A New Beginning

I am not certain why, but I sense I am entering into a new phase in my life. The way I spend my free time, the things that interest me, and the things that I am loosing interest in are all changing. The changes are slow and suptle, but I do sense a change, none the less. I suppose it is a matter of growth and maturity, especially in my fainth and understanding of scripture and Christian theology. I have been reading two seminary level text books recently. As a result of that reading and thinking, my understanding of the Word of God is deeping and growing stronger. That, in turn, is have an effect on the rest of my life. I am not sure where all this is heading at this point, but I feel quite certain that the new year will bring some changes. And some of those might be signifigant. We shall just wait to see what God has in store for me. Whatever it is, praise God!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faithless Church-Goers

Scripture reference: Acts 3:1-10 The pews across America are filled every Sunday with people who autonomically go to church. They do it like breathing or going to the bathroom. They do it without thought. They do it in the same way at the same time with the same mind set. It is a routine function of their life, just like eating and sleeping. These are the sort of people depicted in our reference scripture. These friends of the lame man who bring him to the same Temple gate at the same hour of every Sabbath. They do it autonomically without any conviction or faith. It is just something they have gotten used to doing. Just like so many church-goers of today. Who were these men who brought this lame man to the Temple and just left him outside the gate every week? Why did they do this? Why did they not take the man into the Temple? What, if anything, were they expecting to result from this activity? These are the same questions we could ask of people who just go to church on a
Read more

Jewish Resistance to the Gospel

If you carefully study the book of Acts, as well as study the early history of the Church and the last years of Jewish Jerusalem, you will discover that the greatest threat to followers of Jesus were orthodox Jews. Just as the Pharisees, Scribes, and members of the Priesthood clan opposed Jesus during his life, and then persecuted his disciples (to the point of death were Stephen and James the Just were concerned) after Christ's death within the scope of Israel, they then persecuted Paul and tried to destroy the young Church in Asia. The orthodox Jews saw the young Church of the gospel of Jesus Christ as a threat to their power and favored lifestyle. Its message of equality of all in the eyes of God, and its emphasis on humility and service, was in complete opposition to the view taught and tightly held by the Jewish ruling class. As a result, the orthodox Jews sought to assure the teachings of Jesus were completely excluded from Jewish life. If you closely study the society of
Read more

The Navigator

Many of us know the type. The kid who starts reading at age three. The child who is doing algebra and geometry at at five. The wunderkind who graduates from high school with honors at the age of twelve, and goes on to graduate from some prestigious university with multiple degrees five years later. This was the scholastic history of Claudius Abraham Dexter. By his eighteenth birthday, he was celebrated, honored, famous, and way too impressed with himself. If you looked up the phrase obnoxious conceit online, you found C. A. Dexter's picture. And he did not care. Upon entering into Star Fleet Academy in 2238, cadet Dexter was warned by his advisory officer that he needed to practice polite humility rather than pained condescension when dealing with his fellow cadets. He was told to remember that Star Fleet in general, and a Starship in particular, are a team. And, if Dexter was to be a successful member of that team, he would have to play nice with all the other team member
Read more