Find a Penny

 

Find a penny and pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck. I heard this chant many times as a child in the southern portion of the United States but it is not restricted to the American South.

            The “lucky Penny” superstition has been known for thousands of years. Ancient peoples, just like many moderns, often believed in the power inherent in coins. Finding a coin was considered to be a sign of good luck, or of coming prosperity, because metals were considered to represent wealth and protection.

            Making a wish after throwing a coin into a fountain may have originated as giving a valuable offering to water deities.

            “A penny for your thoughts” carries the idea that your thoughts are valuable because the coin has value.

            After a coin flip, a coin landing with its head-side up (obverse) is considered to be a positive sign. A coin with the tails-side up (reverse) is considered to be negative. Some people will not pick up a coin from the street if the coin is in the tails up position. In American football, the referee determines first possession of the ball by the use of a coin flip.

            This may seem like a trivial and harmless holdover of an ancient superstition. Most people would view it in this way and, for the most part, it is. The children gleefully throwing coins into the fountain outside a restaurant and making a wish are totally innocent. Most adults have no idea of the origins of the superstition and have not given it a single thought, and probably never will. In its origins it is a demonstration of the use of Magick.

            Magick, as opposed to harmless stage magic (where you do not actually see what you think you see) is an ancient concept. The actual modern word, Magick, seems to have been originated by Aleister Crowley, an utterly evil and awful man who described himself as The Great Beast. His most famous quotation is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

            Magick is the intentional attempt to control reality by performing certain actions or saying certain words. It is an attempt to impose one’s will on the universe. It is an assertion of self as the master. If you gave them a coin, the water deities were obligated to grant you a wish. If you rubbed the lamp, the genie was your slave. If you said the correct words in the correct sequence, a demon could be forced to obey you.

            Simony is the practice of buying or selling objects held to be religiously sacred. It does not include the selling of modern Christian merchandise which, of itself, is not inherently holy or sacred.  Simony would be the selling, for personal profit, of materials or items or powers used in the official functions of the church. The word originates from Acts 8:18-24, where a magician, Simon Magus, offered money to Peter in an attempt to purchase the power to perform miracles. Peter angrily rejected Simon’s offer of money.

            The Bible clearly says that we are to avoid the intentional use of magic and the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-11, 18:2; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31, 20:6,27; Isaiah 19:1-4; Ezekiel 13:20-21; 2 Kings 21:6; Revelation 21:8.

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            Your innocent child can probably still enjoy throwing a few coins into a fountain.

Spam Phone Calls

I received a phone call from Woonsocket, Rhode Island (USA) and totally ignored it. In fact I deleted it. I do not know anyone in Woonsocket or the entire state of Rhode Island. The call was either a wrong number or what is called "spam." (The derisive word "SPAM" comes from a canned spiced ham product which many people consider to be awful but which many others enjoy. It has a reputation similar to that of the also unfairly maligned fruit cake.)

Spam phone calls are a particular problem in the United States. Massive numbers of automated phone calls are sent by businesses trying to increase their profits or are sent to deliver a particular message (often political) to as many people as possible.  This type of Spam is merely a nuisance. In 2017, the United States Federal Trade Commission received 7,157,370 complaints about spam calls. The problem is escalating. There were 4.5 billion reported spam phone calls in the United States in June of 2018. These spam phone calls are essentially total garbage.

A second type of spam calls is is intended to be hostile and is criminal. One form of these aggressive attacks is intended to completely clog up phone lines and render them useless. This is a form of denial of service attack.

An even more criminal type of spam attempts to deceive or trick as many people as possible to respond to the call and to voluntarily give out their personal information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, computer sign-on passwords, etc. The motive here is to steal money.

In today's world  everyone is constantly surrounded by what is essentially SPAM; totally worthless garbage. Messages flood at us from television, movies, radio, music, books, news organizations, junk mail, flyers, and other people. The vast majority of it is secular or explicitly non-Christian. Some of it is malignantly anti-Christian.

There is an old saying in the Southern United States about a person so holy and high-minded that he or she is of no use in the real world. This is not what God wants. He wants us to let Him use us for His purposes here in the real world. We are told to he holy (separated) because God is holy, but we are also told to be "in the world but not of the world." Essentially, do not be useless.

Ignoring the vast majority of the garbage swilling around us does not mean that we must have no interest in culture, or learning. or books, or music, or sports, or fashion, or outdoor activities, or politics, or any other thing. It does, however, require us not to chase after every wind (especially those which we know stink). It also requires us to learn to recognize "the stink" even when a little perfume has been added.

Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7, 1 Peter 1:16, John 15:19; 17: 14-16, Ephesians 4:14, Ecclesiastes 6:9

Christian Tattoos?

This is the well-known Serenity Prayer, first seen in a 1943 sermon by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971).

  

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
 The courage to change the things I can,
 And wisdom to know the difference.”

Here are photos of an unusual way of presenting the prayer.

http://creativefan.com/serenity-prayer-tattoo/

In the ancient world tattooing was a pagan religious practice but now, many people, including some Christians, see it is no more significant than piercing ears for earrings. Some see tattooing as a way to begin a conversation with non-Christians, in other words, an act of evangelism. Other Christians see tattooing as a horrible offense toward God.

Biblical references:

Leviticus 19:26-29

Romans 7:1-4, 14:23

1 Corinthians 6:12

I believe that tattooing falls into the category of meat offered up to idols.  We are not bound to the Old Testament Law for our salvation, but to the gift of Christ. On this point, Paul was willing to argue with and if necessary to break with Peter (Acts 15:1-5; Galatians 2:3-4,11-21). All things are lawful to us but not everything is profitable; permissible but not beneficial.

We should not become aligned with or comfortable with the shifting and vapid trends of our surrounding culture. Christians are to be a set apart holy people, noticeable because of our differences from the surrounding culture and how we love one another..   

The following links present a variety of opinions about the Christian and body-modifications. The articles run the gamut from hyper-fundamentalism to extreme permissive liberalism. All of them think that they are correct.

http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/f/tattoochristian.htm

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_tatoos.htm

http://carm.org/it-okay-christian-get-tattoo  (Read carefully the last two sentences of this web page!)

http://blogs.christianpost.com/confident-christian/is-getting-a-tattoo-a-sin-12619/

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-tattoos.html  (This is always a good site for reasoned answers to biblical questions.)

http://www.raptureready.com/featured/schaefer/tattoo.html

http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/should-christians-get-tattoos-what-does-the-bible-say/

http://www.biblebelievers.com/watkins_tattoos/bible.html

http://www.compellingtruth.org/tattoo-sin.html

http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2008/july/3.16.html

http://www.emilywierenga.com/on-christians-and-ink-why-i-believe-tattoos-are-not-a-sin/

http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2014/05/christian-legalism-real-christians-can-get-tattoos/

http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/should_christians_get_tattoos.shtml

http://www.born-again-christian.info/questions/answers.113.htm

The Church of Body Modification is a non Christian group which finds spirituality in piercing, cutting, and tattooing.

http://uscobm.com/news/back-where-we-started/

http://uscobm.com/statement-of-faith/

God's Ultimate Purpose for Our Creation

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), an American Transcendentalist philosopher and writer basically lived the life of a hermit on Walden Pond in the State of Masssachusetts (USA).  He rejected organized religion and political parties, was a committed abolitionist and pacifist, and spent his life dedicated to self-improvement.  He never married and never attended any church. The writer, Robert Louis Stevenson said of him, “He was not easy, not ample, not urbane, not even kind; his enjoyment was hardly smiling, or the smile was not broad enough to be convincing; he had no waste lands nor kitchen-midden in his nature, but was all improved and sharpened to a point.”  Thoreau was not a pleasant person, but he still had some important insights, one of which is, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” 

This statement is the essence of Jewish religious thought. As Huston Smith said in his classic work, The World’s Religions, “… Judaism is less an orthodoxy than an orthopraxis.” Orthodox Judaism sees obedience to God’s commands now as important, not for future reward, but for what it does to you. Observance of the Jewish rituals is seen as making all of normal life holy. (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). Orthodox Judaism believes that observance of the rituals is preparing the world for the appearance of the Messiah and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Many modern Christians have lost sight of the fact that Christianity began as a movement within Judaism and that Christianity can only be understood in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures. The entirety of the Old Testament clearly points to one person, Jesus.

Just as the Jews see obedience to God’s commands as making all of life holy, our allegiance to Jesus is conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the process of sanctification. Jesus did not conform to the world. He expected the world to conform to Him. This is God’s ultimate purpose in our creation, that we become conformed to Christ for God’s glory. Romans 8:28-31

Magic Squares in Christian Occultism, Part 1

I had to remove today’s post because it became corrupted by some sort of commercial spam. I am instead posting on another subject entirely. Before you read this, let me absolutely declare that I am not an occultist of any sort.  I reject the practice of magic. I am not speaking about stage magic, which is a form of entertainment based on sleight of hand and visual deception.  That is clearly not real and does not claim to be real.

What I am talking about is Magic (or more properly Magick). Magick is based on the belief that there is an underlying basis to reality which is not apparent to the normal human senses. Magick  believes that with knowledge of the correct words, phrases, or actions, one may influence, or even force, the universe to produce particular intended results. In other words, spells and curses. The traditional Christian understanding is that we should have nothing to do with any of this. Of course, some Christians, even some very learned Christians, have not abided by this understanding. Knowing about Magick and understanding how it crept into Christian use is not a violation of the proscription against it. It is necessary so that we do not do it again. (Sadly, some still do.) [Deuteronomy 18:9-13; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26, 19:31, 20:6, 20:27; Galatians 5:19-21.]

This will take several days to discuss, so bear with me and keep on reading. The subject of this series of posts is “Magic Squares” and how they have been used in Christian symbolism.

The simplest Magic Squares are, of themselves, merely mathematical constructs which consist of numbers arranged so that the addition of the numbers in a column in any direction (left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, or diagonally from corner to corner) always add up to the same sum. Examples are:

                                    2 7 6                                    All the columns in any

                                    9 5 1                                    direction total to 15.

                                    4 3 8

                         8   58 59  5   4   62 63  1

                        49 15 14 52 53 11 10 56  

                        41 23 22 44 45 19 18 48            All the columns in any

                        32 34 35 29 28 38 39 25            direction total to 260.

                        40 26 27 37 36 30 31 33

                        17 47 46 20 21 43 42 24

                         9  55 54 12 13 51 50 16

                        64  2   3   61 60  6   7  57

These mathematical constructions were known in numerous cultures around the world from early in the history of mathematics.  

The mathematical process for producing the squares can be expressed in mathematical formulae. The earliest squares were based on addition, but later squares have been based on multiplication, complex numbers, shapes other than squares, hypercubes, primes, and even genetic algorithms.  The term “magic square” is also applied to word squares which read the same in any direction.   

The squares became associated with occultism through the practice of numerology. Numerology assigns number values to individual letters of alphabetic writing systems. Every word or name can be assigned a numerical value.

More in the next post: Magic Squares in Christian Occultism, Part 2

A Flower Vase on a Grave

As my wife and I drove away from a recent visit to her parent’s graves, I saw, in the corner of my eye, another couple standing by a grave.  The man looked around to see if he was being watched and then walked over to another grave.  From that grave, the man took a flower vase and placed it on the grave his wife was viewing.

Besides being petty theft, this was an insult to the person from whose grave the vase was removed. I also believe that it was an insult to the person on whose grave the stolen vase was placed. It was as if the man thought so little of them that he would rather use a stolen vase and flowers rather than purchase some of his own.  

I am sure that this man thought this was a negligible act, not worthy of a thought.  This was an intentional act, but even unintentional sins are still sins and the wages of sin is death.  How wonderful it is that Jesus has washed His people clean.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

“And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.” Leviticus 5:17

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Escapism Has No Place in the Church

Recently, at work, I went to supper expecting to watch the evening news on the break room television.  The television was turned off and everyone in the room was looking down.  No one was talking to anyone.  They were all focused on their personal devices: iPhones, iPads, Kindles, etc.  I did not want to be rude and to disturb them, so I did not turn on the television.  

None of them looked up or acknowledged that I had entered the room; they were each in their own little world, shut off from everything and everyone else around them.  One was reading Facebook posts.  Another was playing a TETRIS-like game in which the falling items were various pieces of candy.

On another night, the other person in the room was already watching a rerun of the comedy series Seinfeld instead of the news.  Seinfeld can be hilarious, but the creators and actors involved with the series have been totally honest in declaring that it is “a television show about nothing.”

There is nothing inherently wrong with games, social media, or funny television programs, but they can become “wrong”when they are used as shelters,  What all of these people had in common was that they were “escaping.”  They were withdrawing into comfortable little corners where the world could not touch them.  None of them was curious at all about what was going on in the outside world.

I had object proof of this one night when I did have the televison set on the evening news.  There was a story about the dedication ceremony of our new hospital building.  One of my co-workers inquired, “Who is that man?”  The man was the governor of the state in which we live.

Christians are not immune to this.  I understand and agree with the separatist impulse among conservative Christians.  Indeed, we are told to be in the world but not of the world and to come out from among them.  We are told to be holy (meaning separated for God) because God is holy. (Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, Isaiah 52:11, James 4:4, 2 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Peter 1:6)

Some Christians make the mistake of carrying this to such extremes that they remove themselves from any meaningful involvement in the outside world.  They use the church and church activities as an escape.  This, in effect, removes them from many opportunities to share the Gospel.   We have been told to go into all the world and to spread the Gospel to all nations.  We are also told to be aware of what is going on around us: to be as wise as serpents but as gentle as doves. (Mark 16:15, Matthew 10:16)

Mainstream vs Traditional

Recently, I have spoken several times about Christians who hold to the traditional faith being thought of as outside the “mainstream.”  We are often portrayed as “odd,” “eccentric,” “wrong-headed,” “extreme,” “bigoted,” or “fringe.”  Most often the insults are subtly delivered.

Religious denominations are spoken of by the “mainstream media” as “mainstream” (meaning progressive or liberal) or “outside the mainstream.”  This places those who are “outside the mainstream” into the same general category as the numerous obscure or strange sects and cults. It is an insult and I believe that it is a form of persecution which seeks to force us to “evolve.”  This is another insult which assumes that we are “cavemen” or “neanderthals.”

Persecution is not always of the “throw them to the lions” sort.  It also exists in the sideways snicker, in the assumption that traditional Christians are “simple” or intellectually inferior, or that we are socially backward, or that we are totally outdated dinosaurs not relevant to the modern world.

AND SADLY … this patronizing and insulting (I say heretical) thought often comes from the “mainstream’ churches and from movements such as the Emerging Church.  Listen to what the Bible clearly says.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 1:3.  Jude was Jesus’s brother.

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:2

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”  Galatians 1:8.  The word which the translators have rendered as “accursed” is, in the Greek, ἀνάθεμα (anathema), from ἀνά (ana), meaning "on", and τίθημι (tithēmi), meaning "I put."  Originally this referred to a gift to God or to the pagan gods.  Echoes of the  Hebrew word "herem" (חרם) referred to something forbidden or off-limits, because it was dedicated for religious use and not useable in the common world. (Numbers 18:14; Leviticus 27:28-29); and hence the idea of “exterminating” or “dead” was connected with the word.  Various translations of the words anathema and herem have included "cursed," "disliked," "loathed," "banned," "excommunicated," "excluded," "denounced," "vehemently rejected," "off limits," and "devoted to evil."

Deuteronomy 7:26 calls a pagan idol a herem. Here it is: “Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.”

Dog is Good

Modern culture seems to have absolutely lost the understanding that words and concepts have meaning.  I believe that this is a result of the relativism which is rapidly becoming the prevalent world view.

I recently saw a bumper sticker on a car.  The bumper sticker had a cartoon of a dog wearing a halo and the caption “Dog is Good.”  While I definitely agree with the sentiment, something about this bothered me greatly.

The halo is an almost universally recognized symbol for sainthood.  The phrase “Dog is Good” is an English language play (*) on the words “God is Good.”  The sainthood reference made me itchy.  The “good” reference concerned me greatly.  While I am absolutely convinced that there is no intent here to do so, the “good” reference could be viewed as sacrilegious.  This is a word that people, in their obsession to not offend anyone, shy away from now, but it is still pertinent.  People in the modern Church seem to have lost their understanding of the Holiness of God.

Jesus responded very quickly when He was called “good” by a loving follower.

“And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”  Mark 10:17-18

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16 (This references Leviticus 11:44)

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(*) :  For non-English speaking readers of this blog:  In English, the words G_O_D and D_O_G contain the same letters and at a quick glance, can appear to be the same word.

What Zombies Really Represent

Zombies are quite popular right now, appearing in numerous films, television series, and novels.  Originally seen as soulless bodies animated by the will of a master, zombies were sent out to perform tasks.  They were represented in films as slave laborers (White Zombie, 1932), as a murderer/kidnapper (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1919), and as a compliant, silent, and emotionless slave who will carry out any order by his master (I Walked With a Zombie, 1943).

Zombies have captured the imagination of the horror film community, with over 600 feature films and over 50 short films having been produced as of today.  One of the most highly regarded modern American television series is The Walking Dead.  One of the reasons for the success of the series is that, while it never flinches in showing gore and zombie violence, it is actually not about zombies.    The human characters of the series eventually come to realize that they, not the zombies, are the walking dead.

The concept of a zombie changed radically with the 1968 George Romero film, Night of the Living Dead.  Many consider this to be the first modern horror film.  The movie is not technically excellent, the acting is not of the best quality, and the low budget is very evident.  And, the movie is studied in every film school on Earth because it perfectly expresses the tensions and meaninglessness present in the modern world.   Some Christians have come to realize that zombies represent even more than that.

Numbers 19:11-22 declares dead bodies to be unclean; Romans 3:23 declares that everyone has sinned; and James 1:15 tells us that “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”  Without the unmerited grace of God, we are unclean, we are dead, we are decaying, we are the walking dead.  Because Christians are covered by the Blood of Christ, when God looks at us, He sees Jesus.

Think of the parallels between the film zombies and the unredeemed world.  Non-Christians, those who do not know Jesus, are unclean, they are dead, they are decaying, they are the walking dead.  Most do not realize that they are dead. They are like the zombies in the 1978 George Romero film, Dawn of the Dead, who cram themselves into the local shopping mall and walk around in front of the stores.  They are “pretending to be alive.”

Like the zombies in the movies, if they get a really hard bite out of a person, that person becomes one of them.  They are insatiable and virtually unstoppable.  They represent raw hunger, the primal lust for blood, which is life (Leviticus 17:14).

They will kill anything and anyone who stands in the way of their obtaining what they want.  What you want, need, or think is unimportant to them.  They are your neighbors, friends, and even members of your family.

The film zombies can be seen as representing raw sin.  The essence of sin is self at the expense of all other considerations.  Sin wants more and more, it is relentless.  Sin will use others to get what it wants; others are merely food.  And sin ultimately causes decay of the sinner, dulling the perceptions.  Sin takes on a life of its own.

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10

Typographical Errors

In my post yesterday on The Big Book of Church Jokes I made a typographical error, even though I check every post for spelling and grammar before I release it.  It is very easy to misspell a word, double your “ands” or your “thes, ” leave out “of,” or to  say something which seems logical when written but which really makes no sense.  In yesterday’s post, I spelled “silly” as “sily.”  I apparently totally missed the red underlining provided by my word processor’s Spell Checker program.

Knowing how easy it is to make a mistake when one writes, it makes it even more amazing to know that the first five books of the Bible (the Torah) have been preserved by the Jews at the LETTER level for thousands of years.

Each synagogue which can afford one owns as Sefer Torah, a handwritten copy of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  This is in the form of a scroll which is used in formal religious ceremonies.  When not in use, the scroll is stored in the holiest spot in the synagogue.

Each of the scrolls is produced under extremely restrictive conditions, on a particular type of parchment using a particular type of quill pen by one specially trained rabbi.  The entire scroll must be produced by that one sofer (scribe)..

The number of letters must total 304,805 with each letter in its proper position, each one perfectly formed, sized, and placed.  The ink of a random imperfect letter may be scraped off the parchment and replaced by a perfect one.  If any error of any sort involves the name of God, that page must be cut from the scroll and a new perfect page must be sewn into its place.  The removed page is buried with respect.

A Sefer Torah can take as long as a year and one half to produce and cost as much as $10,000.  Parchment is a perishable material; still, the oldest known surviving are over 700 years old.

The Jews have done us a great service by their historical insistence on preserving the purity of the scriptures.

Biblical Sources of Phrases in Common Use: Blind As a Bat

The phrase "blind as a bat" is based on the misconception that bats are blind.  Of course, bats can see, just not very well, especially in bright light.  Bats are mentioned three times in the Bible (Leviticus 11:19, Deuteronomy 14:18, and Isaiah 2:20), but "blind as a bat" is not biblical in origin.

In Metaphysics (11.1,993a27-993b7), Aristotle (384-322 BC/BCE) said, "For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all."

After the Cleansing of the Temple

In every well-known Bible passage there are other, sometimes many, insights "hidden in plain sight."  In the incident of Jesus' cleansing the moneychangers from the Temple, there are other things being said.

1. Jesus has the authority to define the proper use of the Temple.
2. Children are welcome into the previously all-adult world.
3. Jesus opened the Kingdom of God to everyone, including the blemished people, the lame and the blind.  This infuriated the religious leaders who insisted that it was blasphemous for blemished persons to enter the Temple.

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

 " And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.   And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,   And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?   And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there." Matthew 21:12-17

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,   Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.   For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,   Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,   Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;   No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.   He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.   Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.   And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.  Leviticus 21:16-24

The Glory of God

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John 20:21

"For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Leviticus 11:45

What does it mean, that our only purpose is to show the Glory of God?  What is the Glory of God?

These questions come to the ultimate question: what is the true nature of God?  Obviously, He is not an old bearded man with scary intense eyes and a massive grey beard.

God is a Spirit.

God is personal, not some indeterminate “force.”

God is infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-sufficient, and utterly perfect and holy.

God is just.

God is eternal.  This does not mean “timeless,” but independent of time, not bound by linear time as we are.

God is unchangeable.

God is One God in Three Persons; the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, who exist in a community of Love.

God is Love.  God does not love, He is Love.

So what is the Glory of God?  The Glory of God is in His act of sharing Himself with His creatures, us.  As created beings we are imperfect and therefore excluded from the presence of Perfection.  We are incapable of correcting this situation, though in pride, we try.

Though he is complete in and of Himself and has no need for us, God has chosen to correct the situation and to include us in His Love.  Only He is capable of fulfilling and satisfying the Law and so He sent His Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Because of God’s Act of Love, He has “given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4