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Newborn
04.15.04 (6:06 pm)   [edit]
As I looked into the face of my newborn son this past Monday I was reminded that as blurry and out of focus and almost incomprehensible as I am to him, so is God to me. And yet, just as I am still intimately related to my son and he is completely reliant on me, so too the Father is intimately related to me and I am reliant on him. It is a wonder.
 
Barabbas Lament
04.10.04 (12:13 am)   [edit]

a song I wrote.


************************* **********************


 


tilt your head to side and you


look at me that way


seems theres nothing left


nothing left to say


 


i know they wanted you dead but i


just cant believe


why are you up there on that cross


why did they shout for me


 


im a murderer


and i am a thief


but im going free


 


i just cant stop thinking


about what you said


theres all these thoughts that linger


linger in my head


 


why have they been so harsh


and are you to blame


i wonder who you are while they


kneel and play games


 


im a murderer


and i am a thief


but im going free


 


i cant believe my ears


as you cry Father forgive...


i know i wouldnt want my


want my killers to live


 


What did you do to deserve this


what was your crime


could it be youre innocent


and dying for mine


 


im a murderer


and i am a thief


but im going free


you died and not me


im going free


im going free


 


c. 2003 toeketemple
 
An Alternate Take On The Good Samaritan.
04.09.04 (5:09 pm)   [edit]
The question posed is "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

There are some who would have us think that Jesus ends this parable by telling the man to go and be a "good Samaritan" to others. But how can this be the answer? It is only the answer if works can produce eternal life. Is this what you believe? The problem is that works salvation is refuted all through the scripture. So what do we face?

If you look at what Jesus was saying you will notice that in answering the man's original question and trying to make his point he tells us the Good Samaritan story. Jesus is shown on many occasions saying something in what seems to be a straightforward way but which carries a different meaning. his response here is similar to other statements he makes such as "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners." whereas we know Paul states emphatically "there is none righteous, no not one" echoing David in both Psalm 14 and 53 we can see that Jesus didn’t mean that the men he was talking to were righteous or that anyone was righteous for that matter. His intention is revealed as being to make them aware of the fact that none are righteous.

In light of this we can see that his question does not direct the man to go and help others to receive eternal life, but to realize he is the man who has been robbed and left bruised and broken lying in a ditch in need of help. Jesus is the helper, the healer, the Samaritan stranger who takes care of the bruised and broken who are left in ditches in the wake of evil. Jesus is showing the man his need and offering to help him. Sadly like so many who read the story even today, I believe the man missed the point entirely and went on thinking that good works would punch his eternal ticket.

Think about it. This is the only way this passage in Luke makes any sense unless works salvation is a viable option.
 
The 3 Relationships
04.06.04 (12:49 am)   [edit]
Note: on February 24, 2k4 i began this, my blog, with a statement and ended it by saying "stay tuned..."
This is Part II of that.

************************* **********************

Adam was created human. He was created in relationship to God and the earth. God states in Genesis 2 that something was lacking and goes on to create Eve as a suitable helper for Adam. Thus when God looked down on all he had created and said it was good he was looking at man as the highest form of creation, and set it up for man to be in relationship to 3 things; God, each other, and the earth. We are likewise created in relationship to these 3 things. We can glean our understanding of what it means to be truly human from this first expression of Gods creative power and the manner in which he set established man in relationship to everything else.

We however are not in right relationship to these 3 things. According to Paul every person ever to live falls into one of two categories of relationship to these things. We are either related to Adam in our sinfulness and therefore facing punishment or we are related to Christ by faith and therefore facing redemption. In Romans Paul sets out the Adam class as everyone related to Adam. Since we all stem from Adam we are all related to him and thereby all born subject to the marred relationship he brought upon us in the fall. Paul goes on then to set out the Christ class as everyone related to Christ. This group is necessarily exclusionary as not everyone is related to Christ. The purpose of the gospel is to share the good news that though we are seen in the law to be related to Adam, we can by grace through faith be related to Christ and be thereby subject to the adoption as sons and the full inheritance of the Kingdom of God.

In a sense then every man shares the image of God as established in creation but only those who are in Christ have the re-creation image being established within them for the time of the re-creation. The creation image was twisted and perverted by the fall. As such it is no longer capable of sustaining a relationship with the Creator as it was before. The re-creation image is however the mark of perfection being wrought in those who are in Christ that they may be able to be in right relationship to their Creator, each other and the new heavens and new earth. God instituted the Law to show men their fallen state and point them to their need for a means of re-establishing relationship with Him. This he fully planned for and implemented by sending his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross bridging the gap between the Creator and the fallen creation, making it possible only through Him to enter into the re-creation process. When this process is complete runs correspondent to when the re-creation of heaven and earth are complete and the entire re-creation will exist of the Father, by the Son and through the Spirit.

To be a complete human then is to be in right relationship to God, mankind, and the world, so in a sense it is correct to say that we will not experience it in this life. But likewise it is therefore correct to say that we are not experiencing what it means to be truly human. This is not to say we are not human, but that we are not experiencing what it means to be a complete human. Adam and Eve experienced what it means to be truly human for a period of time. Jesus experiences it still and we will one day experience it; being a complete human, devoid of sinfulness.
 
Tolerate My Intolerance.
04.03.04 (1:48 pm)   [edit]
Toleration seems to be a big deal. I hear it everywhere dripping with the ooze of bleeding heart liberalism. We are told that in order to be loving civilized American humans we must [i]tolerate[/i] others and their views.

...AND their views? Since when? What a complete crock. Not here. Not in America. This country is built on the very principle that though I do have to tolerate your existence, I have every right to not only openly disagree with your views but make fun of them on late night television.

I may have to sit by while you openly break the Ten Commandments but I don't have to sit by silently. I can raise my voice and let it's freedom ring from every mountainside. I can shout from the rooftops that you are wrong and spend money on an ad campaign for commercial spots on all the major Networks declaring just how wrong.

Recently Canada's government pulled one of the stupidest human tricks ever; they declared parts of God's Word as hate speech and outlawed their usage in public.

The public arena is the marketplace of ideas and we can't afford to go around shutting down the sewage of others just bc we disagree. Christian or not there is no excuse for censorship. The only censorship I see in the bible isn't carried out by humans. It's when God silences someone for good and that's his thing anyway, not ours.

So here's your chance at being those loving civilized American humans you are so fond of...
Tolerate my intolerance of your nonsensical illogical views.