"He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in jesus"

The reason for this was:

" ...displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. To demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time,"

This particular passage is loaded with visual words, earlier:

• Has been manifested
• witnessed
• displayed
• publicly
  
• demonstrate
• demonstration

Also the re-iterated topic here is: righteousness.

• ...apart from the Law, righteousness of God has ...
• ...witnessed by the law and hte Prophets, even righteousness of God...
• ... demonstrate his righteousness
• ...for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time...

These two ideas are associated with the first statement. That somehow it should be shown, that it would be displayed that God the father is Just, and the Justifier.

Why two? Why just and justifier? Why is it important that God be just and the justifier? Well let's consider this:

God is the justifier : this a fine phrase, but the idea that one might get is that God is patching up some mistake that his people made or that he made.

God is Just: well, this is an attribute of God, how he dispenses appropriate response to appropriate action.

So lets talk about some combinations. If god justified people, but he was not just, it sounds like he is cheating the system. If god was just, it might imply taht he is just, but there is another way to be justified out side of his will, power or scope. This would lead to all sorts of other bad theology.

In what ways am I showing God the father as Just and the Justifier in this life? Where then is anger, knowing that God is Just, and god is Justifying.

The other hting interesting about this passage is that it says: demonstrate his righteousness at the present time. Why isn't this passage talking about demonstrate his "justice" at the present time. Or demonstrate his "compassion" at the present time. Why righteousness. And how do you demonstrate righteousness?

It would seem that I am digging myself a deeper and deeper hole.

Perhaps sacrificing oneself on the cross is demonstrating righteousness, then the second phrase is referring to say, our display of christian values and virtue here. And our behavior that we display is the demonstration of righteousness. How do you demonstrate that quality of a person. That quality is not like a character trait or habit, it is like a purity of human being.

BLargh. Ill have to come back to this later

What does the bible say about thinking?

I read books on economic thinking.
I read books on doctor's thinking.
I read books on teacher's thinking.

Many people claim the horrors and disasters of TV, unfiltered advertisements or even the lack of literature. Side effects cannot be clearly sighted, but all claim a sub-conscious altering of the mind, the patterns and rails of thought patterns being hijacked by over-planned media and capitalism.

But Really.

What does the bible say of our thought patterns?

The bible does talk about the heart, talks about the machinations of the putrid evil of the faithless. But does it talk about logic, fact, cognition? It talks about blindness, but is that a heart issue or a lack of a logical thought process?

And, if we should consider ourselves responsibile christians, how should we go about these processes.

Guesses:
Look at "dwell", "consider", "ponder", and I would even submit "wait"

THe contrast of Death and Grace

Death reigned since adam. From the first sin, death plagues mankind. Sin may be given a softer face from day to day, but not so in death. Looking into the eyes of the kind, the mean, the strong, and the weak alike all suffer from the sin. There has not been a man that has escaped it.

Amazing to consider that one man should condemn his whole family, how Adam our father, should fall, and the weight be poured out generation to generation; what disease is there that rivals the punishment of the lord.

Still, grace was given as a free gift from christ so that everywhere that Sin reigned, grace abounded much more. Death is the punishment awaiting us at the end of a very long road, but grace abounds not only in the end, but in the very pores and fabric in our life. Now only is it our flight to heaven in the end, it is the rescue from the woes and wails of the world. it is our divine purpose and surpassing joy in the present age.

What is the price of being funny?

Does being humorous have a cost? A mean leader will lose friends, family, love, but gain respect. A people pleaser will gain many friends but lose his personality because of pleasing others. What about a joke teller, a funny man, a stand up comedian? What is his science? My guess is that jokes require one of two things, either you make fun of yourself or you make fun of others. Simple enough. Have you heard the phrase "fun at my expense". Jokes cost something, but what?

Consider the personality morphing funny man, he dons personalities of famous or familiar people. Strange body language, strange word strings, foreign accents. What is the effect? Well, comedian is pointing out consistency and ridiculousness of a celebrity. It has to be both repeated and a little strange. An awkward way of saying "r"s, or the ill-logic of statements or behavior. The problem is that implicitly, the comedian exonerates himself in the process, to tell of someone else's problems is to look at self-flaws very small.

An example would be "your momma is so fat when she sit around the house, she really sits around the house". This is a play on words. The components are, your mother is overweight, and I'm calling it out because I am very different from that. It doesn't mean literally that the comedian isn't over weight, but that he has distanced himself from it.

Much of joke telling relies on having an outside perspective, and perhaps too many jokes will leave one on the fringes, forgetting first what is happening on the inside.

The real difficultly is in men, when jokes are barter. If you can tell more jokes, you gain more respect. Yet often times i find that the Guys that tell the most jokes often are the most blind, and the most distant from other people.

So again, what is the price of being funny?

7^(M)Submit therefore to God ^(N)Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8^(O)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you ^(P)Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and ^(Q)purify your hearts, you ^(R)double-minded.

9^(S)Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

10^(T)Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11^(U)Do not speak against one another, ^(V)brethren He who speaks against a brother or ^(W)judges his brother, speaks against ^(X)the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not ^(Y)a doer of the law but a judge of it.

12There is only one ^(Z)Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is ^(AA)able to save and to destroy; but ^(AB)who are you who judge your neighbor?

This passage says "let your laughter be turned into mourning". It is a strange transformation. It is also supported in later ecclesiastes.

2It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the ^(A)end of every man,
And the living ^(B)takes it to heart.
3^(C)Sorrow is better than laughter,
For ^(D)when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
4The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Some sort of Praise Song

Previewing a new Hillsong CD is always a war of two desires. Hillsong's guitar work has been top notch in worship, spanning blarring licks, or soft dreamy atmospheric peace for slower songs. Unfortunately the cadence and the lyrics have been... original. I am thankful that these austrailian authors are paving new musical ground, but it still feels rather awkward.

Much of the music is singer centric. There is a lot of I's or "grace given to ME". A song might start with praising Jesus or Christ, but all the good stuff seems to always dribble back to "me" or "I".

It is inevitible I suppose, how do we see light? By seeing darkness also. Everything in life and in the bible is a contrast, and how do we know the greatness of the power of God? By having a world with rules, and incomplete people, that his power might go beyond the system that is in place. Again, without the system of expectations, there can be no miracles, there can be no amazing power shown.

Arrogance? Not here

5Therefore (F)do not go on passing judgment before [a]the time, but wait (G)until the Lord comes who will both (H)bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's (I)praise will come to him from God.

6Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed (J)what is written, so that no one of you will (K)become arrogant (L)in behalf of one against the other.

How do we fight arrogance? It is as simple as this verse. We wait till the Lord comes. We must also believe that he is coming soon. to think, that day by day we are proven wrong, but still to wait in anticipation.

It is cliche to say "live each day as it was your last". Movies have squeezed these idea into comedy, drama, action, and romance. It has been played over and over again. Is it really possible for people that consider themselves responsible to actually be allowed to live like that? And if not, is it possible for the great administrators and long term investors to be partially-carefree? To say what we mean, and mean what we say?

Is this the reign of fear we feel day to day? As it was said in "V for Vendetta", "i see people in fear everywhere they go, but it should not be so! " And when the calm maiden askes to be free of fear, it takes losing all things, hair, freedom, comfort and joy to realize what it means to be free of fear.

"It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and apologized to no one. I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch. It is small and it is fragile and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must NEVER let them take it from us."

And so i digress talking about how we should live in the shortness of life. I do believe that I can live without regrets, seeking to fight the fear that dwells in me. Fear that I may not die alone, but live alone, that I shall be a small dingy in peaceful shores, with no fellows to race with, or to talk about rudders and fishing with. Fear that I may fall down and have no hands offered to pick me back up.

If you do not feel this fear every moment of the day, you are sick with a deep disease, it is called sin. Perhaps the heinous of all sins, the oblivion to the obvious, a death to the mirror. See the monster behind hte mask, the inner decay of a beautiful tree.

1 Corinthians Ch 1

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved itis the power of God. For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

For Jews demand signs,
and Greeks seek wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified,

a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness if God is stronger than men.


For consider your calling brothers:
not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and desised in the world,
even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

so that no human being might boast in the prescence of God.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, "let the one who boasts, boast in the lord"