(just in case anyone forgot what 'steadfast' means.....)
2 : firm in belief, determination, or adherence
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
"Adam, preserved on the way to death and consumed with thirst for life, begets Cain, the murderer. The new thing about Cain, the son of Adam, is that man as sicut deus Cain himself lays violent hands on human life. The man who is not allowed to eat of the tree of life all the more greedily reaches out for the fruit of death, the destruction of life. Only the Creator can destroy life. Cain usurps this ultimate right of the Creator and becomes a murderer. Why does Cain murder? Out of hatred towards God. This hatred is great. Cain is great, he is greater than Adam, for his hatred is greater, and this means that his yearning for life is greater. The story of death stands under the mark of Cain.
Christ on the cross, the murdered Son of God, is the end of the story of Cain, and thus the actual end of the story. This is the last desperate storming of the gate of paradise. And under the flaming sword under the cross, mankind dies. But Christ lives. The stem of the cross becomes the staff of life, and in the midst of the world life is set up anew upon the cursed ground. In the middle of the world the spring of life wells up on the wood of the cross and those who thirst for life are called to this water, and those who have eaten of the wood of this life shall never hunger and thirst again. What a strange paradise is this hill of golgotha, this cross, this blood, this broken body! What a strange tree of life, this tree on which God himself must suffer and die- but it is in fact the Kingdom of Life and of the Resurrection given again by God in grace; it is the opened door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience. The tree of life, the cross of Christ, the middle of the fallen and preserved world of God, for us that is the end of the story of paradise."
-dietrich bonhoeffer
Creation and Fall
Christ on the cross, the murdered Son of God, is the end of the story of Cain, and thus the actual end of the story. This is the last desperate storming of the gate of paradise. And under the flaming sword under the cross, mankind dies. But Christ lives. The stem of the cross becomes the staff of life, and in the midst of the world life is set up anew upon the cursed ground. In the middle of the world the spring of life wells up on the wood of the cross and those who thirst for life are called to this water, and those who have eaten of the wood of this life shall never hunger and thirst again. What a strange paradise is this hill of golgotha, this cross, this blood, this broken body! What a strange tree of life, this tree on which God himself must suffer and die- but it is in fact the Kingdom of Life and of the Resurrection given again by God in grace; it is the opened door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience. The tree of life, the cross of Christ, the middle of the fallen and preserved world of God, for us that is the end of the story of paradise."
-dietrich bonhoeffer
Creation and Fall
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I don't even have a title.
I probably should have taken the nap. Now I am so indignant I'm not sure if I can find all the right words. There's this post which led me to a certain website(and a few you-tube videos), which led me to a fit of anger that actually left me speechless (other than two words, which I will spare you....)
The general thing I am feeling right now is a really wretched, nasty disgust in what seems to be, not only our fascination with making money off of sin, (yeah, I went there) but our fascination at watching people writhe in pain caused by these actions.... we put them on T.V. shows, in the newspapers, in 'gossip' magazines.....and then talk glibly about how horrible these things are. Or in one case a news reporter, smiling prettily, almost mischievously, while talking about people using a website to have affairs. What about the people who act like robots reciting 'facts' about people getting killed or mistreated..............etc. GET A FREAKING LIFE, PEOPLE! If other people's misery provides you a form of entertainment, you need a new hobby.
If you are going to spend your time worrying about/being informed about other people's pain....then learn the appropriate response, please. It's called crying and being deeply aware of their brokenness and our own. It's called being angry because people don't know how to love eachother. It's called learning how to love others before yourself.
I don't know if I can keep writing about this, I don't know that there's much to elaborate on. It's fairly obvious that we are all a little too obsessed with getting our own way, satisfying what ever desire we may have, and demanding that things happen instantaneously..... otherwise we will give up and go elsewhere.
...and in the end all to our own detriment. We will have refused to learn any of the lessons that would actually benefit us in the end, the ones that teach us what it really means to live, simply because they were hard lessons to learn. And we all know that easy is popular.
'Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.'
To those who are exploiting other people's pain or sin or whatever for their own benefit or profit:
How dare you.
Learn what love is and stop talking all this crap about some fluffy thing you've made up in your imagination that you ridiculously call 'love'.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
so please, go learn what love is. Stop robbing all these people of love- start giving it instead.
The general thing I am feeling right now is a really wretched, nasty disgust in what seems to be, not only our fascination with making money off of sin, (yeah, I went there) but our fascination at watching people writhe in pain caused by these actions.... we put them on T.V. shows, in the newspapers, in 'gossip' magazines.....and then talk glibly about how horrible these things are. Or in one case a news reporter, smiling prettily, almost mischievously, while talking about people using a website to have affairs. What about the people who act like robots reciting 'facts' about people getting killed or mistreated..............etc. GET A FREAKING LIFE, PEOPLE! If other people's misery provides you a form of entertainment, you need a new hobby.
If you are going to spend your time worrying about/being informed about other people's pain....then learn the appropriate response, please. It's called crying and being deeply aware of their brokenness and our own. It's called being angry because people don't know how to love eachother. It's called learning how to love others before yourself.
I don't know if I can keep writing about this, I don't know that there's much to elaborate on. It's fairly obvious that we are all a little too obsessed with getting our own way, satisfying what ever desire we may have, and demanding that things happen instantaneously..... otherwise we will give up and go elsewhere.
...and in the end all to our own detriment. We will have refused to learn any of the lessons that would actually benefit us in the end, the ones that teach us what it really means to live, simply because they were hard lessons to learn. And we all know that easy is popular.
'Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.'
To those who are exploiting other people's pain or sin or whatever for their own benefit or profit:
How dare you.
Learn what love is and stop talking all this crap about some fluffy thing you've made up in your imagination that you ridiculously call 'love'.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
so please, go learn what love is. Stop robbing all these people of love- start giving it instead.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
love your neighbor as yourself.....?
Here is an interesting read about food.
While I realize that many people (including myself) remain ignorant or naive as to the effects of our own actions on people thousands of miles away, in different countries, I still don't think that can be offered as a good enough excuse. You can blame the government. You can blame those evil people running corporations that are fueled by their need of money.
It's very easy to blame....and to point fingers at all those 'others'.
What I don't understand is the people who claim our country as a christian one. Putting an entire nation under the umbrella of Christianity is a dangerous and stupid (that's right, no eloquent words, it is what it is. Stupid. ) assumption.
I want to know what they think the word 'Christian' means.
Because I am pretty sure I recall some guy named Jesus quoted as saying 'love your neighbor'
And I am also pretty sure that the actions ( a very vast majority of them) of our nation don't quite fall into that catagory most of the time.
You can also claim we (commoners) aren't the direct ones causing these things to happen. You may not have malicious feelings toward others who are starving and dying in poverty in other countries. But can I just say something uncomfortable?
We are all guilty.
Have we never stopped to wonder where our greed and comfort came from? Have we never stopped to wonder at the price of it all?
Do we care about others enough to say something on their behalf? and do we love them enough to change?
Do we love our neighbors as ourselves?
Because right now I'm looking pretty well fed and clothed.....
and I have some neighbors around the world who can't claim any of that for themselves.
But I haven't said much of anything.
And I have changed the way I live very little.
While I realize that many people (including myself) remain ignorant or naive as to the effects of our own actions on people thousands of miles away, in different countries, I still don't think that can be offered as a good enough excuse. You can blame the government. You can blame those evil people running corporations that are fueled by their need of money.
It's very easy to blame....and to point fingers at all those 'others'.
What I don't understand is the people who claim our country as a christian one. Putting an entire nation under the umbrella of Christianity is a dangerous and stupid (that's right, no eloquent words, it is what it is. Stupid. ) assumption.
I want to know what they think the word 'Christian' means.
Because I am pretty sure I recall some guy named Jesus quoted as saying 'love your neighbor'
And I am also pretty sure that the actions ( a very vast majority of them) of our nation don't quite fall into that catagory most of the time.
You can also claim we (commoners) aren't the direct ones causing these things to happen. You may not have malicious feelings toward others who are starving and dying in poverty in other countries. But can I just say something uncomfortable?
We are all guilty.
Have we never stopped to wonder where our greed and comfort came from? Have we never stopped to wonder at the price of it all?
Do we care about others enough to say something on their behalf? and do we love them enough to change?
Do we love our neighbors as ourselves?
Because right now I'm looking pretty well fed and clothed.....
and I have some neighbors around the world who can't claim any of that for themselves.
But I haven't said much of anything.
And I have changed the way I live very little.
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