tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53025817273222120922024-03-05T04:39:54.929-05:00Dum Spiro SperoRandom musings on love, life, and literatureelventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.comBlogger548125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-49583588798505175312022-12-18T03:46:00.001-05:002022-12-18T03:46:14.106-05:00The Way You Receive the Kingdom of Heaven<p><span style="font-size: large;"> "Jesus is not saying that you can earn the kingdom of heaven by the thoroughness of your commitment. Your willingness to sell everything ... is the way you <i>receive</i> the kingdom of heaven, but it's not the way to <i>merit</i> the kingdom of heaven. That's very important.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">You turn the light switch on on the wall, and it seems to cause the coming on of the light, but it doesn't. As we know, what causes the coming on of the light is the power. The light switch simply is a channel to the power ... the light switch has no power of its own.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is one of the most important distinctions not only in theology but in your own personal experiential understanding of Christianity. There is something God says that you must do to receive the kingdom of heaven, but there's nothing you can do to earn the kingdom of heaven. Total commitment is the way it is received but not earned. The Parable of the Prodigal Son tells us how it is earned because, you see, to get the robe, to get the ring, to get the fatted calf, though it's free to the prodigal <i>us</i>, the prodigal you and me, it's at the expense of the older brother; it's been paid for by someone else. And now, of course, it's received through repentance, through commitment, through the willingness of the prodigal son to come and say, "Father, do what you want with me. Father, no conditions. Father, I come back and I throw myself at your feet." What is going on? Repentance, commitment, letting go of everything, laying yourself out, utter commitment. But that is not what brings him back in. That's what <i>receives</i> the father's welcome, but what earns the father's welcome ... is the fact that all of the wealth the father puts now onto the prodigal—the robe, the ring, and the fatted cow—belongs to the elder brother, so it's at his expense."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tim Keller, <i>The Parable of the Pearl: On Priorities</i>, sermon at Redeemer Presbyterian Church of NYC on August 28, 1994. A sermon on Jesus's parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl from Matthew 13:44–45.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzVIMDHf5yAeOAaDavnUaYOxO9vWfdSU4h0NS7EeP6B3wMZGOsrw-dJCdnQkWmCmSIuWpBzPoIZopXvWKegKLNlEiEibFwoRMs0PwijL4bV9HT-TOONAiz-prRa1BfBkqanl1WmjtPN-GzsAWI-JEbjulg8z8fgv0hLGwAIeIfhixPlfRxZXVoQhYiyg/s910/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-18%20at%2012.41.46%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="910" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzVIMDHf5yAeOAaDavnUaYOxO9vWfdSU4h0NS7EeP6B3wMZGOsrw-dJCdnQkWmCmSIuWpBzPoIZopXvWKegKLNlEiEibFwoRMs0PwijL4bV9HT-TOONAiz-prRa1BfBkqanl1WmjtPN-GzsAWI-JEbjulg8z8fgv0hLGwAIeIfhixPlfRxZXVoQhYiyg/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-18%20at%2012.41.46%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">C.S. Lewis, <i>Mere Christianity</i></span></p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-51643300564605954532022-11-03T05:31:00.001-04:002022-11-03T05:31:26.743-04:00Valley of Vision<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: Charter; font-size: 22.8148px;">Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #272727; font-family: Charter; font-size: 22.8148px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 0px;">Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #272727; font-family: Charter; font-size: 22.8148px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 0px;">Let me learn by paradox<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that the way down is the way up,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that to be low is to be high,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that the broken heart is the healed heart,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that to have nothing is to possess all,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that to give is to receive,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />that the valley is the place of vision.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #272727; font-family: Charter; font-size: 22.8148px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 0px;">Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine;</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #272727; font-family: Charter; font-size: 22.8148px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 0px;">Let me find Thy light in my darkness,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thy life in my death,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thy joy in my sorrow,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thy grace in my sin,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thy riches in my poverty<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thy glory in my valley.</p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-91209530634498022652022-10-26T02:33:00.003-04:002022-10-26T02:33:31.679-04:00Fear the Lord and Serve Him Faithfully<p><span style="font-size: large;">Be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.</span></p><p>1 Samuel 12:24</p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-54039997166152037452022-10-25T07:46:00.001-04:002022-10-25T07:46:15.433-04:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAfyqBsREzyzio2OeLb4YS3n_Lnzt_PKegfIyseL_qiWZE6KzDajyONZaKCGjqFAqU5MvQL0F1qPg4cc77oY8yW59zUqUmKk3VZbecURwOkHx8Rgd7LkEUNnsG2Zt0s-aMVgCXeWo0QHfPSFH86sKmo8UaYaeWZDqsZg_5DgYtWYSVju8HlsC6wRF7A/s1016/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-25%20at%203.40.04%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1016" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAfyqBsREzyzio2OeLb4YS3n_Lnzt_PKegfIyseL_qiWZE6KzDajyONZaKCGjqFAqU5MvQL0F1qPg4cc77oY8yW59zUqUmKk3VZbecURwOkHx8Rgd7LkEUNnsG2Zt0s-aMVgCXeWo0QHfPSFH86sKmo8UaYaeWZDqsZg_5DgYtWYSVju8HlsC6wRF7A/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-25%20at%203.40.04%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">I saw this over on Pinterest and I like it because, let's face it, I'd be tempted to make content on how to style your hair. This is a helpful reminder that I'm called to model Christ, and modeling hard and holy things is far more important.</span><br /> <p></p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-33562225811459242102022-10-21T06:44:00.000-04:002022-10-21T06:44:32.700-04:00True Contentment<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Contentment is possible only as we cultivate and maintain the attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the hand of him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of his children a needless tear.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">~A.W. Pink</span></p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-35664996018150983522022-09-16T06:23:00.002-04:002022-09-16T06:23:22.670-04:00Eve’s Sin Looks Like Our Sin<p><span style="font-size: large;">Eve's response [to Satan] ... is to doubt God's word, to doubt that his threat of judgment would come true, to doubt God's goodness toward her, and to believe God is indeed trying to prevent her from achieving her full glory and potential.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>As we look into our own hearts, we need to acknowledge that these are very powerful temptations, temptations with which every one of us constantly struggles.</span> </span></p><p><i>Through His Eyes: God's Perspective on Women in the Bible, </i>Jerram Barrs,<i> </i>pgs. 28–29</p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-69761725264564343122022-06-25T06:06:00.003-04:002022-06-25T06:06:28.086-04:00To Write or Not To Write<p>Today is day one of my journey to break into copy writing. Of course, instead of actually doing the aforementioned thing (i.e., creating a Fiverr profile, researching how to write a blog post, getting out there and getting my first gig), I'm here writing a non-monetized blog post that no one will ever read. But it's ok. I hope to document my process and the results, and who knows, maybe one day, I, too, will publish an e-book on the subject.</p><p>So, where will I start?</p><p>I downloaded <a href="https://www.amber-baker.com/store/p/freelance-copywriting-how-to-find-freedom-flexibility-or-fun-money-or-all-three" target="_blank">this e-book</a> from amber-baker.com. I think it's helpful, but do wish for a bit a more. (I'm a complete child when it comes to these things and want someone to hold my hand throughout the whole process.) My first impression is that I'm thankful for Amber and her website and I'm 100% satisfied with my e-book purchase. She's just one person that God will use on this journey of getting me into writing ... and it was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/opinotnated/" target="_blank">her Instagram account</a> that gave me the kick in my pants that brought me here today. </p><p>Next: I'm now downloading <a href="https://www.alexfasulo.com/bookstore/p/e3lipgnxnx8j3nnq8a63k8xv2gtvru" target="_blank">this e-book</a>. Let's see if it gives me the hand-holding that I desire. I'm not a throw-myself-into-the-deep-end kind of girl. My tendency is that I'll endlessly research and never get started. Or I'll procrastinate, which is what I'm doing here with this blog post.</p><p>Here's to writing! (Hopefully.) I'll let you know how it goes...</p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-31726554082801861202021-10-27T05:58:00.000-04:002021-10-27T05:58:10.395-04:00Soulless Beauty<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-large;">One glance ... revealed a woman who had once been beautiful, as the sons of God once found the daughters of men; nay, the wreck of her was still beautiful, but it was the soulless beauty whose appeal is to that which is least worthy in any man.</span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;"><i>~A Private Chivalry</i> by Francis Lynde, pp. 6–7</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I've been proofreading books for <a href="https://www.pgdp.net/" target="_blank">Distributed Proofreaders</a>, an organization that digitizes books in the public domain through the work of volunteers. As you proofread the pages, they tend to skip around, but sometimes you get lucky (if you're the only person working on it at the time), and you can proofread a whole chapter straight through so that you get to catch a bit of the story. I just started proofreading this book so I have no clue of who the characters are. It's categorized as "English — General Fiction." I liked the quote — I think we all know this soulless beauty the author writes of. </span></div>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-55760716148139669142020-12-28T08:15:00.004-05:002020-12-28T08:17:18.010-05:00On Remaining Silent in the Face of Lies<p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Many Christians will see through... lies today but will choose not to speak up. Their silence will not save them and will instead corrode them, according to Czesław Miłosz.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> In his writing about communism's insidiousness, </span>Miłosz referenced a 1932 novel, <i>Insatiability</i>. In it, Polish writer Stanisław Witkiewicz wrote of a near-future dystopia in which the people were culturally exhausted and had fallen into decadence. A Mongol army from the East threatened to overrun them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> As part of the plan to tale over the nation, people began turning up in the streets selling "the pill of Murty-Bing," named after a Mongolian philosopher who found a way to embody his "don't worry, be happy" philosophy in a tablet. Those who toll the Pill of Murti-Bing quit worrying about life, even though things were falling apart around them. When the Eastern army arrived, it surrendered happily, its soldiers relieved to have found deliverance from their internal tension and struggles.</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> Only the peace didn't last. "But since they could not rid themselves completely of their former personalities," writes </span></span>Czesław Miłosz, "they became schizophrenic."</span></p><p><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: trebuchet;">~ </span><i>Live Not By Lives</i>, Rod Dreher, pgs. 15–16.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I'm currently reading <i>Live Not By Lies. </i>I've been eager to get my hands on it since it came out. I'm not a fan of reading things electronically, so I had to wait until I came to the US to get a hardback copy. One of the things I wonder about is whether I should keep reading the things that I read — the things that get me riled up — or whether I should just stick my head in the sand like so many others around me and imbibe on a diet of Netflix and cat videos. Those who do the latter somehow seem happier, but they also seem to be absolutely clueless to what's going on around them. I think I have no choice but to choose the former course of action.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Dreher continues:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> What do you do when the Pill of Murti-Bing stops working and your find yourself living under a dictatorship of official lies in which anyone who contradicts the party line goes to jail?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span> You become an actor, says </span></span>Miłosz. You learn the practice of <i>ketman</i>. This is the Persian word for the practice of maintaining an outward appearance of Islamic orthodoxy while inwardly dissenting. <i>Ketman</i> was the strategy everyone who wasn't a true believer in communism had to adopt to stay out of trouble. It is a form of mental self-defense.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>What is the difference between <i>ketman</i> and plain old hypocrisy? As Miłosz explains, having to be "on" all the time inevitably changes a person. An actor who inhabits his role around the clock eventually becomes the character he plays. <i>Ketman</i> is worse than hypocrisy, because living by it all the time corrupts your character and ultimately everything in society. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>Miłosz identified eight different types of <i>ketman</i> under communism. For example, "professional <i>ketman</i>" is when you convince yourself that it's okay to live a lie in the workplace, because that's what you have to do to have the freedom to do good work. "Metaphysical <i>ketman</i>" is the deepest form of the strategy, a defense against "total degradation." It consists of convincing yourself that it really is possible for you to be a loyal opponent of the new regime while working with it. Christians who collaborated with communist regimes were guilty of metaphysocal <i>ketman</i>. In fact, says Miłosz, it represents the ultimate victory of the Big Lie over the individual's soul.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Under the emerging tyrany of workeness, conservatives, including conservative Christians, learn to practive one or more forms of <i>ketman</i>. The ones who are most deeply deceived are those who convince themselves that they can live honestly within woke systems by outwardly comforming and learning how to adapt their convictions to the new order. Miłosz had their number: "They swindle the devil who think he is swindling them. But the devil knows what they think and is satisfied."</span></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote> </blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-41094455350872729232020-07-29T15:07:00.000-04:002020-07-29T15:11:49.941-04:00Blessing of Abraham as Direct Answer to the Curses of Genesis 3<font face="georgia" size="5">Might the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3 be a direct answer to the curses of Genesis 3:14–19? The curses of Genesis 3 introduce conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, conflict between the man and the woman, with difficulty in childbearing, and conflict between man and the ground, which is cursed for man's sin. God promises land, seed, and blessing to Abraham. The nations will be blessed through the seed of the woman, seed of Abraham, who crushes the serpent's head. The birth of this seed means that the conflict between the man and his wife is not final, nor will the difficulty in childbearing be fatal. And God promises and to Abraham and his seed, land that hints of a return to Eden.</font><div><font face="georgia" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="georgia" size="5">"For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." —Jesus of Nazareth (John 5:46)</font></div><div><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div><font face="georgia"><i>The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham</i>, James Hamilton</font></div>elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-70580763837876381422020-07-26T05:45:00.001-04:002020-07-29T14:43:17.029-04:00On Henry James<font face="trebuchet"><font size="5">James managed to seduce all but the most attentive readers into identifying initially with a point of view which seems sensible and ... sympathetic. It is only with the unfolding of the action that we ... come to understand that the original point of view was stupid, unimaginative, shabby, and evil.</font><br /><br />~Joseph Summers, <i>The Muse's Method</i></font><br /><br /><br />elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-7308329591042379222020-05-11T07:35:00.000-04:002020-07-14T13:54:50.869-04:00On Grief and Losing a Mother<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #111111; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 30.345px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now there is one thing I can tell you: you will enjoy certain pleasures you would not fathom now. When you still had your mother you often thought of the days when you would have her no longer. Now you will often think of days past when you had her. When you are used to this horrible thing that they will be forever cast into the past, then you will gently feel her revive, returning to take her place, her entire place, beside you. At the present time, this is not yet possible. Let yourself be inert, wait till the incomprehensible power… that has broken you restores you a little, I say a little, for henceforth you will always keep something broken about you. Tell yourself this, too, for it is a kind of pleasure to know that you will never love less, that you will never be consoled, that will constantly remember her more and more.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: normal;">~(1907) Letter from Proust to Georges de Lauris, whose mother had just died. Translated from the French by Richard Howard.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-2495891292295793052020-04-20T12:51:00.003-04:002020-05-11T07:33:03.111-04:00Chapter One of the Great Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />~ The last page of <i>The Last Battle,</i> The Chronicles of Narnia.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I read these lines to a friend tonight with tears my eyes. In the last novel, Susan is missing—she's not in Narnia with the other children. Susan is named as "no longer a friend of Narnia." The novel explains that she had chosen lipstick and nylons instead. And so, the books end, and her brothers and sisters have died in a train accident and are now in Narnia—in Heaven—forever. The Susan part of the story breaks my heart. I told a friend tonight not to be a Susan. And I read her this last chapter as something for her to look forward to. With tears in my eyes.</span><br />
<br /></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-50071107379641478342019-07-22T07:31:00.002-04:002019-07-22T07:31:54.862-04:00We Are Made to Cry out for Permanence When...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">God made us in such a way that if we try to turn that moment of touching into a spiritual, emotional, personal moment of union, our hearts are going to cry out for permanence, for promises of faithfulness. Our hearts say in that moment you may touch me because you have promised never to leave me or forsake me. You may have me because you are me. We are so made that we cry out for permanence when giving away our most precious gifts...Therefore, that kind of touching belongs in marriage.<br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">~John Piper, from a talk I heard on YouTube about the dangers of premarital sex. He's right about this. And it's heartbreaking.</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-45821482164577035032019-07-15T09:16:00.000-04:002019-07-15T09:16:54.014-04:00We Must Go to the Scriptures to Determine What Is Needful for Women to Do<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">"It is not sufficient for churches that hold to male headship simply to compile a list of things that are <i>permissible</i> for women to do. We must go to the Scriptures and determine what is <i>needful</i> for women to do. God pronounced gender-aloneness "not good" in the Garden, and the same is true in the church. He did not give His benediction of "It is very good" until man and woman stood side by side, equal but different.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> The church must boldly articulate a robustly positive perspective of womanhood and woman's role in the church, and the church must equip older women to disciple younger women to think and live according to this perspective. If a local church remains silent on this issue, women are unequipped to fulfill their covenantal calling."</span><br />
<br />
~p. 42, <i>Women's Ministry in the Local Church</i>, J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt</div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-72091617328098249882019-07-14T07:18:00.002-04:002019-07-14T07:20:18.099-04:00Manufacturing a God of Your Own<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who has a heaven for everybody, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and bad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.<br /><br />Beware of making selections from your Bible to suit your taste. Dare not to say, ‘I believe this verse, for I like it. I refuse that, for I cannot reconcile it with my views’. Nay! But O man, who art thou that repliest against God? By what right do you talk in this way? Surely it were better to say over EVERY chapter in the word, “Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth”. Ah! If men would do this, they would never deny the unquenchable fire."</span><br /><br />~J.C. Ryle</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-27880249890614124372019-07-10T07:26:00.000-04:002019-07-10T07:26:16.098-04:00Augustine's Evolving Thought on Indwelling Sin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 359 Augustine acknowledges that a Christian still experiences the lusts of the flesh, but does not sin. At this point in his theology, he defines sin as the consent of the will to obey, or to act according to sinful desire. Simply having sinful desire is not personal sin... However, by the opening decades of the fifth century, Augustine's harmartiology expands. He begins to see sinful desire itself as personal sin and in need of the absolution brought about through the Lord's Prayer... While he only sees it as a venial sin and not mortal, it is still sin that a Christian must bear until the resurrection of the body. Augustine comes to see sinful desire as sin because it falls short of the perfect love of God and neighbor, which is the ultimate end of the law."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">~Christopher T. Bounds, "Augustine's Interpretation of Romans 7:14–25, His <i>Ordo Salutis</i> and His Consistent Belief in a Christian's Victory Over Sin," The Asbury Journal 64, no. 2 [2009]: 24). </span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-9854023234022365412019-07-08T08:58:00.000-04:002019-07-08T08:58:23.770-04:00A Little Kingdom I Possess<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A little kingdom I possess </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">where thoughts and feelings dwell, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And very hard I find the task </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">of governing it well; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For passion tempts and troubles me, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A wayward will misleads, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And selfishness its shadow casts </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On all my words and deeds. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How can I learn to rule myself, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">to be the child I should, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Honest and brave, nor ever tire </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of trying to be good? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How can I keep a sunny soul </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To shine along life's way? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How can I tune my little heart </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To sweetly sing all day? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dear Father, help me with the love </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">that casteth out my fear; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Teach me to lean on thee, and feel </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That thou art very near, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That no temptation is unseen </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No childish grief too small, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since thou, with patience infinite, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doth soothe and comfort all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do not ask for any crown </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But that which all may win </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nor seek to conquer any world </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Except the one within. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Be thou my guide until I find, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Led by a tender hand, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thy happy kingdom in myself </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And dare to take command. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">~Louisa May Alcott, <i>A Little Kingdom I Possess</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Mrs. Eva Munson Smith, <a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/i/t/t/littking.htm" target="_blank">in her Woman in Sacred Song, 1885, p. 668</a>, gives Miss Alcott’s hymn, A little kingdom I possess, and prints a note thereon from Miss Alcott, dated Concord [Massachusetts], Oct. 7, 1883, in which Miss Alcott says that "this hymn is the only hymn I ever wrote. It was composed at thirteen, and…still expresses my soul’s desire."</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-89459562540960883962019-06-10T07:41:00.000-04:002019-06-10T07:41:28.739-04:00The Role of Christian Disciplines in Deepening Faith but Not in Receiving Grace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"[When preachers] present the Christian disciplines in isolation from the grace that motivates, sanctifies, and secures, such a portrait [of a readily-vexed God] necessarily emerges. <b>If devotion to disciplines procures out position with God, then grace becomes something we manufacture by our works, making grace meaningless.</b> And since no degree of human diligence can compensate the Lord for all we truly owe him, an insistence on more exercise of disciplines to satisfy God only makes those most honest about their merits less sure of their standing. <b>Brownie points count for little in an economy in which absolute holiness remains the only acceptable currency.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The true efficacy of spiritual disciplines is not their power to bribe God but their usefulness in opening our hearts to the expanse of his love and deepening our faith in his power and presence. <b>Spiritual disciplines are not ways to barter for God's affection but means to feast on the bread of his Word so that we are strengthened and encouraged in our daily walk with him. </b>The practices of prayer, Scripture devotion, and worship enable those made righteous by Christ's work to take in more of the spiritual nutrients that God freely and lovingly provides for the wisdom, joy, and power of Christian living."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">~Bryan Chapell, <i>Christ-Centered Preaching</i>, pg. 280</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-50871815395922664842018-10-31T09:10:00.000-04:002019-06-10T07:28:24.865-04:00Near his Heart to be Beloved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-19" id="en-NIV-50" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">19 </span>Now the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-50AG" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-50AG" title="See cross-reference AG">AG</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> and all the birds in the sky.<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-50AH" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-50AH" title="See cross-reference AH">AH</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-50AI" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-50AI" title="See cross-reference AI">AI</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> each living creature,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-50AJ" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-50AJ" title="See cross-reference AJ">AJ</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> that was its name.</span> <span class="text Gen-2-20" id="en-NIV-51" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">20 </span>So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-20" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">But for Adam no suitable helper<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-51AK" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-51AK" title="See cross-reference AK">AK</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> was found.</span> <span class="text Gen-2-21" id="en-NIV-52" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">21 </span>So the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-52AL" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-52AL" title="See cross-reference AL">AL</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs<span class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NIV-52g" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-52g" title="See footnote g">g</a>]" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2&version=NIV#fen-NIV-52g" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #b34b2c; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote g">g</a>]</span>and then closed up the place with flesh.</span> <span class="text Gen-2-22" id="en-NIV-53" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">22 </span>Then the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> God made a woman from the rib<span class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NIV-53h" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-53h" title="See footnote h">h</a>]" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2&version=NIV#fen-NIV-53h" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #b34b2c; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: top;" title="See footnote h">h</a>]</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-53AM" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-53AM" title="See cross-reference AM">AM</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-23" id="en-NIV-54" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">23 </span>The man said,</span></div>
<div class="poetry top-05" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 2.6em; position: relative;">
<div class="line" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-23" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">“This is now bone of my bones</span><br />
<span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Gen-2-23" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">and flesh of my flesh;<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-54AN" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-54AN" title="See cross-reference AN">AN</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="text Gen-2-23" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">she shall be called<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-54AO" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-54AO" title="See cross-reference AO">AO</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> ‘woman,’</span><br />
<span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Gen-2-23" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">for she was taken out of man.<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-54AP" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-54AP" title="See cross-reference AP">AP</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>”</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="first-line-none top-05" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: -0.5em;">
<span class="text Gen-2-24" id="en-NIV-55" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">24 </span>That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-55AQ" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-55AQ" title="See cross-reference AQ">AQ</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> to his wife, and they become one flesh.<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-55AR" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-55AR" title="See cross-reference AR">AR</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-25" id="en-NIV-56" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">25 </span>Adam and his wife were both naked,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-56AS" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-56AS" title="See cross-reference AS">AS</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> and they felt no shame.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">~Genesis 2:19–25<br /></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">~Matthew Henry, <i>Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible</i></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span class="text Gen-2-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-2437476313766800832018-05-04T08:21:00.000-04:002018-05-04T08:22:34.121-04:00Lament as the Experience of God's People<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">"We must also be struck that these laments were not regarded as aberrations
from the faith; they were part of the set prayers for the people of God.
Questions and claims of betrayal were not relegated to private counseling
sessions with an elder or priest but rather remained a part of authorized
prayer services. Lament psalms, and individual laments in particular, compose
the largest category of psalms, implying that distress and lament are not the
exception to the experience of God’s people. Regrettably, lament has been all
but censored from most Christian worship services. By always stressing the
positive, such worship alienates those suffering pain and depression. And
shying away from lament produces unnecessary guilt and, ultimately, a
superficial faith.<br /><span style="line-height: 115%;"> For us to come to terms with lament language, it is best that we understand
its aim as both expressive and evocative, not merely informational. As words
given to humans to speak in the midst of pain and distress, they seek to be
true to the human perspective in the relationship. In other words, they display
genuine feelings whether or not they are rational or theologically correct.
They allow for the expression of emotions, not just facts. Since psalms are
speech <i>from</i> humans <i>to</i> God, what is appropriate is
determined not solely by who God is but also by who humans are, with all their
limitations and weaknesses. These laments are thus true, not in the sense of
teaching accurate theological information at every point but rather in the
sense of being a true reflection of the divine-human encounter." </span></span><!--EndFragment--></span><!--EndFragment--></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">~</span>Broyles, Craig C. “Lament, Psalms of.” In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry and
Writings, ed. Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, 384–99. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity,
2008.</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-40973414812607706142017-10-26T05:54:00.000-04:002017-10-26T05:54:37.198-04:00God's Just Judgment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"The presupposition of God's just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it. My thesis that the practice of nonviolence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many Christians, especially theologians in the West... Soon you will discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence corresponds to God's refusal to judge. In a scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;">~Miroslav Volf, <i>Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. </i>302-304</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-73272630377211564242017-10-16T07:08:00.001-04:002017-10-16T07:08:24.100-04:00Ultimate Presupposition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Lord" in Scripture refers to the head of a covenant relationship. In that relationship, the Lord dictates to his covenant servants the way they are to live and promises them blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. He also tells them of the blessings that he has already given to them– his "unmerited favor," or grace, which is to motivate their obedience. Without words of grace, law, and promise, there is no lordship. To recognize the Lord is to believe and obey his words above the words of anyone else. And to obey the Lord's words in that way is to accept them as one's ultimate presupposition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">~John Frame, <i>Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Beliefs</i>, p. 4</span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-40205711963983812272017-05-17T18:41:00.003-04:002017-05-17T18:41:58.515-04:00My Return?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I must be in a nostalgic frame of mind. Just now, as I climbed the stairs and headed to bed, a whiff of something made me think of Strawberry Shortcake, the dolls my sister and I played with as little girls. I'm certain if I mentioned to Erin (my sister) that smell, she'd immediately be swept back in time as well. How powerful these memories are, and the hold they have on us for the rest of our lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of days ago I thought about starting to post on here again. There was once a time when I wrote on here nearly every day, and then it dwindled to maybe monthly, and then, to my shame, I abandoned it completely. It takes <i>time</i> to blog, especially if you add pictures which you've enhanced in Photoshop yourself, and who reads it anyway? Blogs are <i>passé</i>, no? Does anyone use blogspot anymore? Should I have moved to Wordpress years ago? Does it even matter at this point? We've all moved on to YouTube anyway, and I, like a silent film actress, feel ill-prepared for the new media. But, here I am, feeling a certain nostalgia for days gone by and not quite ready to let the thing completely die. <i>Dum Spiro Spero</i> has been here for me so long– in March it was nine years, and I started the blog (have I admitted this out loud here before?) as a way to help mend my broken heart, or at least to provide a distraction from the pain I was feeling in connection to a breakup from a certain <a href="http://elventryst.blogspot.ae/search?q=atthis" target="_blank">boy</a>. I suppose it did that, and more, as I've loosely documented the passing years here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6rOBYin71cmW8_zP2ETBmh7bcUMGtBWKc5_Fv8cXmnrXYQwU_yKzmQ6MX4jaEtpJl05BosfX1SHTtktQrZKORY0WqU6ceQkPFSoP8j1EDq-_4Wm7Vs-INp-4Cm3KMLSqngTxmUL50CrJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-05-18+at+1.42.04+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG6rOBYin71cmW8_zP2ETBmh7bcUMGtBWKc5_Fv8cXmnrXYQwU_yKzmQ6MX4jaEtpJl05BosfX1SHTtktQrZKORY0WqU6ceQkPFSoP8j1EDq-_4Wm7Vs-INp-4Cm3KMLSqngTxmUL50CrJ/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-05-18+at+1.42.04+AM.png" width="217" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight I reread my "About Me" post. Was it prophetic? Did I realize when I wrote all those years ago that it would still ring true now, these many years in the future? And will it still be true years from now? Will I still be dreaming of the same things? I like what I wrote then– four sentences to summarize me, and I look at them now and I still think they were well written, and they're just as true as the day I wrote them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first started this blog, I would quote bits of poems, and prose that I liked. There's one that I quoted ages ago that continues to loom in my mind and I keep trying to reference it as it seems so true. I'm quoting it here so that I can find it again when I want it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> There is one crown which perhaps is worth it all-- a great love, a quiet home, and children. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and we must peg away, showing off our wares in the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven't. We have not the motive to prepare ourselves for a 'lifework' of teaching, of social work--</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">we know that we would lay it down with hallelujah in the height of our success, to make a home for the right man. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">And all the time in the background of our consciousness rings the warning that perhaps the right man will never come. A great love is given to very few. Perhaps this makeshift time-filler of a job is our lifework after all.</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">~Ruth Benedict, Anthropologist, 1912</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Months ago, when Donald Trump won the election to become the 45th President of the United States, I cheekily posted on Facebook that in the wake Carla Bruni (wife to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy) and Melania Trump (both former models), I had a new aspiration, i.e., to be a first lady. My feminist friends responded and asked why I wasn't aspiring to be President, to which I refer them to the quote above. Nope, thank you very much, I want to be a wife and a mother. I am sorry if that is not ambitious enough for you.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my first blog post back after five months of non-posting.</span></span></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302581727322212092.post-78151313324823026852016-12-27T14:55:00.000-05:002016-12-27T14:55:09.443-05:00What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aSq1cez_flQ" width="560"></iframe></div>
elventrysthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270061909850643523noreply@blogger.com0