I was in e-conversation with a fashionable jeweller I came across on the web (here). It led me to do some research on what the Bible does say about the beauty we are born with.
Much of the word’s opinion on beauty comes in the form of verses like this:
1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Which is a good point to make. Ultimately beauty is fleeting.
However appearance is not overlooked in the Bible:
Rebekah “was very fair to look upon” (Gen 24:16). Rachel “was graceful and beautiful” (Gen 29:17). Joseph was “handsome and goodlooking” (Gen 39:6). Jacob and Rachel fall in love at first sight (Gen 29) and he happily waits seven years to marry her: “they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Gen 29:20).
As well as Song of Solomon’s obvious enrapture with the beauty of the female form:
How fair and pleasant you are
O loved one, delectable maiden!
You are stately as a palm tree
and your breasts are like its clusters.
I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its branches.
Oh, may your breasts be like
clusters of the vine,
(Song 7:6-8).
There are really only two rules that you have to keep in mind when you’re in prayer, two things that should drive and govern and control your prayer life with the Almighty.
You should remember who is being addressed and who is doing the speaking.
That is, the first thing you are to remember in prayer is who it is you’re talking to, because nothing will condition your prayer life more deeply than remembering that you’re in conversation with God, the sovereign Creator and ruler of the universe.
Second, you are to remember who you are. You are not God. You are a creature. So prayer is not a conversation between peers; it is not a fireside chat among equals. This is the creature speaking to his sovereign Creator.
This gleaning of information is all 100% from the excellent Between Two Worlds blog.
I am fully aware that the readers of this blog are divided on this crucial issue. Everyone should watch this video to the end, post your views in the comments if you feel it necessary.
Well actually only a week. I just felt I needed to give the whole Internet thing a bit of a rest. Part of it may be laziness but I have been being productive in other areas. I have some exciting writing projects lined up for myself, which you all may or may not find out about (depending on how good they actually are).
Since I last wrote I’ve:
Watched The Damned United. Which was rather good. It made me remember that I actually like football, and reaffirmed my respect for Michael Sheen. Even though I could’ve sworn that at time Brian Clough possessed the characteristics of Tony Blair, David Frost and Kenneth Williams. Strange!
Sadly, I also watched The Boat That Rocked. I knew it was going to be bad, but thought the cast could somehow save it. I decided that the plot would have worked for a six part sitcom, but not a film. Just quite badly done. Awesome music though. The other cool thing was that I went to a 11 am screening of it and was the only person in the entire cinema, so even though I felt like a complete loser, I basically had a private screening!
Otherwise I have started up again on my studies of the Gospel according to Matthew, with much help from a certain J.C. Ryle. Just cracking stuff.
In some of my research I came across this apparently classic famous most amazing sketch ever, which I had never seen. It is indeed amazen.
Once you get past the fact that they are American, it’s very funny.
We have a Holiday Bible Club for primary school kids from Tuesday to Thursday this week, so a lot of my time has and will be taken with that. We’re praying that it will bring lots of opportunities to speak to kids who may never have heard such a message. More here.
Totally have a hip advert these days.
Still very much loving Stuart Lee on BBC 2. I think despite some offensive language Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe on BBC 4 is just top notch. I’m also loving I’ve Never Seen Star Wars, also on BBC 4. As for BBC 3’s Horne & Corden, sadly I agree with the critics, it’s just not funny.
Papal infallibility is the dogma in Catholic theology that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of errorwhen he solemnly declares or promulgates to the Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals as being contained in divine revelation, or at least being intimately connected to divine revelation. It is also taught that the Holy Spirit works in the body of the Church, as sensus fidei, to ensure that dogmatic teachings proclaimed to be infallible will be received by all Catholics. This dogma, however, does not state that the Pope cannot commit sin in his own personal life.
This is an unbiblical and false assumption.
It has been made even more obvious that this is a heretical way of thinking in recent days with the current Pope, Joseph Ratzinger.
The Observer reports:
It is becoming something of a habit with Pope Benedict XVI. First, he says something that causes outrage inside and outside his flock. Then his officials offer “clarifications”. Finally, usually after a short but decent interval, he apologises publicly and humbly for any offence his remarks have caused.
Last week, it was over condoms and Aids. En route to Cameroon, Benedict told reporters on the papal plane that the distribution of condoms was making the spread of HIV/Aids worse rather than better. As the French, German and Belgian governments queued up, along with the UN, to condemn the pontiff for irresponsibility at a time when Africa accounts for three-quarters of all deaths from Aids worldwide, the Vatican’s website was busy tweaking. Condom distribution, the authorised version now read, risked making the problem worse.
If recent experience is anything to go by, before this papal tour of Africa ends in Angola tomorrow Benedict may well have made a limited public retreat. That has been how he handled the furore caused by his decision to readmit into his fold Bishop Richard Williamson, a British-born Catholic dissident and Holocaust-denier. In a public letter to all bishops, Benedict wrote that he “deeply deplored” what he called “a mishap” and added: “I have learnt the lesson.”
And in September 2006, when he was also in the line of fire, this time for quoting the anti-Islamic words of a distant Byzantine emperor during a lecture in Regensburg in his native Germany, Benedict used his regular Sunday Angelus prayer five days later to say he was “deeply sorry” for any offence caused.
Traditionally, popes don’t apologise. The church teaches that they are guided by God (and, since 1870, are officially infallible in certain matters of faith and morals). So Pius XII, the pope who failed in the Second World War to condemn the Holocaust, never subsequently offered a mea culpa. Even when Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul II, broke with tradition and started making public apologies, he only did so for events that had happened centuries ago,such as the Crusades and the Inquisition.
This pattern of making controversial statements and then backtracking goes to the heart of the enigma that Pope Benedict XVI has become as he nears the fourth anniversary of his election. He is simultaneously medieval in his habit of stating so bluntly what he sees as the church’s monopoly on truth, even when it flies in the face of reason, and modern in his willingness then to listen and react to his audience (and indeed, it might be added, in being the first pope ever to say “condom”).
We are slowly making our way through Deuteronomy on Wednesday evenings and it always surprises me how much wisdom we can draw from such passages. So even though with Jesus, we are under a new covenant, these passages are still relevant. Here we have: Principles for maintaining life today.
1. Deuteronomy 22:1-4
1 If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. 2 If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. 3 Do the same if you find your brother’s donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.
4 If you see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help him get it to its feet.
A Helpfulness Principle.
If we profess to be Christians we must always be helpful citizens. It reminds me of a poem we studied in school, it’s Not My Business and is by Niyi Osundare.
They picked Akanniup one morning
Beat him soft like clay
And stuffed him down the belly
Of a waiting jeep.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
And dragged Danladi out,
Then off to a lengthy absence.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone:
No query, no warning, no probe -
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.
What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?
And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.
The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.
It’s very easy for us to ignore our brothers and sisters when they are clearly in need. The Bible clearly shows us that this is wrong.
2. Deuteronomy 22:5
5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.
A Gender Principle.
This has become quite a hotly debated topic in our current social climate. This has become, and I guess was always a very complex issue.
Why are some people born with tendencies in a certain direction?
How far one way or the other is too far?
All I know is that from this passage we can see that God does not see these issues as irrelevant, appearance is not irrelevant to God.
3. Deuteronomy 22:6 & 7
6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
A Conservation Principle.
This verse has obvious enironmental connotations. It is very practical in confirming to us that we must take care in what we consume on this earth.
For example:
Scottish fishermen have become the first in Europe to implement a new voluntary scheme to conserve North Sea cod stocks.
Notice that at the end of these verses, we are told to do this that we ‘may have a long life’. This reminds us of the need to keep in mind the world to come, as well as where we are now.
4. Deuteronomy 22:8
8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.
A Health & Safety Principle.
Clearly the idea of keep things healthy and safe is not a bad one. This is something that is beginning to affect us all more and more.
This is quite accurate:
(Relevant up to around 2:50)
This point is as always, not purely practical – there are also spiritual applications. In the context of telling unbelievers of the spiritual dangers, as Christians we have a duty to this. I always remember a preacher saying once that we must never be able to stand before God on the last day, and faced with all our friends andaquaintances someone say ‘Why didn’t you tell me? You knew of a way out of this, and you didn’t tell me?’. This is an all important reminder of our imminent future.
5. Deuteronomy 22:9-11
9 Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
A Separation Principle.
A bit of a strange one it seems on the surface of things. Making us thankful that we are no longer bound to such ceremonial laws! This is because with Christ we are free from these laws, they are fulfilled in him.
This section also reminds Christians of this verse in the New Testament:
2 Corinthians 6:14
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Paul probably took inspiration from these very verses when he wrote this to the Corinthian believers.
6. Deuteronomy 22:12
12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.
If you are in any Jewish part of the world, if you look carefully they still follow this law, they have tassels on the corners of their garments called Tzitzit or tzitzis (Hebrew: Biblical ציצת Modern ציצית).
Jesus would have worn them, and it is probably what the woman touched in this passage:
Matthew 9:20
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.
Jesus followed all these laws in his perfect life. What a challenge to us as Christians. We have such an abundance principles in the word of God. Are we using them?
This was originally posted on theological blog Onward Motion.
I went out with a few friends that I went to school with last night. We got talking about old times and about how I had a bit of a knack at really making fun of people and ultimately making them feel small, all in a hilarious way. I’d never really taken in the fact that I’d actually given these guys quite a hard time, one reason for me not realising this was that the person I was making fun of would usually be laughing as well, whilst still being quite hurt by the words.
I am quite a mean guy!
I’m sure lots of the people that I felt bullied by didn’t realise that they were doing so much harm.
I asked my friends when these things happened. I didn’t even know this one girl until after I was converted. Which came as a bit of a disappointment to me.
This got me thinking that often we, as Christians will use the fact that we weren’t Christians as an excuse for our bad behaviour, when in fact there are still many of those things still going on in our lives. I guess it comes back to the whole justification sanctification thing.
One positive thing that I learned that I had forgotten, is that I was apparently always apologetic if I ever found out about any grief I had caused. There was a genuine change, but I think that the fact I am extremely good at picking out faults in people and making fun of them for it is still a temptation I fall into. I love teasing!
Can anyone think of a positive way that teasing or insult can be used? I know that it’s good for kids, I regularly tease my niece and nephew whom I look after! It makes them stronger!
This post can also be found on theological blog, Onward Motion
One of the first thoughts of God I remember having as a child was one of ridicule.
“How on earth can people not believe in God? It’s so obvious that there is a God, when a man and a woman get married; God sends them a baby! Where else could a baby come from but from God!?”
I was later corrected on my somewhat naïve logic, but my theories on God didn’t stop there. A few years later, I found myself saying and thinking things like:
“How can we be sure there really is a God?”
“I really do hope there isn’t an after-life, because then we could actually enjoy our time here on earth, instead of having to follow a set of rules and regulations.”
My parents always encouraged such honesty, and my Father was used to answering such questions as he was the pastor of the church I had been taken along to since I was a baby.
As life went on I found that if things were going well in my life, I would only give God the odd thought or two; however if things weren’t going too great I would find myself turning to God and praying to him often.
I decided that if I was going to be part of this Christian thing I should ask for forgiveness for my sins, that’s what I’d heard was the right thing to do. I did that, or at least I tried, but there was no light from above and no change of feeling inside. This was not as romantic as it had been made out to be.
Going on in my early teens I found myself more and more drawn towards the world’s way of thinking. People in school seemed to find me funny and as puberty wore on, my hormones were pulling me in all sorts of directions. I was never a naughty boy in school, but I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t get in trouble on a daily basis from various teachers.
I was having a great time, Sundays were a drag but it was something that I didn’t want to let go of. I felt that I wanted to have a foot on each side of the fence. Have a great time in the ‘real’ world, and have a bit of time to think about spiritual things.
I felt I was "on the fence" so to speak.
My answer was always the same if someone asked me whether I was a Christian, “I’m not sure”. I don’t think I was lying when I said that, I really wasn’t sure, I had asked God to forgive my sins but I wasn’t living as a Christian; and looking back – I wasn’t a Christian.
Summer 2004, I was 14 years old. I had been booked to go along to a Christian camp in Wales, under canvas and all that. It seems that God really does bless such ocassions, and he did so on that week. I suppose it was partly due to me having many examples from older Christians, as well as being out of the context of ‘a church’ and also having a real focus on God’s word. I know that people were praying for me, and God spoke to me throughout that week. I was really persuaded that to ask God for a new life was the right thing.
Looking back on my story, in a way I wish it was different; more romantic. I think to myself,
It would sound better if I wasn’t brought up in a Christian environment, or if I had gone off the rails a bit more, taken drugs, gone to prison – it’s those conversions that are truly miraculous.
But that isn’t true. I was a lost soul. I was heading for destruction. I had no hope.
God saved me. God helped me, and he continues to do so to this day. Through Jesus my sins are forgiven, that is a miracle!
This post can also be found on new theology blog, Onward Motion.
Having thought about what this blog is seeking to achieve, and getting advice from others; I felt it was necessary to broaden or perhaps focus on our readership and their desires.
Basically there are three other blogs for people who want only certain aspects of what The Blewog Blog has to offer.
Allow me to point out that nothing will change about this blog (in theory) every post I put on the other blogs will find it’s way onto this one.I stick by the saying: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
What the three new blogs have to offer:
Onward Motionis a blog which focuses on Theology. I will:
Post thoughts & feelings on my own Christian life.
Add any encouraging thoughts that I may have learned from the Bible or other Christians.
Discuss issues of philosophy, theology, spirituality and other such matters in our current society & culture.
Moois a blog which focuses on the arts. Specifically:
