JULY 4,2015

july 4, 2015 just passed. whenever this holiday comes around, I feel I should try to get my unique message out: the message that we Christian Americans need to rethink the 1776 decision of our native country forefathers to rebel against the government over them-to think about how that lines up with the teachings of Jesus. This particular time includes some new events that are connected with the ideas contained in this blog. 1) The Supreme Court of the u.s. decided that the constitution compels the government to recognize homosexual marriage as marriage. 2) the deaths of 9 African americans at the hands of a racist white (young) man have caused thought leaders in this country to express that now it is time to deglorify the civil war and rename buildings and things named after famous participants in the confederacy that fought the government of the u.s. in the civil war. what I would like to add to this discussion is:  1) that our nation's idolizing of the Constitution and freedom have inevitably led to our citizens believing that freedom to engage in variant moral behavior and seeking legitimize that behavior is valid and "good"; 2) that the war that freed the slaves had to be fought because the forefathers a century earlier could not bring themselves to do the right thing at THAT time, all the while (hypocritically) speaking as noble freedom fighters. I plead with my fellow American (Christians) to reconcile the divergent parts of our history and heritage.

IMPERFECT

this morn, i was deciding what to wear and felt God's spirit telling me to go with the beautiful red t-shirt onto which i had put a quilt of squares of pretty red fabrics from my past. this was in keeping with valentine's day coming tomorrow. (i ask God's advice on these things sometimes. thankfully He doesn't mind me asking such things even i so often disobey in more important things. Thankyou, Lord.) so i went forward with the red and quilted t-shirt. i was hesitant 'cuz the shirt had imperfectly finished edges on the quilted area. i need to finish it. so i was really responding (in faith) to what i felt God was leading with by wearing it. when i put it on and looked in the mirror, i said wow! to myself 'cuz the colors and patterns WERE so vibrant and beautiful. it made me happy. and i'm glad i can share these colors with others. ...... why am i writing this? also this morn, i listened to Andrew Wommack speaking about when Elijah got his mind and eyes off of God, and consequently got distracted doing what God had not asked him to do and did not complete what God had specifically asked him to do. .......... i'm getting ahead of myself putting in the part about Elijah. i was just going to talk about imperfection in general here. and my collection of "waba" words. there is a word in Japanese that means the conscious inclusion of an imperfection in a work of art in order to (i don't know their reason for it. but i personally like the idea- to acknowledge and celebrate that we are imperfect creatures and that God IS perfect and knows our imperfection and made us this way and he is able and He can deal with our imperfections, etc....................... there is a word in Japanese that is the name of that very hot condiment made of pureed horseradish. .................. there is a word in Arabic that names a very orthodox sect of Islam.......... that's all for now.

PERISH

this post is to express publicly my view as a christian about the eternal destiny of those who put their trust in God in the way that He requires, and about those who refuse to put their trust in God in the way that He requires.------------------------ i believe differently than what is commonly expressed is the standard christian understanding of the destinies of the believers and unbelievers.--------------------------------- i believe that believers will have a future with God that is good and holy and beautiful and fulfilling and eternal. i believe that those who refuse to do things God's way- refuse to relate to Him in the way He requires- will cease to exist when their bodies on this physical plane cease to live.-------------------------- i believe that when the Bible says "eternal fires" God is saying that the death of those that die is irrevocable- that they cannot subsequently be brought back to life. the two words the Bible uses for hell, gehenna and sheol, mean respectively, "the garbage dump in the valley of Gehenna outside of jerusalem" and "the grave" (and the garbage was traditionally burned, i believe. you need to check that out.)------------------------- i believe that the reason that "fiery" was used in descriptions of the destiny of the (too proud) unbelievers was that there were many instances in the Bible where people were resurrected- came back from death. this fire was to indicate that the state of those that "died outside of God" was irreversible. (of course, where does that leave the 3 strong believers in persia who were thrown into the fiery furnace by the king who didn't tolerate their putting God first. Jesus saved them. i'm going to say that that episode was of physical death and the miracle that Jesus made there was in the physical world. therefore that fiery episode does not relate to the destiny of too-proud unbelievers.)---------------------------the reason that i find it important to express myself on this now is that (i believe) people -both unbelievers and believers- cannot accept that a loving God would eternally torture anyone with fire or anything. it doesn't make sense. God is love. even if He rejects someone for rejecting Him, i just don't see Him as torturing that person. i feel that this belief is so contradictory that is makes people think that christianity is not valid.-------------------------the most recent thing that reinforced my belief about this was talking to a jewish man who is responsible for making sure that the kosher (and pareve, etc.) foods were prepared and maintained in the correct manner. he said that the kosher procedure for killing animals was the least painful and traumatic death that could be given to an animal that was killed by a person. that made me think "if God is that concerned about reducing the pain that an animal had to endure to the least possible, wouldn't He do the same for people- even if they were people who had rejected Him?"----------------------------i have more to say on this; but it will have to wait. in the meantime, you can look of the writings of mr.sherman noble who was or is member of Theologica.ning.com and wrote about his beliefs on this there and other places. ------------------------------i don't agree with mr. nobles on everything, but he has researched arguments about this question.

SEEN VS. UNSEEN

thinking of "seen vs. unseen". 1st thought of it concerning teeth and why (God made it) that we can do damage to our teeth, specifically by (on a regular basis) not brushing after eating sugar foods. it initially seemed to me that it would make more sense for God to create us so that we would know immediately that we were doing something wrong such as not taking care of our teeth correctly. the conventional wisdom on this, i think, is that God did not make us to eat concentrated sugar food often. that was a later invention of mankind. that is true. but then the other day i heard a preacher talking about "seedtime and harvest", and that sometimes (often)people choose to disobey what they know that God has intended, and see no immediate bad results even after some years. this makes people think that there are no bad consequences to their actions- that God did not see. But that preacher noted that seedtime is BEFORE harvest- they are not the same time. (other places in the Bible refer to sowing to the spirit or sowing to the flesh.) so, in a sense, the results of bad tooth care are unseen or invisible- they are hid by time. so the question is: why did God make things that way? so one possible answer is that God wanted us to develop our ability to envision the unseen and act upon its reality. it is so much easier to act on what we can see and otherwise perceive. it is a real stretch to motivate ourselves to follow the correct path that we have to envision instead of see. i'll try to think and write more on this later. (f.y.i. -i was thinking of my own 57-year-old teeth that i've not kept with the best care; and trying to motivate myself to "do the right thing"-go brush them that night.)

WHAT DID WASHINGTON THINK?

a tragedy was reported in today's houston chronicle that prompts me to write. a young man who had served in iraq killed himself recently. he was back here, and seemed to be coping with his life well. but, he killed himself. that reminded me of my thoughts about george washington and his purported ritual of spending one hour in personal devotions each night. -now, before i go further, i read the wikipedia article outlining washington's "religion" ;and the description there was much less definite. however i will continue with my thoughts: maybe, if george was spending that much time in prayer, he was trying to learn from God if the revolutionary war WAS God's will. maybe president washington had his doubts about the decision that he had made earlier.

AMERICAN FREEDOM-LOVERS

i was talking with a friend recently about the different religious beliefs of people in a particular group. i later tried to think of a name for those (especially americans) who are not church-goers, but do not identify themselves as atheists. going along with the theme of this blog, i chose the title name for the group of people who don't think church or the bible are necessary parts of life, but who are also not associated with another religion (including atheism.) an old name of such people might be "hedonists"; but that name is not well-known. Also, i consider that the emphasis on freedom is a part of our american history. the people of the group would be those who believe that there are no rules other than maybe no murder and no stealing that they or anyone should have to follow. laws of the land should be followed if there is a chance that one would otherwise have to pay consequences not acceptable to you. a separate group are those who equate american patriotism and capitalism with christianity, not taking care to note that they are not the same. i'll think up a name for those folks. sorry this post is so simple. love to all.

1776 FEET TALL

I heard that the proposed new tower that is being built to replace the world trade center towers will be 1776 feet tall. The architects et al wanted this building to contain that number. I wonder if that choice might cause people to end up at this blog.

I haven't really promoted this or rethinking1776.blogspot.com (APOLOGIA) much at all. I DO consider the opinions I'm sharing as worthy of consideration; I hesitate to promote myself, though. However, I've been reading the book, FOLLOW ME TO FREEDOM: LEADING AND FOLLOWING AS ORDINARY RADICALS, by Dr.John Perkins and Shane Claiborne; and Perkins said something like if something is worth writing (and publishing) it is worth promoting. I think he is right. So maybe I should at least tell people about my blogs and how to find them, at least.

I recommend the book. they both (Shane Claiborne and John Perkins) are really dedicated to helping people in the name of Jesus, for Jesus' sake, for the love of God, to God's glory and for the Kingdom.