Paul Pots

Very touching. Humility with surprising excellence will do that. No wonder God is so fond of it.

Proud To Be An American

Is it un-Christian to not be proud of America? Is it un-American to not be proud of America?

BigHugeThing is a flag waving patriot so hearing slurs against our country grates to be sure. But let's face it, we all have complaints about some facet of our government, its actions or lack of action. A false picture has been painted of our country's founding and early days. Stately founding fathers, arm in arm and singing Kumbia and establishing the greatest country on earth, always fair minded, never arguing, one common and noble goal. The historical truth is far different. Politics in the early days was rough, dirty and malicious. I venture it was far worse than today, now probably moderated by our prolific media in all its forms.

Who can pretend to know just what mistakes our country has made over the years. Half the country thinks we give too much foreign aid and the other half think we give too little. How do we compare to other countries really. I read articles stating the USA compares poorly to other nations in giving and articles stating the USA is the most generous country on earth. I guess figures don't lie but lairs figure. Many think we should not have tried helping our South Vietnamese friends and many feel we were right to do so. Some think we should have socialized medicine, others view national health care as the final step to communism. Should we be in Iraq now? So who is right? I am of course and you are "right" in our own eyes and we will have the country we deserve perhaps (by majority vote of course).

So is some contrary opinion (whatever your particular flavor of complaining) unpatriotic? I'm not sure. Is it un-Christian? About that I am more certain. Christians do not have dual citizenship. Our passport resides with the Kingdom of God. We are simply tourists no matter our physical location. We are told to respect government (regardless of flavor) but to hold to Godly principles even unto death. Our citizenship is in heaven. Daniel was a great example, Joseph another,Paul and let's not forget Jesus. Maybe if we are asking the un-Christian question, we are already on the wrong track.

Much is being said now about change. One thing does not change, the Kingdom of Heaven. Christians should be accustomed to negotiating change, uncomfortable situations and circumstances because they are always in a foreign country. If we fear change maybe we have been assimilated into some foreign culture and are in danger of giving up our citizenship in the Kingdom of God (if that is possible?).

I despise any inconvenience or discomfort and fear change as much as anyone. But I see Scriptural patterns validating the value and inevitability of difficulty in a Christian's life and development. Where is our country going? All I know is there will be plenty of opportunity for trusting God and practicing our Kingdom living. There always is.

Does Jesus Need A Little Help?

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Redemptive Suffering: "Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church...

Paul states something here which passes almost unnoticed by many sola scriptura Christians - that there is a sense in which Christ's afflictions are lacking. While Christ's Passion superabundantly completed the salvation of all mankind, yet mankind must formally co-operate with the grace poured out on the Cross. Paul indicates this can be accomplished not through the sinner's prayer, but through suffering."
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BigHugeThing appreciates the Catholic understanding (maybe position is a better word) on suffering. They tend to find a spiritual value in suffering that Protestants do not. But someone always takes things too far (many go much further than the position mentioned, which is close to what I see as the edge) and the "what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" can be taken out of context and distorted to our detriment. Christians should know the persistent theme of Christ's perfect and completed work through Christ's perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection. This grounding should not allow Christians to be led off into improving on Christ's work by anything the individual can do. So if any of us are trying to aid in our redemption (or anyone else's) by our suffering we should think again.

On the other hand we are told to work out our own salvation through fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12:. Here is a good exposé on this concept. I would call it working out your own salvation on a micro level after accepting Christ's perfect work on the macro level. Likewise we can view our suffering, when joined with and committed to Christ, as beneficial to us and our "redemption" on more of a micro level. We have been redeemed in the macro sense through Jesus' work. Our redemption on a micro level could use a little tweaking (or am I the only one?). It may help if we have some further context for the Col 1:24 passage. This may not even be what Paul was talking about in this passage.

This excerpt from BibleGateway.com provides some insight:
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What, however, is the plain meaning of Paul's cryptic phrase that his suffering fill[s] up . . . what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions? In what sense does the suffering of Christ "lack" anything? And in what sense does Paul's suffering "fill up" what Christ's suffering lacks, if anything? I have argued that here Paul's emphasis is not on God's salvation, as before, but on Christ's church. To the point, Paul is surely not saying that the Lord Christ lacks anything as the messianic agent of God's salvation; nor does he mean that the redemptive results of his death need to be supplemented by Paul. His previous confession of Christ's lordship (1:15-20) and his subsequent assertion of God's forgiveness (2:13-14) testify to Paul's confidence in the sufficiency of Christ's work. Lohse is quite right, then, to object to any interpretation that renders this phrase as a reference to the community's "mystical union" with a suffering Christ, whereby the community is absorbed into and derives spiritual benefit from Christ's passion (1971:69). In fact, Paul rarely speaks in his writings of Christ's suffering (as distinguished from his death) and almost never of Christ's suffering in terms of God's salvation (as the writer of 1 Peter, for instance, does in 1 Pet 2:20-22). The images of a suffering Christ in Paul's writings are usually employed to illustrate and interpret his own suffering as a missionary. Here suffering is exemplary of servanthood, but not expiatory of sin. In this way Christ's suffering is logically parallel to his own; like Christ, Paul is God's "suffering servant"; and like Christ's, his suffering indicates obedience to God's commission.

Most scholars understand Paul's reference to Christ's afflictions as a catchphrase from Jewish apocalypticism. In this tradition, Jews understood Israel's suffering as a sign of the last days and a condition for the coming of the Messiah (see O'Brien 1982:76-80). Some even assigned a fixed amount of suffering which, when satisfied, would result in the apocalypse of God's salvation. Israel's suffering, then, was the "birthpangs" of the promised new covenant (compare Jer 31:31) about to become a reality. According to O'Brien, some early Christians, especially within the Jewish church, believed that Jesus' suffering had initiated the "last days" of ever-increasing trials and tribulations (see Mt 24:4-29), when the "true" Israel (the community of Christ's disciples) would suffer for his name (Mt 5:11-12) in order to fulfill this quota fixed by God. With this condition met, Messiah would return in triumph to usher heaven into earth (Mt 24:30-31). If Paul had this apocalyptic formula in mind, then his reference to sharing in Jesus' suffering would indicate that the "last days" of salvation's history have already commenced. In this light Paul's suffering "fills up" what is lacking from what God has assigned the church to suffer.

Paul's phrase, however, is to be taken metaphorically rather than literally. Speaking of completing requisite suffering is yet another way of calling attention to the importance of completing the Gentile mission. In Paul's conception of the Gentile mission, his evangelistic work brings into Israel's number the "fullness of the Gentiles" (Rom 11:1-24) that will trigger the Lord's return to earth and ethnic Israel's return to God (Rom 11:25-26). Even in this passage Paul repeats the root of to fill to stress that the aim of his personal sacrifice--I fill up [antanapleroo] in my flesh--is to complete his mission: to present to you the word of God in its fullness [plerosai].

Understanding the value of suffering is a BigHugeThing without taking it into territory not intended. I honestly think a trick of the devil (not to give too much credit) is employed once a truth is illuminated, we are pushed beyond the truth into extremes and therefore pushed away from understanding the fullness of the truth itself. The power lies in understanding and walking in the actual truth. Pushing any truth into unintended extremes, though zealous in feeling, only weakens that very truth.

I would remind us again of our human propensity to improve on the truth:

Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3: 1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

This is the first example of we humans improving on God's stated truth ... "neither shall ye touch it." We apparently need little help from the devil.

Universe Today » Dark Matter and Dark Energy… the Same Thing?

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy… the Same Thing?

I've said it many times, but it bears repeating: regular matter only accounts for 4% of the Universe. The other 96% - dark matter and dark energy - is a total mystery.
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BigHugeThing finds amusing the blind trust people place in "science." I often read comments from those who know a little "science" then disparage Christian's "illiterate" positions. Does it strike you as significant that 96% of what makes up the physical universe is unknown ... scientifically? Science knows dark matter/energy exists (that's impressive) but science does not know what dark matter/energy is (that's typical). What is this dark mysterious matter and energy? By golly, they don't have a clue. And physical cosmological processes were thought to be quite simple and well known (sans quantum).

Even worse is biological processes which are vastly more complicated and less understood than physical cosmological because of the increased possibilities and combinations. (Maybe quantum elevates physical into more complex, who knows) Yet Christians are criticized for questioning the Theory of Evolution or at least considering it a theory (and in some ways not a very good one). And science doesn't yet know what comprises 96% of our physical Universe?

Key word possibilities: arrogance, stupidity, spiritual darkness

That Your Joy May Be Full

When ever I am under stress, my joy reserve depletes quickly. Recently (under stress) I feel the Lord speaking to me about my attempts at adding to the blessings of God. About my being unsatisfied with the blessings God has provided and my trying to come up with something better, more in line with what I think would be a blessing de jour. The blessing of the day. When I was healthy and modestly well off financially, more money would have been a blessing. So I tried to work more money into my theology and find Scriptural applications for God blessing me financially. When in an unhealthy period, now good health became my priority and I searched for Scriptural application for God blessing me with good health. I bring God along to bless me by giving me that which I think is lacking in my life.

Is this what Jesus meant when He said, Jhn 10:10 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly."? Or Jhn 16:24 "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

Remember when Jesus sent the deciples out on their first little missions trip? They returned rejoicing that "even the demons obeyed them". Jesus gave them a rebuke and said, Luk 10:20 "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.". Joy, full life to the deciples, as with all of us, was obtaining more than you have at the moment. They did not understand that true joy was knowing and understanding what Jesus had really provided ... acceptance and forgiveness before a just, righteous and all powerful God.

Before Jesus came few if any men clearly understood what God is really like. Would understanding what the creator of all things is really like bring men joy? It would seem so. Before Jesus came man had no means of permanent redemption and acceptance by God. Should God's permanent redemption and acceptance of man bring man joy? I would think so.

Does God provide for our financial, health and relationship blessings as we walk through life? A yes answer is inescapable while reading any version of the Bible. But these blessings come not from seeking after the blessing itself but in relying on and trusting in God's provision through an understanding of who God is and through acceptance of God's redemption through Jesus Christ. After all, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!"

Let's be real. Many Christians don't have joy because their God ship has not yet come in carrying all of God's blessings: new cars, bigger houses, better children, more money, better health. How many had a sister, wife, mother suffer and die from cancer and as a result they stopped believing in a loving God because a loving God would not let such a horrible thing happen. We are blessing experts. We know a blessing when we see it and death by cancer is no blessing; therefore, God does not exist. To a lesser but equally joyless extent, some are still struggling financially and can not have joy until they see the money. Some still drive that old junker ... no joy here.

Yet there are plenty of Christians who trusted God and were beaten, imprisoned, martyred and yet their joy was full. Full because they understood who God is, what God is like, and were assured of God's acceptance and forgiveness. They rejoiced that their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Their joy was not in what they could get from God but in their relationship to and understanding of God.

When a child wishes to run out into traffic but is restrained by his parent, the child is in a joyless condition. I want it and can't have it so I am unhappy. Many of us live our lives this way. No matter how mature we feel nor how seemingly clear is our understanding of a situation, we will never have the entire picture from God's point of view. We do not understand the traffic. As long as we insist on running the railroad we will live in a derailed condition, Christian or not.

Have you heard someone talk about how much closer to God they were during times of distress? Did they mention a clearer understanding of God? Was some strange sweet joy during a time of trouble mentioned? I have experienced this myself and can attest to the truth of it. Is there some oddity of the human condition that we understand a thing better when we lose it or lack it.

I love this little poem by Emily Dickenson:

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory!

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

This poem is not a direct application to experiencing the Joy of the Lord but there is a point well taken. Is it possible that man has difficulty seeing and understanding the true Joy of the Lord while he possesses the world's joy? Maybe our joy vision is clearer when we lose our worldly joy and lie defeated, dying. Maybe only then can we hear the distant strains of God's triumphant joy being celebrated in the distance. Can what we lack in the here and now be a blessing of the eternal kind?

So again I must remind myself that my Joy is in the Lord, knowing who He is, knowing what He is like, and trusting in Him. Then I must let God decide what is a true blessing for me. My joy can not be dependent on what the blessing looks like or what form it takes or when (if ever) it arrives. My joy is in the Lord.

BigHugeThing needed a BigHuge attitude adjustment.

Fighting Evil

http://www.shatterthedarkness.net/
Sometimes it's hard to believe in God even as a Christian. Little doubts (some not so little) creep in and we must rely on what we know of Scripture and our own experiences to support our faith. For most of us that gets us through the rough spots. Some don't make it through and give in to the world's logic and wisdom and lose faith that there is a God of any kind.

As hard as it may be to believe in God it is harder to believe in the existence of a devil. Entire denominations view the devil as a myth or metaphor. The Bible clearly speaks of the devil and demons as real. Most of us live our lives oblivious of the reality of these dark spirits. Shatterthedarkness.net confronts this evil head on and presents a provocative viewpoint. It contains many interesting mp3's to download. Even if one does not agree with everything on the site, Christians would be well advised to be informed about such things.

Earthquake Damages Temple Mount and Shechem - Inside Israel - Israel News - Arutz Sheva

Earthquake Damages Temple Mount and Shechem - Inside Israel - Israel News - Arutz Sheva: "(IsraelNN.com) An earthquake shook Israel at 12:37 PM Friday. The only damage reported in Israel was on the Temple Mount and near Shechem (Nablus).

The earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale; its epicenter was located in northeastern Lebanon. Earlier last week an earthquake measuring 4.1 was felt in northern Israel, also originating from Lebanon, near its northern city of Tyre.

A large hole opened up on the Temple Mount during Friday's earthquake (click here for pictures), which was soon covered by officials from the Wakf Islamic Authority that administers the mosques built atop Judaism’s holiest site."
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BigHugeThing views earthquakes and holes on the Temple Mt. as possibly significant. You replacement theologists see nothing significant anywhere in Israel aside from dusty bones and artifacts. Nothing has changed, everything is as it was ... Ah Ha ... that too is significant!