Thursdays Child John 19-28

Well, back to the book of John. I'm feeling a little better, and not quite so churchy, by allowing last weeks distraction. In case you aren't familar with this passage, this is the conversation between John the Baptist and the Temple Priests. They came to him and asked him if he is the Messiah. They told him they needed to know so they could go back and tell those who sent them. The ones that sent them were the Pharisees. I'm sure there are ways to break this passage down, but as I was reading it, what hit me about it was, were the Pharisees genuinely looking for the Messiah? Were they just skeptical because there were alot of people claiming to be the Messiah at that time? Or, was their motive like Herod's when Jesus was born? Were they already looking to kill him for whatever reason? I guess I don't ever remember learning whether the Pharisees were anxious for the Messiah. You always heard about them in a negative "religious" way, and Jesus was constantly opposing them. You just figure the animosity between them is why they eventually were able to have Him crucified. It makes me stop to think, He had to flee to Egypt just after he was born because people were looking to kill Him. When He was teaching at the temple at twelve years old were they already wondering about Him, and since we don't have any documentation on Him from then 'til now at 30, we don't know what He was doing. Was he on the run? Is that why they were wondering if John the Baptist was Him, because they hadn't seen Him for 18 years? We just assume he was learning carpentry from Joseph. What also makes this ironic is, this incident took place at Bethany. This is where He came to alot during the next three years to spend time with His good friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Well, that's a Thursdays Child for sometime in the future. We've raised alot of questions today. Keep searching for those answers. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

More Comparisons

Even though there are drastic differences in the various religions I'm currently on a search to find the similarities. One thing I ran across the other day was an article about "The Law of Cause and Effect." The Buddhist call this karma. In case you're wondering about the name, if you do a search for "The 12 natural laws of the universe," you'll find some interesting info. Some of which we'll touch on here. Having spent a considerable amount of time in different denominations of the christian church I've found them to vary from rigid to open minded regarding their faith. From pumped up and on fire, to apathetic. In the pentecostal denominations they have a saying, speaking something into your life, I haven't been able to find any Biblical basis for this saying. If anyone knows where I might find it please let me know. This is however what the "Law of Cause and Effect" means. Whatever we speak, however we act, will come back to us. If there isn't a biblical basis for it where did the christian church come up with it? From the Buddhist? You could say "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." In Malachi it tells us that if we give our tithe we will be given in return. This is the same teaching as the "Law of Attraction." The two go together in situations other than money. If you are rude and nasty to people that is what you'll probably get in return. That does however go against other biblical teachings. But, along that same train of thought, if you want love, give love, if you want respect, respect others. Another way to put it is, you will reap what you sow, now that is in the Bible, maybe that's where they got it from. I'm finding it hard to understand why there is so much animosity between the religions, when we're similar in so many ways. We teach love each other, why is it so hard to live it? Let's keep searching for it, hopefully we'll find part of it, and maybe make a difference in our portion of the world. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

The Inner Self

The Inner Self Please click on me to go to article

Thursdays Child- Comparisons

I've been feeling kind of churchy lately, following the typical through the Bible routine. That's one thing I feel I am definitely not. When our church had outgrown it's building we had to meet at the local civic center, and a few motel conference rooms. I liked having church like that better. In some ways I'm a routine oriented person, probably because it helps you get through your day on autopilot, but in other ways I'm not. I get bored with routine. Like having the living furniture arranged a certain way for too long. I just need a change. That's how I feel this week, like Thursdays Child may become boring if we keep poking through John week after week. We'll come back to it, but this week I want to look at some comparisons, or similarities of Taoism and Christianity. The main thing I've noticed is, Taoism is translated "The Way." If you read Acts 9, 19, and 24, it talks about the early christian church being called "The Way." The Bible has the Ten Commandments, Taoism has the Ten Precepts. While there are differences, there are similarities as well. The main ones being, do not kill, and do not steal. I've always been interested in the martial arts, in particular the ones that originated out of China like Kung Fu, and Chinese culture in general, so I think it would be a natural tendency for me to research the Chinese based religions. Since the world, because of terrorism, has been introduced to the Islamic, and Muslim faiths I have been trying to read some of the Quran. That's about as easy as reading The King James version of the Bible. There are similarities to the Quran and the Bible. They both talk about Abraham, and the flood, to name a couple. So, it makes me wonder have all these teachings been given from the same God, just interpreted differently? Each religion has its extremes. The KKK uses the Bible to justify their prejudice actions. There are the killings of abortion doctors. Didn't Jesus teach love thy neighbor. I encourage you to check out other religions, it will give you a whole new perspective on the other cultures we share our world with, and maybe, just maybe, we'll learn a little about each other, break down some of those walls of prejudice, and find that illusive peace everyone is talking about. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child John 1:14-17

Well, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is over and Thursdays Child can resume as planned. Today as we look at John 1:14 we read, "The Word became human and lived among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son of God." Verse 15 talks about John the Baptist again. Verse 16 talks about how we have all benefited from the blessings He has given, then 17 says Moses brought the law, unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. If we think about verse 16 and the countless blessings He has given to us, it's hard to comprehend sometimes. We take so many things for granted that a large percentage of world doesn't have, like food, a roof, a soft warm bed. I think about the standard answers given to the typical Thanksgiving question. But how true those answers really are. Family, health, good jobs to provide lifes necessities. These are just some of the blessings. Take a look at a sleeping, or laughing baby sometime. We won't talk about 2 o'clock feedings though. Notice how babies look at their parents, that is that unfailing love. Notice then how they look at their parents as teenagers. They still love them but they no longer have that innocence, and dependence, and in most cases are starting to become influenced by worldly values. Naturally there are things that can affect our relationship with God, but that love never leaves. It makes me wonder why Jesus couldn't have come to begin with. Probably because we had to see for ourselves that we couldn't keep the law. Just like everything else we do. We try to do it on our own, then we come running back to God to bail us out. If we could just find that connection in the heart where the love starts pushing out the world, think of the possibilities. Keep searching for it. Thanks for searching for it with me, Paul

Test

This is a test, this is only a test, if this had been an actual blog topic it hopefully would have said something worth reading, but since I added a new gadget to my Google home page I had to test it out before I posted an actual blog. Thanks for bearing with me, Paul

Unwinding From the Chaos

Well Thursday has past, and with it, what should have been Thursdays Child. In South Dakota, the first week of August brings 100,000 or more motorcycles to the town of Sturgis. Sturgis, and Rapid City are at the foothills of the Black Hills. There are other bike weeks across the country but, Sturgis is the original. Next year will be the 70th anniversary. It seems like the past few years attendance has dropped off, although I haven't heard any official numbers yet. The Black Hills area, and even towns near by are affected by the major increase to their populations, most places naturally have special events for the week. A few places have concerts, the most popular being The Buffalo Chip Campground. The headline news this year was when Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fell off the stage and was taken to one of the hospitals. I work the overnight shift which usually allows me enough time to get Thursdays Child written, but this week, with the hours the bikers keep, that just wasn't possible. Having the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is like having family visit, you're happy to have them come but you're happy to have your routine back when it's time for them to go home. Hopefully we will be back to normal next week and Thursdays Child will be also. 'Til then, keep searching, Paul

Death of an Ego

The past couple of days has brought to my mind the saying "life is fleeting." Most of the time we hear it and dismiss it as cliche', but no longer will I take it so lightly. Friday was the day that I was personally affected, Friday and Saturday was helping kids deal with death. Last week my wife's cousin passed away at the age of 29 from a disease he found he had when he was 18. Kids' questions regarding the viewing, and funeral been common, and frequent. I experienced death in another way also. I saw a man awake, alert, and talking. An hour and a half later he had passed away. All efforts to try to revive him were futile. Some family members weren't even able to make it to see him before he died. It left me with the realization that how we treat people one moment could be how they remember us forever. Now that's not necessarily a new concept either but, events like this help us to remember these lessons, and why do we stray from these lessons? I thought about how our ego affects our relationships. If it weren't for egos would there be conflict? Isn't living in harmony what everyone seems to want? Why is that so hard to achieve? EGO that's why. I recommend we just get over ourselves for awhile, and see what kind of difference we can make in the lives of others, even if only for just a day. Thanks for reflecting with me, Paul