neoacidcreep

Luke chapter 7:36-50

"36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
So he said, “Teacher, say it.”
41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”" Lk 7:36-50

It is 1:35 PM Saturday afternoon in the flow of existence. I am thinking of going to bed down here in the basement in a few minutes. Why stay up?

I think I got up this morning around 6:30 AM. It seems a long time ago when I got up to face another day. It took me all morning to realize it was not Friday but Saturday.

This morning I messed with my lap top down in the basement then I cooked myself breakfast. I looked through the morning newspapers as I ate. Carol got home from work around 8:35 AM. She works tonight and then is off for a couple of days. Life just keeps zooming by. In seven months our daughter gets married. Soon it will be the end of the year 2009. Soon it will all be over.

This morning I took Rudy for a walk at Kollen Park. It is a cold sunny day today. I should be out enjoying the sunshine instead of being down here in our cold dark basement writing words to no one but me.

I baked cookies this afternoon. I read some of the Gospel of Luke this afternoon. If I can stay awake this afternoon I will watch a college football game.

Last night I watched television and around 10:30 PM I went to bed. I read till 11 o'clock PM "Visions Of Cody" by Jack Kerouac.

Well since I am slowly falling asleep I will close to feel wasted.

"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."" Luke 7:47

music: Pelican "What We All Come To Need"

This is the only picture I have of me when I was a little boy. I am not sure it is really me since I do not remember the history of this photo. I do not remember ever being loved by my mother. I never met my father. I do not remember ever being really loved as a child. Sad to say but the people who raised me were basically slaves to their lusts. The people who raised me were slaves of sin. I doubt if any of the people who raised me will be in the new creation.

I do not remember ever celebrating Thanksgiving growing up as a child. I never had birthday parties growing up. My first foster mother showed me how to brush my teeth when I was sixteen years old.

As a child no one really care if I did well in school. When I was in High School (1968-1970) my mother was dead and I lived with foster parents who did not care if I finished school and made a name for myself in the dead american world. (the Lord God saved me Summer 1970)

The only person who really has loved me purely is my wife Carol. She has loved me wholly for 30 years. My prayer is that we will be together in the new creation forever.

I do not know right now if our children will be with us in the new creation. The other day I told a fellow I hope when I die everybody can say without a doubt at my grave site, 'Jonny loved the Lord Jesus and is now in His glorious presence." It is blessing for Christian parents to know all their children are lovers of Lord Jesus Christ. Life is so quickly over and then we live eternally in hell or heaven. There are no second chances after we die. Today is the time to repent and believe the Gospel of God. Today is the day to seek the Lord while He be found.

It is 2:08 PM Friday afternoon. I am down in the basement reading stuff on the internet. This morning I went out into the world. I first went to Jude3 Christian bookstore to pick up a book titled "Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy & Worship" by Brett Scott Provance. I have in this series the following---

"Pocket History of the Church" by D. Jeffrey Bingham

"Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies" by Arthur G. Patzia & Anthony J. Petrotta

"Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms" by Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling

After going to Jude3 (while there I talked to one of the manager's about books) I drove to Window on the Water Front to walk Rudy. There was snow on the ground as we walked. It is a cold day here by Lake Michigan. After walking Rudy I went to Lemonjello's and got me a mocha and then went next door to pick up a CD I had ordered (the new Pelican CD) and then went next door to Village Used Books to talk to Ben who works there (a nice gentle young Christian fellow). On the way home I stopped at the library to return some books and while there I checked their used book room. I found these three used books to ADD to my book collection---

"A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind And The Renaissance Portrait Of An Age" by William Manchester

"Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed" by Jared Diamond [Author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel"]

"The Web And The Rock" a novel by Thomas Wolfe

When I got home it was going on 1 o'clock PM so I ate lunch and then came down in the basement to write some words in my blogs.

I did go through for a third time the 12 volume set "The Complete Works Of Thomas Boston" [I bought this set when I was a student at Reformed Bible College back in the 80's.] and located the treatise "A Soliloquy On The Art Of Man-Fishing" pg 5 in Volume 5 written in 1699 [For a pattern to every preacher of the Gospel].

This morning I read some more of the Gospel of Luke. I do not know if I will be finished reading the Bible by the end of the Year 2009. I plan to start over again when I am finished reading the New Testament. I love the Bible the Word of God! As we see the storm clouds gathering in the east we need to keep the Bible pressed closely to our hearts.

It is 2:48 PM I went looking through my books for the book "Guns, Germs, And Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond [Winner of The Pulitzer Prize] and after much searching found it! I like to keep books by the same author in the same stack.

I will put the book "A World Lit Only By Fire" by William Manchester with my other books on the Medieval and the Renaissance in my history section of my library. I got to keep some kind of order among my books.

Well it is going on 3 o'clock PM. I suppose I should close to rest my brain. I still have not gotten around to what I had hope to write this afternoon. Well it is on to the next page.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" 2 Tim. 3:16,17

music: Pelican "What We All Come To Need"

Sound the alarm! Let the watchman cry!
“Up! for the day of the Lord is nigh;
Who will escape from the wrath to come?
Who have a place in the soul’s bright home?”

Refrain

Sound the alarm, watchman! Sound the alarm!
For the Lord will come with a conqu’ring arm;
And the hosts of sin, as their ranks advance,
Shall wither and fall at His glance.

Sound the alarm! Let the cry go forth,
Swift as the wind, o’er the realms of earth;
“Flee to the Rock where the soul may hide!
Flee to the Rock! in its cleft abide!”

Refrain

Sound the alarm on the mountain’s brow!
Plead with the lost by the wayside now:
Warn them to come and the truth embrace;
Urge them to come and be saved by grace.

Refrain

Sound the alarm in the youthful ear;
Sound it aloud that the old may hear;
Blow ye the trump while the day-beams last!
Blow ye the trump till the light is past!

Refrain

It is 9:03 AM Friday morning in the flow of existence. I do not remember what time I got up this morning. I have a very short memory. I do remember getting up and getting the morning newspapers off the front of our home. I next warmed up a cup of coffee in the micro wave oven. I then decided to go down in the basement and bring up my lap top. I messed with my lap top in the dining room. I then took the lap down in the basement. When I came up from the basement I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast (I am still full of food from last night). Carol came home from work and has gone to bed for the day. So goes by existence.

It is so cold this morning that it has been snowing a little. Soon will be in the month of December 2009.

Last night I watched television and read the Gospel of Luke along with a book titled "Theology Of The New Testament" by Udo Schnelle Translated by M. Eugene Boring. I like to read New Testament theology.

I have nothing to do today. I will take some books back to our local public library. I will pick up a CD I ordered at the Full Circle music shop this morning. I might get myself a mocha at Lemonjello's coffee house. Time will go by. All I can do is keep praying for the Lord to use me to bring in the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday in talking to our neighbor Ray I told him I never wanted to be anything but a soul winner. "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry" 2 Tim. 4:1-5.

This morning in the Gospel of Luke I read this: "Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men" Luke 5:10b. This verse reminded me of a treatise by Thomas Boston titled "The Art of Man-fishing" first published in 1773. I have the Works of Thomas Boston in 12 volumes but this little work is not to be found in this set. I do not think I have a copy of this book in my library.

Well I suppose I will close since I lost my train of thought.

"Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" Luke 5:31,32.

"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" Ephesians 3:17-19

music: Dark Was The Night: A Red Hot Compilation

I remember the dream now. We were in a room and I've never felt so much energy so condensed. But usually, I don't mention that sort of thing.

We were sitting in the dark, then suddenly he or she asks me "Can you see the energy in the air?"

I reply with astonishment that, indeed, I did too. I mention that he/she's the only one who's ever vocalized any vision of that sort of thing. Which is actually a lie. It's extremely rare, anyway. Usually requires massive social collaboration to even build any kind of static charge worth its jewels.

We talk for a while, I can't remember details. Green and Blue. Then just before I wake up this person mentions that they've been doing whatever it is they do for 4 decades, and it put this perspective on the boundaries of possibility, and a few conceivable inevitable results.

The spanse of imagining living life for another 26 years, and how impossible that sounds. And that's if I don't just crawl back through that window in the sky, maybe to find myself playing some Virtual Machine at Six Flags.

*looks at the clock: 4:20*

peace

It is 8 o'clock PM Thursday evening. Carol just left for work. There is nothing on television worth watching tonight so I came down in the basement to see if I could find something in me to put on paper.

We had a nice thanks giving meal with some of our neighbors Ray and Shelly. Our company arrived at 1 o'clock PM and stayed till 4 o'clock PM. Carol had to take a nap before going to work so our company departed early. Before our guests left their daughter and her boyfriend stopped by. I wanted to show Ray my book collection since he knows I am a book collector. As I was showing Ray some of my books in my main study he noticed my large CD collection. Ray wanted to know who all these music artists were. Then Ray's daughter and her boyfriend started looking at my CD's. So I got into a music rap with our guests. I took the boyfriend down in the basement so he could listen to some music samples of SUNN O))) and Acid Mother's Temple. I asked the young fellow who was his favorite music artist was? He answered Bob Dylan! Weird. I thought the kid would have mentioned some current music artist not someone from the 60's.

So Ray never saw my book collection. I did loan Ray a Black Keys music concert DVD since he was into blues music.

Ray and I did have some good discussions on the mystery of life after the huge meal. Ray has been out of work for about a year and does not know what is going on in his life. In the past Ray and Shelly have made some kind of Christian profession but right now I do not know where they are at? I talked to Ray as if he was still walking with the Lord. I tried to give him some godly counsel. I always seek fellow Christians a biblical perspective on life in this fallen world. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Corinth. 4:16-18.

Ray when talking to me said he knows life is all vanity but at the same time he wonders what he is to do now. Ray is only 47 years old and can not see is life without work. What is Ray to do now? All is a mystery. Ray is an engineer by profession and his wife is a nurse. I told Ray we must give our lives to God and pray for direction. We must every day do all we can do to make sure we are in the presence of God. The Lord does not forsake His children to wander aimless in this american wasteland. I told Ray to seek to live a holy life. What did the Lord Jesus say in the Sermon of the Mount? "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?. . . Therefore do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" Matt. 6:25-34.

I told Ray when it comes to SEEING the true nature of Reality we need a radical change of consciousness. We need to have God the Holy Spirit to open our minds to what is really important in life. We need to SEE the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to SEE the holiness of the Lord God. We will never SEE the emptiness of the american way of death till we have the mind of Christ.

After our guests left Carol and I cleaned up the mess. Carol went to bed after the mess was cleaned up. I spent the rest of the day writing and reading. I mainly read today "Theology Of The New Testament" by Udo Schnelle.

Well I will close to wait to go to bed. Tomorrow is black Friday.

Today in our local newspaper I read a column by Cal Thomas a spokesman for the extreme Republican Right that I found scary. I was wondering what my readers think of Cal Thomas view of where america is headed. Our we doomed as americans? Are the liberal Democrats leading america to destruction?


U.S.S.A. By Cal Thomas

Tribune Media Services

Not all revolutions begin in the streets with tanks and guns. Some advance slowly, almost imperceptibly, until a nation is transformed and the public realizes too late that their freedoms are gone.

Such is the revolution now taking place in America. The ’60s crowd has emerged from the ideological grave and is about to impose on this country a declaration of dependence in the form of government-run health insurance and treatment. It matters not what facts are known about this “coup,” because to those from the ’60s — whether they lived in that decade or were born later and adopted its ideology — only feelings and intentions matter, not truth and results.

Why would anyone trust government — which has a difficult enough time winning wars — to properly administer health care? What track record does government have in living up to its economic forecasts and competence in running anything?

But this is about none of that. This is about liberal Democrats realizing their decades-old dream of complete control of our lives. Every move you make, every breath you take, they’ll be watching you. Except, of course, when it comes to terrorists who want to destroy America faster than the liberals do. A different standard is applied to them.

Nowhere in the debate over health care “reform” have we heard a single word from liberal Democrats about personal responsibility, self-reliance and freedom. In fact, the message has come through quite clearly that government will penalize anyone who demonstrates such beliefs, as it attempts to spread your wealth around.

This is how I see health care reform working: If you are a doctor who has spent a lot of money and time becoming a responsible and caring physician, the government will tell you how much to charge your patients and, in fact, whether you will be allowed to treat them at all. Bureaucrats, having given themselves the power of God, will decide whether a patient is worth the cost of treatment, thereby deciding who lives and who dies. Despite the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, somewhere down the line taxpayers will be forced to underwrite abortions in violation of the consciences and faith of the majority.

This is the triumph of the humanistic, atheistic worldview. We are all to be regarded as products of evolution in which the fit and the powerful will decide our survival and worth.

When Republicans were in the majority, deficits mattered to Democrats. Now we see that expressed concern was a sham, because if deficits meant something when they were relatively small, they ought to mean something more when we are in hock up to the necks of our Chinese-made clothes.

We’ve only just begun with this. The new breast and ovarian cancer screening guidelines may soon become mandatory as health care rationing kicks in. The unwanted, the inconvenient and the “burdensome” could soon be dispatched with a pill, or through neglect.

Great horrors don’t begin in gas chambers, killing fields, or forced famines. They begin when there is a philosophical shift in a nation’s leadership about the value of human life. Novelist Walker Percy examined the underlying philosophy that led to the Holocaust and wrote: “In a word, certain consequences, perhaps unforeseen, follow upon the acceptance of the principle of the destruction of human life for what may appear to be the most admirable social reasons.”

In our day, the consequences of government seizure of one-sixth of our economy and government’s ability to decide how we run our lives (it won’t stop with health care) are foreseen. They are just being ignored in our continued pursuit of personal peace, affluence and political power.

Opinion polls show a majority of Americans reject this health care “reform” bill. They think haste may waste them in the end. It doesn’t matter. Like members of a cult, whatever the leader says, goes. The facts be damned. The crowd from the ’60s will “seize the time,” in the words of Black Panther radical Bobby Seale, thus sealing our doom as a unique and wonderful nation.

Welcome to the U.S.S.A., the United Socialist States of America.

(Direct all MAIL for Cal Thomas to: Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207. Readers may also e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors@tribune.com.

(c) 2009 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

Should I have Been a NT theologian?

Every once in a while one finds oneself in a situation which is so stimulating and profitable that one wishes that he had followed a different course of specialty. I’ve just had one of those moments. Thought I will not be attempting to change tracks at this late stage in the game (to mix metaphors freely!), I’ve just returned from a two and a half hour session on NT theology at SBL. This was not the typical paper-presentation session (which on average at such conferences are often not well read even if they are reasonably well written—and they aren’t always that).

No, this was a “big guns” session focusing on the release of Udo Schnelle’s NTT (Baker, 2009). Schnelle was present from Germany (and, BTW, the final ‘e’ is not silent) to respond to reviews of his work by James Dunn, Frank Matera, and D. A. Carson (often S, D, M, & C below). After each speaker had their 20 minutes we got to the “fun” part—a vigorous, lively discussion/debate between the four—which was quite animated at times. I’ll not attempt to retrace the entire course of the discussion, but I’ve included a few highlights below.

I’ve not yet read Schnelle’s NTT, so I have no firsthand knowledge of it; I did buy it earlier this week, but it was shipped home with Paul on Friday along with other books that I bought so that I’d have more room in my single suitcase for more books! It’s a pretty hefty volume, though thankfully a lot less expensive than a much slimmer volume that I bought from Mohr/Siebeck today!

Dunn led off with comments on four areas in which he disagreed with Schnelle’s approach: the influence of the OT (which S apparently minimizes) on NTT, the influence of Jesus, the experience of the Spirit, and his handling of the new perspective on Paul (for which Dunn claimed to have “a paternal care”).

S’s response included these points—which are not complete or well ordered here (I’m not a good stenographer), and were not contiguous as I’ve presented them here. These “quotes” probably reflect my wording in many instances, but I think they expresses the sentiment fairly well—though obviously you’re getting them without much context. S introduced his comments with the explanation that his presentation was to be done in a “new language”: German-English! (He handled it very well.)

NTT is a discipline which attempts to bridge the ideas of the 1st C Mediterranean world to the 21st C.
Jesus created a “new symbolic universe.”

I’m not asking for the real history or the real Jesus; there is no such thing; there is no “real” Jesus, only the one in the text. [That may bother some people, but his point was that we only have access to Jesus through the text—there is no other way to get past the text to something or someone behind the text.]

We first delineate Jesus’ thought world, then that of the NT writers, so as to present the comprehensive thought world of the authors.

The Gospels are creative transformations in response to crises in later historic times.

There is NO unity in the theology of the NT; it is unhistorical abstraction.

Biblical theology is not possible because the OT is silent regarding Jesus of Nazareth.*

A resurrection from the dead cannot be integrated into any ancient system of meaning.*

[*Both of these statements had been cited by Dunn in his critique—you should find something pretty close to them in the book—and S reaffirmed then with considerable force and deliberateness in his reply.]

Each NT writing is an individual/independent theology; there is not NTT in the singular.

Theological unity is alien to NT authors; that is an aesthetic concept which irons out difficulties.

There is no “no man’s land”/neutral place to start from; we cannot break out of our own history. [i.e., be objective, avoid perspectivalism]

The NT authors present new, attractive pictures of God.

The NT authors DID think that they found Jesus in the OT, but they were not correct. The OT did not speak of Jesus of Nazareth.

Matera (from CUA) spoke more positively (or perhaps I should say “diplomatically”!) of S’s work, though I thought his formal critique was a bit “toothless.” He spent more time summarizing his own approach—which was not hesitant to speak of the unity of the NT. (In the later discussion, however, his critique was much more pointed and effective.)

Carson’s presentation was quite interesting in that he used several highly complimentary descriptions of Schnelle’s NTT (“magisterial,” “extraordinary achievement”), yet also was easily the most “severe” critique of his work. That suggests to me that there is more to S that I would have otherwise guessed from the presentations of the three reviewers. Until I’ve read it, I don’t know why. Carson did not elaborate on either description, but it did not appear to be “vain flattery.” C’s critique ranged over a half dozen or more points, the first several of which compared S to a rather wide ranging sampling of recent NTTs, concluding in each case that regardless of the theological perspective of their authors, that S’s work in each case seemed to be “strikingly out of step.” These areas included the NT’s relationship to the OT, the historical Jesus, and diversity in NTT. S “has made talk of unity [in NTT] pretty challenging.” C also pointed out that although the macro structure of S’s NTT appear to be framed as biblical theology (or at least, NTT), the actual organization of the chapters discussion the various parts of the NT were all arranged in systematic theology fashion, using parallel outlines of theology proper, soteriology, Christology, ecclesiology, etc. Blurring the distinctions of the two disciplines is not helpful. C also observed that S is rather “scathing” on modern agenda-driven theology [which I take to be a compliment by C]. He concluded with two major criticisms: the dismissal of eine gesamtbiblische Theologie is surprising, and there is a conspicuous lack of any exegetical discussion of how NT author’s cite/used the OT.

From the final oral discussion by all 4 speakers:
S: We must start with a hermeneutical theory. *We* are constructing a NTT; it is *our* theory of Paul’s theology. We cannot go back 2000 years and say what they thought.
C pushed S pretty hard on a perceived inconsistency in regard to epistemology: how can you be so absolute/definite on what the NT authors did NOT think/believe, yet so dismissive/skeptical of what they DID believe?
A major question debated is the place of Jesus in NTT. S and D argue that one must begin with a reconstruction of the “pre-Easter Jesus” [i.e., reconstruct this from the Gospels, etc., but figure out what Jesus really said—in contrast to what the Gospel writers put in his mouth]. M says, no, do this from the Gospels themselves, not a reconstruction distinct from the Gospels. [C agrees with M here.] C: the Gospel writers can and do give us info on the historical Jesus and explicitly distinguish between what was understood/known before and after the resurrection.
S: historically Luke was wrong [i.e., to attribute to Jesus the claim that OT prophecies referred to him].
It was quite fascinating to track the discussion at the end, especially when it moved back and forth among the presenters in both English and German, S (& sometimes C—with M and D tracking both, seemingly with equal fluency) shifting back and forth from one sentence to the next in an attempt to communicate carefully the argument being made. S would occasionally consult with C as to the best way to put a German phrase into English, and once calling on Eugene Boring, the translator of S’s NTT, in the audience for help with a particularly tricky one.
Now this potted summary doesn’t do justice to the overall discussion and is surely not entirely accurate. I scribbled as fast as I could, but then I’ve had to read those scribbles… ? I hope to see at least some of the reviews from tonight in print in due time. Carson’s would be particularly helpful in that regard, and Dunn’s as well. It’s a pity that the session was not recorded.
Baker Books, who sponsored the event, is to be thanked for making it possible.

http://ntresources.com/blog/?tag=new-testament-theology

It is 9:49 AM Thursday morning in the flow of existence. I think I got up this morning around 6:45 AM. I do not know what time my wife got up to face existence? She was peeling potatoes when I got up this morning.

I wandered into the living room to wake up. I next cooked breakfast for Carol and I. After breakfast I went down in the basement and messed with my lap top.

I left to take Rudy for a walk at Kollen Park. He would not walk because it was raining lightly, so I left him in the van and went for a walk by myself. I took some pictures of crows in some trees.

When I got home the house was empty because Carol had to church. Now I am down in the basement writing some words.

Last night I read "Theology Of The New Testament" by Udo Schnelle and "Visions Of Cody" by Jack Kerouac.

Carol went to bed early and I watched television till 11 o'clock PM. Now it is another day to live.

This is the day americans give thanks for tanks and bombs to protect our american way of consumption.

Well I should close to read some more of the Gospel of Luke before we have our thanks giving feast.

Carol set the table before going to church this morning. We are having neighbors over for Thanksgiving Day. Carol works with the lady neighbor at the hospital.



music: Magnolia Electric Co. "Josephine"

I forgot to mention this morning in my first blog entry of the day that yesterday afternoon I rearranged some of my books down in the basment and in my study. I put my new books together with these books in my study yesterday (let your mind dilate as you read the titles of these volumes)—

“An Introduction to the New Testament: Context, Methods & Ministry Formation” by David A. DeSilva

“An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, And Thematic Approach” by Bruce K. Waltke with Charles Yu

“Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical And Synthetic Approach” by Frank Thielman

“Theology Of The New Testament” by Udo Schnelle Translated by M. Eugene Boring

“Apostle Paul: His Life and Theology” by Udo Schnelle Translator M. Eugene Boring

“New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ” by Thomas R. Schreiner

“Paul Apostle Of God’s Glory In Christ: A Pauline Theology” by Thomas R. Schreiner

“Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study” by Gordon D. Fee

“The Mission Of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative” by Christopher J. H. Wright

“Old Testament Theology” Volume One “Israel’s Gospel” by John Goldingay

“Old Testament Theology” Volume Two “Israel’s Faith” by John Goldingay

“Old Testament Theology” Volume Three “Israel’s Life” by John Goldingay

“Apostle Of The Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction To Paul & His Letters” by Michael J. Gorman

“Perspectives Old And New On Paul: The “Lutheran” Paul and His Critics” by Stephen Westerholm

I read the above volumes off and on the day. I like to keep my mind alive.

Carol left to visit her aged mother. I will close to sit in the morning darkness and wait.

music: Panda Bear "Person Pitch"

It is 8:52 AM Wednesday morning in the flow of existence. I got up this morning around 6:30 AM. Carol had gotten up this morning around 4 o’clock AM.

I got myself a cup of coffee and sat in the living room till I felt somewhat awake. I then cooked myself breakfast and then came down in the basement to mess with my lap top.

Carol has been cleaning all morning. Why clean our cage?

Last night I watched television all evening and read “Visions Of Cody” by Jack Kerouac before going to sleep.

It is a cold dark ugly day. I plan to do nothing but wander my cage.

Well I will close to wander. I do not know what Carol plans to do today? I should read my Bible sometimes this morning. I am reading right now in the New Testament the Gospel of Luke.

"Only in the search for purpose can we ever hope to find true purpose."

Honestly, I'm not sure if I wished our language contained more letters and words, or less.


-*-

All of us, gazing constantly over our shoulders, eyes agasp in dilation at the dark. Those still pools of milky chocolate eclipse, outside the window: the busy pull of black holes in the middle of the way. Automobiles and their doppler waves, planes and their beacon lights. Clouds and even the trees in competition for a spot of sunlight.

Our lives, paranoid at the brink of all the unmistakeable mistakes in the mask of creation. Airholes, cut outs for the many, many eyes, a space for lipstick, and a manequin to ride the oscillation.

Pheromones pick up what isn't there, as well as they do what is.

We sense it. We know it's there, in its way, dead and alive all at once, bearing its comedy and tragedy, successes and failures, that no point anywhere in the whole of creation could exist without. Let's not insult her by labeling her as an object; she is, paradoxically, very real and very human.

And we don't even know her name.

We just feel her breathing, in the spaces between. As much as there is you and I, for her that much isn't. It's no duality; its transcendency.

She's the pusher, she runs the machine to breaking point, laughing as it breaks down to expose its flaws. It's funny because her entire civilization is a species of natural mechanics. :)

We sense she's there, in our blind spot, the phantoms at the ballet. The low key cats at the opera. There's no escaping her, and we don't even know if she's beautiful; the perfume in the air is exillerating, it feels like another thriller.

She's the missing piece of our Self.

The Ghost of an original design haunts us.


-*-

Lately I've been revamping and streamlining processes for expediency and efficiency. Sounds like business talk, huh?

Yeah, well, I'm not selling anything.

Hey. It's a great trick to learn the nature of possession. Pearls before swine, I of a Needle, all that old gardener mulch.


-*-

Since I've been on my way in this new... path. Or Pathos, perhaps. Well, I've been feeling the whole gamut of life, and its all been extra amazing.

It's strange being able to experience situations in so many ways simultaneously, and I won't lie--despite the little details that we all face to keep it interesting, I feel like I'm living in paradise. I feel the ways things became, and how they come to change, and beyond the labels its just beautiful that it is here to be experienced at all.

So in a sense, it's been easy to lose interest in drugs. I used them mostly for analysis of my inner self (or lack thereof, sometimes), and exposure/study of other people's cognitive process and decision making/option weighting methodology, and other boring scientic sounding descriptions of natural human "empathy".

Science is a natural obfuscator, an example of moving away from the direction of God, which is exactly why science is the greatest religion we've ever known. It moves away in the perfect arc, splintering reality as it does into segments of mystery and riddle.

It is failed to be mentioned, by anyone involved or afterwards, that we were the ones who created the riddle in the first place.

Now, even though I don't really feel the need to do drugs, that doesn't mean I'm against their use. Some other time I'll jot down the flowchart for a tactical plan to overhaul government and social black markets and recreational substance handling. It'll create thousands of jobs and a bunch of other crap that I really don't even care to talk about anymore.

So anyway, drugs. The perks (teehee) of being an adult. Indeed!

*Listens to the sweet sound of monks turning in their graves and flashing me a wink*

In the connected state, it's almost like being able to perceive multiplicity as a singularity. To put it another way: its really amazing how close subjectivity can get to the absolute. And the absolute barely exists!

It's very odd indeed being right on the edge of What It Is, and actually having the possibility of explaining it to others. "As soon as they get it, the door opens just like that", and inanimate matter all across the planet begins springing to life. Evolution kickstarts itself again, and the circle of art continues its lazy grindstone Wednesday.

It's strange thinking of drugs, since one of the phrases I returned to this life with after an intense metaphysical epiphany was:

"My body is Soma."

One of the original manifests, Shivan drug and body of Tara, marijuana is an earth remedy of sorts, a kind of medicine upon a carcass. While, it can not cause the corpse undeath, it can ease the struggle for the living. It's brilliant how unselfish we are, when we have to be.

So, I've always hailed the properties of MJ to be perfect for the grooming of the shamanic social class of a society, while simultaneously constructing a bridge to and from that state-of-us for bidirectional crossing purpose(s). :)

As for me, I always got some great effects from a nice bud. A grin across my face, cheek to cheek, lots of love and humor, music synaesthesia. It just made me unendingly happy. Or happier.

But this week was the first week I really got a chance to enjoy some time to myself with some tunes, some munchies, and some peace. But the results were different!

Indeed, my precious mary jane no longer seems to have the same effects as it once did. Now that I know some of the things I do, and have seen some of the new things, my high is less about philosophical question and muse sessions, and more like blatant answer sessions when answers are even applicable.

Honestly, its kind of a buzzkill. LOL

I'm not really sure if its a good idea to say exactly what those things are, since I don't think it's really time yet, and they won't be taken as they are intended (it's a lot of garbage on the true nature of everything and, coincidentally, its relationship with nothing; same old thing regurgitated again, from the point of view of "just another master"). Dualism definitely does not filter in the least into these equations except as abstract theory to attempt to draw parallels with the binary aspects of a non-binary universe.

Which is why I can't remember the last time I even used the word "Dualism". It's dead and over to me, just like when I was a kid eventually Christian opinion on gays and lesbians became something out of mind: it was a model with few modern uses, and other Zoroastrian disasters.

I really do think its important to mention these things, because we're coming into adulthood now, but I've decided for purposes that you understand if you're in my position. I'll tell anyone who asks, that's a promise.

I've said it before: going any direction is always an option. I suggest you go one way for a reason, away from the source and into infinity. However, to even show your eyes back in the other direction, towards God and complete emptiness (hard concept to explain without contact with your Ghost)--this is supremely risky.

I imagine very few people could stay sane without proper training. And all training is in the field. Actually that shit build the Mid West, we're real pioneers these days. We fly like the post; direct passage on an air plane. :)

At this point, I trust my judgement.

It is 12:31 PM Tuesday afternoon. Nothing has happened today to blow off my socks. Carol left to get a new rubber belt put on our vaccum cleaner. I have been going downstairs and upstairs. I should go for a walk, but it is too cold to go for a walk this afternoon.

In the mail I received these two books—

“Theology Of The New Testament” by Udo Schelle Translated by M. Eugene Boring

“Old Testament Theology” Volume 3 “Israel’s Life” by John Goldingay

These two books are good to read after eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day a national holy day.

I wrote a couple times today in my private diary and read some more of the book “Visions Of Cody” by Jack Kerouac. My big problem today is staying awake. Yesterday I slept from 1:36 PM till 4 o’clock PM. Carol slept all afternoon yesterday and got up last night around 5 o’clock PM. She went back to bed around 8:30 PM last night.

Nothing pressing on my mind right now. I suppose I will close to wander my cage. Happy hunting (it is deer hunting here in West Michigan).

music: Chavez “Better Days Will Haunt You”

It is 8:54 AM Tuesday morning. I am down in our basement listening to the music of Mouse On Mars and having a cup of tea. Carol is upstairs cleaning our cage.

I got up this morning around 5:54 AM because I was a theological dream. In this dream I was very excited because I was trying very hard to explain the Gospel of God to someone who was busy doing something. In my dream I was yelling (I had my mouth open as I was dreaming). I woke up with these verses on my mind or lips-
"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, coming into being out of a woman, having come under Law, that He might redeem those under Law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons" Gal. 4:3,4.

I woke up wondering if I should get out and do some soul winning? I have not shared the Gospel of Christ with someone in a long time. I take comfort knowing God will save His people.

When I got up this morning I found Carol reading her Bible in the living room.

We went to the grocery store this morning and was home around 7:35 AM.

Last night I watched television and read "Visions of Cody" by Jack Kerouac. I suppose to get the mail today two new books. Carol is not pleased with me when I get new books in the mail. She does not like me spending her money. Sometimes I wish I had my own source of income. In a couple of years I can start using my investment money which is around $45,000.00 dollars. I do not know when I can get my social security money?

I am still planning to use the $12,000.00 I have set aside to travel to Spain when I am 60 years old. But maybe I will be dead by then. Right now I need to get right with God.

I have nothing to do today. I will go through the day quietly. Time will go by. I will close to feel drained of life force. I should read some more of the Gospel of Luke today. When not reading the Bible I will read "Visions Of Cody" by Jack Kerouac. I should help my wife clean our cage.

music: Mouse On Mars "Radical Connector"