Monthly Archives: March 2017

March 29, 2017 · 4:31 pm

Word

Just

Just one

Just one word

Just one word can

Just one word can change

Just one word can change the

Just one word can change the entire

Just one word can change the entire meaning

Just one word can change the entire meaning of

Just one word can change the entire meaning of a

Just one word can change the entire meaning of a sentence.

If you have studied any origination of words, You might find that the word that you use on a regular basis, has been used in the wrong way,either my the meaning or by context.

Most of these original languages come from one of two languages: Latin or Greek. This is the best and easiest way to find the original use of the word in the way that it was used. The english language is not conducive to translation word for word, sometimes it is necessary to use a word that is the next best thing. This can get us into trouble sometimes.

Words in the 21st century are and have changed from their meaning from even their original usage in the 18th century, which in my opinion is a shame.  It changes the context of the usage of the word and also the meaning of the word.

The point of knowing the right meaning and usage is key to understanding the bible, either with Hebrew for the old testament, or Greek for the New Testament. This is key to use this tool in at least a small way of studying the bible. For the Bible enthusiast it would be to his advantage to learn the language to read the bible in hebrew and greek.  Studying  the bible it would be best to compare two or three translations for the appropriate usage of a word, making sure that the word is in the same context, and with the same meaning.

This is vital in understanding the bible, It only takes one to change the entire story!

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March 28, 2017 · 3:13 pm

What is the gospel?

The average christian knows where the ‘gospel’ message is told in the bible, the new testament,the first four books. The preacher told us where it was, our fellow church goers,our family, our friends, even our neighbors. But have we really heard the whole gospel?

But there is this new testament quirk, than just maybe we should take into consideration into the storyline of the gospel.

The disciples did it, the apostles did it, paul did it, peter did it, even Jesus did it. What was it?

They all quoted, referred to, or even told of the old testament scriptures as if they were supposed to mean something at their time of telling, let alone at the time of the scriptures then. But why? What was the point? Nothing back then could be relevant now,could it? Why was even Jesus quoting the old scriptures.

The scriptures were so important to the jewish nation that the pharisees,Sadducee’s,priests knew them frontward and backwards. They were important to know, they were from God. If God’s intention of us to know them was important(our society’s of knowing something is in the form of reading a book,whereas in the jewish realm and their society’s around them was of verbal form of daily repeating of a passage or a letter of the scriptures, with some in scroll form for the priests.) So, ‘knowing’ was reading or hearing the scriptures. But is this what God was wanting us to do? Our answer lies in the scripture when Jesus tells the pharisees that they were the ‘master’s’ of the scriptures considering this was their position of job. Jesus tells them that if they ‘knew’ the scriptures as they said they did, why then did you not know that He was to suffer and die on a cross?

If this was me Jesus was accusing me of not knowing the scripture, I would said to myself, “did I miss a chapter when I was sick that day?!” I don’t remember that!

We know in a very quick thought that it wasn’t in black in white or just plain obvious in the scriptures. So where was it? Who said it? Why? A Prophet? Moses? David? Solomon?

It had to be deeper in the scriptures meaning, not just the obvious stuff. Was there a code? God works in very amazing and insightful ways that only God can. Our humanness has handicapped us in our usual way of looking at things. But it is when we use that verse in Romans 12.2 of ‘having the mind of God’ that we can ‘see’ God’s design and purpose.

His story is being told in the old testament,starting with genesis and going thru revelation. It is incomplete if we only use those ‘4 books’ that have altered the whole story of the gospel.

Let us now use the whole scripture to ‘see’ the gospel, so that we will not be incomplete in His word.

 

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March 27, 2017 · 12:33 pm

Observations

I would like to make two different observations in this blog that should make us relook at them, and hopefully dig deeper into our understanding of them.

My first one is the story of how and why we are where we are right now in our religion or christianity to be specific. My gut reaction to this statement is I know what the people’s answer will be. “It is not all about who or where we got our beliefs from”, “we received our understanding from the scriptures,the word of God”.  But alas, our belief’s have been handed down thru family tradition, thru society, thru ‘as a matter of fact’ or thru our pastor of 37 years or it is just the way things are. Let’s look at our circumstances that we have now in our world. We have over 130,000 denominations in our country that can be different because of one minor different belief than another one, but yet it has created another belief that has separated people and God.

This issue can be found in a major crescendo of time and events of the 16th Century of Martin Luther’s reformation from the Catholic Church. There were plenty of other minor blips on the screen from the first century to the 16th century but the Luther’s revolt of understanding of the scriptures was the opening of a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of religion.The age of Enlightenment also took part of this ‘box’. We are entrenched in our own understanding of the scriptures to the minor upon minor of things that can set us apart, set us apart like 130,000 denominations can.

But it is not about the 129,999 denominations that are wrong in their beliefs and the one that is right  but that the one thing that can bring all these people together in body,spirit and belief is totally different than any of them are proclaiming!

It is that their God, of which they are all talking about is “Now” the ‘God of this world and He is the King of All in All’. The Resurrection of Jesus the ‘Messiah’, is the ‘New Creation’ that is apart of this ‘New Kingdom'(this means all other kingdoms are now old and not in demand,people,organizations,governments, ideals, and denominations) This concept is apart of the phrase that is used in Heb 2.8 –YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 

This is a subtle but glaring reference to Israel’s commission of becoming a light upon a hill in the old testament which it was supposed to do, but will finally ‘see’ their vocation from God to be this light to all.

This is the installing  of the new King but ironically the original King and kingdom back into power, and that has forgiven the subjects of their mis step of going another route of a different leader.

Heb 2. 8 is as it seems, very plain and straight forward. This is always the case if we don’t really look closely of scripture and go deeper into it. It is deeper than we humans always give credit to it. God has given ‘all authority to Jesus’. Did he not already have it? Yes and No. He had authority, but it was in the ‘Heavenly Kingdom(government)’ it is God’s ‘way’ of doing things. Not of the earthly or human things is the norm of our ways, but of God’s. God is now the ‘New Sheriff in Town’,He is the King of all Kings, Lord of Lords of the Earth, as it is in Heaven.(Sound familiar -Matt 6.10) God’s reign is now on earth, sound familiar again? Sounds alot like the Garden of Eden!

The second point, is the definition of ‘church’/’Church’ and its reality. Let’s tackle the Large C first which should make the small c more clear when we get to it.

The Large C , the ‘Church’ has been used as the whole group of ‘believers’ of God,God’s people.  Although I think this is where maybe we have gotten confused in our practice of it. If we are the believers of God, this characteristic should stand alone as a fact. We are a believer in God as our God. Period. There are no qualifiers to this stance in belief. It would be as I would proclaim that I am a ‘McCall’, my name says that I am, It is that I become a McCall when I go to a family reunion of the ‘McCall’s’ that I could only be a McCall. It is the part of the identity of the whole that I can be identified in. This is Church/Body of Christ/God that we are identified in, and He in me/us. It is not a place. This was used only in the old testament, to show the Israelites that God was still around with His people, his ‘light’ on the hill. He was not giving up on his people, still hasn’t to this day.

Now with that said, let us talk about mini ‘c’. To be identified with Large ‘C’ we would have to have the same characteristics as it would. So the mini ‘c’ is just a smaller picture or we could say a ‘cropping of the larger picture(C)’ that could be used. But remember it is still apart of the larger ‘C’ picture, same characteristics,same identities,same qualities as Christ/God . His paradigm is for the Large ‘C’ of the whole world.

So where and how do we go wrong with this paradigm? It seems we allowed a sliver of information to be in our paradigm, that taints it, so that it becomes ineffective.  Now, don’t go crazy here on me, when I say this, but the scriptures bear me out on this in it’s design of God’s Kingdom.

If we are to be God’s people(believers) becoming his body, why then do we have non-believers with us?

This after all was the charge that God gave the Israelites, for God gave them ‘different rules’ to follow, fleshly,spiritual, and Godly rules. This set them up as being ‘different’ in the people and god ways.

I find it ironic that we fail to see this in just normal and everyday things in our lives but we don’t take it’s relevance to heart. And it is this, how many times do we as individuals point out to a friend or colleague that ‘joe’ is something else, he’s different, he goes to a beat of a different drummer. He stands out from all the others. You and your friend then say I wish I could be like him, in normal life or work life. What if you are apart of a team of sports of some kind and you just can’t seem to work well with each other that makes you good or successful (this is just for example purposes). We then go and be with that other team to see what they have that we don’t. It then becomes a ‘light’ on the mountain example that we were proclaimed to be our vocation to God.

With this said, now don’t you sorta find it weird,crazy, and funny that you have all this kinds of religions that have difficulty in keeping people in their fold? What is with this church hopping too! I thought God was in ‘all’ church’s. Did you not like that God in your previous church? Is there better God at the next church?

Now is the time for ‘Man’ to come to an ‘understanding’ that something is wrong in this paradigm. Not a program,person, facility(God’s house, how dare you say you don’t like it, or the parking lot!) or the people in the church(I thought they were also God’s people,if you both were then you would both love each other). These issues are not because of program or way of doing something, it is paradigm issue, it’s not the right one!

Where did it go wrong?

There is a theme in the whole entire bible, not just four books of the bible, we need to include all the bible(old testament continues into the new testament) in our understanding of God’s word.

Now we should search the scriptures, our hearts, our minds, and God, with prayers and direction in all the things we do and say to be apart of the Big ‘C’!

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March 18, 2017 · 3:59 pm

Really?

I am exasperated by someone that you are having a conversation with or discussion on a topic of anything and they know nothing of what the opposite side of the conversation is all about.

This sorta reminds me of the current situation that we have with the media! It is one of just spitting back their same old rhetoric of their agenda and not knowing of what the other side of the conversation is all about. This is the definition of ‘ignorant’ in the grandest way. This shows that it is not about understanding the topic but the point of just ‘seeing’ their side because it is the only side there is. It is our duty to know and prove what the journey of the topic is all about and be civil and rational on why there is ‘this’ conversation.

Our ‘skepticism’,’fear’, or ‘ignorance’ of the ‘other side’ is attempt of disdain towards the whole topic. I see this in alot of things in our human world,which is bad enough, but I really am taken back at the skittishness of the topic of theology, when it is what the scriptures are supposed to be all about. Why did God create this World?

I would challenge everyone to be open in their discussions with anyone, about anything in their life and the world. Now this could be hard in various topics but this then opens our minds to what the topic and the solution could surprise you in the discussion in the end.

My journey of biblical studies have led me thru not of my personal beliefs but of many other beliefs that I have not necessarily accepted but I have kept it in consideration  of the whole story of the bible, if it fits in the beginning,middle and the end of the story. It will play out like  a jigsaw puzzle  that when you are missing key parts  of the puzzle that these pieces will not fit the ends and the outs of the piece that needs to go in the hole. I take it serious in the ‘seeing’ what God has placed before us in the story of God.

God’s magical interwoven storylines of the scriptures is very special,very intriguing, deep,very deep understanding’s, of his desire of his eternal purpose.. This theme is shown in genesis and all the way thru revelation. I pray that your desire in knowing what this paradigm is, is not the standard tradition theory that you have become used to.

Our story begins in Genesis(beginning),we should start there.  Ask why,when,where,what and how to get started.  What is God wanting to create?

Does He do it? does he do it in the end?

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March 1, 2017 · 2:16 pm

Where Heaven and Earth shall meet

I would find it puzzling just as the disciples did when Jesus was talking to them in a ‘abstract story’ or parables about other people and other examples of life’s hidden meanings. Why didn’t Jesus talk to us one on one with what he was trying to say to us in easy to understand aramic or greek, why did he use these stories to get his point across?

He was a jew just as they were, why use stories or illustrations as a parable? It would of probably helped the disciples in their learning the ways of God and heaven. After all, they were used to were doing things a certain way, talk a certain way, learn a certain way, but Jesus, God’s son was telling them riddles, stories of people and places that they know nothing about for reference. But why?

My first thought, in this instance is that Jesus was showing the ‘Heaven’ side of himself.

This was Jesus thinking and telling his disciples to think and to show the side of themselves as ‘God’s son’ would. The heavenly side.  The side of life that lived the ‘God like way’, this is the ultimate desire of God. It was what was missing from their lives of being Holy,Godly or a ‘image’.

The things that were told to the disciples were just a taste of things to come to all of us when we realize that when we have the  continuous touching of ‘heaven and earth'(God and man) that things are different,unique, Holy, and glorious.

This touching of Heaven and Earth, was a precursor of what will become an eventual reality in God’s timing in the things to come. The example that was laid out in the scriptures is the forming of the world with the epicenter of God’s world, the Garden of Eden, with Him and his creation of Man. It was finished!

But their was a hiccup in man that changed this scenario, by not accepting this image bearing of being the creation of God and the oneness of it, man stepped out of this picture to be separate, to be different than man’s creator, to be just man.

It is this scenario that we should always look back to see where it should be at. The place where God and Man communed together in every way that was meant to be as the creator designed it to be. It was the image and image maker living in the world that they were designed for. Man has ventured into the realm of being the focus of a image of something else rather that the image maker’s design. Mankind has designed, imagined,focused on every aspect of ourselves to recreate what we would be as the creator of ourself but have failed.

It is at this point that that we should desire to get back to our original surroundings that we were created for, and the picture that we were meant to be. A image of God.

But let me take this further, and emphasize that this ‘touching’ of Heaven and Earth is as artificial as we have made it in our christian ways as the Jews in the old testament made as an example in their lives as the ‘Temple’,or ‘Synagogues’ as ‘the place where God and man could be together. This was just a sample of what God’s desire for his people to always be together in ‘Holy union’ as in a marriage. As for the Israelites and for us, this should show that this is just a example of God not leaving us totally after our discretions that we showed. He still cares, He had a point of connection to be with ‘His people’. But He wants more, all of us, all the time, just as the garden.

Our continuous striving to make just a decimal point of unity with God at one location seems minimalist in our attempts to ‘be’ with God our creator. God created the world, the universe, the image of himself to live in his creation, why would he still make the point to come to spot in the road to ‘see’ him? Matthew 18.20 points out to God’s kingdom has no walls or boundaries when he says-“For where two or three have gathered together in my name,I am there in their midst.”

We have for to long limited God and imprint among God’s creation to just four walls, our continuous presence in all the world is what God’s desire is to be.Maybe then, we can be that ‘Light upon the hill that shines for all the world to be.’ Amen and Amen.

 

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March 1, 2017 · 11:39 am

Where’s the desire?

I find it very sad that our stand of ones beliefs can prevent us from learning about God.

It is confusing to me why at just the title of a book, a subject matter, a friends question of faith in Christianity, a bible study groups outside the box question can be just neglected, or ignored all together to not talk it thru to see where it might go, and in the moment you see something that you would not of ever noticed or thought about before.

I don’t believe that I am the only one out there that is challenged by something ‘new’, ‘different’, or even totally disagree with from the get go, I will be challenged in a good way to see where the conversation will go in discussing and hashing it out with someone, with all the scriptures that pertain to the subject.

This has been my motive for my inquiring knowledge of the biblical scriptures the last 10 yrs in my studies and with the sharing of my understanding of the word. I follow a lot of people that I now disagree with in the field of religion and Christianity thru social media sites, to continue to see how it effects the ‘outsiders’ of the norm that have effected the mainstream of things. The main thing to remember is to listen to what is being said or written, and study ,evaluate, and discern the new information to see if it is viable in God’s purpose.

I have over time altered my beliefs in small ways in my continuous studies of the bible, only because I have had things come to life in my reading the bible, or studying the context, background or the piece of the ‘Big picture’, does it keep the story going to the end of the story?

My biggest issue of concern from the christian perspective is the failure to ‘see’ the story from the Israelites view. It appears that christianity has seen the view only from the christian/gentile side. The story of the bible is a story from a God, to his people, about their kingdom, about their land. We have to get this part right or understand it, to go on. The part about the gentiles will get its act together when the Israelites do.

It is this that we need to ‘see’ and understand that this is what it says in Isaiah 49.6.

For many Christians it seems to be a ‘no-no’ to even think about to use ‘outside’ material in our journey of scripture knowledge, but to many’s surprise it is to their diligent years of studying the old testament,new testament for years, with commentary and facts of the dead sea scrolls(which are being just now in the last ten years being used as guidance in new thoughts that are concrete in their foundational belief).There are many other outside sources that have come into normal use of biblical studies such as the apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Essenes  . Understanding the outside cultural of the first century as well the inside cultural understandings and beliefs are very crucial in seeing the wisdom of the purpose of God and his people.

Our traditions and our ‘personal’ belief will only get us so far, we must dig down deep in to God and his purpose of ‘His Creation’.

Keep Digging, its going to get DEEP!

 

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