don't kid yourself
one million legal abortions a year
in this country alone
openly endorsed homosexuality
legalization of demonically sacramental substances
rejection of the Principle of responsible male leadership
in the family and in the Church
rejection of the authority of Holy Scripture
there may still be a handful who have not
bent the knee to the god of Baal
maybe not
don't be foolish
the middle east poised for a major war
disease and famine and contagion everywhere
ebola beans
an obama/nation
a cogg/in a wheel
let those that have ears understand
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
suffering
if the essence of God is love, and the creation is an act of love; then why is there suffering in the world. it is really not that hard to explain. we do not live in the creation as it was first ordered. we live in a fallen creation, fallen because of man's disobedience to God, the same disobedience that continued throughout the history of the Jewish people in the desert, and which continues in the world today down to this very minute.
God did not ask just a heck of a lot of man. Just that man love and obey him, primarily in relation to His one principle command, not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. it might seem trivial, it might seem irrelevant or incomprehensible, but that was it; and man did eat and the whole of creation changed in its very nature. therefore death, sickness, suffering, war, and natural disaster.
there was and is only one way back into the garden, and that is through the voluntary sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross in which He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself and offered Himself, His very death, in atonement for those sins. there was and is no other way. we have only to accept His generous offer of perfect forgiveness to have the hope of ultimate restoration.
God did not ask just a heck of a lot of man. Just that man love and obey him, primarily in relation to His one principle command, not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. it might seem trivial, it might seem irrelevant or incomprehensible, but that was it; and man did eat and the whole of creation changed in its very nature. therefore death, sickness, suffering, war, and natural disaster.
there was and is only one way back into the garden, and that is through the voluntary sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross in which He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself and offered Himself, His very death, in atonement for those sins. there was and is no other way. we have only to accept His generous offer of perfect forgiveness to have the hope of ultimate restoration.
common tators
genesis
janis is
in the beginning
in the big inning
there was a beginning
bereshite
in the beginning God
God has always existed
God is outside of time
God created time
and space.
God is wholly other,
always immanent
always transcendent.
God created,
created ex nihilo
from nothing
brought into being
the heavens
heavens?
multiple, perhaps
abode of the stars?
the Universe, perhaps
the sky
and the Earth
Urth
our home,
God created,
brought into being
out of nothing
existence
material existence
God Is meaning
Essence
ultimate meaning
He precedes existence
except in the sense that
He exists eternally
in Him,
essence and existence are one
out of His great love
He brings existence into being
He endows it with His essence
the essence of creation is
Love
janis is
in the beginning
in the big inning
there was a beginning
bereshite
in the beginning God
God has always existed
God is outside of time
God created time
and space.
God is wholly other,
always immanent
always transcendent.
God created,
created ex nihilo
from nothing
brought into being
the heavens
heavens?
multiple, perhaps
abode of the stars?
the Universe, perhaps
the sky
and the Earth
Urth
our home,
God created,
brought into being
out of nothing
existence
material existence
God Is meaning
Essence
ultimate meaning
He precedes existence
except in the sense that
He exists eternally
in Him,
essence and existence are one
out of His great love
He brings existence into being
He endows it with His essence
the essence of creation is
Love
Saturday, August 2, 2014
watermelon gardens
when i was a child, visiting my grandparents in dallas in the summertime, there were places called watermelon gardens all over town, especially in east dallas. they were little out of doors places with redwood picnic tables (sometimes redwood, anyway) and a tent or shed under which a man would cut large slices of watermelon at a fairly cheap price, perhaps, 50 cents.
one time i was with grandmother and granddaddy and uncle george and aunt lottie, waiting in line to get some watermelon. grandmother said to me, you can eat part of mine, gerry. no, i replied (i was maybe five years old), i want my own piece. uncle george thought that pretty amazing, that i spoke up for myself like that. i got "my own piece" that day, and try to now every chance i can.
watermelon gardens are a thing of the past, but i think of them when i am in houston in the summer, and there are outdoor beer gardens scattered around town. it's not exactly the same thing, but it is somewhat similar.
watermelon
it makes my mouth water
also, when i was still quite young, maybe 10, we joined a fashionable country club in our part of town. i was often alone at the country club, and very friendly with a young woman named mary who was the club secretary. sometimes we would eat lunch together in the elaborate dining room. i would order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and maybe a chocolate malt. in those days i could just sign a ticket at the table for whatever i wanted. but i sort of balked at the price of a peanut butter sandwich, and complained to mary. she told me my parents were paying for the atmosphere; and when i questioned that, she just told me to ask my parents.
sometimes i would order a dish of watermelon sherbert as well.
there was a teenage room at the club also, the bonton room. i often sat in there and played gin rummy with the lady attendant who sometimes had time on her hands. i was just starting to learn to dance back then (later i became an instructor), and sometimes i would dance alone to the juke box, a simple jitterbug or cha-cha. those were good times for me. i was often alone, but rarely lonely. i knew how to entertain myself.
another note on watermelon: additions to an old joke...one time andrew mellon, the pittsburg steel magnate and former secretary of the treasury, was approached by his daughter who told him that she was going to get married. honey, do, he replied, because you can't elope. he sometimes called her "daughter mellon".
one time i was with grandmother and granddaddy and uncle george and aunt lottie, waiting in line to get some watermelon. grandmother said to me, you can eat part of mine, gerry. no, i replied (i was maybe five years old), i want my own piece. uncle george thought that pretty amazing, that i spoke up for myself like that. i got "my own piece" that day, and try to now every chance i can.
watermelon gardens are a thing of the past, but i think of them when i am in houston in the summer, and there are outdoor beer gardens scattered around town. it's not exactly the same thing, but it is somewhat similar.
watermelon
it makes my mouth water
also, when i was still quite young, maybe 10, we joined a fashionable country club in our part of town. i was often alone at the country club, and very friendly with a young woman named mary who was the club secretary. sometimes we would eat lunch together in the elaborate dining room. i would order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and maybe a chocolate malt. in those days i could just sign a ticket at the table for whatever i wanted. but i sort of balked at the price of a peanut butter sandwich, and complained to mary. she told me my parents were paying for the atmosphere; and when i questioned that, she just told me to ask my parents.
sometimes i would order a dish of watermelon sherbert as well.
there was a teenage room at the club also, the bonton room. i often sat in there and played gin rummy with the lady attendant who sometimes had time on her hands. i was just starting to learn to dance back then (later i became an instructor), and sometimes i would dance alone to the juke box, a simple jitterbug or cha-cha. those were good times for me. i was often alone, but rarely lonely. i knew how to entertain myself.
another note on watermelon: additions to an old joke...one time andrew mellon, the pittsburg steel magnate and former secretary of the treasury, was approached by his daughter who told him that she was going to get married. honey, do, he replied, because you can't elope. he sometimes called her "daughter mellon".
Friday, August 1, 2014
omasaya fasoranti
was a student of mine at texas wesleyan university in freshman english in 1973. i think he was from nigeria or possibly kenya. i thought of him today. i had not thought of him for years. i remember his name because of an abbreviation i read in a footnote to shakespeare's "othello" about that time: om fas, i think it was. i don't remember what it meant. i looked for omasaya on facebook today, but did not find him; i did find a lot of fasoranti's, so at least i got that much right.
perhaps i thought of him because of the ebola outbreak in west africa...quite possibly. one of the infected american doctors is from here. i think he belongs to southside church of Christ. that is a fundamentalist church somewhat like the southern baptists, not to be confused with their sister church the disciples of christ or their northern cousins, the ultra-liberal united church of christ, once the congregationalists i think, if i remember correctly
perhaps i thought of him because of the ebola outbreak in west africa...quite possibly. one of the infected american doctors is from here. i think he belongs to southside church of Christ. that is a fundamentalist church somewhat like the southern baptists, not to be confused with their sister church the disciples of christ or their northern cousins, the ultra-liberal united church of christ, once the congregationalists i think, if i remember correctly
revolution/revelation
repent, reform, renew
there is no God like our God
in fact, there is no other God.
put your faith in loving Him
and trust in faith until the end.
the Bible is His Holy Word
it cuts both ways just like a sword,
double-edged, that severs truth
from falsehood and can be trusted
not to lead at all astray.
take its love in full array.
its message always uniform
God's love and discipline the norm
worship only God and His
revelation will be yours. Amen.
there is no God like our God
in fact, there is no other God.
put your faith in loving Him
and trust in faith until the end.
the Bible is His Holy Word
it cuts both ways just like a sword,
double-edged, that severs truth
from falsehood and can be trusted
not to lead at all astray.
take its love in full array.
its message always uniform
God's love and discipline the norm
worship only God and His
revelation will be yours. Amen.
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