Pictures are worth a thousand words

So I feel that my blog is seriously lacking of some good pictures. Think I should add some?

:)

:P

:-D

Something to ponder...

Here are some interesting verses to ponder:

2 Peter 1:4-10 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (KJV -- gotta love non-copyright. )

Scholarship & Anti-Prooftexting

Anti-Prooftexting 8/21/06

Ever wondered why modern scholars are against proof texting? Do they have a valid point? I haven’t read in depth about the reasoning behind this and so what follows is simply my thoughts. I hope I’m not simply building straw men, but if so it will be a handsome one.

While it is true that you can’t isolate one text out of the Bible and use it to prove a certain issue without looking at the context and such of the verse, it seems to me that proof texting is still a valid practice. For if you determine that a certain text has a given meaning within its given context; that verse, by authority of its inspiration, can and may be quoted to prove a point. Don’t forget, that verse is part of the context! Didn’t Paul and other N.T. writers use “proof texts” from the writings of the prophets and elsewhere? Doesn’t Jesus quote scriptures to prove a point? Why then are we afraid of using them? Is it perhaps because scholars have distrust in the actual reliability of any given verse and therefore are afraid to draw out one verse because of their prejudice that it can’t possibly mean what it says?

Heres another thought to ponder, why is it that often times when a scholar cleverly presents his arguments that the general public would lean towards the understandings of this scholar and put trust in him before putting trust in the Bible. Why don’t we question the scholar before we question the Bible? In my mind scholars are less trustworthy than the Bible because if you look into the world view of some of them you might be shocked. So why make that statement you ask? What does it matter about the scholars world view? The reason is that almost no one writes completely unbiased work. Everyone has pre-suppositions. So, it is dangerous to trust the work of a scholar on the Old Testament who pre-supposes that the Bible is false. His pre-supposition will color his understanding and his writing on the subject. Then we have other logically absurd ideas like the Israelites crossing the red sea in two inches of water or Jesus walking on ice.

Today I heard an intersting quote: "Some people make complex things simple and others make simple things complex... the latter is scholarship." Thats all folks.

The root of the tree

The value of the root of the tree. August 17^th, 2006

As a the great and beautiful tree stands tall in the forest showing its beauty to all the trees around. So big and majestic are its branches that no one would expect what would come of the tree next. One normal day, a mild storm came, just like any other spring day and this majestic tree crashed to the ground. A closer look revealed the problem. The inside of this tree had been eaten away by bugs and slowly over time had rotted away.

How important is our communion and fellowship with God -- our time of getting to know Him, reading the word, asking for His guidance. When we neglect these things, we show that He is not the king of our lives, but rather our self is. We do all the external things of piety such as praying and worshiping, we have friends and we seem like a good Godly person but something is wrong. We have an external religion that merely is for show, we want others to know us as a good person, or perhaps like many, we truly desire to be sincere but we just simply don’t have time. My dear friends, knowing the Lord and doing things for eternity is the only thing that will count in the end. Yeah, I know, the tests are there, the studying, all the burdens that we have to do to get the grade. Yes these things are good, but they cannot take priority in our lives. At the end of our life, will it matter if we got good marks in our B.D. or Mdiv, or will the time we spent knowing the Lord be more important. On that day will the Lord say, come you did well my good and faithful servant, or will He say, “Depart from me I never knew you”?

The apostle Paul says in 2^nd Timothy 1:12 that, “I know in whom I have believed”. Do you know Him? I’m not talking can you tell me from beginning to end the theological features about Jesus or His life, but I mean each day, do you talk to Him, do you listen?

Just some thoughts that have been going through my head and I have been reminding myself. I hope they are helpful to you as well. This has not been edited so I hope you can get the jist of the idea without stumbling over too many mistakes.

All I once held dear built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Chorus:
Knowing you, Jesus knowing you
There is no greater thing
You're my all you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you ,lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you, and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness


Oh to know the power of your risen life
And to know you in your suffering
To become like you in your death my Lord
So with You to live
And never die

(taken from: "http://www.kennycarter.net/Lyrics/knowing_you.html" -- Accessed on 8/12/06)

Good morning

Hi, how is everyone?

Good I hope.. wow its been almost a month since I made a post.. hehe guess its cause I've been staying busy enough. Here is a new song I learned, its sung to the tune, "Peace Like a River".

I've got assignments like a mountain..
I've got assignments like a mountain..
I've got assignments like a mountain on my shelf..

I've got rice like a mountain..
I've got rice like a mountain.. on my plate..

Well thats it, hope you ejoyed it.. until we meet again.