We are now learning to apply the Word which we have learned, to put it on, to use it, and put it into operation; this changes everything. First we had become skilled at the knowledge-level of God’s Word, too much of which swelled our foreheads. Before that we were dunces; some wore the hat. Our nifty education of the Bible helped most of us create labels, models, stereotypes, and superlatives to define our environment and make our life easier. We put the world in a storage crate, and some of us built battlefields for our toy soldiers; or dollhouses for the little girl’s version of war. “Authenticity” we defined as “close to genuine as possible” and this was our path of advancement as we pressed toward our own brand of “Realism.” Very noble, but our Bible philosophy was getting tilted as our lifeless human behavior bent stagnant. Something remained amiss,…
Healing at the Cross Posts
Psalm 34:2 teaches that the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Hear what? Hear the Word and keep it. “The meek will He teach.” “The meek will He guide in judgment,” Psalm 25:9. Sounds like humility and meekness open some doors to a real God and His living Word? Yes. Humility comes from living in the effects of a crucified self life with its’ old consciousness removed, while meekness is a devotion to the newly opened God-consciousness in resurrection. These are two functions experienced in soul and spirit. They alter the mind, breaking will, emotions and conscience. In essence, humility relates to the process of death; meekness with the life following. So, as we take baby steps with our God in Micah 6:8, our steps are firmed up in faith-meekness in which we condition ourselves to “see as good” the perfect plan of God and receive and apply the…
The old story factored relevant, as pig pens are pig pens no matter how a person gets there. I certainly found myself in the same disgusting state as the wayward son, barely surviving with only scraps of nourishment fit for swine. The thing that I and the prodigal shared was the ineptness that took us into our groveling conditions but also the ham-fisted incompetence toward getting out. For the out of control youth, the face in slop was preceded by the low-paying hog-feeding job, and prior to that was a kind of hysteria. Yes, the Bible teaches that the boy’s waste of substance with riotous living caused an emotional trauma for him. His unfortified ability to control things was lost and the bottom was dropping out of his big strategy. In his soul’s lowest of the low, nothing of his self-made mess was faceable for him now. For me, the…
“Man is pushed by drives but pulled by meaning, and this implies that it is always up to him to decide whether or not he wishes to fulfill the later. Frankl “Man, which thinks and perceives, could not be called in Scripture, “heart,” unless the will were the peculiar central feature in a man, which precedes perception,” Franz Delitzsch. “The thing in the abstract, or the final sub-stratum in every phenomenon, is the will.” Arthur Schopenhauer. “choice is will where knowledge enlightens it.” “Meaning-fulfillment always implies decision making.” “The effort which goes into the exercise of the will is really effort of attention; the strain in willing is the effort to keep the consciousness clear, i.e., the strain of keeping the attention focused.” Rollo May, “Intension is a stretching toward something.” “Meaning has no meaning apart from intention.” “Each act of consciousness tends toward something, is a turning of a person toward…
The core experiences of psychological trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others. Judith Lewis Herman One afternoon my sister fell down the cemented steps, gashing her head. Blood was everywhere and she needed stitches. Her reaction was with wailing, screaming tears and frantic gestures. We were little kids. I remember that she had to be rushed to the hospital, I didn’t go. When she came back she was more subdued and seemed ok. We never talked about it after; only once or twice till this day we discussed it. Boo-boo’s were a way of life back then, and Mom and Dad discouraged some big display. Without consulting sis presently, it seemed she just moved on and maintained normal. The event didn’t damage sis internally, I don’t think, though she interpreted it fearfully in her soul for a few weeks I’m sure. According to my memory, she moved away from it…
God laughed. Yes, from heaven He laughed in their face, at their calamity, at their delusion. The most sincere, He found hilariously funny, and justly cared not at their cultural correctness. The thoughts in the hearts of these wayward were only evil continually, and God flooded the world with no blinking. Noah in the mean time had built an ark of insulation, got in it with family and some animals, and was shielded from the laughing-wrath event. God didn’t change His mind at the crying of the ark-less, the drowning of the devil-logged proceeded. “Good riddance, I hope you enjoyed your brief excursion here on earth, but now we must move on to a cleansed and scoured new world, (paraphrase mine).” Pro 1:24-26 says, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel,…
Some members in particular are given, a joint that supplies, to breathe life into our corner of the body, and invigorate our group. These folks carry not a man’s energy, which can intimidate, but a quickening that removes intimidation. These don’t ask us to perform or do things, they instead perform the things concerning us. They effortlessly serve us, sometimes unknowingly. These inspirers spread grace, the God quality, through their weakened humanity. They not only know Christ but Christ interacts with us through them. They are full of grace and truth. This kind has been with the Savior, their face shines reflecting His presence, and the glory of grace is praised in them. They have an eternal weight of glory in their soul through trials and temptations, mostly hidden sufferings. They have wept for their circle oft, their family daily. They have encompassed themselves in God’s songs of deliverance; they…
The theory of “entfremdung” or ‘alienation’ relies on Lugwig Feuerbach’s comment which states that “The idea of a supernatural God has alienated the natural characteristics of the human being.” Max Stirmer said, “even the idea of ‘humanity’ is an alienating concept for the individual man and woman to intellectually consider in its full philosophic implication.” What the hey are these guys talking about? Are they talking about the past or future? Observation or prediction? Empiricists can only observe. Even as economists, they predict as weather-men or horoscope-heads They hold a fatalistic world view. But they do it anyway. These guys have observed through history: Fallen mankind’s balking at grasping the reality of a true and living Creator. They have predicted that it will always go this way. Yes, a world with a Maker brings uneasiness about their accountability. Untold is that man has a will and can choose God, forsake reaction God…
We would spend a week with my aunt Anna every summer in Greenfield. She was kinda rich we thought, and she took us everywhere on our visit including baseball games, the museum, the aviary, and the flower show. You could see old Forbes field from her back porch, where the Pirates played ball. At night we would walk to McGee field to watch the Soft-ball games as my ruddy complexioned aunt sold concessions in the bleachers, salty pretzel sticks and pop. The lights and warm air, fans and players remain in my memory today. Pittsburgh was a sports town back in the days when John Henry Johnson ran touchdowns for the Steelers. He was an upright runner but had a lot of leg movement and was hard to corral and bring down. I remember that in spite of J.H.J. the team stunk up the field weekly and my Father said…
We must be built up continually. We must be seeing the world from a finished work perspective and not from the perspective of the natural universe. Eternity must be in our hearts. Ezra the Scribe knew of this idea and wrote Psalm 119. His was a continual prayer; “turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken me O Lord. My soul cleaves to the dust, quicken Thou me O Lord according to thy Word. My soul melts for heaviness, strengthen me O Lord. Stablish the Word to thy servant who am devoted to thy fear. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me thy Law graciously. Incline my heart unto thy commandments. Let thy mercies come unto me…” Then comes many verses of meditative origin. See, we must pray to build ourselves up but then allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in the meditation of…