Work Gossip

Reading Proverbs Ch 11 tonight, I'm reminded of work.  So many times, I hear people slander others, rather than build them up.  I ask them to support, not attack.  Build people up.  Attack the problem.  I find people so negative.  The office becomes a mire of office politics like strength sapping quicksand.  Positivity breeds positivity.  Gossip destroys trust.  It breeds contempt and an adversarial approach in opposition to team focused problem solving.  They complain, incessantly, about others, their faults, their failings.  Rarely--even when prompted--do they think in a constructive manner, support, assist to develop the skill needed, to convince in order to foster understanding and buy in.  Finger pointing is just plain laziness, and now I'm doing it, ironically.  Although, I do ask, "How can we build them up, make them better?"  It really is a betrayal, at the foundational level, for a support department to commit slander.  And, it really does uncover truths, for those with the intellect to find them.

Bronze Serpent

Fiery serpents?  That's a crazy plague.   The serpent has long symbolized sin.  Moses putting the bronze serpent on the pole in Leviticus is said to symbolize Jesus being lifted up on the cross to save us from our sins, and in fact foreshadows the crucifixion.  I see that.  But, firey serpents would be a freaky plague to deal with.

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The Sedducees were wrong

The Crucifixion and the life everlasting:

Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 49:7-9, Psalm 49:15 - New International Version

Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 49:7-9, Psalm 49:15 - New International Version No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— so that they should live on forever and not see decay.

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Thirty 7

As I chanted Psalm 37 tonight, I was impressed by the fact that it never fails to strike me when I read this psalm that God won't give up on me, even when I fall headlong into sin.  Now though, the next verse is starting to strike me, as I am starting to get old.  I can feel the age in my back, in my arms, shoulders.

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Wolverine was a childhood hero of mine when I collected comic books.

I don't think that I can watch the movie Logan, heart wrenching.  It reminds me of Dad, gone now for two years.  It reminds me of myself as I age.  It reminds me of my body, breaking (not broken, yet), slowly & inevitably wearing out.  It reminds me of the world, becoming dark and evil all around me.  It reminds me of my daughter, lost (in some ways).  I want to bawl just watching clips online.  A little too close to home, maybe it is.  I can't watch this movie.

Faith, Grace, Works

I've been watching a new--new to me--YouTube personality who is a Christian apologist.  Even though he is rude and bombastic, I have been attracted to his videos on Islam and on the Trinity.  He has--over the life of his ministry--become a Catholic.  Turning on Protestantism, he attacks what he claims are Protestant beliefs.  I think his conversion had more to do with his interaction with kind Catholic people at a low point in his life than with doctrine, but who am I to judge a fellow servant of the Master.

One of his attacks is on the idea of salvation through faith, not works.  My own father used to say that Catholics denied the sacrifice of Christ as being payment in full for our sins, the totality of the payment once and for all time.  He had a saying he was fond of, Dad, that went, "I'm out for Supper and when the bill comes, I realize that I don't have my wallet.  Jesus says, 'Don't worry.  I got it,' as he pays the bill in full."  I always believed that Works were a sign of salvation, not a way to earn it.  But, my YouTube pundit would argue--actually, he would ban me from his channel--with me about works.   ...were I foolish enough to challenge him.

Well, tonight, I felt that the Bible passage that I read in Romans Ch 9 made it pretty clear.  The Hebrews who tried to salvation through the Law failed.  They tried to find salvation through works.

Keep Me, Guide Me

https://grateful.org/light-a-candle/#step-2

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Can any of us be better than Peter?

 Peter denied Christ before the rooster crowed.  He was ready to die, but fear gripped him.  Emotions grip us often.  Our limbic system takes over.  We want to do one thing, and we do another.  Peter loved Christ.  We can't be better than Peter.