Mr. Finnagan, Begin Again

Maybe it's time to start this thing up again. But not tonight.

Frequent inconsistancy

I love how my blogging inconsistency is so consistent. Things happen in my life and you know where they go? My journal. Where else?

So the questions becomes, what is blogging really for? I suppose it's a passive way to tell the world what's going on with your life. But why? Wouldn't they ask if they cared?

Or do we do it to entertain others? I'd be surprised if more than ten people end up reading this. (To prove me wrong, leave a comment. (And I'd be happy, albeit surprised to be proven wrong.)) But how do we try to maintain semi-anonymity (the internet is dangerous, despite what some may think) and still share personal experiences? It is possible?

Can I do anything except ask rhetorical questions?

(Might a blog be a place for debate and discussion? A forum of ideas? Mmmm...)

Genius

So I was reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and came across this awesome quote. It's pure genius.

"In the great literature of progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling. They're driven by feelings. Hollywood has generally scripted us to believe that we are no responsible that we are a product of our feelings. But the Hollywood script does not describe the reality. If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so.

"Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return. If you are a parent, look at the love you have for the children you sacrificed for. Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feelings to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured." (p. 80)

Genesis

And so school begins anew. There's not much more to say than that. Basically time is split between good and better things.

Life is always easier when I prioritize. Best thing to do: wake up early (like 530) and read scriptures. For me, everything follows very easily after that. When I put the most important things first (chronologically) in my day, the rest of it flows pretty much perfectly after that. Not that there aren't flaws that creep up, but all my priorities are straight.

So then I go to work. Laundry is so much fun. :) (Yes, of course that is sarcastic.) I work till my first class starts about 900 and then it's off to the races.

The Lord blessed me a lot this year and so I am living one of my dreams: I am coaching a high school volleyball team. Like as the head coach. Yeah, crazy, eh? Crazier still when it takes about 20-30 hours of my week. But I love it. It gives me something to do and forces me to plan and execute my plans well. I get a lot more done when I am constantly busy. But then, doesn't everybody?

Genesis really has nothing to do with anything but the first line of this post.

But a fun scripture in Genesis gives insight to what God looks like. (Yeah, whoa! God looks like something?)

Yup, Genesis 1:26-27 read: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

How can God create something in His image if He doesn't have an image after which to form us? He can't; it's impossible. Even for God. So the logical conclusion is God has an image and likeness. This isn't completely conclusive that God has a physical body, but mix it up with some NT scriptures and you gotta believe it.

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.