Crazy Theological Thoughts

A Christian is a person who takes up his cross and follows him. God desires people to look beyond themselves. We suffer as Christians because when we suffer it is harder to stay strong in the faith. When things are difficult people tend to turn inward. They tend to be less likely to reach out for help. God desires us to reach out for help when we need it. God desires people to lean on one another. When you share your burdens they are easier to carry. Jesus says my Burden is light. I am not quite sure what that means right now. But for this purpose one would say he is there to lighten our burdens. He takes all our sins and shame upon himself. He also gives people who will stand around us and encourage us. When you are down and out laying on the mat who do you look to for help. I know were to turn. I look to the cross of Christ for sure. But I also look to my christian friends and family. They are placed in my life to give me comfort and encouragement. They help us through the tough time...

It is great when people desire to become a christian. But there are many people that struggle with the concept of faith. I love the father who comes to Jesus and says "I believe help my unbelief." But the encouragement to practice being a Christian seems a little strange. Many people say Practice what you preach, but the truth is that some times we need to practice before we preach. If we practice being a Christian this would mean going to church, praying, and leading a better life. These while may not come from faith to start but can build a strong faith. The real problem is when people are practicing becoming a Christian. They have been Christians for years but are still practicing. This also can relate to people who are only acting like they are Christians. Practice means actually doing something. But most of the Christians in name only are not actually doing something. I would much better have a Practicing Christian who does something. People need to act like a Christian ...

When we start talking about Genesis 2:2 it becomes very difficult for the Three Creation Accounts. Most of the Church Fathers teach us the theory of a continued creation. Augustine states, "The earth was invisible and unorganized, and darkness was over the abyss. Formless is suggested by these words, so that we might grasp the meaning by degrees, for we are unable to think cognitively about an absolute privation of form that still does not go as far as nothing." Augustine supports the idea of a creation that still needs to be ordered. Basil the Great says, "that [the heavens] were not yet brought to perfection themselves, nor had they received their proper adornment, since they were not yet lighted around by the moon nor the sun, nor crowned by the choirs of the stars." Here the incomplete action of the beginning. The heavens and the Earth were not perfected or good yet. Ambrose gives us further insight into the church Fathers understanding of verse 2. "...

Basil the Great talks about problems with the Manichaeans. But also has to deal with Gnostic myth. But these just remind us that the origin of species has been a problem that every Religious thought through the centuries. Thus, the 1st Article to the creed simply reminds us God created the Heavens and the Earth. The 1st Article also reflects God the Father. While some may ask is this all the Father does, the response should be "isn't that enough." But part of proving Christ to be one with the Father is John 1:1 his part in Creation. Part of proving the Holy Spirit as the 3rd person in the Trinity is his part in creation. Trinitarian Doctrine is again one of the greatest struggles we have. But remember the only true God is the one who created all things. In the same way to say Jesus or the Holy Spirit are God, doesn't that mean they also must have a role in Creation or be creators themselves. Thus, here becomes the continued goal. Not to prove God or Creation ...

Basil the Great wrote, "We are proposing to examine the structure of the world and to contemplate the whole universe, not from the wisdom of the world but from what God taught his servant when he spoke to him in person and without riddles." God recounted for Moses these words we Now read in Genesis. Are these the exact words of God? This is the word of God for us to understand his creation. Basil the Great reminds us it is not by examining the world and universe through our wisdom but through God's revelation. We look to the creation of the world through both. We have people who use science to prove order in creation. We also have scientists that look for proof of Intelligent Design. But we also turn to Genesis to see the Wisdom of God. God does not speak through parables in Genesis. God speaks specifically to the people. He wants to make people understand that he is the one who created all things. He created all things out of nothing. God gives all things life...

St Augustine supports the theory of a continued process of creation. Genesis 1:1 is the start and 2:3ff is the organization of that which he brought forth out of nothing. Augustine states, "Scripture called heaven and earth that formless matter of the universe, which was changed into formed and beautiful natures by God's ineffable command. … This heaven and earth, which were confused and mixed up, were suited to receive forms from God their maker." Augustine is one of my favorite Church Fathers. The point is that God did bring forth all things from nothing. I find this relationship to verse two most fully covered. But I still struggle with the thought of God creating general than molding in specifically. But God can do things however he pleases. Here the beginning could be taken even to indicate the 1st step. When you start a building project the 1st thing you do is get the materials you need. God created the materials he will need. All matter that has ever been ...

Origen connects "In the beginning" to the Christ. He is making s definite John 1:1 connection. Origen says, "Scripture is not speaking here of any temporal beginning, but it says that the heavens and the earth and all things that were made were made 'in the beginning,' that is, in the savior." Origen, while I do not consider one of the most orthodox church fathers, thinks this reflects Christ being part of Creation. Most people I have talked to do not pick up on this. They connect the word of God, Christ, to the spoken word of God in Genesis 1:3ff. I do not know about this temporal thought. I would say that this is the origin of species. "In the beginning" reflects point of starting creation. When you twist this you open a lot of other ideas. Now this is not something I would open this to the discussion. Thus, I disagree personally with Origen's idea. I would support the connection with John 1:1 found in Genesis 2:3ff. This is my conn...

I recently took a trip to an Indian Reservation. I saw a sweat lodge. I talked to some people who have Native Spirits living with them. I also talked to some people who had their eyes opened. Many people in the world struggle with what they call their demons. But most of us do not actually believe in Demons. A Man once told me those things that you don't believe in still believe in you. The greatest trick the devil ever played on Humanity is teaching them he does not exist. He does exist. Demons and Spirits are around us. People who play with spirits will eventually get bitten. For many years even true modernists have still told us to avoid dancing and Gambling and drinking extra spirits. The truth is that these spirits do exist. Some Cultures are more in tune with spirits, but the truth is they just play with them. Jesus Christ is our strength over the Demons. He and His Disciples played with Demons, but the real lesson should be taken from the Sons of Sceva. You can get burned. B...

It was great to see Superman return to the big screen. It was great because he embodied the same story of Superman we see all over the place. I don't know if you ever watched a TV Show called Smallville. But in the first episode he ends up hanging like a scarecrow with kryptonite around his neck. Superman was created by two Jewish boys, but seems to always wind up dying or close to it and rising again. Tell me how he either ends up in the pool of water with Kryptonite around his neck, or walking on to a island made of Kryptonite. Superman Returns has Superman coming back from a trip back home. He has been gone for a while. Since he was gone, Lex Luther makes it out of prison, because Superman is not there to give testimony against him. Luther than reminds us of how valuable land is. Luther is going to create land. The Land of course will be created with Kryptonite, so Superman can not come close to him. In this movie Superman will be declared dead. He will then after a c...

This was an interesting movie. If you have not seen the movie it was good. The action sequences gave you a thrill from time to time. There were twists and turns in the plot. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. If you have seen this movie, continue. I have a couple of problems with the movie. First, what is he listening to? He has this thing that resembles an ipod but they never tell you what he is listening to (unless I missed it). It is not just to amplify his hearing because he takes it off to talk to people. It has a battery that drains because he needs to recharge it. Second, if you haven't seen the movie this gives too much away so stop reading. The Book is too thin. The book is about the same thickness as the one which is put on the shelf. I have always been a proponent of a President getting sworn in on a Brail Bible but it is because the entire bible would sit like a podium in front of him. I worked with some people making brail bibles, they printed just one ...

Rope-a-dope is when you let your enemy beat you and wear himself out. The turn is a way to lull people into thinking they know the trick, but then for the Prestige it is all different. "For while expecting to have him, he lost even those he had; and when Christ's body was nailed to the cross, the dead arose." We find it repeatedly in Movies and Comic Books. Our great heroes must allow for great evil to appear to win. This is so that we can see the Villain so proud before he realizes he is headed for disaster. The Villain holds the hero at the brink of death, all appears to be lost, but then the change. The Hero becomes stronger. I should review some classic movies for you that have this feature. I hope you can think of them yourself. But Christ does the same thing. You look in the Passion of the Christ. As Jesus dies Satan and his child are smiling. Then when he breathes his last the scream heard throughout creation. Satan has been defeated. This quote from ...

Now if you actually think about the three creation accounts there are still difficulties. This does not smooth everything out. But there are difficulties with all three of the interpretations I have run into. The problem comes in "Creation Account 2" the six days of creation. On Day 2 you have the Word saying the water needs to be separated. If you do not connect the Days of Creation to the first act of Creation or Pre-Creation acts (1:1-2), then where did the water come from. The idea that Creation account one (Genesis 1:1-2:3) would explain this that it is ordering the formless and void part. Thus, in Day one you have contrasted Light and Darkness. Now in Day two you deal with separating the water which was created earlier. (Thus you have the 6+ days of creation.) I think this is easy to say that he is not asking already existing water to be separated but also calling for the existence of water. This water above and water below are separated, but this is still new water. Yo...

I had really not thought about this much until now. Most Christians believe in 6 days of Creation. I do not want to put more pressure on this understanding of Genesis 1:1-2:3 being on continuous account. But it would really push me to think that there was 6+ days to creation. Now some might not have a problem. Many people who confess the 6 Days of Creation say they were not literal days. The term day is used in other places to reference a time period longer or shorter than 24 hours. Scripture also says that a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. But these are not what I am talking about. In verses 1-2 you do not have a definite reference for time. Without Light and Darkness being distinct or Light existing you can not have Day and Night. Therefore, verses 1-2 become a timeless frame. In the beginning would mean the starting point. This is the first act of creation. Now there is no recognition of how long this took for the formless and void heaven...

Another thought I ran into recently was the idea that Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the first Creation Account. Now Most bibles you look at our outlines separate Genesis 1:1-2 from Genesis 1:3-2:3. But this was an interesting thought of connecting these two together. The way I would understand it is that everything was dark without light. Thus, in Genesis 1:1 you have the basic frame of the earth with the angels and heavens created. The spirit hovers over the waters which made up the earth. But everything was not orderly yet. It was like God created the blob of playdough and now then the word would shape it and develop creation. This of course sounds a lot like the idea of the Father being separate from Creation and has to send the son to relate to creation. This stemmed out of the Heresy that Jesus was a step lower than God. These are developments from Gnosticism and Arianism. But I would think it is more characteristic of showing the Sons active role in creation. But the people I tal...

Most of the time books will start off with an introduction. Some books will even use the introduction to help tell you what is going to happen throughout the book. Movies start with dialogue that might set the stage for you. In Genesis there are introductory statements for the main sections of the book. I am not a commentator on the entire book of Genesis. Nor have I read more than a handful of Commentaries on Genesis. But I am very frustrated with anyone who calls verse one an Introduction to Genesis or the Bible. Introductions to the various sections of Genesis: Look in Chapter 2 verse 4. "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth …" "This is the book of the generations of Adam." "These are the generation of Noah." "Now these are the generations of Terah." "These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's Son: …" "These are the generations of Esau …" One of the struggles you may find in Genesis is dating when Be...

Genesis 1:1 is the first Creation account. Some seem to call this an introduction to the book of Genesis. But Genesis only spends the first two chapters on Creation. While you may call creation itself the introduction to all life that is fine, but then it is not just verses 1-2 that are the introduction. Now I do not fully understand how verse 2 fits, must commentators really struggle with the thought of Creation being void or chaotic? Enough about verse 2, Creation account one is verse one. This is the same account we find in the first article of the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed. It was very important to our confession of Faith to remind ourselves that God the Father created us. He is the one who has given us life. He is the one who loves us so much to send his only Son our Lord to save us. Here it is not a detailed account of how everything happened. But does it have to have detail for it to stand alone. I played cards today. This is a simple statement that exp...

It has astonished me for a while now how we look at Genesis 1. If I ask most pastors or theologians out there they will say there are two Creation Stories. I already talked about why we should not use stories, but other than that is that true. Your first inclination would to talk about other times when Creation is pointed to throughout Scripture. Thus, of course there is more than two Creation Accounts including those outside of Genesis 1-2. But I am just thinking about within Genesis 1-2. First recite for yourself the Nicene or Apostle's Creed. The beginning should go something like "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker/Creator of heaven and earth (all things visible and invisible)." What does that mean? No, not the meaning of the small catechism. Isn't that in itself an account of creation? If you would have counted other places in Scripture accounts of Creation, like John 1 or various spots in the Psalms, then why not here in the creed. This is p...

It is difficult for me to understand this concept. We say the Old Testament is filled with Bible Stories. When we ask about Jesus, generally speaking it is a story about Jesus. Is there problems with saying these are Bible Stories? When I read to a child I read them a story. You have the story of Hercules. "Toy Story" franchise reminds us that stories can be fictional. If I tell you a story, most of the time I will make most of it up. But if you ask me for my account of what happened isn't that different? My account of last night's game should be an accurate representation of what I saw. I am not going to say that all accounts are objective. But it should be less subjective than a story. Do we fail our language skills by calling them Bible Stories? When I think of Stories I think of bed time stories. The Story of the scorpion or fox and the turtle is not true. The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare is not true. These are more like parables. Jesus tells ...

Some Nations are born by slaves revolting. Some Nations are born by following a great leader. Other Nations come about by divisions or uniting people. The United States was born by revolting against their proper Authority. King George and England were the proper Authority. The Revolution or Declaration of Independence was like a slave revolt. But the truth is that the United States was freedom driven and yet kept its slaves. There was a Declaration of Revolt from Authority and the process continues. This country has fought for freedom. Then this country fought for freedom. Late, this country fought for freedom. Now we still fight for freedom or Release from authority. (Note: Revolutionary War, Civil War, Civil Rights, and Same sex marriage forcing freedom on others) There is another Nation that does talk about freedom, but is not fighting for freedom. This Nation was born out of Slaves. This Nations follows a truly powerful leader. This Nation unites us together. This Nations sets us a...

Our inability to change can be one of our greatest flaws. The more things change the more they stay the same. We choose not to change. Even when we are suffering the pain we know is better than the one we don't know. Maybe that should be the Devil you know. All of us have a problem wit change. Staying the same for as long as possible. We don't want to know the other pain out there. So we stand still remain the same. Unable to take the leap of faith. To go beyond and challenge ourselves to push past this. When Change happens, when we take that leap of faith it may not be something Momentous. Not moving mountains. But something so small. Most people won't even notice it. Pay close attention to your life. See the pain we keep with us. See the ability to move beyond that pain ready to face the world. Who we are may not be all that bad. We could be worse people. But still we need to be open to change. The Little Change that happens in our lives. The Change that allows us to grow...

Many people jock about riding the short bus. Not to say those who ride the short bus are bad people, because I think they are great people. They are what some people might call special people. But I have been looking at those short bus riders in the bible. These are overlooked special books of the Bible. A couple weeks again in Bible study we looked at 3 John. Why start with 3 John? I do not know. But 3 John was very interesting to look at. St John tells us, "For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." St John has great joy in his children. 3 John tells us about welcoming our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to help find homes for those traveling missionaries. We need to help those who are doing the work of God. This reflects Matthew 25, "the least of these my brothers." 3 John also shows us ...