Final Judgment

William Ramier wrote
at 11:32pm yesterday
Today's morning reading had something interesting in it to me. "So you should not pass judgment on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes;" (from the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians). And I thought, how often do we follow this one. We judge each other every day. We are not to judge the servant of the Master. Only He may judge.

Love

William Ramier wrote
at 3:04am
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Hate

William Ramier wrote
at 3:02am
There's so much hate in the world. Of course we all know this. But, when you come face to face with it, it can really surprise you.

When is it time to stop arguing?

William Ramier wrote
at 7:50pm
I said I had another post, and here it is. For me, it`s time to stop arguing when somebody uses the monkeys coming out of the woods question. When you get to the talking monkeys coming out of the woods part of the debate, it`s over. I`ll explain below. First, some great advice:

In my first semester of Police Ed. at Sir Sandford Fleming, I met a guy in my program who was ex army. He was very opinionated, but a great guy. He always used to say something like," I don`t want you to agree with me, but do you understand what I`m saying? Then I'm done." That's such great advice.

Now, about knowing when it's time to stop arguing:

When a Creationist and an Evolutionist argue, there comes a point when an irate Creationist may exclaim, "Then why aren't there talking monkeys walking out of the woods every day!" This shows more than just ignorance. This shows a lack of willingness to understand, plus it is inflamitory.

Well, I was having a discussion with an evangelical friend of mine once, who hit me with a monkey woods question. We were discussing the issue of prophecy. He said I needed to find out what God wanted me to do. I said that I trusted God, and that his goal would be carried out no matter what I knew. So, I gave him an example. I said, God used the Egyptians (this is where it ties in with the last post, see?). He used the high priest to prophecy, even though he was plotting to kill Jesus. That's when we got to the monkey woods part of the debate, where he refused to see my point at all, when he asked me, "So, you're telling me that you're evil like the high priest and God is going to use you like that. You'd better hope not my friend." :) Yes, we're still friends.

God Used the Roman Empire

William Ramier wrote
at 6:49pm
I just read an interesting piece of scripture during a Bible study, and I'll share it here:

"For the scripture says to the king of Egypt,'I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.'"
Romans 9:17 (TEV)

This scripture reminds me of another post I've been meaning to make, but that's for another day. However, I've often thought (while others are quick to point out the terrible pagan influences the Roman Empire had on Christianity) that God used the Roman Empire as a tool to spread Christianity. Interesting....

Insight, Church Decline, and Dishwashing

William Ramier wrote
at 7:32pm
There was an article in the last Anglican Journal, by Canon Harold Munn, that I think hit the nail on the head. I want to share some of that with you here:

He starts off by telling us a story about a little girl who says, "'My mom said she was so tired, and my dad said he couldn't take it anymore, they were washing the dishes, and that's when they yelled at each other. And if I'd done the dishes, it wouldn't have happened. I'll wash the dishes every night. Maybe they'll get back together.' And she is serious." He says that "the church is treated like one more marginal form of entertainment for the few who like that sort of thing, and churchgoing is no longer a social norm."

How do we respond? According to Canon Munn, "like the child, the church responds to the crisis with self-blame. We declare that the precipitous decline of churchgoing is out fault."

What do we do about it? "So we search desperately for a solution that we can implement. We need to be more friendly. We need to be more modern. We need to be less modern. We need guitars. We need an organ. We need a different style of leader. We need to be more radical. We need to be more conservative. We need to re-organize. We need to work twice as hard. Then it will get better and people will flock back. But that's the church's version of hoping that more dishwashing will bring your parents back together."

"The truth is society has moved on to other interests on the weekend."

How insightful. What a great article.

Warm and Fuzzy?

William Ramier wrote
at 3:34pm
I've heard before that some people have problems with the psalms. Because, they're not all lolly pops and candy canes, not all warm and fuzzy. I never really have had a problem, because my God is a god who does judge, who does punish. However, if I had to pick one psalm that stands out as being particularly unnerving, it's the end of the 137th psalm:

"O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks."
Psalms 137:8-9 (NIV)