I knew that title would draw you in. As my lovely wife does, I'm just going to put down some numbered thoughts in no particular order. Some serious, some even more serious!
1. Rachel and I had quite a busy few days last week, and as they love to do, the dishes piled high. I'm bragging on her because in one fell swoop, she beasted those stone, glass, and plastic adversaries! Go Rachel
2. Gnosticism was the Church's first large scale heresy, and was a problem for the first two centuries of the Church's life. In short, the rub with Gnosticism is their emphasis on secret cultish knowledge as the key to salvation, their unbiblical dualism between matter and spirit (the former being inherently evil and the latter good), and the subsequent sexual immorality that ensued when you see your physical body as a dirty prison that doesn't affect your inner "divine spark."
I bring this up because I have the privilege of leading a small bible study on Wednesdays with some great guys. We're studying 1 John. John is obviously combatting Gnostic doctrines in his letter. Right off the bat in chapter 1 he lays the sensory verbs on thick: heard, seen, looked upon, touched, seen, heard. This isn't rote rhetoric, he is saying one thing, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was in space, time, and flesh. The Gnostics held that since flesh was evil, the Son of God could not have obviously been physical, and was therefore an apparition in the form of a man. John says, NO!
This meets you and I today in that our faith is not built on fables and wishful thinking by some followers of a dead Jewish mystic who had a spiritual experience of their teacher post-mortem. Rather, Jesus "became incarnate...and was made man...and was raised from the dead." One day we will look upon Him as He is. Amen
3. Two strange events happened today. First, while listening to a "classic rock" radio station at work, a musical tragedy soared through the airwaves. Sandwiched in between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd was "Maragritaville" by Jimmy Buffet. ?
Secondly, and even more strangely, I listened to a co-worker explain how he had weird dreams last night because he had eaten ribs for dinner. no lie. When I countered with a comment about my having dreamt weirdly the night before without consumption of ribs, he plainly asked if I had eaten any type of pork for dinner. ?
the end is near.
4. This still elevates my heart rate...
Til next time, grace and peace
3. Two strange events happened today. First, while listening to a "classic rock" radio station at work, a musical tragedy soared through the airwaves. Sandwiched in between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd was "Maragritaville" by Jimmy Buffet. ?
Secondly, and even more strangely, I listened to a co-worker explain how he had weird dreams last night because he had eaten ribs for dinner. no lie. When I countered with a comment about my having dreamt weirdly the night before without consumption of ribs, he plainly asked if I had eaten any type of pork for dinner. ?
the end is near.
4. This still elevates my heart rate...
Til next time, grace and peace
No comments:
Post a Comment