A LITTLE BIT OF THE OLD BIBLE STUDY

 

My abilities as a Bible teacher lie somewhere between the kindergarten and first grade but still there are a lot of spiritual first graders around.

In our spiritual quest one of the first things to know is; that GOD is infinite (subject to no limitation or external determination) and man is finite (having a limited nature or existence.)

Being aware of this has created a great gulf between the two. You might say "I already knew that," well I told you this is first grade stuff.

Now, comes upon the scene Jesus Christ who is 100% GOD and 100% man and is the bridge or connection between the Infinite and the finite.

The next bit of information is important; there isn't anything automatic about this process of interaction between the two parties, Jesus being the factor.

The rules for interaction are spelled out in the Bible most clearly if followed.

These rules are established by the Infinite and are to be complied with by the finite in order for the parties to be "hooked up."

 

The picture that comes to mind is of three people whose hands are extended and the mediator (Jesus) standing in the middle reaches out and takes a hand of each of the two parties joining all three together.

 

This process can work very well for we have been given the access code (the name of Jesus) for communication with the Father.  Except there is one hindrance and you guessed it - - it is disobedience better known as Sin.  Sin breaks the connection and must be re-established before prayer can be fully effective.

 

There is something in the manual concerning this; 1John 1:6-10 So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don't follow the truth. We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God's Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean. If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. If we say that we have not sinned, we are saying that God is a liar and that we don't accept his true teaching.

 

According to this we will mess up but on the other hand we can quickly straighten up by having a little talk with Jesus. This concludes this lesson children - - so be good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxLA1NX9gxY

I’M ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL!

 

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

Alexander Pope an English poet born on May 21^st 1688 and died May 30^th 1744 said those often quoted words. He might have also said “to excuse err is to remove all responsibility” regardless of the offense whether great or small.

The law is suppose to have garnered great wisdom in dealing with deliberate offences but we find there are great disparities in rendering judgment.  

Weldon Angelos, a 28 year old music executive and father of two young children was convicted of selling small amounts of marijuana three times for a few hundred dollars each time. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison while in the same courtroom on the same day; another defendant was convicted of bludgeoning an elderly woman to death with a log.  He was sentenced to 25 years.

There are times when a judge is forced to levy heavy sentences for what could be called trivial offences and almost ignore crimes of a more violent nature.

To err is human, but it is also human to obey and thus need no divine forgiveness. If there was only one person in the world it would be unnecessary to follow rules of conduct but the minute there are two or more people on earth then protection is needed and comes in the form of laws or rules.

The Ten Commandments cover virtually all of the human conduct needed to have a functioning society and when examining them you see that there are none of the commandments that a human can’t easily obey if they choose to do so.

Perhaps Mr. Pope would have been better served if he had said “to err is a willful violation of what is known to be unprofitable for society.”

Notwithstanding there are careless moments when an unintentional erroneous act may happen.   It certainly should be the exception and not the rule.

When we have to excuse the way we conduct ourselves, we need to return to the book of life for instructions in righteousness. 

The promulgation of human weakness has become an opiate that society has been hooked on and spirituality is a victim of this practice. In some cases the asking and receiving forgiveness lifestyle has replaced living uprightly before the Lord and whose motto is “I’m only human after all.”  

Is it time to stop excusing ourselves and start living up to our potential?

 

Fathers are Needed by their Family

This is a guest post by my wife Hazel -

from her Book "Rescue the Stories Book Three"

 

Father reading to his children

 

Every work place has their own set of abbreviations that mean something to those working there.
 

At our job at the Family Support Department, there were words and abbreviations known only to us.  

AP meant Absent Parent (could be either one).  NCP was Non Custodial Parent, again either one.    Our main function at our job was to collect the monthly child support payments and forward them to the CP, (Custodial Parent.)

I remember one day, when my co-worker was extremely upset with her husband.  I knew she was angry by the way she tore into her work.  A bee was certainly under her bonnet!!

Later that morning, up the stairs happily skipped one of the girls from the front desk carrying a large bouquet of roses.   She sang a sort of sing song remark as she yodeled, “These just came for YOU,” then she handed the lovely flowers to my friend.  The girl continued, “He must have done something real-ly bad!” 

The other workers who could not help overhearing laughed, but my friends face softened.

When all was quiet and my friend was ready to listen; I began to speak softly just to her.  Not referring to the flowers, or to my friend’s anger, but telling her a short parable.

I began, “You know, darlin’, I have noticed that most of these NCP cases we deal with all have an interesting story.  Many times, the woman becomes so angry with her stupid, no good, useless husband, that she dumps him for what ever good reason she believes. 

 

The amazing part of these cases is that there is usually another women out there waiting to grab that worthless, son of a gun, as soon as he is free.  I wonder if the wife might just be better off to forgive that no good guy, keep him and simply go on with their life?”

That day, she was listening but she said nothing.  I knew in my heart that she had got the message “Big time.”  We never talked about her situation, and there was no need to do so.

The story went on; their home was not broken, he applied for and got a better job.  He continues to be a good father to their children, and they have a somewhat happy home!

Wives (and hubby too) always be forgiving, and Husbands (and wife too), make no opportunity for offense.

Happy Father’s day to you out there, no matter who you are!

 

Worse than Nixon

Justice is Blind ! !
 

A fourth century B.C. noted philosopher concluded that there were two truths.  One was eternal truth, the other was temporal.

Eternal truth was the deep, actual truth while temporal truth was a reflection of the eternal but was ever changing somewhat like situation ethics.

There have been many embellishments of this philosophy down to today and is still going on.

We find that some on the Supreme Court view the Constitution of the United States in a like manner. While they see the document as absolute, it is passé.

It must remain the rule of law yet be considered a living document that can be interpreted as they see fit.

The problem with this is it allows them to actually make law instead of applying the law which is an intrusion into the legislative branch of government.

When judges can make the law (as we have seen happen in California) it puts a price tag on judgments or in other words judgments for sale. It is a kind of judicial Ebay.

Justices on the court are as hard to get rid of as the itch and President Obama may be allowed to appoint one or two more justices while he remains in office.

Because of his concept of change I feel there is a real need for concern. This President considers himself above the law and the Constitution subject to his interpretation.

At last we have one who is worse than Nixon.