What’s Around the Corner?

Often, when we read the Bible, it may become stale or boring especially if we have read it many, many times.  Some of you may think I’m nuts, and say that it’s never stale or boring and every time God’s word opens up new insights for the reader.  Personally, I agree with both opinions.  So, if you are in a state of boredom, consider looking into what’s around the corner.

A good example for those not sure what I mean….let’s read from the Gospel of Mark.  In Chapter 5 we see the heading (in some Bibles) “Jesus Sends the Demons into a Herd of Pigs”.  You may know the story, so I will set the stage.  In Chapter 4 Jesus had just calmed the storm as they crossed the Sea of Galilee and now they had come to the region known as Gerasenes.  Jesus and his Disciples were immediately met with a situation.  A man with an evil spirit lived among some tombs and saw Jesus from far away.  Jesus knew he was demon possessed and rebuked the spirit named Legion.  Jesus sent the “many” spirits into a herd of pigs (at the request of Legion) and the pigs then drowned themselves in the lake.

TWO THINGS OCCURRED NEXT:

1) The people were mad at Jesus and wanted him to leave (Mark 5: 14-17)

2) The formerly demon possessed man wanted to follow Jesus (Mark 5:18-20)

Let’s look at 1), why did the people want Jesus to leave?  Let’s see what’s around the corner.  We can pretty much know that these people were Gentiles since they were pig herders and Jews did NOT handle pigs.  Jesus’ message was NOT for the Gentiles yet.   Jesus was also disrupting these Gentiles’ lives.  Their pig herd was dead!  Their source of income was gone!  They most likely could not understand the grace and mercy Jesus had just shown toward the demon possessed man.

Let’s look at 2), the freed man wanted to follow Jesus.  Jesus said no.  Why?  Let’s see what’s around the corner.  This man was living in tombs, had been chained and no one could subdue him.  It’s apparent he had caused harm and had probably done a lot of damage to people and possessions in the area.  If all of a sudden you were forced to face these people, wouldn’t you want to leave too?  I’d be right on the boat to follow Jesus!  We know that Jesus knows our hearts, and Jesus knew the true motive of this man.  We can’t say for sure what that motive was, but we know Jesus told him to “Go home and tell your family everything the Lord has done for you…and all the people were amazed [with what the man said].”  Was the man afraid to face his peers?  Maybe.   Was Jesus’ plan better? Of course.

It’s not wrong to investigate the details surrounding scripture and to seek out better contextual insight into the word of God.  We must however be careful that we don’t stand on our opinions as if they are written in the Bible if they are not in fact clearly written in the Bible.

Blessings!

Common Sense Healthcare

From an article written by John Mackey in the Wall Street Journal.

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age.

Here’s the link to the complete article. It’s a very informative and logical read.

I’ve been ranting for years that, surely, it can’t be that hard to eat well.

“Hey let’s get fat and that way we can stick it to the man!”

I used to think… Tidbit #1

Do you remember?  You know, the football games in college where you looked across the field and got mad, frustrated and yelled at the alumni to “STAND UP” and “GET CRAZY” like you were doing?

Obviously, we knew the RIGHT way to attend and root for our team, right?

Well, after being back at school a few times in my thirties, I now understand why many alumni sit down.  It hurts many people to stand for long periods of time!  Heck, we get tired just watching TV now.  What a concept…thinking that maybe I had it wrong back when I was young and knew everything.

What’s in a Commandment? #10

How many of you were just waiting and waiting and wanting to read this last post of the 10 commandments?  Come on, were you coveting this post?  If you were, please reconsider your day job.  :)

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

In a nutshell, we aren’t supposed to sit around thinking about what someone else has, you know the phrase, “Keeping up with the Jones”?  They have it, we want it, we go out and buy something to make ourselves feel good, we can now say we have it too!  Doesn’t this stem from coveting or wanting what our “neighbor” has?  Do you like their new pool?  How about that new lawnmower?  We know it’s wrong to steal (we talked about that commandment already), so coveting doesn’t get the job done.  We head out and buy something and this fills the void until we covet again.

We all know that having strong desires can lead to murder, stealing, lying etc.  Coveting kind of falls into the “pre-exisiting” condition category of many other sins.  When we covet what someone else has, it can lead to all sorts of bad actions.

Saint or Sinner Results

Well, the poll data is by far not going to win awards for accuracy, but hey what can I expect?

Out of 5 votes….

3 picked Sinner

2 picked Saint

So, here’s the challenge to you voters and those afraid to cast the condemning vote!

If you are a Christian believer, why in the world do you think you are defined as a Sinner?  Would you be surprised if I told you that throughout the New Testament, the use of the term Sinner is reserved for those who are not saved, who are “working for Satan”?  Yes, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, but that’s why we need God.  Once we take Him, take His gift, we are no longer condemned!  Read Romans 8!

Would you be surprised to learn that throughout the New Testament the Believer is referred to as “sanctified, holy”?  You may have heard that we “are ambassadors for Christ.”  If we are ambassadors, sanctified and holy through the blood of Christ, then why do we tend to characterize ourselves as Sinners?  We WERE sinners, but now we are Saints.  We are Saints who happen to occasionally sin.  Digest that.

If you feel that this is just a play on words, or maybe just a subtle theological point, think of it this way.  My son is trying to play basketball.  He misses his first shot and gets upset, he proclaims, “I can’t do it!!”, “I can’t do it Daddy!”.  If he keeps telling himself that, of course, you know the end result.  He won’t be able to do it!  If he says, “I can do it!”, then eventually he WILL do it.

If we continually say and think we are a Sinner, of course, we will sin.  If we say and think of ourselves as a Saint, then eventually we will overcome our sin, because we are not a Sinner.  Our aptitude to sin will more and more often be overcome.  We will always be Saints who occasionally sin, but we are surely not Sinners!!!

In a nutshell, a Saint is a Sinner who was forgiven.  If you cling to the Sinner label, then do you feel you are forgiven?  I kind of view it as a positive negative thing.  It’s negative to think of yourself as a sinner, but positive to think of yourself as a Saint…plus the Bible is clear, WE ARE SAINTS.

Paul writes it best (End of Romans 7 into Romans 8):

[This is before being saved, living as an Old Testament Jew - The Deliberate Ruminator]

²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8

[This is now written to the Believer - The Deliberate Ruminator]

Life Through the Spirit

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Here’s a link to PDF with a plethora of applicable bible verses.  Click here.

Saint or a Sinner?

Let’s take a poll.

I’ll post a reply after I get some results… Thanks for helping out and voting!

The key is just click the answer you first think of…

A New Idea for the Old Dog

The brain is very interesting.  I was reading an article recently that discussed some findings regarding the brain.  They noted that, for instance, someone who is a talented pianist has a lot of gray matter located in the parts of the brain related to these skills.  They noted that the amount of gray matter tended to be proportional to the amount of practice and learning the person has relating to playing the piano etc.

How about other skills?  Or what if you lost a finger and started using another finger in place of that old finger?  Did you know that in the brain neurons that used to control the lost finger will switch and will start being used to control the adjacent fingers?  Eventually, that finger will be completely functional as neurons respond to our attempts to use that finger.  Ever seen someone using their toes to write?  Same principle.  The point is, they have shown that practice DOES make perfect.  The OLD dog can learn NEW tricks.  As I think of it in layman’s terms…as we use land, we create more roads, better connections and we can then travel through and use this land more effectively and efficiently.  I think of neurons in much the same way.  They send out “fibers” that link up with surrounding neurons and this in turn helps to give us better use of the parts of our bodies that make use of these neurons…Any scientists out there that want to explain this in more detail, add a comment!

Now, they do not know how much innate talent plays in how good someone is at a particular skill, but we do now know that if you don’t use it, then your brain WILL reallocate those neurons to whatever it is you ARE using.

Bottom line, don’t accept the idea that you are an OLD DOG, or else you WILL BE an OLD DOG.

Fox News

Nope, I’m not going into the realm of hunting.  Little red foxes, you are safe.  I’m actually completely blown away by our current government administration under President Obama.  I’m reading about how there is a very public cry out against Fox News.  Yes, the media is being targeted for reporting the news as they see it…targeted by our GOVERNMENT!  Thank goodness that the other news stations stood up for what is so clearly right…they told the government that you HAVE to allow Fox News a spot for interviewing or we will NOT be a part of the interviewing!

I’m actually totally appalled at the attempt to censor, delegitimize and plain ban media that presents opinions contrary to what the government wants to hear!  I don’t think Obama is truly desiring socialism like many try and prove, but this current debacle comes straight out of a communist regime type attitude!!!  Last I checked there was something called, “The freedom of the press”…

Please, someone, tell me that the government was trying to do the right thing!  Stand up for this action, I would love to hear it!  How are you going to twist it to make it sound like Obama’s administration is still in the right?  I dare you to put it in writing.