Isnt There But One God?
May 23, 2007
I heard a pastor say, regarding people of the Muslim faith, "Too bad they are praying to the wrong God!" This was during a Sunday morning sermon. I flinched. Doesn’t the Bible say that there is only one God? I believe it does. I found at least six scripture references:
Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
1Cr 8:6 But to us [there is but] one God, the Father, of whom [are] all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [are] all things, and we by him.
Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all.
1Ti 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Jam 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
The Power of Thankfulness and Vice Versa
May 22, 2007
We are soon to celebrate once again the National Holiday known as “Thanksgiving.”
We do this every year. Every year we gather together with friends and family for a feast of plenty and, hopefully pause to give thanks for all our bountiful blessings. But thanksgiving should not be relegated to only one day a year. In Psalm 107, it says over and over again, “Oh that men would give praise the Lord for His goodness?” We should be thankful every day for the blessings God has given us.
By giving thanks, we acknowledge God as a power greater than ourselves. We can see the handiwork of the creator around us in many ways every day. As Paul puts it in Romans 1:20 “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by things that are made?” And yet, some of us fail to acknowledge Him. If all we were left to was our own selves and our own abilities, we would be quite limited indeed. Human beings are finite and limited, but God is infinite and unlimited. He has endowed all of us with special talents and abilities, but we must admit that these are from Him, and that they, although wonderful, are limited. The only being with unlimited power and resources is God. By being thankful, we acknowledge His sovergin control over our lives and His power to change situations and give us more power and ability. To be unthankful to Him is limit our own potential even further than it already is, while to be thankful can cause an expansion of our abilities.
Violence
May 21, 2007
Flashes of memory stream into my consciousness. They take me back thirty years plus. I was a boy then, a newcomer to a poor and tough neighborhood. My parents, of moderate means and daring to a fault, had decided to move there after my father had accepted an editing job in the federal government. They had taken a lease on a low-rent brick house, which was also run-down, covered in filth, and littered with trash. I do not mince my words: Previous tenants had been pigs that got along with bugs and rats.
"The house has potential," my mother had said to reassure me, seeing that I was aghast at its sordid aspects. Its one redeeming feature, besides its solid construction, was a large woody front yard, neglected, allowed to become a large dumping ground, as weedy as it was woody, but potentially attractive and pleasant, to be sure.
Design Psychology: How Our Sensory Responses to Aromas Create Happy Homes
May 20, 2007
Our sense of smell elicits strong emotional reactions and triggers powerful memories, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not.
Scents and Feelings
Our olfactory system sends a chemical message about the scents around us through the limbic part of our brain, which is the oldest part of our brain. In seconds, that message is telegraphed to our central nervous system, which, in turn, controls how our body functions and how we feel about those smells.
Scents also influence the temperature we feel emotionally. For instance, a grass matting floor covering has a pleasant scent, and makes us feel cooler, while the aroma of fresh baked bread creates a warm feeling of being loved. Marine scents, such as salty sea air, refresh us, while spice and wood scents bring warm thoughts.
The Evolution of Aromatherapy
The ancient civilizations of Arabia, Babylon, China, Egypt, Greece, India, and Rome all used the aromas of scented plants, flowers, and woods to heal and protect. Religious and spiritual ceremonies have used aromas to arouse mankind’s deeply spiritual nature from the dawn of time. Today, the science of aromatherapy, which is a holistic healing practice, uses essential oils and herbs, to treat stress-related illnesses, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, and digestive ailments, and even skin problems.
Top Ten Religion Quotations
May 20, 2007
Review your religious beliefs with these revealing quotations all about religion…
The Contingencies of Despair: How Existentialists Survive
May 19, 2007
~ Dread is dizziness unto freedom-freedom that gazes down into its own possibility. In this dizziness freedom succumbs. ~
An individual awakes as he usually does, uses the bathroom and brushes his teeth as he usually does, and goes to the kitchen for his usual bowl of Slurpy O’s cereal. But his new housekeeper has shopped for him the day before and unable to find Slurpy O’s has brought to his cupboard four different brands of oats and rices, hoping one will satisfy him until she can find his usual. When he reaches to open the cabinet and see the options of ?.., he stops, stuck for thought, stuck for making a decision. He absolutely cannot wrap his brain around this early morning choice and so he eats nothing. [1] This is, in small part, what existentialism is.
Finding God in the Clouds
May 18, 2007
It was a cool August night during the Summer before my Junior year in high school. I was just getting off work on what seemed to be the worst day of my life. I was having a mental break-down, nothing was going right, and every negative thing in my life seemed to hit me at once.
The clock in my truck read 2:13am as I pulled into my high school parking lot that I do so often to take time to think. I laid in the back of the truck and look up at the beautiful stars and clouds. What seemed like forever, I was just talking and praying. I was praying that my life would get better and I kept asking God why He was doing this with my life. I am a Christian, I should have a great life, but it seemed to me, that He wasn’t listening. I screamed, “God where are you?”
My eyes began to focus on different cloud formations. First I saw what looked like music notes and then I saw what looked like two people hugging. Then the last formation that I saw I will never forget, my eyes fixed on a formation of Jesus praying. Just then, my ears focused on the song that had been playing on the tape player. The song called “Sometimes He Comes In The Clouds” by Steven Curtis Chapman. The lyrics that I heard at that moment were;
How To Be Outrageously Happy
May 17, 2007
You can be as happy as you want whenever you want. Zen masters have proven this - all you have to do is just “be” with whatever you have right now. Yeah, I know. Sitting on the floor contemplating your blank space may not be what you’re after. Highly successful people are outrageously happy because they have fulfilling ways to meet their values. What are values? Well I’m not talking about Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown, or Limp Bizkit’s recent family values tour. Values are simply what is most important to you.
Do your values move you towards great possibilities? Is your energy directed towards meeting your values in ways that excite you and make you stronger, capable of going for even more? When you are clear on your values, your vision is bright, and you will feel primed to go for it.
How To Achieve A Big Vision- Get clear on your values
- Set specific outcomes that stretch you
- Model outstanding people who have similar achievements
- Take action and go for it 100%
- Be aware of what’s working and what’s not
- Change your approach until you get your outcome
The Christmas Victory
May 16, 2007
As the Chritmas season approaches, I figured it’s a good time to submit the following article:
THE CHRISTMAS VICTORY
A logical and practical interpretation of Is.7:14 in the light of context and language.
As you celebrate Christmas, sending out cards, putting up the tree with bright lights and decorations and getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of gift-buying, do you stop to ask yourself what is the real meaning of Christmas? If you do, what is your answer? Simply that a babe was born in a manger 2000 years ago?
But then, do ask how does it apply to me? I’m sure some of you would say that of course the babe was our Savior, who would later die for our sins. True, but even this doesn’t go quite far enough. In fact, it makes Christmas seem somewhat subordinate to Good Friday, which, according to some, should be the major holiday we celebrate and not Christmas. I believe however that if we would realize the full intent of His coming as given by God in the Holy Scriptures, we would see that we have good reason for making Christmas the major holiday it is and for celebrating to the hilt.
The Masked Fool
May 15, 2007
The Fool
My first direct experience of the fool in masking was watching Morris Dancing here at home in Yorkshire, England. The Morris dancers were dressed up in their usual dancing shoes with bells and baggy pants. To be absolutely honest I have always found Morris men a bit funny! Perhaps I should explain about Cecil Sharp, no I’ll leave that to a footnote.
The Boars Head Morris Men were dancing in a pub car park. ( Pub short for Public House a place for drinking beer etc. in the UK.) They were doing the usual dances that are related to fertility, good crops and harvests etc. But of course they really don’t quite have the pagan beliefs off pat. Mind you when you see them drink ale in the quantities that they did then you would realise that they had perhaps fully understood the pagan ways of having a good time. ( Not to say all people who follow the pagan ways drink lots of ale, just a convenient concept )
What you are probably asking by this juncture is this to do with fools?
