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Pumpkins

This was found in the Bible of my wife's grandmother. There is no indication as to the source of the material.

"From one pumpkin to another."
"A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you for all the world to see."

"This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass it on to other pumpkins. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch."

Littering

Beth Shelburne, whom I have never met, is a local television news anchor. On her Facebook page, she recently placed this post: 

"3 times in the last 24 hours I have witnessed someone throw trash out their car window and onto the street and each time I felt angry.

I had to ask myself, why does it bother me so much to see someone litter? 

My conclusion: littering is a hostile act and can be seen as a metaphor for all that's wrong in our world. Self-centered people not caring about what's around them and blatantly dumping their crap in undeserving places. Sadly, it's a recurring theme these days. 

I decided to replace my anger with a prayer for the litterbugs. They seem to need it."

Littering is the improper disposal of waste material, often paper or plastic. The plastic, especially, is not bio-degradable. The most littered item in the United States appears to be cigarette butts. That the problem is huge is evidenced by the fact that the United States spends about $11,500,000,000 a year for litter cleanup.

Ms. Shelburne is correct that littering is a hostile act. She has put her finger directly on the reality of the situation. It is a declaration that the litterer considers their own convenience to be more important than other people, than the law, and than the world's environment. The world belongs to its creator, so, in effect, the simple act of throwing a plastic cup out of one's car window onto the side of the highway is an insult toward God. It is a way of saying that the litterer's convenience is more important than God.

Selfishness and self-centeredness is the essence of sin. John Stott has defined it this way, "The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God."  Litterers certainly do need our prayers.

Flowers for the Living

Annellies Marie Frank (1929 - 1945), better known as Anne Frank, was only fifteen years old when she died in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp in Germany. She and her family were hiding with the help of brave Christians in concealed rooms behind a bookcase in a building where her father worked in Amterdam. After the Jewish family was eventually betrayed and arrested, Miep Gies, one of their protectors, was able to rescue and preserve Anne's diary. The book was published as Het Achterhuis (in English as Diary of a Young Girl.)

The diary contained Anne's thoughts on many subjects such as growing up, sexuality, her hopes to become a meaningful writer, and her present situation. One very thoughtful quotation is, "Dead people receive more flowers than living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude."

Anne understood that we should appreciate the people around us. Christians, especially, should understand this. As I have said before, since Jesus was willing to shed His Blood for our salvation and since His Blood is of infinite value and is freely offered to everyone, this means that each of us is of infinite value. We should be always ready to explain this Good News to anyone who will listen. (1 Peter 3:15)

Also, one of the things which non-believers noticed most strongly about the early Christians was how much they loved each other as Jesus told them to (John 13:34-35). For example, in this quotation from the Roman convert and Christian apologist Marcus Minucius Felix in his book, Octavius. The book is presented as a dialogue between a pagan and a Christian. The pagan is talking in this quotation.

"And now, as wickeder things advance more fruitfully, and abandoned manners creep on day by day, those abominable shrines of an impious assembly are maturing themselves throughout the whole world. Assuredly this confederacy ought to be rooted out and execrated. They know one another by secret marks and insignia, and they love one another almost before they know one another; everywhere also there is mingled among them a certain religion of lust, and they call one another promiscuously brothers and sisters, that even a not unusual debauchery may by the intervention of that sacred name become incestuous: it is thus that their vain and senseless superstition glories in crimes."

From Minucius Felix, Octavius, R. E. Wallis, trans. in The Ante-Nicene Fathers
(Buffalo, N. Y.: The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), Vol. 4, pp. 177-178.

Christian Emoji

In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, Joanna Stern talks about the pleasure of expressing herself in emoji, what some have called emoticons. She has learned to write entire sentences in the format.

"Emoji" is derived from two Japanese words, "e" meaning "picture" and "moji" meaning "character." and the emoji system amounts to a pictographic or ideographic writing system. It was created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1998. Emoji has not yet developed into a full language and lacks a consistent grammar and syntax. The characters are different on different operating systems. An attraction of the use of emoji is that it can be mutually understood by people whose spoken languages are different.

The Wall Street Journal article made me wonder if a Christian message could be written in emoji. I thought the idea was silly, but apparently other people have had the same idea and there are now sets of Christian emoji available.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/holy-emojis/id581960629?mt=8

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/07/11/move-smiley-face-new-religious-emojis-way/

A Bent and Deformed Tree

In one of the numerous cities strung along the Alabama Gulf Coast, trees line the main highway.  This is a very intentional touch which reduces the "strip-mall" feel of the single story restaurants and stores which line the highway behind the trees.  The trees stand up straight, all the same type, all the same height.  This makes startling the one tree which grows straight out of an incline, parallel to the ground,  and then turns upward.  Someone failed to tend to this tree and it seems to have eventually turned upward of its own accord.  It now points in the desired direction, but it is gnarled and deformed.

Realize that our children are like these trees.  Raised and trained properly they will often stay within the faith.  Left to their own devices, they may stray.  Some will eventually return to the faith but only after receiving numerous scars and deformities.  They need loving gardeners.

 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Children learn values by watching their parents. There is a phrase, "Show, don't tell." Explain rules, do not just impose them. One thing which I taught my son and my grandchildren: "Don't be afraid, just be smart." Love unconditionally and predictably.  Do not "smother" your children's individuality. Your children do not need or want to be little clones of you.

This is ancient knowledge known by the Jews long before there were any Christians.  Christians often fail to remember our Jewish origins. In its strictest sense, “Torah” means the first five books of the Bible.  The word “Torah” תּוֹרָה

translates as “teaching,  or “instruction.” Read this web page written by the Chabad-Lubavitcher Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov of Montevideo, Uruguay.  Though I would interpret this in a Christian context, I agree with every word spoken here by the rabbi.

Bible Reading Quietly and Aloud

This is a repost of "Bible Reading Quietly and Aloud." The link which I had for this post seems to have been incorrect.  I believe that it is correct now.  Enjoy these beautiful Bible readings by Joan Kent, a Christian painter, textile artist, reflexologist, and hypnotherapist in the city of Rayleigh in Essex (UK).  I would like to direct you to her blog, "Where do I go from here? ," in which she features mp3 audio recordings of Bible readings.  Her readings are lyrical and precise.

Fiction in the Bible?

Critics of the Bible often decry it as a massive piece of fiction. Some even deny that Jesus existed at all. The Christian response is often to launch into an effort to convince the non-believer that the Bible is true and, of course, it is.  But angrily rushing at critics is probably not the best way to respond.   

It is a provable fact that the Bible is more historically attested than many ancient secular documents which are themselves almost universally accepted as genuine.  Whether or not the Bible is accepted as a supernatural book, it is increasing being proven as a historically accurate document.  The kings and kingdoms mentioned actually existed.  Many of the places mentioned have been found by digging where the Bible says they were.  The problem for the Christian apologist is that these arguments will probably fall on skepticism-deafened ears.

I recently found an old book from 1946 which gave me an insight about which I had never before thought.   The book is How to Read the Bible, by Dr. Edgar Goodspeed.  Dr. Goodspeed points out that the parables of Jesus were fictional.  Jesus was a master storyteller; it was his “favorite and characteristic vehicle.”  He used his stories, some of which are as short as a sentence in length, to teach spiritual insights in a simple and clear manner.

A very good opening to start with a non-believer might be Jesus’s parables.  Once the non-believer is interested in the parables, the Christian should point out that though the parables are clearly fictional, the Bible itself is historically based.  Even if the non-believer cannot be brought to a place of conviction, they may at least come to a place where they recognize that the events depicted in the Bible actually happened. This is progress which may later bear fruit.

Messianic Prophecies From the Bible: A Jew Will be Born Who Will be the King of the Jews. He Will be Called God, the Father, and The Prince of Peace.

Jews and Christians disagree on whether or  not Isaiah 9:6 is a reference to The Messiah.  Christians see this verse as clearly pointing to Jesus.  Jews insist that we are taking the verse out of context.  They say the verse refers to the birth of Hezekiah (740? – 692? BC/BCE), King of Judah.  Hezekiah cleaned and reopened the Temple.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

Jews number the verse differently (as Isaiah 9:5) and say that the verse should be translated as “For a child has been born to us, a son given to us,  and the authority is upon his shoulder, and the wondrous advisor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, called his name, “the prince of peace.”

A literal word for word translation of the Hebrew words of the verse: “For to us a child is born to us a son is given to and shall be the government on his shoulder and called his name Wonderful Counselor the God mighty the everlasting the Prince of Peace.”  Written ancient Hebrew contains no punctuation marks and all the letters are run together with no spaces between words.

Unusual Christian Places: The Statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin in Macau

This statue in Macau is of the Buddhist “Mercy Goddess,” Guanyin.   Not actually a goddess, she is a bodhisattva, one who has attained enlightenment but has vowed to seek the enlightenment of all sentient beings.  Many also associate this bodhisattva with the Virgin Mary. ???  The answer lies in the history of Macau and the resultant mixing of cultures and religions.

Jorge Alvares landed in China in 1513, and by 1535 trade between Portugal and China was established.   The site of Macau eventually became a Portuguese colony, administered to various degrees by Portugal from 1557 to 1999, when the rental agreement with China expired.  During this period, Roman Catholicism became a strong presence in the area, which also includes followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and smaller native faiths.

http://www.placesandfoods.com/2013/05/guan-yin-statue-of-macau.html

http://www.tripomatic.com/China/Macau-Special-Administrative-Region/Macau/Guan-Yin-Statue/

http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/art-architecture/kuan-yin-of-macau-city.html

Guanyin (short for Guanshiyin, “Observing the Cries of the World”) is an immortal bodhisattva, She is rarely represented as male.  She has vowed to never rest until she has freed all sentient beings from the cycle of reincarnation.  Because of her infinite compassion, she is sometimes depicted as holding a child.

There are several streams of Buddhism, some being very strict, austere, and individually oriented.  The less strict version, Mahayana (”Greater Vehicle”) encourages everyone to become a bodhisattva (“enlightenment being”) and to work for the eventual enlightenment of every sentient being in the universe by the idea of “merit transference.”  The idea is that “merit” earned by the enlightened bodhisattva can be transferred to less advanced beings to aid in their advancement.  This Mahayana Buddhist doctrine may possibly have developed in response to  contact with Christianity.

During the Edo (Tokugawa Shogunate) Period (1603-1867) in Japan, Christianity was totally banned and was declared to be punishable by death. Christians were forced to go “underground.”  Many venerated Jesus and the Virgin Mary by disguising them as statues of Kannon (another name for Guanyin) holding a child.  Statues such as this are known as Maria Kannon.  There was often a cross hidden in an inconspicuous location on the statue. Note the similarities of the face in the image in the following link with the face of Guanyin on the statue in Macau.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/audio-east-meets-west-virgin-and-child-ivory-carving/

An image of a Maria Kannon from Wikipedia used under the GNU Free Documentation License.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Kannon.jpg

Christianity in Herculaneum

On 24 August 79 AD/CE Mount Vesuvius in Italy began to erupt, spewing out large rocks and streams of molten lava.  The Roman communities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Oplontis were destroyed as well as several nearby villas.  The port of Herculaneum was smaller than the port of Pompeii and existed as a resort town for the wealthy.  The towns were covered by 13 to 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice.

Excavations at Herculaneum and the other towns yielded multitudes of intact buildings after the ash was removed.  Since a 1939 excavation at Herculaneum found only the bodies of a few women and children, it was thought that the town was successfully evacuated during the cataclysm.  It was not until 1981 that over 300 skeletons were found huddled together in cluster of buildings.

During the 1939 excavation of Herculaneum it was proven that Christianity had made inroads in the area when a wooden cross was found nailed to a wall in one of the houses.

What They Think of Us: Curt Cobain and Nirvana

Shortly before he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) and his band Nirvana, performed this song, Lake of Fire.  Nirvana was an extremely popular band and sold over 75 million record albums worldwide.

Lake of Fire Lyrics:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nirvana/lakeoffire.html

Lake of Fire was originally released by a band called The Meat Puppets.  The most common definition for a meat puppet is someone who is controlled by someone else, having no will of their own.

There have been various attempts to explain the meaning of Lake of Fire.  Obviously, the possibility exists that the song has no meaning at all, but that is not likely. Some say that it is political (anti-military), or that Cobain was thinking about his own death, or that he was having stirrings of religious feelings, or that the song is a reference to drug use.  My personal opinion is that of drug use since one obscure meaning of “fry” is to be under the influence of drugs.  After his suicide, Cobain’s body was found to contain the following drugs: marijuana, LSD, heroin, alcolhol, rohypnol, and diazepam.

Cobain clearly expressed his feelings toward Christianity when he performed Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam, a song written by the Scottish rock band, The Vaselines.  The band has no connection to the Vaseline product. Vaseline is a petroleum jelly product used as a lubricant and a moisture insulator for skin conditions such as rashes, cuts, and burns.

Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam Lyrics:

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Jesus-Doesn't-want-Me-for-a-Sunbeam-lyrics-Nirvana/69C03466661F04E24825682D0003753F

A Christian Internet Filter

CleanInternet.com (www.cleaninter.net/) is a Christian internet filter which can be installed on IBM and PC-based computers.  It is compatible with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP.  The filter blocks numerous categories of websites which might be offensive or unsuitable for children.

The categories blocked are: drugs and drug use, alcohol and alcohol use, tobacco and tobacco use, sites which offer free web pages, gambling sites, sites which advocate illegal activities, graphic violence, murder, suicide,  sites about bodily functions and vulgar humor,  profanity, pornographic and “adults only” sites, chat rooms, personal advertisements.

The filter does not work on Mac computers.  Clean Internet recommends http://www.MacWebFilter.com/

The Rapid Growth of Christianity

From a very small group in a dusty rural community, the Good News of Christianity rapidly exploded upon the world.  The numbers below are very rough estimates but are almost universally agreed to be accurate.

ca 30 AD                        ca 50

ca 100 Ad                       several thousand

1^st  Century                     500,000 to 1,000,000

2^nd Century                    2,000,000

10^th Century                   50,000,000

15^th Century                   100,000,000

18^th Century                   200,000,000

19^th Century                   400,000,000

Today                             2,200,000,000

Many of the modern 2.2 billion may be only nominally Christian, but if only 10% are actually Christian, then we number 220,000,000.  The actual percentage is probably higher than 10%.

Christian Illustrators: Karen Hargett

Christian illustrators often work in secular markets.  Karen Hargett is a Christian artist (pencils and pastels) in Buda, Texas (USA).  She is a professional working artist who does nature scenes, animals portraits, and work for commission.

Karen Hargettt lives in Buda, Texas, a rapidly growing community.  In the 2000 census, Buda had 2404 residents; in 2010 the population had grown to 7295.  Originally known as DuPre, the town became Buda late in the 19th century.

There are two possible known derivations for the name of the town.  Both sound plausible.  Perhaps both sources contributed to the name.

The Carrington Hotel in Buda is popularly known as the "Buda House"because of the "viudas" (Spanish = "widows") who worked in the kitchen.

The second explanation is that the town is named for the hometown (Buda) of Hungarian refugees who settled in the area after the failed 1848 revolution in Hungary.  Budapest, Hungary was formed from the merging of the cities of Buda and Pest. 

The city name Buda may derive from the name of its founder, Bleda (Buda), the brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila.   It may also be derived from the Slavic word "вода, voda" ("water"), a translation of the Latin name "Aquincum", which was the main Roman settlement in the region

Is Obesity a Sin?, Part 2

In no particular order:

1.     Anything which more than momentarily distracts you from God should be stripped from your life.

2.     Your body is the Temple of God and be maintained with reverence, just as you would maintain your church sanctuary.

3.     If the first thing you think when you wake up each morning is food, you may have a problem.

4.     Food is often not the real problem.  Often food is the “medicine” used to dull the pain of some other issue.  The pain is only temporarily relieved and more food is needed.

5.     If you think something is a sin and still willfully engage in the activity, it is a sin for you.

6.     Increased weight can predispose a person to Type 2 Diabetes, stroke, heart attacks, sleep apnea, blindness, and neuropathies in the extremities leading to amputations.

Links with various viewpoints:

http://calorielab.com/news/2006/08/29/lard-have-mercy-the-christian-obesity-epidemic/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/firm-faith-fat-body-study-finds-high-rate-of-obesity-among-religious-49568/

http://www.christianity.com/christian%20living/features/11622588/ 

 

http://conservapedia.com/Overcoming_obesity_with_the_aid_of_Christian_faith

http://www.religiontoday.com/news/food-for-thought-on-america-s-obesity-problem.html

http://www.cherylcope.com/obesity-in-the-church

http://www.fatandproud.com/ 

Shocking Information About the Roman Empire

Here is one reason why the Jews and early Christians viewed the Roman Empire as hopelessly corrupt. This has nothing to do with the fact that the wheels of the Empire were greased with bribery.  It has nothing to do with the rampant ruthless ambition of many (possibly most) of the military and political leaders.  It has to do with the Roman attitude towards household sexuality.  A Warning: Do not read this if you are easily shocked.

http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-household.html

An American Rabbi Speaks Out On the War on Judeo-Christian Values

Liberals regularly dismiss, sometimes derisively, the notion that there is a "War on Christianity."  Some  on the left openly admit that the war exists.  Have you ever personally felt it?  Are you comfortable in this present world?

Daniel Lapin (b. 1947, South Africa) is an American Orthodox rabbi and is co-chair of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians.  He declares Pope Pius XII to have been a righteous gentile.  He says that the United States is the most “Jewish-friendly” nation in history.  Along with conservative Christians he sees secular liberalism as a threat to Christianity and Judaism.  He rejects the claims of the Jewish left to represent Judaism.

“How could I possibly ally myself with those who would make God’s commandments irrelevant to society?  Worse, how could I stand by and say nothing while those Americans who venerate the Ten Commandments are under attack?”

1000 Hours of Staring

The multimedia artist, Tom Friedman , has unwittingly produced what I believe to be the ultimate statement of modern Western popular culture; his artwork, “1000 Hours of Staring .”  The concept is that the work, a 32 inch square of white paper, creates “the history of an object.”  It expresses intense concentration and mental activity.

Personally, I believe that, like the films Video Fireplace  and Video Aquarium, “1000 Hours of Staring” expresses the total vacuity and emptiness of much of modern popular culture.  The modern culture pursues fame, money, fun, and “self-realization.”  The underlying constant is SELF.

The Christian realizes that the true meaning of life is the expression of the GLORY OF GOD .

She Listened to the Lord

Kylie Bisutti won her dream job as a Victoria 's Secret lingerie model in 2009 in a competition with 10,000 other models.  In 2012, she quit the financially lucrative position because she had come under conviction that the lifestyle she was leading was in conflict with her Christianity .  She is still a model, but now it is not in her underwear.   She had become convinced that "My body should be only for my husband and it's just a sacred thing."