If you say something true about Jesus, but your Jesus is a different Jesus, is what you said about the first Jesus still true?
What if you’re singing it? Continue reading…
Archive for the 'Bible' Category
The following article is interesting and asks a fascinating question.
Coincidently, the following is excerpted from a post I wrote independent of the above article on my own blog two weeks ago (September 6), entitled “Becoming More Chaste in Thought and Deed“.
Debt is an interesting thing. On one hand, it allows us to acquire things we don’t have but need. On the other hand, it allows us to acquire things we don’t need but want. On one hand, our needs are bought and paid for - fully and completely - with no regard for our ability to reimburse our benefactor. On the other hand, our wants are purchased on credit - financed with an interest rate that can become impossible to repay. On both hands, spiritual debt has a significant impact on how we see ourselves and the world around us. This paradox (debt as a provider of both the necessary and unnecessary - as natural and chosen - as freeing and enslaving) has a fascinating impact on spiritual poverty. Continue reading…
Finally, a lesson that really makes you think! This is probably my favorite JS lesson this year (no one dies or has to move to Missouri). For those who are teaching, you may also enjoy the excellent essay at Feast on the Word blog by joespencer.
What if Abraham had disobeyed God?
Here’s the other version of the story I dug up after breaking into secret Illuminati archives and comparing translations with those hidden in the depths of the Vatican library. I decoded the rest using a Knights Templar cipher wheel obtained from a street vendor selling souvenirs outside the US Capitol building. The final scripture becoming visible under the moonlight reflected off the roof of the chapel at Rennes-le-Château.
Genesis Chapter 22
God: Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your son as a burnt offering. I know he’s your only son, and it was really a huge deal for you when Isaac was born, but I command this. Take him up to the mountain, slice his throat and burn his body.
Abraham: Uhhhhhhh…. Are you sure Lord? That doesn’t sound quite right.
God: Yes. I am sure. Go do it. This is a commandment. Continue reading…
While pondering the concept of spiritual poverty earlier this year, something struck me that I hadn’t considered previously quite in that way. I have believed the central principle for some time, but considering how salvation (being saved from something) applies to this life is something I have not put into words previously. Here is what struck me: Continue reading…
Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
As I was pondering the phrase “poor in spirit” recently, it hit me pretty hard that, in our modern society, we so marginalize and disdain poverty that we probably miss much of the meaning embedded in the phrase “poor in spirit” as a **desirable** trait. Therefore, I started thinking about the implications of poverty - what it means not as defined in the dictionary, but rather in practical terms. Iow, what does it mean to **BE** poor - particularly in ways that can be seen as bringing blessings? Continue reading…
[NOTE: This is the third post in the series, "Common Scriptures in Review", but it also is the first post in another series explained at the end of the post.]
The great commandment “in the law” is, in summary, “Love God and everyone else.” However, the great culmination of Christ’s penultimate sermon (The Sermon on the Mount) is a powerful commandment outside the law - a commandment that cannot be fulfilled simply by obedience to the law. This foundational command is contained in Matthew 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which art in Heaven is perfect.” Continue reading…
(The following is a re-post of something our “son” wrote on his blog last year - and that I posted at T&S when it occurred and I was guest blogging for a couple of weeks. I was struck immediately by the similarities between his experience and the parable of the Good Samaritan. I cleaned up the language a bit for those who don’t want the full linguistic brunt of his ire on his own blog.)
“Today, I lost my faith in humanity. Continue reading…
When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
(1 Cor. 13:11.)
As I’ve grown older, the things I’ve unlearned about God are just as significant to me as the things I’ve learned about Him. In fact, the God I believed in as a child is almost unrecognizable to me now.
1 Kings Chapter 18 tells the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal. We read that Elijah and Ahab confront each other, and Elijah challenges Ahab’s new god, Baal, and his priests in showdown of divine power. After the priests are unable to summon Baal’s power to burn their scarified offering, Elijah succeeds in doing so by engaging the powers of heaven. Everyone learns a good lesson about not trusting in idols and the need to serve God, but a rather disconcerting detail about what Elijah does next is often overlooked. Continue reading…
. . . . there I was writing my ex-wife a letter trying to explain what a Temple Marriage and Sealing is and what it means regarding our son. You see my current wife and I wanted her daughter, my older son, and our younger son, to all be sealed to us in the Mormon Temple. One of our many obstacles was my son was only 15 and needed the consent of both of his living parents. The other obstacle was my wife’s daughter was 18 and needed the same consent from her bio-father (even the Bishop had to look this one up. You have to be 21 to attend otherwise.) I was charged with the task of letter writing. In these letters I had to explain things to people who didn’t know much about Mormonism. I had give them enough information to make an informed decision about whether or not they wanted their children to be sealed to my wife and I. Continue reading…
