"Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4).
This verse sums up a new direction I've been taking in life. This is because life is just so hopelessly fruitless. Let me give you a snippet.
It is the early hours of the afternoon, staggering back into the room from lunch which took place after a squandered morning, I lie on my bed.
My mind wanders and imagines, it throws me images of me studying, studying and satisfied, my work thoroughly enjoyed, a smile planted on my face. I shoot up, feeling determined as these hallucinations drag me to the chair before the table.
Eagerly I clear the clutter on my table, ruins of yesterday. Yesterday's failure.
As my laptop switches on, I unlock my tablet, propping it up as a sort of second screen.
I find the slides and open them. I open the word processor on my laptop. Scrolling to the first slide my heart falls. I am already disillusioned. The content strangely familiar, soliciting a wave of complacency within me. Another day was about to be wasted.
And so it is against this daily evil that I begin everything with thanksgiving. I sanctify it and eventually I enjoy it.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
i hope i'm not reading this wrongly.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,and their words to the ends of the world.”
Rom 10:14-19
The flow:
But. They have not all obeyed the gospel.
Although faith coms from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, they have not all believed EVEN THOUGH, they have all heard.
In the ESV, verse 19 refers to 2 verses, one from psalms 19:4. Another from Matthew 24:14.
Psalms talks about the creation of God, which pours fourth speech and wisdom.
Matthew talks about the commission where disciples bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.
What's up here? I think this means that all have heard, and Paul says it's by the virtue of creation and evangelism.
This inclines me to think that even those we have not reached will perish. A couple of days ago I was speaking to my catholic friend who believes that people who have not heard of Christ will go to heaven. She was willing to extend it even to those who know about Christ but have not experienced a compulsion to believe Him i.e., you need to reject Christ outright to warrant hell, simply sitting on the fence qualifies you for heaven.
Well, this verse here seems to fly in the face of that. It says that all have heard in one way or another and therefore everyone actually begins in the state of rejection. There is no gospel indifference. All have heard and all have rejected.
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,and their words to the ends of the world.”
Rom 10:14-19
The flow:
- How will people call onto God if they do not believe in Him?
- How will they believe in Him if they have not heard about him?
- How will they get to hear if no one has preached to them?
- How can anyone preach to them if no one is sent?
But. They have not all obeyed the gospel.
Although faith coms from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, they have not all believed EVEN THOUGH, they have all heard.
In the ESV, verse 19 refers to 2 verses, one from psalms 19:4. Another from Matthew 24:14.
Psalms talks about the creation of God, which pours fourth speech and wisdom.
Matthew talks about the commission where disciples bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.
What's up here? I think this means that all have heard, and Paul says it's by the virtue of creation and evangelism.
This inclines me to think that even those we have not reached will perish. A couple of days ago I was speaking to my catholic friend who believes that people who have not heard of Christ will go to heaven. She was willing to extend it even to those who know about Christ but have not experienced a compulsion to believe Him i.e., you need to reject Christ outright to warrant hell, simply sitting on the fence qualifies you for heaven.
Well, this verse here seems to fly in the face of that. It says that all have heard in one way or another and therefore everyone actually begins in the state of rejection. There is no gospel indifference. All have heard and all have rejected.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Friday, November 08, 2013
this strange sense of sadness
As the end of the semester approaches, I confront a mysterious sense of sadness.
I feel so sad. I don't know why. Is it because these friends are leaving soon? Different majors, faculties. It seems that we are unlikely to meet again.
Or maybe it's the semester itself. Why, every semester sees improvement in certain areas... and then deterioration in others. Vexed, I find myself out of time to consider the ideas, the interest I find that I have as I sat down, only too late, for my projects.
Maybe I'm dissatisfied, maybe.
I need to think more about this.
I feel so sad. I don't know why. Is it because these friends are leaving soon? Different majors, faculties. It seems that we are unlikely to meet again.
Or maybe it's the semester itself. Why, every semester sees improvement in certain areas... and then deterioration in others. Vexed, I find myself out of time to consider the ideas, the interest I find that I have as I sat down, only too late, for my projects.
Maybe I'm dissatisfied, maybe.
I need to think more about this.
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