By: Leslie Slape
The Feather of the Firebird
Long ago in Russia, there lived a brave huntsman who had a horse that could talk. Every day, he would ride into the dark forest and bring back wonderful things for his master, the Tsar.
February 2006
Monthly Archive
Story Telling06 Feb 2006 10:50 pm
Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive our due for our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiving of our brothers; and the mercy of God is hidden in mercifulness to our neighbor. Therefore the Lord said, “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven,” and, “With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” See how the Lord bestowed on us the method of salvation and has given us eternal power to become sons of God! St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662)
All of the Christian life is summed up very simply. It’s beginning to sink in, but it’ll take more prayer and fasting before I’m done.
What you do to the least of these
One of the fathers went off to the city to sell his manual work, and seeing a naked beggar, he was moved by compassion and gave him his own habit. The poor man went and sold it. When he heard what he had done, the old man was very annoyed and repented of having given him the habit. That night Christ appeared to the old man in a dream: He was wearing the habit and said to the old man, "Do not grieve, for see, I am still wearing that which you have given me."
Even if you think they’ll squander it, give to all who ask. Judge not lest ye be judged. Show mercy and mercy will be shown to you.
From the Wild and Technology06 Feb 2006 07:37 pm
Cell phone radiation can cook an egg
This very much depends on the power output of your mobile phone. For instance, a pair of mobiles each with 2 Watts of transmitter output will take three minutes to boil a large free range egg. Wymsey Weekend: A Guide to Mobile Cooking
Oh. My. God. I’ll never put a phone up to my head again.
Links for Review03 Feb 2006 08:20 pm
Phil Thompson dot net looks like an interesting and well put together site.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a great source of ancient Christian material.
The Hate and Love of God are the Same
How is it possible for the following to both be true:
- God is always loving, gracious and merciful to sinners
- God is always just, lawful and hates sin
What is dryness but the absence of moisture.
What is cold but the absence of heat.
What is darkness but the absence of light.
In
what way is rain or sun violent? Because, by their nature, they destroy
(respetively) dryness, cold and darkness. We could say the Sun had
clobbered the darkness, or banished or scattered it, but that wouldn’t
be correct, technically, since there was nothing there to be clobbered
or banished or scattered. The Sun “annihilated” darkness just by
infusing it with what it lacked: light. — pauper frater, As Iron Sharpens Iron
This is a very interesting sentiment. In the comments following this post, with regard to the “sheep and goats” parable of Matt 25, I responded:Without quoting it here, please refer to Matt 25:31-40. I’d point out
that “all nations” receive the same speech from Christ. It we ourselves
who either obey or disobey Christ and by our lives approach already
self-defined as sheep and goats.
that “all nations” receive the same speech from Christ. It we ourselves
who either obey or disobey Christ and by our lives approach already
self-defined as sheep and goats.
When we approach the Judgement
Seat of Christ, it’s not as if all nations will be hoping to deepen
their relationship with Him, and He not with them in return. He wants
us to want Him. Those who already have the relationship with God will
desire more of Him (sheep), and those that don’t (goats), won’t.
“Come,
you blessed” vs. “depart from me you cursed” can (and I think should)
be seen in relational terms like everything else. Come into the deeper
relationship the sheep desire, depart into the non-relationship the
goats desire. The blessed and cursed reference their state as read from
the Book of Life (again, they bring this baggage with them). Christ
isn’t blessing or cursing them in the moment–they are already in that
state when they approach.
Notice it says “these will go off to
eternal punishment” as opposed to “I command you to be punished even
though you’d rather be anywhere else.” He’s making a statement of fact
regarding their own nature as they approach Him and desire to recoil,
not a juridical command of eternal retribution.
Christ did not come to Judge the world but to save it. As the original post says, God will always (IMHO) be merciful.
I’ve noted that among conservative, traditional churches (those which
keep some semblance of Christianity), it seems that only the Roman
Catholic Church has taken a real stand for peace. Sure, they have
written about just war and such, but the general consensus seems to be
avoid war whenever possible. I contrast this with the Orthodox (who
have liturgical prayers blessing weapons and soldiers), Baptists,
“Orthodox” Presbyterians and such who seem to see war as blessed by
God. Conversely, those churches that play fast and loose with
Christianity (ECUSA, ELCA, PCUSA, UMC) seem to be at the forefront of
the peace movements.I admit, it gives me pause to consider my own pacifist stance. — pauper frater, As Iron Sharpens Iron
I read something I thought was interesting regarding war / fighting (to
paraphrase awkwardly) “I can chose within myself to turn my other cheek
to a blow, but I can’t stand by and watch my brother get beaten. I will
defend him. May God have mercy on me.”Agreed, Christ did not
preach the removal of “evil” social structures (slavery, soldiering),
but to be Holy in whatever place you find yourself. Tough subject.
paraphrase awkwardly) “I can chose within myself to turn my other cheek
to a blow, but I can’t stand by and watch my brother get beaten. I will
defend him. May God have mercy on me.”Agreed, Christ did not
preach the removal of “evil” social structures (slavery, soldiering),
but to be Holy in whatever place you find yourself. Tough subject.
From the Wild01 Feb 2006 02:21 pm
This is a post of the emergency blogcast system. This is only a post.