John 5:39

Here's some vintage Lee J blogging:

I get really annoyed with people taking the scriptures out of context. Take John 5:39 for instance.

"Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

So pretty much every person I know quotes this scripture in order to prove the importance of reading the scriptures. The logical reasoning they use is that the scriptures contain eternal life.

With a more accurate reading of the text, we realise that Jesus is rebuking people for believing that the scriptures contain eternal life. They don't. No matter how hard you try, you will never gain eternal life from reading the scriptures.

The verses surrounding v. 39 tell us that everything Christ does testify of Him as the source of eternal life. And v. 39 supports this reading. Jesus says "[the scriptures] are they which testify of me." They testify of Him as the source of eternal life. He follows with v. 40: "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Coming to Him is the only way to achieve eternal life. Period.

So read the scriptures right. Don't take them out of context. Know what Jesus (or whoever is writing them) is really saying, and don't quote it to make the wrong point. Just make sure you cite John 5:39 to prove the point that the scriptures testify of Jesus and He brings eternal life.

Beauty

Wow. Two posts in a month. It's like a record or something (until you look at my first four months blogging, and then two posts is kinda crappy.)

Skipping the age story (still not the right time), I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about Beauty--what it is and how we know something/-one is beautiful. And since I'm a man, I'm going to be biased toward women's beauty.

First off, I have to say I disagree wholeheartedly with the thought that beauty is only skin deep. I think that is a shallow definition of the word and espoused by people only slightly less shallow. (In four months I haven't really become any less judgmental.) But I wholly agree that ugliness runs to the bone. (This doesn't refer to the physical definition.)

People manifest beauty in many ways. We obviously think of beauty in the physical sense. We see magazines glorifying this type of beauty at every checkout register of every grocery store. But how many delve into a more comprehensive definition of beauty? How many of us look beyond the face to see what's inside? Innate talents and personality greatly affect my vision of another's beauty.

(I should note that everyone has different ideas of what constitutes beauty. It could include intangible character traits such as intelligence, courage, daring, wittiness, or stubbornness. Or beauty could include very specific physical characteristics--fingernails, eye colour, or hair length. I give these only as examples, not as conclusive exposés of what I consider beauty.)

Women generally become more beautiful to me as I learn more about them (sometimes this goes in the reverse). Perhaps this is a mental connection I make as they talk about who they are. Also my observations of women's actions/abilities change how beautiful they are to me. Also my interpretation of beauty is affected by how similar she is to what I think beauty entails, whether it be physical, mental, emotion, personal, etc. The closer she is, the more beautiful I consider her.

Two examples may help illustrate. To me, a woman with little physical beauty is much more beautiful when I hear her classically-trained voice. This not physical characteristic makes her more beautiful to me. Or if she shares goals/aspirations/opinions (although disagreeing with me can be more attractive (depends on the topic)) with me, she immediately becomes more exciting/attractive/beautiful.

I guess what it comes down to is that certain characteristics people have, certain things they say/do are considered beautiful. These add up to (hopefully) overcome areas where they are not as beautiful as another.

But, all that aside, women who try their best to be beautiful should always be praised for their efforts--in whatever manner they add to the world's beauty.

Blog? What blog?

So apparently when I get busy, my blogging decreases. And when I'm no longer busy again, then I forget I have a blog. Kinda sad, eh?

Well, it's more sad when you find out that my blog is one of my bookmarks that is so prominently shown on my browser.

Nothing major has changed in the last four months (maybe that's why I haven't written--little to pontificate about). I still like women, volleyball, school, and religion. Maybe a few things have changed. I no longer live with freshmen and am now breathing the fresh air of social interaction with people close to my own age.

It's fun to live where I do. What's interesting is I am among the youngest guys there, but am older than most of the women in the complex. Yay for two year missions. While I may not agree that those years "don't count," (I think I had between four and eight years worth of memories) missions give guys a chance to mature and catch up.

Not that age should matter, but that's another story. (One I might share a little sooner than December.)

New Post

So perhaps my title is a little facetious, but I haven't written in a while.  Not for lack of profound things to say, but for a lack of time.  Funny how my last blog was about time...

School kinda closed in around me and has sucked my resources dry.  Several of my classes are much more intense than I thought they would be, but I am trying to balance all of my assignments.  And I'm fairly successful in doing so.  It just leaves me without energy.  That's not too bad, but I spent last week sick and didn't do any homework.  So now I feel the heat.

Especially since I have two big tests in the next two days, and I haven't really studied for either of them. Well, c'est la vie.

I saw someone write that on his facebook page the other day.  Only he had no clue how it was spelled.  I was slightly offended (because the French would be), but also laughed my head off.  "Se la vi`" is just NOT how it is spelled.

It's About Time

Funny thing about that title.  It's the title of something else I'm working on--something that's taken 70+% of my time for the last week or so.  I get to do athletic research with volleyball!  How sweet is that?

But I had to put off a lot of homework to get the process started.  Five days worth.  That's a lot at this level of education.  But it's flattening out now.  It feels good to start balancing a little better.  All I know is that the last week was the only week I could have taken time away from homework and been ok.  Now things are really heating up in my classes and I won't able to take so much time away anymore.  But it's all good.  I'm gonna balance better.

I can see how the Lord's hand has blessed me.  I've been able in the last week to meet people I never thought I would and get this thing going.  It's been amazing!

Coincidences like these just don't happen.