October comes Late.

Sometimes, at night, when the roads are almost clear, I really appreciate driving, and in no small part that's due to the closeness it brings me to nature, and my machine. Shrills and grumbles of the machine and the howling of wind both feel so primal, and every time a person intrudes, my peace shatters, and just even that little bit of reprieve from humanity lets me know that I really like nature and the solitude it brings. But in a deeper sense, other than escapism, the reasons for liking nature are perplexing. Maybe it has to do with the way everything intricately fit together so wonderfully, leaving us in awe at something much greater than man could have had the capacity of mind to make such a tapestry of life. But then, the same argument can be made for the human body as well, a maze of pipes and symbiotic micro-organisms working together so incredibly complex that we still don't know how we work. Or possibly, it has to be the beauty in the trees, or gorgeous views that makes you feel you see the world and the colors of the wind. But again though, there are enjoyable people to look at, eyes that hide eternity and titillating figures that make you marvel in a different sort of way. So in terms of level of craftsmanship, there's no difference between the two things.

I conject the reason why something is so much better than the other is the work of time. I spent a lot more of my time with people than with nature, so then nature naturally becomes a more relaxing environment. The reason this happens is most likely due to our capacity to handle difference, which is to say that it's crap, but we can manage for limited durations provided we are prepared.

As most people are not Viggo Mortensen, we tend to approach nature with preparation and gear, sprays that drive away living things, clothes that protect us from the rawness. We show up in armor, otherwise, things like bugs can surround us, protruding thorns, branches and bushes can scratch out skin, rocks can cause havoc with our feet, and even bears could maul us. And possibly the most important thing is that when we get slightly uncomfortable, get sick, get hurt, we immediate leave and seek refuge back in what's known to us. And since our trips to nature are always short, we tend to leave with fond memories, which constantly fuel our desires to go back, because the fresh air, quiet and serenity are usually in line with the purpose of getting away. In the end, we are nothing more than tourists, lamenting the short duration of the vacation but yet fully aware that longer would bring about obligations that we don't really want. We observe nature, and it's beautiful, so we love it.

Unfortunately, we can't just watch people, nor choose when to make our presence known, nor when to leave. Yet, just as unfortunate, we do take a similar approach to people as we do to nature. Whether we realize or not, we prepare ourselves before people. We polish off that armor, put on some makeup, then present a self that we want to show, and all the world's a stage.

The interactions are brief as we play the role of observers, trading greetings, minor concerns, annoyances, complaints, jokes when the paths eclipse. Yet, if that's all, I think most people would be quite alright, because the roads don't intersect often and there's less likelihood to develop any kind of obstructions. If we can all be tourists in another's life, the resulting superficiality would not bad, in fact, it'd probably be a very good time.

Don't take that to mean the end of problems, because it's not, rather it just means we don't have to deal with the annoyances of being a participant in someone's life. I am me, you are you, it's simple like that, there's no interference, but if my life and your life run crisscrossing routes, then what is mine is yours and yours is mine, and and my domain has acre for you, your domain has space for me, I put a chink in your armor, you dent my armor, I open a crease in the door to me, you give me peeks, I don't completely understand you, you don't get me, yet we both want a little from the other, then everything becomes very confusing, frustrating and can't be easily associated with particulars or individuals, but instead just leads to flight, or more armor and makeup. "Let's take a break. Let's start from the beginning. Let us be tourists once again, so we can both present our best and really care about the impression we're making."

Even if we can forgive transgressions easily like that, it's hardly in our best interest to continually restart the same thing over and over again. It'd certainly feel like wasted effort if we worked to grow a peach tree to only discover that it grew apples instead, so we'd cut it down to try again. But life always grows apples, so we'd better learn to like them, or we're constantly going to be disappointed. And if we worked at it, we'd probably get pretty good at making apple-based foods, which are certainly a lot better than constantly replanting and waiting for peaches.

Being able to accept the taste of apples depends a lot on attitude and the willingness to try, because it's always a struggle, and it's always hard to fight to desire to smash a couple against the wall to make yourself feel better. And regardless of how much we loves apples, we could probably always love them just a little bit better. I probably don't really love nature, and quite possibly, you don't really love nature either, but we're smart enough to know when to avoid it. But despite our best efforts, we'll always have apples in our lives, and that's suppose to sound foreboding and ominous, because invasion of apples is quite serious and will need a lifetime of struggle to overcome.

Monthly Quota - September

In Plato's The Republic (Penguin Classics), Glaucon, in an attempt to define morality, describes what he believes to be the consummate moral person...

...And at his side let us place the just man in his nobleness and simplicity, wishing, as Aeschylus says, to be and not to seem good. There must be no seeming, for if he seem to be just he will be honoured and rewarded, and then we shall not know whether he is just for the sake of justice or for the sake of honours and rewards; therefore, let him be clothed in justice only, and have no other covering; and he must be imagined in a state of life the opposite of the former. Let him be the best of men, and let him be thought the worst; then he will have been put to the proof; and we shall see whether he will be affected by the fear of infamy and its consequences. And let him continue thus to the hour of death; being just and seeming to be unjust... (Book 2 - Challenge to Socrates)

The most honored of men, his glory is hidden by human eyes.  Thus, the highest must seem as the lowest, until the day of his death.  Thus, 'so that his morality can be tested'.

In my opinion, by these philosophical standards, Jesus was the person being described.  Unlike most, Jesus pursued genuine obedience & love (goodness), rather than the image of it.  Stripped of this aura (lest he pursue his reputation and honor instead of something higher), he was instead slandered and believed to be a heretical menace.  With a 'colossal reputation for immorality' (by association), he faithfully followed this path that was decided for him, as all lambs must, until his ignoble death.

Interestingly enough, the consummate devil is one who is evil at heart, but has all the appearances of being the most righteous/honorable man... (food for thought)

Scared of God

I was reading Falling For God recently, and it was talking about the reasons why we don't spend more time with God. For me, busyness and laziness of course predominate as the reasons why I don't spend time with God.

But when I thought about it, I realized that there's another reason-a lot of times when I have my own sin(s) on my heart, I don't want to go to God, because I'm afraid He'll judge me and want me to change my life in ways that will make it ultimately less pleasant for me. Both of those fears are based on similar misunderstandings of God.

When I'm afraid that He'll judge me, I'm making God too human-I think He'll react to my sins the way that one of my friends might react (surely none of you reading this blog would think less of me for hearing of my sins, but you get the point). I'm not always conscious of how different God is from us-since my daily interaction is with humans, I think He'll react like we will. It's hard to be constantly aware of the radical nature of His forgiveness.

When I'm afraid that He'll change my life in a way that makes it less pleasant for me, I'm not quite as far off-God does want to change my life, and those changes certainly will remove some activities that I currently find pleasurable. But ultimately, I'm lacking in the faith that He knows what's best for me, and that He has "plans to prosper [me] and not to harm [me], plans to give [me] hope and a future." I'm arrogant in thinking that my plans for my life are the best ones possible.

These may seem like an obvious points to y'all, but for me, this realization about the assumptions I had about God really made a difference in my quiet times.

The maybe if it didn't take so freaking long I might write more: Adventures in Reading, pt I, Episode

Soo, I'm actually going to try my hand at writing something, because all I have been doing up to now is linking to another's insights, but apparently, that's what google reader and google buzz are for. Also, the best posts so far, save Dubai, have been anecdotal, and reading about you guys is a lot more interesting than being amused by links and quotes, which in lieu of all powerful fingers, Al Gore, and a keyboard are a lot easier to obtain and therefore far less valuable than say, the few minutes we share as storyteller and avid reader.

Anyways, onto a post! And because it might be a good idea in retrospect, I'm issuing a general warning now, just to be on the safe side, in case you need it. Finally, everything is based on a true story.

In my unquantifiable existence, there are things I can accept with the utmost ease, even if they almost make no real sense, but provide just enough of a basis to be believable, in other words, let's call these things stereotypes. For example, most people will accept Indians become doctors, frat guys don't function until 3 beers, Chrysler cars are pieces of crap and drinking motor oil will grow hair on your eyeballs, if you don't believe me on this, just try it.

Usually in most situations, stereotypes are pretty innocent, but they do innately reflect what we believe in, what composes of our instinctual core, essentially. The danger is that in moments precluding thinking, they make up our impulses. However, that is not a bad thing, since we believe ourselves to be decent individuals, yet that doesn't stop us from being insulted or angered when something challenges the prescribed notions. When that happens, we feel, which is a word that should carry both ebullience and extreme heaviness and is really a part of us that we can't really quantify, a rawness, but one that flows, like water. Even right now, four paragraphs in, you might be annoyed by the facts that so far there has been one quite uninsightful observation, and one Asian, in a stereotypical indirect fashion, using so many words but not really saying anything personal and beyond that, made one confusing simile!

Well, in my defense, I wanted to start with the story right off-the-bat, but then wrote something not at all story-like, so threw in a warning and here we are, finally, the real beginning. I've just started reading the book "Christ, The Lord out of Egypt", written by Anne Rice. Before talking about the book, it's important to note that the timing of this was after she renounced Christianity, so I've already formed an opinion of her. And her writing style made her seem like someone I would like to meet, and punch. Already in less than 24 hours of sporadic visual interaction, I can neatly fit her in a box labeled difficult, and I'd feel justified.

But I can do more than just place people in certain groups as I can sort of, if I try real hard, read. And her story so far is about a young Jesus, without the facial hair, growing up in the lands of Egypt. Like all young boys, Jesus played with a group of friends, so far so good, and then like all young boys, curses are flown at the opposing team, no problems there, but then quite unlike other young boys, the little boy cursed by pubescent Jesus dies, and I was really annoyed, possibly angered by that. I'm not going over the significance of the killing, you figure it out as it's not important to my story. What really bothered me was that this Jesus did not fit into the neat boxed Jesus with the beard.

Perhaps what made it so jarring is that it is believable, because the elements are all believable: Jesus can certainly kill someone with a curse, and Jesus lived a life of a kid, complete with concomitant inadvertent results. I'm not saying Anne Rice is right, but it did take me awhile to get over the fact of the initial shock factor. And during that time, I would probably have found a way to ignore Anne Rice after punching her, not at all unlike her group of Christian associates, people that ostracized her, probably because she challenged their more spiritual stereotypes.

And despite how it might seem, I'm not defending Anne Rice as her quitting was still a poor demonstration of her faith, but I did realize that certain preconceived notions can affect our ministry. So, I want to leave by asking which ones do you have?

something funny I read today...

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.
Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!" But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through." St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!!!"

Rev 21:21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

do people still keep track of this?

just want to say hello. i miss the byob group.

"Jesus looked at him and loved him."

Mark 10: 17-22:
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”18“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’^d”20“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Pastor David talked last night about falling back in love with the Lord, and I thought of these verses. When I read this passage, I have to say that I didn't initially feel sympathy for the rich young man-he reminds me of someone who sucks up to the teacher in class, but is really just trying to show off to the teacher (and the other students) how much he/she knows. In fact, I think Jesus' first comment about no one being good but God alone is a sarcastic remark meant to illustrate that it's silly for the rich young man to think of Jesus as just a "good teacher."

And yet, even right after the rich young man makes the absurdly arrogant statement that he's kept all the commandments since he's a boy(really? never violated any of them even once?), Jesus looks at him, and loves him. That really touched me, and brought home to me how unconditional God's love for us really is.

"Old Schoolism"

This is from Martin Luther; I found it to be quite interesting as I think most of us has this mentality organisation of church is an old school concept and that we should try to be more organic. Well, it does seem as a whole, we don't do a great job starting spiritual grow-ops. Anyways, how could we better bring Christ into our daily community lives? It's just something to think about.

“[Christians] should sign their names and meet alone in a house somewhere to pray, to read, to baptize, to receive the sacrament, and do other Christian works. According to this order, those who do not lead Christian lives could be known, reproved, corrected, cast out, or excommunicated, according to the rule of Christ [Mat. 18:15-17]. Here one could also solicit benevolent gifts to be willingly given and distributed to the poor, according to St. Paul’s example [2 Cor. 9]. Here would be no need of much and elaborate singing. Here one could set out a brief and neat order for baptism and the sacrament and center everything on the Word, prayer, and love.”

"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles — is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already — it’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on." -David Foster Wallace, Kenyon Commencement speech http://merginglanes.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/david-foster-wallace-on-life-and-work/

Just to be fair

Here's Don Miller on What Women Really Need From Men: http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/07/what-women-really-need-from-men/

I find this advice to be generally correct, if of course incomplete and a gross oversimplification.

Don Miller on What Men want

http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/08/what-men-really-need-from-women/comment-page-2/#comments

I know we talked a little last semester about looking for the right spouse, and this post has something to do with that (from the guys' perspective). I really enjoyed reading through it, and thought that it is definitely something we women should hear more often.
Thoughts, anyone?

"ching chong chang"

here's a verse i came across today that relates to yesterday's discussion

proverbs 9:7-8
whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

INTERESTING.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

worries cripple my desire to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. i think i could be diligent in my daily responsibilities. but even if despite diligence, i experience instability /uncertainty in areas like finances, job, relationships, future, etc... i hope eventually my peace of mind and heart won't be dictated by these things. why do i think my daily concerns fall outside God's control? the past few bible studies and sermons have been good in helping me rethink and recognize God's authority over all things, from natural storms to supernatural demons. and even if my prayers aren't answered the way i'd expect, i'm seeing that it's God maintaining his good plan. sort of in the same way ben pointed out yesterday that Jesus can assent to the pleadings of demons and faithless people, and then say no to the healed man who begged to travel with Jesus - i can imagine it was with the utmost earnestness that he begged, out of immense love and faith for the dude who had just ended his emotional/physical/spiritual enslavement to thousands of demons. thankfully, with the 'no,' Jesus adds words of direction. sometimes i feel like my prayers are like, "oh God oh God.. my loans!!!! are you going to help me?? should i be working here right now?? do i really have to give this and that up???? circle: yes/no. and p.s. these are legitimate concerns!" but he responds, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." i've been seeing in my own life how mature faithful people follow this command despite money, timing and other logistics not falling into place - and God provides..

Interesting little Short Story

A Parable of American Politics

Not so much just a statement on politics, but rather one about human rational?

unexpected loss

It took me awhile to figure out how to publish a post on this blog. I normally don't blog, let alone journal, but I wanted to share with you all what I experienced this week.

Early Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for work I saw that I had a missed call around 12:54am, from Sam Chukwuma. Sam is a third year student at Georgia State University and attends my GSU family group. That afternoon, I received a text from Iyanu Adeleke, another family group member who said, "hey edith, i don't know if you know but roy kerlegan died last night in a motorcycle accident." While sitting at my desk, I gazed at my computer screen in shock. Putting the pieces together, I realized that Sam called me to confirm that Roy passed away 11:00pm Monday night.

In my third and last year of college, I led a family group at Georgia State University. It was our first year ever having family group. We had about eight or nine members attend weekly and Roy Kerlegan was one of them. Through Sam's persistence and persuasion, Roy decided to come out and join our weekly bible studies. From what Roy shared with me growing up in Evans, GA near Augusta, as a child he always attended church with his parents every Sunday. He grew despondent and critical of the church after witnessing the church leadership and pastors behaving hypocritically and not truly setting an example he would want to follow. Every week during bible study, Roy would ask questions, "who is Jesus?", "why do you believe that such a person would sacrifice himself for us?" these were questions that most of us don't normally think about especially if we've been Christian for a long time. Roy's questions and his curiosity enabled us to really think about who we serve and why we believe. To incorporate a group discussion with everyone on the same page, we focused our study on the gospel. While discussing the gospel and sharing our personal testimonies, I could see Roy's heart slowing opening up to the idea of having a relationship with God.

As easy as it was to have regrets, all I could do as a family group leader and older sister was to love and accept Roy for who he was and I trusted that this was all I could give him. I remember praying that something in how we talked, how we laughed with him and cared for him would show him that who we are as Christians is real and genuine, but a transformation that only God could provide. I soon found out two days ago that Roy received salvation a few months ago and was joyfully attending a church in Atlanta. Roy Kerlegan died at the age of 20 years old. He worked as a general manager at Chik-fi-la, a full-time student, and a mentor on campus. Due to his hectic schedule he was unable to join us for bible study after his freshmen year. In memory of him, a devotion was held on campus in celebration of his life. It was special hearing different individuals from the study body sharing about the ways Roy inspired, motivated and loved them while paying their respects to his parents and younger sister. This helped his family witness the kind of college experience Roy had.

I'm so thankful knowing that Roy left this earth receiving God into his life and that the choice was his. I'm attending his funeral this Saturday in Evans, GA and in memory of him I will give his parents a copy of the 2007-2008 JCA Live recording of our family group "PB&J" performing a skit to Lifehouse. Apparently, his parents didn't believe him when he told them he was in a play/performance =)

"Rest"

just to add to tonight's bible study, here are notes from sunday sermon discussion - of the different ways that people defined "rest":

-restoring: metaphor of fields/crops not growing for a period of time in order that soil can be restored
-satisfaction
-includes both physical and spiritual
-"sharpening your ax"
-a spiritual discipline that jesus practiced in order to hear/listen to God. has intentionality and focus
-holy
-purification
-feeling complete in the Lord: nothing you can do to gain/lose

my mom occasionally emails the family anecdotes about her work with the refugee community. these stories range from poignant to humorous to both. just thought i'd share one of them (with her permission, and i took out names):


I took Iraqi refugee brothers, S and B, to my friend’s place last Sunday afternoon. S is 25 years old and speaks English well, but 35- year-old B does not speak English. Seeing S going to the restroom, my friend told me that there was no toilet paper in her restroom. When my friend gave B toilet paper to take it to his brother, B said, “No, water, water”. We had no idea what he meant.

S came out and I asked him how he solved the problem without toilet paper. S told me that he did not need toilet paper and he always used his hands and water. I told him that he had better use toilet paper in the United States. He laughed and said that water was cleaner than toilet paper. I did not have any intention to teach him how to do with his business in restroom. I was concerned about myself. Whenever I greet S and say goodbye to him, I shake his hand.
So I found a bottle of soap and gave it to him to wash his hands, but he laughed loud again and insisted that he washed his hands throughly. I gave up and thought to myself, ‘no more shaking hand with him’

It took me 40 minutes to drive back to their apartment. While driving, I became to know the brothers better. S talked about their lives in Iraq. He told me about how his family fled to Syria from Iraqi soldiers’ persecution and their another brother’s death in the hands of Iraqi soldiers. He said that he thought me as their true friend. I was touched.

In front of their apartment, I promised to visit them again and hold S's hand firmly to say goodbye to him. A sudden realization hit me. Oh, NOOOOOO!!!!!!

Office Space

Today, my coworker Drew asked me to go to a Lunch and Learn seminar with him. I don’t really know him too well, other than the fact that he works in our department. I met him a couple times, talked to him here and there, but how often can I see him? I mean he sits way across the other side of the building. At some point in time, he found out from some mutual coworkers that I had gone to a church retreat (JCA YA retreat holla!), which to me is astounding and utterly confusing. Why would the topic of me going on a church retreat ever come up in a conversation amongst my coworkers? (isn't there football going on?) I don’t know. But hey now we know; people will talk about anything so long as it allows them to take a water break from work. He eventually emailed me and encouraged me by saying, hey if you need anything let me know, as a fellow believer. I was so encouraged!

Anyway, fast forward to today. To be frank, I was pretty hesitant on going to the seminar. The seminar is pretty much a Bible study for company employees, which okay, I didn’t realize until now is SO freaking awesome. But I mean at the time, I was only thinking, it was my much needed break time, my deserved time away from the computer, from clients, from all the NONSENSE. My other coworkers are bugging me to go eat sushi with them for lunch; I love sushi; and I’m not in the mood for another Bible study; and I love sushi. But I promised this dude that I would go to the seminar with him. (the fact that there was free pizza didn’t hurt either). We walk over to a conference room and a good number of people are there, all company employees. I was thinking wow, this is like Sunday service…but…with coworkers?

So we watched a sermon from apparently this well known preacher Louis Giglio, and what do you know, it was relevant to us corporate folk. The main point being, it’s not what you do with your life, but whatever you do, do for the Lord and let Him be glorified from it. Simple yet powerful.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…”
-Colossians 3:23

Such an awesome verse, and such a gut check for me personally. Struggling tremendously with work that truthfully I’m not passionate about, it’s hard to give 110% sometimes. I have a lot to learn; but one thing I want to learn quickly is that I want to give my all in everything I do, while giving Him all the glory. I’m impatient and I want that now!

After the sermon the band in the video played “how great is our God” (undoubtedly on JCA’S top 25 most played list if it had an iPod) and midway through the song I hear people that I’m sitting with slowly start to sing along- to the older looking janitor guy sitting in front of me, to the straight up southern guy with his polo tucked in to my right, to the young and beautiful HR lady sitting behind me. Awkward at first, it was so humbling and …so beautiful that right then and there, I felt tears rolling down my face…

I’m guilty of placing this invisible wall between my spiritual life and my secular life. I’m guilty of underestimating God’s presence and his ability to touch ppl wherever and whenever. And wow, He just made it easier for people like me to share his awesomeness with non-believing coworkers, with seminars in our office building…like come on, there’s no excuse to not invite someone to that, is there?

Praise be to God

the paralytic

jesus forgave me of my sins and then healed my paralyzed body. later i wondered, what if jesus said to me "you're sins are forgiven" and then took away my sight?

In another lifetime, Tozer would have made a great name for a tank shaped chocolate.

"A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar. The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit; these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul"

"When I come before the judgment throne, I will plead the promise of God in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I will not plead any work that I have done, although I will thank God that he has enabled me to do some good. I will plead no merits other than the merits of Christ, knowing that the merits of Mary and the saints are all from him; and for their company, their example, and their prayers throughout my earthly life I will give everlasting thanks. I will not plead that I had faith, for sometimes I was unsure of my faith, and in any event that would be to turn faith into a meritorious work of my own. I will not plead that I held the correct understanding of 'justification by faith alone,' although I will thank God that he led me to know ever more fully the great truth that much misunderstood formulation was intended to protect. Whatever little growth in holiness I have experienced, whatever strength I have received from the company of the saints, whatever understanding I have attained of God and his ways — these and all other gifts received I will bring to the throne. But in seeking entry to that heavenly kingdom, I will, with Dysmas [the thief on the cross], look to Christ and Christ alone."

Father Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

Mark 10 QT

Was doing a QT, thought I'd share my thoughts... (Mark 10)

Prelude

"In order to test him... 'Is it lawful...' "

Cynically speaking, "is it lawful" might be one of the most popular questions presented to Jesus. It's probably no coincidence that it's (in this case, and probably some others) usually with the goal "to test him."  What are the ramifications of this question?

First, one of my personal favorite things about God is the fact that he is not a lawyer.   We live in a lawful society, which is good.  In general, for everything, there is a law, or many laws, that have been written and defined about the proper action for every situation.  One of the grievances (among many) of living in a lawful society is the inevitable growth in the number and intricacy of the laws.  This arises naturally, I believe, in no small part due to the ability and will of people to work around the existing laws, allowing them to obey the letter of the law, if not the spirit.  Realizing this, Jesus has no desire to read/write/interpret/debate legal documents - rules will not humble the human heart, only love/grace can do that.

The question, "is it lawful," is a manifestation of our incredible lust to rebel.  We challenge our creator/father/friend/lover.  We abhor the idea of being a slave to God's laws, all the while not realizing that we are slaves to our perverted idea of 'freedom' from the law.

Divorce

Here, we see that indomitable and abominable spirit of human rebellion play out. "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"  According to the traditions, that is the laws of Moses - yes, there are some instances where it is allowable.  But that does not make it right/good/natural.

Today the divorce rate is incredibly high.  In fact, it is prevalent enough that I have often wondered whether it would happen to me when I am married (statistically, it's probably a coin flip). I guess it's certainly allowable, at the very least in the legal sense, which is probably why our society has taken such liberties when exercising this right. However, God did not make man and woman to be one, just so they can separate into two again. "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

To give a metaphor, perhaps God views divorce as we view abortion (at least the pro-choice position). Divorce is a most-unnatural and most-regretful course of action, and though God allows it, it pains God greatly when a husband and wife part ways.   Most people know/feel this, deep in their hearts, even if our society has largely desensitized us to it already.  Likewise, to kill an unborn child is, some would say, the most regretful of all actions.  No one feels this more profoundly than the child's mother. Simply because it is allowed in some places on certain occasions does not mean society should not grieve terribly when even one such tragedy happens.

In the end, the Pharisees care only about the law.  Is it right to divorce?  Is abortion legal?  Those who desire God's heart must be careful to seek the central, true intent of God's laws, rather than constantly trying to probe the extent/perimeter of the legal terminology.

getting closer to Christ

Today Slawomir Oder (the head of the Vatican committee investigating whether Pope John Paul II was a saint) and Saverio Gaeta (journalist for the Catholic weekly Christian family) published the book, "Why he is a Saint: the True Story of John Paul II."  The book reveals Pope John Paul II whipped himself to bring himself closer to Christ, but not to the point of inflicting bodily injury to himself.

What are your thoughts about Christians who self-flagellate, i.e. whip themselves with a belt for the purpose of bringing themselves closer to Christ?  Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke 9:23-24, that "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

What did Christ mean when he said that his followers must take up a cross daily?  Do Christians take up a cross figuratively when they fast; renounce sinful pleasures; donate money to charity; or face persecution by their friends who question the validity of the Christian faith?  Certainly Christ did not approve of hedonism, but to what extent should Christians engage in self-sacrifice to atone for their sins?

Many Protestants argue that Christians have already been saved by Grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8, 9; Romans 3:20, 28; Galatians 2:16), but does this mean that Grace eliminates the need for atonement by Christians to repent for their sins?  I believe that we are saved by a combination of faith and good works.  If Christians truly have Grace through their faith in Christ, then they should want to obey the commandments and repent for their sins.  In James 2:24, it is written that "a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."  Christ also says in Matthew 19:17 that "if you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

well

Last night, I was speaking to my grandmother. For those of you that have not met her, she just recently turned 86, and thus is at the age when most of her friends have passed away.
She was telling me a story about how she was sitting in her Sunday school, listening to the teacher, when suddenly the teacher died while he was teaching the lesson.
When I heard this I was in shock, and didn't really know what to say. My grandmother, however, calmly explained that she thought this was the best possible way to go-he was living in accordance with the Lord's will for his life. Of course, most of us are not going to be lucky enough to go in such a fortuitous moment. But at least we can keep on trying to live our lives in such a way that we would not be ashamed to expire at any moment.

Raising Awareness

Since we've had a retreat and numerous discussions centered on social justice I thought that this article about Dubai would be an interesting read.

The article is slightly long, but I do really think it is a worthwhile read.

through a fair voting process, we see that winslet has outranked all kates in beauty.

Beckinsale: 2
Hudson: 0
Winslet: 3
Mary Kate Olsen: 1

The Great Kate-Bate

*disclaimer - the following is not (too) spiritual*

Mirror mirror on the wall
who's the best kate of em all? (Beckinsale, Hudson, Winslet)


I'll get us started

Beckinsale: 1
Hudson: 0
Winslet: 0

Not sure if this is the type of thing we'll be blogging on, but...

I randomly flipped to Habakkuk 3 this morning and found this passage to be very beautifully written-I think the NIV translates the Hebrew poetry into English quite well:

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

About Us

Welcome to the BYOB Group.  We are a non-denominational bible study group comprised of young adults from diverse Christian backgrounds, including both Protestant and Catholic disciplines.  The purpose of this blog is to encourage the development of a godly lifestyle, Christian values, and caring community as we strive to apply the teachings of the Bible to our daily lives and to ethical issues in contemporary American society.  As intellectuals, we will also promote the use of this blog to expound on Christian theological debates and their relevance to modern culture on a global level.