When a loved one dies, immediately impressed upon the survivors are many things. awakened is the sense that life can be interrupted abruptly . the awakening of a higher truth is divulged. awakened to resentment at the crassness of people’s handling of your loved one’s passing. More than just superficially acknowledged, these new awakenings are circulated in the collection of soul depth. In every man exists a repository for the efficient operation of simple believing. Impulse, impression, and projection are ideas associated with this place. Things are conceived here and thoughts take on form from what is in there. This area of the brain operates involuntarily and has no moral filters. It can be called “unconscious.” Notion, perception, conception, modeling and theory work here. They fight to exist as one hypothesis may contradict another. What dominates in this belief emporium are those concepts that combine to form a system, a harmony, a…
Healing at the Cross Posts
Downtown Budapest John the Baptist was a burning and shining light. What qualified him? Perhaps 2 Cor 4:6 helps “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The light of the knowledge of the glory of God? — Light of knowledge? — Of glory? — Of God? — God’s glory’s knowledge? — “Gnosis”, “doxa” in the face of Jesus? — John reflected Jesus’ face of knowledge of the glory of God. How can a person be a shining light? If he or she leads many to righteousness, they will shine like the stars in the firmament says Daniel 10. Ecc 8:1 points out; “Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to…
Church in Hungary “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Is this the cross of your life or some other? If this one frames us, we know with the mind a once and forever done-by-another-for-me deal, (perfect passive indicative tense). The present tense “knowing” practically effects the destroying of the “The body of which sin has taken possession.” All of it enables me to not be a slave to sin. Jamison, Faucet, and Brown cite our new relationship with Christ and says: “The apostle now grows more definite and vivid in expressing the sin-destroying effectiveness of our union with the crucified Savior.” So that “all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ,” “was” crucified with Him. Henceforth, we are not in bondage to sin. So, we have…
On the Danube River Create? Imagination and what else? Materials are necessary but so is glue. Thoughts and words must meld in a way that has continuity and also sensible relatedness. There needs to be permanence, stability, link, no interruption. Abstractions? Unless somehow connected to sanity, these are illegitimate in my opinion. Why? Because any idiot can build oblivion by non-thinking, but true creativity requires a mind applied, inspired, with vision. It is constructive and not destructive. Reflections are interesting as they expose the negative side of a positive. For example, wholesomeness reflects as decadence on the pessimistic side, decency becomes immodesty, integrity becomes fragmentation, and benevolence becomes offensiveness. Cmon, friends, you want to uglify beauty and call that art? Instead, let’s turn it around and beautify something hideous; now that’s creativity! See, true creativity requires some givens, namely love. The higher the degree of love involved and understood, the…
Matt and his brother Josh This past week marked 10 years since we lost Josh. He was 25. We will never forget his ways and gifts. We will see him in eternity for sure but we miss him now. His Brother Matt posted this at mattsliva.com and he says it very well. love ya Joshua Sliva by Matthew Sliva This past week marked the tenth anniversary of the passing of my brother Josh. Over the last ten years I’ve come to understand a few things a little better. Many people cope in many different ways with death; my way seems to have been in the privacy of my own thoughts. In dealing with death, I had to face the fact that my brother was never coming back. This took some time, but, in accepting this fact, I was able to move on in my life; not without my brother, but with…
Ever feel whacked out? Overloaded? Too many details? Go to the Brunswick All-night Bowl of heaven and roll your heavy ball of gruff toward Our Great Father and Care Solver, right away! Heave the ball vigorously and make it rotate far afield; make sure it does not boomerang. Squash the pins which fasten you to disquiet, and burst through with finesse to the back wall of resolution. Post your score! Then, steady yourself on His revealed mind of comfort and peace and ready for the next frame. Some tips to fine rolling: practice your release point, follow through, and avoid too much spin on the ball. Don’t choose a ball that is too heavy, (because you waited too long), or too light, (because you’re a whiner). Don’t allow your fingers to get caught in the ball-grips, but let go. Don’t slip and fall on your delivery. Taking aim crucializes here,…
The theme of “will of man versus the sovereignty of God” presents a problem age-old. No, I have not solved it, but the dilemma finds resolution in the person of Christ. What do I mean? Well, the gap between active and passive states of mind, for instance, dissolves when we allow for the presence of both mind-states in their precise and proper manner and timing. We recognize these dispositions as they are as easy as giving and receiving, or opening/closing the hand. There are times when we do both simultaneously; we call this “exchange.” I take the ice cream cone and at the same time hand over the money. At the gas pump, for every ounce of petrol dispensed into the tank, my card is “rung up” to the equivalent dollar amount, side by side. The sense of equity and fairness combines these aspects of receiving and releasing quite naturally. So, what’s the…
When sports teams compete throughout a regular season schedule, many variables are possible. For instance, a team starts out strong and has early success, while another team gets out of the gate slowly. Mid season may bring changes; an injury or two, a disagreement among players or coach, or a suspension. On the positive side, a new player arrives, a team gels, a player finds his game, a team unifies. Then, one team may finish out strongly, winning a last playoff spot. The toll of the season’s ups and downs crushes hopes for another group. I have seen a player’s personal issues hinder or help his or her team. A blunder at week 3 destroys the confidence of an athlete or whole team. I watched a very skilled girl miss 6 straight free throws at the end of a game which her team lost by 1 point. She was never…
Taken at creation museum in Kentucky “Hope happens when a person who has none gets some.” “Some what?” “Well, I figure that the firm impression leading them to believe that they will get some is the ‘some,’ for now, giving them hope.” “Oh?” “Well, more than a feeling, they have some kind of promissory indication.” “That helps, but who is doing the promising? Are they trustworthy?” “Must be, or no hope happens.” “Are they able?” “They must be that too.” “Can a random event mess up the promise, even though a person is true and strong?” “I guess.” “I suppose we need a promise from one who is faithful, powerful and above all circumstances to bring hope.” “Like God?” “Yes, it must be God. Hope-giving phenomena relates to the helmet of salvation in Ephesians 6, but also to the helmet of the “hope of salvation” in Thessalonians 5:8. Martin Lloyd-Jones…
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: “Holy and without blame” is more than conduct, but relates here to an identity, a self worth, a dignity and ultimate nobility. “Without blame” defines a self image which does not impute sin or trespasses to itself and this person is blessed as in Psalm 32:1-2. Sin was originally imputed or “reckoned” to the whole human race, from Romans 3, 4 and 5, then the very same sin was transferred onto Jesus in Isaiah 53.6, 1Peter 2:24, and in 2 Corinthians 5:21 He became sin that we would become the righteousness of God in Him. This refers to His righteousness being imputed to us at the point of salvation. Following this? So, “holiness” becomes not an issue of conduct, but a setting-apart…