Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Take Up your Cross and Follow Him
Take Up your Cross and Follow Him
1. Matthew 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
2. The half hearted kamakazi (http://epicvelocity.wordpress.com/)
Kamikaze pilots are only useful if they are committed to their mission. You cannot have involvement without commitment and be effective. It goes with the territory. Once you are committed, you’ll find resources, energy and people follow. Commitment precedes results.
There was a story of a Kamikaze Pilot who was amazingly interviewed about how he returned from his 50th mission. He said, “Well it’s like this…I was very involved, but not very committed.” God has called us to be more than just involved; Christ has called us to be completely committed to Him and His mission. Let’s face it - it’s easy to be involved, but not committed.
http://epicvelocity.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/catalyst-the-half-hearted-kamikaze/
1. Matthew 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
2. The half hearted kamakazi (http://epicvelocity.wordpress.com/)
Kamikaze pilots are only useful if they are committed to their mission. You cannot have involvement without commitment and be effective. It goes with the territory. Once you are committed, you’ll find resources, energy and people follow. Commitment precedes results.
There was a story of a Kamikaze Pilot who was amazingly interviewed about how he returned from his 50th mission. He said, “Well it’s like this…I was very involved, but not very committed.” God has called us to be more than just involved; Christ has called us to be completely committed to Him and His mission. Let’s face it - it’s easy to be involved, but not committed.
http://epicvelocity.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/catalyst-the-half-hearted-kamikaze/
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
a post from DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS
THE CONSTRUCTIVE CURMUDGEON
THIS IS A FORUM FOR REFLECTION ON CULTURE, ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY, AND THEOLOGY. THE VIEWS POSTED BY ME HERE ARE MY OWN, AND DO NOT REPRESENT ANY INSTITUTION WITH WHICH I MAY BE AFFILIATED. THE POSTS MADE BY OTHERS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT MY VIEWS. BEING A CURMUDGEON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RUDENESS OR INCIVILITY, BUT MEANS THE WILLINGNESS TO SNIFF OUT THE TRUTH AND EXPOSE LIES AND SPIN AS BEST ONE CAN IN HUMILITY--AT LEAST THAT IS THE GOAL.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008
God-free Religion to Go
After much research, hard work, trial and error, and after consulting (and paying; they don't come cheap) a plethora of social science consultants, we have finally achieved our goal. The stakeholders are pleased; our market share is rising; our popularity is going through the roof. We have reached the ultimate reinvention.
We have made religion God-free--and in the name of God!
Our forms are fabulous, enticing the eyes, tickling the ears, tugging at the heart, drawing in the designer demographic. The choreography is cogent, spectacular, impressive. Our numbers are up, the complaints are down; our path is wide, our message inviting and inclusive.
We have put God on a leash. It is a powerful image: God for us, in our way. We celebrate the love of God without a nasty cross; the power of God without judgment and narrowness; the presence of God without any censorious legalism on his part. O God, we are free of God!
We have a Bible. Oh, we all believe it, or at least salute it at some point in the service. We don't expect you to bring your own, of course. We've moved beyond the book to the screen. We supply the multicolored, ever-moving screens. There a few positive, uplifting texts there, too--at least when it fits the mood we create. We do not mention Psalms of lament or, God help us, Ecclesiastes or Job. These do not speak to busy, postmodern people, you see. Our consultants told us so.
We have no power to heal the sick, or raise the dead, or cast out demons, or call people to repentance or to worship God in abject humility and desperation. Why should we? Who does that any more? It does not fit our postmodern context; it just is not relevant. Besides, it would reduce the numbers. The giving units would shrink. How could we afford our mortgage? When people get sick and die, we try to move on. We turn mourning into laughter as soon as possible.
Gold and silver we have plenty. In the name of our designer God, be happy! Be successful! Don't be negative. God believes in you! God bless us all!
We have a new, better, form of godliness. We have the lights, the cameras, the action. Our seats are comfortable; our platform people are pretty. Nothing is out of line: no hair uncombed, no moment unscripted, no unscheduled episodes. There are no interruptions. We even have an emergency generator. There will be no power failures here.
We have no dead air. We are busy with our program. We are efficient. We give door prizes and smile.
We have reinvented God, our designer God. Surely God is pleased. We use him in so many ways.
We have reinvented communion. Do it your way, in your timing, as you see fit. No old words and stuffy invocations and recitations. Whatever it means to you, it is. And we do it once in while, when our program schedule allow for it.
We have made religion free of God, that old God that failed. And we blink and twitch.
(Yet the remnant of true God-seekers remains.)
THIS IS A FORUM FOR REFLECTION ON CULTURE, ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY, AND THEOLOGY. THE VIEWS POSTED BY ME HERE ARE MY OWN, AND DO NOT REPRESENT ANY INSTITUTION WITH WHICH I MAY BE AFFILIATED. THE POSTS MADE BY OTHERS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT MY VIEWS. BEING A CURMUDGEON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RUDENESS OR INCIVILITY, BUT MEANS THE WILLINGNESS TO SNIFF OUT THE TRUTH AND EXPOSE LIES AND SPIN AS BEST ONE CAN IN HUMILITY--AT LEAST THAT IS THE GOAL.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008
God-free Religion to Go
After much research, hard work, trial and error, and after consulting (and paying; they don't come cheap) a plethora of social science consultants, we have finally achieved our goal. The stakeholders are pleased; our market share is rising; our popularity is going through the roof. We have reached the ultimate reinvention.
We have made religion God-free--and in the name of God!
Our forms are fabulous, enticing the eyes, tickling the ears, tugging at the heart, drawing in the designer demographic. The choreography is cogent, spectacular, impressive. Our numbers are up, the complaints are down; our path is wide, our message inviting and inclusive.
We have put God on a leash. It is a powerful image: God for us, in our way. We celebrate the love of God without a nasty cross; the power of God without judgment and narrowness; the presence of God without any censorious legalism on his part. O God, we are free of God!
We have a Bible. Oh, we all believe it, or at least salute it at some point in the service. We don't expect you to bring your own, of course. We've moved beyond the book to the screen. We supply the multicolored, ever-moving screens. There a few positive, uplifting texts there, too--at least when it fits the mood we create. We do not mention Psalms of lament or, God help us, Ecclesiastes or Job. These do not speak to busy, postmodern people, you see. Our consultants told us so.
We have no power to heal the sick, or raise the dead, or cast out demons, or call people to repentance or to worship God in abject humility and desperation. Why should we? Who does that any more? It does not fit our postmodern context; it just is not relevant. Besides, it would reduce the numbers. The giving units would shrink. How could we afford our mortgage? When people get sick and die, we try to move on. We turn mourning into laughter as soon as possible.
Gold and silver we have plenty. In the name of our designer God, be happy! Be successful! Don't be negative. God believes in you! God bless us all!
We have a new, better, form of godliness. We have the lights, the cameras, the action. Our seats are comfortable; our platform people are pretty. Nothing is out of line: no hair uncombed, no moment unscripted, no unscheduled episodes. There are no interruptions. We even have an emergency generator. There will be no power failures here.
We have no dead air. We are busy with our program. We are efficient. We give door prizes and smile.
We have reinvented God, our designer God. Surely God is pleased. We use him in so many ways.
We have reinvented communion. Do it your way, in your timing, as you see fit. No old words and stuffy invocations and recitations. Whatever it means to you, it is. And we do it once in while, when our program schedule allow for it.
We have made religion free of God, that old God that failed. And we blink and twitch.
(Yet the remnant of true God-seekers remains.)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Election
Even though I do not hold some of the values of our new President. I am hopeful that he will have a successful presidency. It was an amazing experience. I don't know if it is a dawning of a new day ideologically, but it truly was the realization of many peoples dreams!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
This is old, but this time it was performed in a Night Club in L.A.
Is this how we can reach the lost?
Monday, January 12, 2009
A 101% Return
If you are in a relationship where you want to influence someone and change the way he sees or does something, then you shouldn't try to initiate the change in an area where you disagree. In relationships, change always begins with common ground. When you practice the 101 Percent Principle, you find that common ground and expand it. It becomes an excellent starting point for change. JohnMaxwell.com
John Maxwell
The premise of this principle is "Can I find common ground, and will I give it 100 percent of my effort [to make the relationship work]?"
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Leading African-American conservatives
From SourceWatch
Some of the leading right-of-center and conservative African-Americans are:
- Alan Keyes
- Armstrong Williams
- Bishop Harry Jackson
- Clarence Thomas
- Colin Powell
- Condoleezza Rice
- Deroy Murdock
- Glenn Plummer
- Janice Rogers Brown
- John McWhorter
- J. Kenneth Blackwell
- Ken Hamblin
- Larry Elder
- Lynn Swann
- Michael Powell
- Niger Innis
- Reverend Joe Watkins
- Robert L. Woodson, Sr.
- Shelby Steele
- Thomas Sowell
- Virginia Walden-Ford
- Walter E. Williams
- Ward Connerly
Do you know me?
For the secrets about which anthropologists concern themselves can be best learned, not from books or voyages but from the ordinary commerce of man with man. The secret of why some savages tribes worships monkeys or the moon is not to be found even by traveling among those savages and taking down their answers in a notebook, although the cleverest man may pursue this course. The answer to the riddle...is in [their] own heart!
G.K. Chesterton - Science and the Savages
Wow is this not powerful; the implications are that it is no mystery why people do what that do! It is not a mystery because we find the same impulses inside of ourselves. It is the context that makes the difference.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Judaism and original sin!
...But the Talmud [one of the foundations for Judaism] expressly teaches (Ber. 6a), that God originally created man with two propensities, one to good and one to evil (Yetset tobh, and Yester hara). The evil impulse began immediately after birth. But, it was within the power of man to vanquish sin, and to attain perfect righteousness...[by his own works]
Alfred Edersheim "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah"
The implications of this teaching are that God created man both to do good and evil. The implicit point is that evil comes from God. This is antithetical to Christianity. Christianity teaches that God is good, but Adam's choice to do evil [opposite from God's will] resulted in sin. As a result of Adam and Eve's choice to sin, they died spiritually. Everyone who is a decedent of Adam inherits his spiritual condition after his sin. "original sin"
Imagine being a Jew hearing the gospel and having to believe what is totally opposite from what you have been taught all your life! This shows you how revolutionary Paul's teaching on original sin was! Paul was taught the above doctrine as well, but through a revelation from God he understood the truth of the nature of God, man, and sin. This doctrine always existed, But Paul's faith in Christ enabled him to be the first person God revealed it to...!
Alfred Edersheim "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah"
The implications of this teaching are that God created man both to do good and evil. The implicit point is that evil comes from God. This is antithetical to Christianity. Christianity teaches that God is good, but Adam's choice to do evil [opposite from God's will] resulted in sin. As a result of Adam and Eve's choice to sin, they died spiritually. Everyone who is a decedent of Adam inherits his spiritual condition after his sin. "original sin"
Imagine being a Jew hearing the gospel and having to believe what is totally opposite from what you have been taught all your life! This shows you how revolutionary Paul's teaching on original sin was! Paul was taught the above doctrine as well, but through a revelation from God he understood the truth of the nature of God, man, and sin. This doctrine always existed, But Paul's faith in Christ enabled him to be the first person God revealed it to...!
Lead your own way!
There is no one best way to manage. What is best depends on the situation and the values of the decision maker.
Daniel P. Chamberlin 'Organizational Behavior'
Daniel P. Chamberlin 'Organizational Behavior'
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The fall of evil-ution
Darwin himself acknowledged that any character "formed for the exclusive good of another, would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection."
Jeffrey P. Schloss "Mere Creation"
So for the atheist the problem of evil is not the enigma, but the true enigma for the atheist is the problem of Good!
Jeffrey P. Schloss "Mere Creation"
So for the atheist the problem of evil is not the enigma, but the true enigma for the atheist is the problem of Good!
Judging Justly
And he [Jesus] shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears.
Isa. 11:3b
Isaiah is prophesying regarding the thought process of Jesus while He was on earth...I believe this is walking by faith! Jesus only did what the Father wanted Him to do! To me this is why it is important to know God's word and His commandments. Because our opinions and wisdom mean nothing if they don't align with God's. We don't know what is going on in the spirtual realm, nor do we know comprehisively what is going on in the phisical relam. Thus, following God's path is the only way one can truly say they have responded properly in every situation. I guess that is one reason why Jesus said, "if we follow his commands we are building our house on a rock!"
Isa. 11:3b
Isaiah is prophesying regarding the thought process of Jesus while He was on earth...I believe this is walking by faith! Jesus only did what the Father wanted Him to do! To me this is why it is important to know God's word and His commandments. Because our opinions and wisdom mean nothing if they don't align with God's. We don't know what is going on in the spirtual realm, nor do we know comprehisively what is going on in the phisical relam. Thus, following God's path is the only way one can truly say they have responded properly in every situation. I guess that is one reason why Jesus said, "if we follow his commands we are building our house on a rock!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)