20T13:54:00.002-06:00

I've noticed that many seem to agree that "the Word (Bible) does not contradict itself, any apparent contradiction is in our understanding only." Why does this have to be an absolute? Why do we think we have to reconcile every verse into one "truth"? The Bible covers everything and every person, why does it only have to say one thing?

Walking in the road is dangerous.

That's true for a two year old living in a city. It's not true for someone out in the desert trying to find the nearest city after a car broke down - for that person, walking in the road keeps him from getting lost and increases his chance of being seen and helped.

A Bible truth may be true for one person at a particular time in his/her life and not true or even applicable at another time or for another person's circumstance.