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Commentaries (any words in reg. print are from the Bible)...
Preparation...Fire; Life...Life-more-Abundant
Recently I saw this quote-of-old, "A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled" A half truth if ever I saw! I would make it, "A mind is a fire to be kindled; if-so-be it is properly prepared, a mind can proceed to be kindled & then become fruitful." I.e., the preparation determines the quality of the kindling; whether-or-not said fire subsequently has quality hinges upon the preparation of the kindling (which is not to say said kindling has inherent firewalls as guarantees against stumbling, as guarantors of fruitfulness-- consider the parable Jesus' parable of the Good Soil, that it was prepared before the seed fell). BTW, you might want to check out Glossary5 C.2.17. His baptism was completed upon his resurrection-- the firing of the kindling started in Acts (brings a conception of the term "firing"-- the firing was conceived).
World Views vs. Denominational BeliefsI mentioned some of my early-life experiences (mostly in top right column, Personal); actually, I mentioned there some of my teenage pursuits-- but I was a Christian at some point before the reach of my memory (I suffered a head injury/coma when I was age 20, so that the order of events is somewhat questionable). As before, I mention this not by way of bragging, but to illustrate. As usual, what I learned/observed governed my formative years; what was unusual was their intensity-- they dictated my entire life. 2 in particular:
- My foster mom (yes, I remained foster from age 3 months, through childhood, through grade school, through high school) refined the old idea of "not contributing to roadside litter with the attitude 'what's my little bit going to matter.'" She brought it to a new depth by taking in some 15 foster children over the years, until the state no longer allowed it because of her age. So to this day I not only don't litter, but sometimes I walk along & pick up others' litter.
- And my foster dad-- of course he provided for the above, but more to the point (of possessing world views) was his consistent attitude of prayer. I did not pick up on any world views; rather I acquired the mindset that "whatever" in this world, God answers prayer. Which is why I love the opportunity to pray-with-others on the national level (PPT- Presidential Prayer Team), as I'm confident what He hears in prayer trumps what He sees in America, & we can return to the nation our forefathers birthed.
Well, I seem to have digressed-- point is that recently there was a church-wide focus on understanding world views. And I just assumed that it was so that we can better understand where some non-Christians are coming from (and what some Christians are dealing with). But just for the heck-of-it, I asked the staff member implementing it, & was astounded (as in open-mouthed consternation) to hear that I can better understand myself. Now I struggled (gee, what better word could I use?) with a brain-washing cult for 9 months (which attempted to install its world view-- no doubt the Lord relieved me from that), so that I hardly think understanding world views is illuminating. That radically down-sized the time it was communicated in fellowship time that a particular denomination deserved to be treated as they were being treated, because-- well, they are harbingers of deceit.
Point is, as I said once before, 1 sweet day there will be unity among the various denominations-- meantime there is no need to attack them. But now I'm almost saying the same thing regarding world beliefs. True, there won't be unity-- rather they will implode/explode, & cease to exist. Meanwhile the marvelous provision/opportunity for Chrlstians is not to entertain them, but rather to deal with them as Jesus would & we can, to say to the mountain, throw yourself into the sea (see PSALM 8 Pray...). Gee whilikers, last I knew, that just takes faith as a grain of mustard seed.
- Becoming a Christian is initially about acquiring salvation. We freely/instantly/completely become saved, & then while being saved (living-as-saved as we mature/overcome), we have the opportunity to add treasure to the salvation.
- You will see in the Bible the cause of some confusion-- or rather the variety of ways chosen to interpret it. In some places it is said that we have salvation; in other places it is said that we are being saved. As if having salvation is not a done-deal. Now these really are 2 separate ideas-- as noted, being saved would be better rendered (from the Greek), living-as-saved.
- Becoming saved is about ABCing-- we:
- admit to ourselves that we're sinners & have need of eternal life;
- believe that eternal life is indeed free & is available only through Jesus; face God &
- confess these things to him).
- That's the initial design-- commonly known as God's Plan of Salvation. And having initially accepted the bestowing, we become saved-- & remaining saved is never an issue.
- Now having received it, we are indeed pursuing something-- eternal status. This hinges upon things like the degree to which we conform to HIS Image (He who purchased eternal life for Us by His shed blood & now resides in Heaven), the amount of treasure laid up in Heaven as HE performs HIS Will through Us, etc.
- 1 other point should be made-- ABCing is clearly for non-Christians becoming Christians, as illustrated, but if you add in the Scripture, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens Me (meaning we lean upon Him to a very large degee), it becomes clear the degree to which we ABC as we mature & remain faithful.
Personal
Following is a message I sent my WWII Vet uncle on the occasion of his 90th birthday: Uncle Dan, it's been said that there's 3 positive-types of people that keep the world going around. There's the type like your namesake, Daniel Boone the trailblazer-- interested in establishing the future. Then there's the type like me, fiercely independent, interested in illuminating the past. And then there's the type like you, the World War II bombardier that portrayed the teamwork whereby the present was preserved. You emphasized once that you weren't the pilot of the planes, that you just opened the bays to drop the bombs when told to. Well, you weren't just a piece-of-the-puzzle. I treasure you; I'm proud of you, that you are in my genealogical line. Thanx-- & God bless!
Now perhaps I was destined from birth to be "fiercely independent"-- I think it was in part due to my remaining foster (never adopted) throughout my childhood & teenage years, but I chalk it up more to the array of unique experiences I've had since (any 2 of which, it is commonly reported, would lead to a melt-down followed by permanent compromise). I say this not to brag, but to point out why I'm absolutely convinced that God can heal & restore personally. But note also that I said fiercely independent people are primarily interested in illuminating the past. You will see throughout this work much focus on the O.T.-- much of which I grasped in teenage (Lutheran) Catechetical Class & as I was earning the Boy Scout Church (Pro Deo Et Patria) Award (though as reported elsewhere, I was involved with 4 other denominations to varying degrees-- now I am more like a fly-on-the-wall, filing my reports directly to God, not needing an angel like Zechariah in Zec 1:11).
Ref. Optimism & Pessimism Below optimism & pessimism are contrasted-- as noted, as they are commonly understood. There is a series of weeks, & the interspersed weekends. The quality of the weekends (whether they are cloudy or sun-shiny) depends if 1 is an optimist or a pessimist. But for the fully-mature Christian there is just 1 long week, followed by an eternal weekend. How does a Christian mature? By progressing through talking-the-talk, to talking-the-walk, to walking-the-talk, to walking-the-walk. The fully mature Christian has no problem with the Scripture (Hebr 10:23-25): Let Us hold unswervingly to the hope We profess; let Us consider how We may spur 1 another on toward love & good deeds; let Us not give up meeting together; let Us encourage 1 another-- & all the more as You see the Day approaching.Scattered throughout this website are references to optimism & pessimism; I thought it good to define them up-front (read on through all of this paragraph to understand the key difference between optimism/pessimism as they're commonly grasped/professed & the way Christians should employ optimism). This is how I 1st came to understand them: when I was a child, having just been told that it's best to think ahead, an example of optimism vs. pessimism was given-- when Fri. gets here, the optimist thinks, "O-boy"; the pessimist thinks, "Yeah, but Mon. is just around the corner." Since Mon. is farther ahead than Fri., I was going around (imagine me waving my arms), saying, "Man, I'm a pessimist." Then it was explained that the basic definitions of optimism/pessimism have to do with prospects for the future, that the optimist thinks of the glass half-full (hard times may loom in the future, but meanwhile there is joy & zeal), whereas the pessimist thinks of the glass half-empty (the same time-looming elicits lackadaisical behavior in the present). Whereas, for the Christian, the easy times are coming-- as the song goes, "when we all get to Heaven." Meanwhile, via the joy-filled Holy Spirit, joy & (that 4-letter word) zeal can/should remain-- no matter the hard times in the interim.
Ref. Intelligence
In PSA 119 (i-l) Section j.1.& 6. & PSA 119 (m-p) Section m.3.& 4. I explained that Ezra, the presumed author, was commenting that, 1) God was enabling him to connect-the-dots even as his teachers were speaking, when he said, I have more insight than all My teachers, & 2) such connecting was augmented by meditation, as he went on to say, for I meditate on YOUR Statutes. Now I'm not bragging when I say the following "came to me" (Michael Milton Mason) in 15 seconds (followed by a minute as I wrote it), but rather to underscore the value of walking while being still & knowing that I am GOD... What is the mark of a genius? Is it simply the ability to connect dots? No, that is education. And 1 only approaches being a genius (is smart) if he expands the boundaries to include seemingly unrelated dots. But a true genius is 1 who discovers here-to-fore unknown dots, establishes their reality-- & is able to weave them together. Well, now I think about it, the fact that it all assembled in 15 secs. indicates that likely most of it I heard at 1 or more points between 25 & 45 yrs. ago (in H.S. or college)-- but the last parts ("establishes...weave...") are surely original.
Ref. Denominational Divisions
Once, looking at the glass half full, I "prophesied" that 1 day the major denominations would no longer "agree to disagree" but would agree-to-agree. Unfortunately there is the glass-half-empty possibility-- that the denominations will maintain their perspectives/interpretations of Scripture throughout time-- until the Lord's gavel descends. Case in point: I've been hearing all my life (through the sev. denominations I've been part of, through the maybe 1000s of TV sermons) that Rebekah facilitated God's plan when she arranged for Isaac to be blessed rather then turning a deaf ear to her husband's intention to bless Esau (see PSALM 97 Woman #1 Used-of-GOD Rebekah the compass & Roma). But a preacher I know maintains that Rebekah sinned. Never mind that God spoke to her before the twins were even born & said, the older shall serve the younger; never mind that Esau chose to sell his birthright & Scripture says, Thus He despised His birthright, never mind that Jacob was then legally the firstborn & that Isaac would have been violating God's command to bless the firstborn-- why is Rahab the harlot listed in the Hebrew 11 "Hall of Faith" & not Rebekah? Because that chapter would be some 30,000 verses-long were it to capture every work-of-faith. Rather, the major ones are listed-- like Rahab, who God never had spoken to (at least it's not recorded so), but at a pivotal time, when the Israelites were about to enter Canaan, she did the "despicable" act of hiding the spies & lying to her superiors. Whereas Rebekah honored God's will that she already knew of, like as we also shall be rewarded for.