Response Blogs
February 2, 2009
-Passivity and Harm
-Rather than address matters, there seems to be a trend in trying to make light of them. For example, rather than confront immorality there are those who joke about it, passing ill behavior off as laughable. A postponement of convictions takes place.
-"Thou breakest bread to the hungry because thou hast found a hungry man; take hunger away; to whom dost thou break bread" (Augustine, Sermon LIV. 3. , my italics)?
-Just as the eyes need vision and substance to see, so the soul needs food and drink to live! Christ says He is bread, meat and drink (John 6:35,55).
-Feed Your Conscience With Good Things - A Good Conscience Is Everything.
This too, is walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) - the true and spiritual food propelling your feet. The fuel of spiritual food far exceeds that of the physical, as it is real, nutritious, energy; SUPREME.
-The experiences I have had, "fortunate" or "unfortunate," have added value to my writing. I know that pessimism and optimism alone are useless ways to understand. The need for people to have better help I have noticed. In attention, my solutions are stated.
-Love is more active than hate. Hate, in the most negative sense, means to NEGLECT. Love involves true consideration and activity (see Revelation 3:15-18).
-Love is active to do what is just.
-Taking at least an hour to rest when you come home from work can be helpful in regaining peace, your thoughts and a healthy sense of being. You lose these things, sometimes, with the stress that comes with work. Regain them.
-You need inner vision to keep your spirit alive - otherwise you might become inwardly crushed and to some extent, non-existent. You can endure much with such vision. Consider the possibilities for good things occurring.
-Being Versus Non-being
-Constriction of your sense of being, largely because of the evil of others - that is anxiety on some level ("non-existence" is a danger).
-Place. This is an interesting concept.
-Letting go of your hidden brightness and unhealthy control is what happens in positive dialogue and interaction. Such interaction occurs in fellowship, as when "...we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1John 1:7).
-Furthermore, dialogue and interaction with others is a way for heaven to witness the levels of purity and intents of people. A self-controlled lifestyle does necessary duties in communication. If you are pure, your conversation matches your purity. Intents, good or bad, are made known. That is another reason why your neighbors are important. You need them and they need you. The love of God must be manifested! And when your neighbor is absent? The self-examining (1 Cor. 11:28) of a pure lifestyle and the extent of your self-control can be noticed in all-round purity, whether you are awake or asleep, full or hungery, hurt or ill, etc.
-The Cry for Justice from Babes (note how the word "babes" is used in the Bible).
-The Nature of Strength
-Strength and Justice
-Self-denial. -Ability to execute. -The necessity of Love.
-Spiritual progress - beyond maintenance. Who gets this?
-Once again, I think the time has come for me to begin producing another handmade book. I hope I can make the cover on this one look really neat! It feels so good to make these books and give them away to people - especially to those who really want to have a copy. I think this labor will be, once again, one of the best things I can do in my free time.
-Know what really needs to be done.
-Faith, Hope and Love and the Necessity to Think Good Things
-If God is able to do beyond what we ask or think (Eph. 3:20), then it is important not to limit Him. To do this you must be open to think good things. It is what Abraham did when God told him to offer his son "...accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead..." (Heb. 11:19 KJV).
-In bringing goodness and order to your life, you must bring goodness and order to your thoughts also. God has the power. He must be given His due place.
-When doing an estimate, sometimes it is a good idea to ask clients what is the price range they roughly expect.
-Counter impatience and price-inflation with patience. Counter vice with virtue. Counter greed with giving. Counter injustice with justice (publish your writing, if you must). Counter materialism with Truth.
-Sports are one of the happy, rare, things where certain justice still exists.
-You might find a small drink helpful (like what I mention on June 21, 2008), but continue to remember the importance of prayer first.
-Accomplishing something is pretty special. Once you finally accomplish it, nobody can take that from you. I am happy I produced over seventeen thousand, in a little more than two months, painting houses. I did this without hiring anybody and without using a sprayer.
-Prayer: that I would have the perfect love from God, which casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
-When I did some babysitting, I noticed something about little kids. They want to play. They love to play. It keeps them focused and entertained. It gives them exercise and makes them tired in a healthy way (if they burn off enough energy). It also helps to make them more confident and happy if you teach them to do things like throw and catch a ball with you. Cheer for them every time they make a catch. You will need to throw the ball lightly into their outstretched arms at first. Building from this, getting kids into sports and a variety of activities at a very young age will be useful for providing them with necessary exercise, social learning, coordination-development and so on.
-The Hidden "News" -Accountability in "The News"
-Every news item on "the news" should be followed with (or started with) WHO, specifically, IS BEHIND THE RELEASE of this particular "NEWS." This could be of far greater importance than "the news" itself. Then the audience can see whether or not "the news" is a public relations stunt by current governments or a perverted message from special interest groups, a corporate commercial in disguise and so forth. No more hidden news.
-If you do not drink enough water, you will lose strength and energy. Beware of dehydration.
-For every good thing, there is a cost.
-You should at least have enough money in your savings account to pay for an extra month's rent and more for emergencies.
-The Plan
-Offer free volleyball nights (if you are able to), with a sharing time, paid out of your own pocket, for Christians and anyone else, every week of the year, until The Christian Coffee House is built. Consistency is important. Stop the hit-and-run-type-conversation, cheap and inconsistent, goofy, activities found many young people's groups. Stop the hit-and-run, pulpit-produced, unpractical, uncaring-type-sermons and scam-artist-type "gospel." Stop the lack of appropriate, consistent, in-person, Christian, dialogue.
-Notice the politics in your local church (if you happen to attend) and do not be naive. Christ said: "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). [1] Some information about the church and the wrong direction some have led it: (i) there are some who have decided to adopt early bishops of Rome as popes. But they were not popes, they were bishops. (ii) Peter, recognized by some as the first pope, was actually a married man (Mathew 8:14). (iii) Paul wanted Christian leaders to follow his example in being a working man - yet there are so many bishops, elders and pastors who do not actually do manual work, like the apostle Paul did, for their independent source of income. These could be arrogant church leaders, who refuse to get a real job. Perhaps they like to make others work and love free-laboring volunteers and tell victims "it's for the Lord," when they themselves slack off. [2] Maybe these church leaders who are perhaps too high-minded to work are like crooks, robbing from Christians - stealing the offering money they collect from innocent saints who do not realize they are being tricked. Many local churches do not even show the information about where all the offering collections are going. Follow exactly were all the money is going in your local church and the motives of your church leader(s) will become more clear. It was not said for nothing: "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). [3] Unfortunately, the misuse of power in the church is what has happened to many pastors, elders and bishops (now among us) who currently rob the church of not only its material wealth, but its spiritual wealth also, largely in part by their laziness in not getting a regular job like the rest of us. Notice church leaders who do not have an independent source of income. Pastors, elders and bishops of this sort should perhaps consider resigning. Find out the soft-handed pastor, elder and bishop! Those who do not know what to do with their free-loading-type-church-leaders should take due attention and maybe stop contributing to the offering collections.
-At certain times, as an adult, a little alcohol beverage can be helpful (1 Timothy 5:23). Pay attention to the word "little." About two hundred milliliters of a drink around five percent works for me. Then I can still drive (if I must) without worrying about being over the limit. Most likely I will not even drive then, though, because if I drink I am usually at home.
-The players who are valuable help lead their teams to championships. I want to be that kind of player.
-If you are single, unless you make a point to do something, it usually will never get done - unless you have very generous friends or neighbors, for example, who are so kind to help out. While this teaches individuals a distinct, character-defining, type of responsibility, it can also be very tiring at times - unless more help comes.
-Real, Christian, friendships are golden.
-Without Christian friends, even healthy activities can be miserable. Christian friends help make healthy activities truly happy experiences.
-Remember the Lord's prayer: "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..." (Matthew 6:13).
-Canada's happy national anthem is not enjoyed and loved for nothing. "God keep our land..."? Whose God? The Christian God. This the most important point of Canada's national anthem! This must be remembered. Canadian law-makers and judges ought to uphold justice accordingly. Notice Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier's poem:
Land of our forefathers
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As in thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic
Of the most brilliant exploits.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights
-If you have trouble figuring something out, sometimes it is because information is missing. Sometimes it can take years before the missing pieces are found.
-Prayer: Lord, when troubles seem to mount, help me to understand the specific good by which I can overcome evil.
-When there is no instruction, people are forced to learn by other means, sometimes to their own harm.
-A lot of trouble is easily prevented by one thing: Love.