God Logic vs World Logic.

I have this theory that once upon a time, the world worked on an entire different sort of logic... Because of a lack of science, yes... But more because by lack of science, facts were proven and not limited by law.
After all, the strength of sin is the law. 1 Corinthians tells us that. (You: Where?) Meh, go find it. I gave you the book if the bible. A hint though, the chapter starts with a rebuke to those who don't believe in the resurrection.

That's a perfect example, actually. Hm. Maybe that's why those two things are in the same chapter. I dunno. But this I know; according to the "laws of nature", dead things stay dead. Just like you can only go a mile a minute at 60 mph. 5 loaves of bread does not feed a starving multitude. And by the "laws of nature," seas and rivers do not split or stop flowing, the sun doesn't stand in place for any length of time, and donkeys definitely do Not talk.

Yet, here we have the Bible. Lazarus dies and stays that way for over a day. Jesus doesn't raise him off a death bead; he raises him out of a grave. A family grave. After he'd been carefully prepped and wrapped and laid to rest. In Luke, Jesus (Who died and is now not dead) walks to Emmaus with two disciples, who didn't recognize him... They invite him to eat dinner with them, and suddenly as he breaks bread they realize who he is. And then he vanishes. (We also have him floating up to heaven on a cloud later). In John ^ (Seriously, read this chapter) Jesus feed thousands of people on one boy's dinner, with left overs, and then proceeds to walk halfway across a lake, get in a boat, and suddenly the boat is at it's destination. Moses splits the Red Sea in half. The Israelites walk across the Jordan river... On dry land. The sun didn't move until the battle was won. And in Numbers Balaam got his a** chewed out by his ass. (Sorry if that offends anyone.)

In today's society, there are two opinions on these phenomenon. There's the Christian opinion which dubs them "miracles." This is a Biblical opinion, though in the greek they are called Signs and Wonder, just to be specific.

These are not Normal. Not now, anyways.

The world's opinion is that all these stories are insanity and factious. Exaggerations. Cool stories.

And why wouldn't they? It's not like the church today lives in that reality.

So here's my question: why not?

The Bible is chock full of awesome stories of things that are not Normal. But did we see Moses hesitate to throw his stick on the ground? No. And then it turned into a snake and ate the demon stick-snakes.

Which brings me to another point. "Miracles" are not limited simply to the church. We live in a reality limited to the physical. We live in a world where science defines what does and what doesn't happen. But see, science is merely limited to the three dimensions we see, and then the fourth dimension, or rather, time.

Science belongs to a world created. Science belongs to the earth. While it is real, it is NOT a governing system. God is the governing system. Did science exist before the world was made? No. Because there was no world to apply it to. There were no rules. There were no dimensions to work with, just... God. And the spirit of God hovered over the waters, and then He spoke light, and thus we see light without source.

No science. Just the power of the word of the uncreated God.

If we live according to world science, World Logic as I call it, then fruit has nothing to do with knowledge and revelation. Fruit is mere sustenance.

But throw that into God logic.

And in God logic, the application of Faith and Willingness results in a mere mortal man walking across the water to meet Jesus.

Do you see my point? Science has limited our scope. It's boxed us in to a certain set of rules pertaining to a limited amount of dimensions. It counts out the spirit realm.

It tells us that no one can look at a lame man begging at the Beautiful Gates and tell him to get up. It says Peter should have died at Herod's hand int eh book of Acts.

So... Where in the Bible does it tell us God Logic no longer applies? Where in the Bible are we told to live primarily according to the sciences and knowledges of man?

I don't know about you, but in My world... What God says goes. And I've got God living in me.


~Silver

More rules :P (V-day 2)

More rules for life. And. Dating. And stuff like that.

1. DO NOT date someone because you're lonely. This will not end well. You'll live by who they are. And if they leave, you'll crash into a sudden desire for non existence, until you find another person to "fill" that emptiness in your heart.
2. DO NOT date someone just cuz they're cute. This is self explanatory.
3. DO NOT date someone because they think you are amazing. If this is why you like them.. Then you're just using them. And you suck.
4. Similarly, don't date someone who likes you because you like them.
5. DO date someone because you think they are amazing, And they think you are amazing, AND (This one is important) you want to spend the rest of your life with them.
6. Treat any relationship as though it is the most serious one you've ever been in.
7. Keep your relationships sacred.
8. Keep God sacred.
9. Don't try to fix the person you're with. If they require you to fix them, then you shouldn't be dating them.
10. Let God take care of things.
11. Look to God to fix your life.
12. Getting mad solves nothing. NOTHING.
13. Getting even doesn't solve anything either.
14. If you take a second to figure out what hurt you and made you mad, you can fix it.
15. If you take a second to figure out what hurt your person and made them mad (Friend or significant other), you can fix it.
16. Stay calm.
17. Kissing doesn't actually make everything better. That's like putting frosting over a moldy cake. You can't eat it, it's still bad and getting worse, but it looks pretty so you'll keep it for longer while it gets destroyed from the inside out.
19. Needing someone is not loving them.
20. God coming first doesn't mean you ask Him to fix your relationship. God coming first means stopping what you're doing, letting go, and saying "Your kingdom come, your will be done." even if it means losing everything. (Especially if it means losing everything)
21. God is not a fixit man, he is a builder. And He built you. And He calls you sacred and beautiful. Don't defile that.


So, there's another 21 rules/guidelines. Thank you if you commented on the last post, I really appreciate people's input. It helps me to fix anything that needs fixing and it also gives me an idea of what to write later on. (That and it's nice to see that someone actually reads and thinks about the stuff here.)

Here's another post from.. Forever ago about relationships, in case you're interested.

I may or may not have another post before V-day hits.... If I don't.. Remember to buy discount candy the day after!!!

(The plus of being single...)

 ~Silver

Security in Who you Are (V-day 1)

(You: Kittens? Seriously?)

Yeah. Told you I would. 

The post actually had a point to it... We'll see over the next few posts if anyone got it. (This is a test of your observations skills. And your listening skills. Etc.)

But now onto more serious topics. (Well, ok, to me the last post was a very serious topic, all wrapped up in a silly little story...)

Valentine's day is coming up, and you're probably one of three people. You're either excited, because your person is awesome and you just know something awesome is gonna happen, Worried, because you don't know what's going on and you don't know if your person will be happy or not... Or you're like me and you're alone and you feel alone and this day is gonna suck.

(There are two other kinds of people, the kind who's others have died and the kind who are single but are ok with that. My condolences tot he first of those types. My congratulations to the second.)

If you are the first of the five people I just mentioned, awesome. This post isn't necessarily for you.

 If you are the second... Stay Here. We need to have a short talk.

If you are the last... I'm sorry. I feel you're pain. It is going to be ok, I promise. Someday, you and I won't have to go through this torture every year. Nobody ends up alone forever, unless they choose to be. I propose we spend the 14th finding all the other single people and giving them chocolate. Sound good? Great. Also, you can stay here too if you wish. This is off-handedly directed at you too.


So over the next few days leading up to V-Day, I'll be posting stuff about relationships. (This is my first ever post here. It's my favorite... Well, ok so a lot of them are my favorite. But anyways. If you haven't read it, you should. You should also pick through and read other things from that year, k? K.)

Today our post will be about insecurity in relationships. (You: Well now That doesn't sound judgmental at all...) You use your discretion. If to you, this post is entirely pointless, don't take offense. Just leave. Or send this to all of your friends. Or whatever.

Anyways. Moving on.

Sooo it's almost Valentine's day. You've done everything you can think of. You got him/her a card, and chocolate, and a teddy bear... You've made plans to go out and eat and see a movie. You know exactly what you're wearing. You know what your hair will do, what your make up will look like... Maybe you've even planned conversation.

Whatever.

You have this entire thing planned out perfectly, nothing is going to go wrong this year, it's going to be awesome and perfect and... And... What if... No.. Well... What if he/she hates it? What if something goes wrong? What if they're not happy?

What if you're not good enough?

(Or maybe you're single, and this is the only thing running through your head, as to why you're single.)

Let me start by saying that if you're afraid of not being good enough, you haven't been reading this blog at all. God made you, remember?

But all that aside...

Why wouldn't you be good enough? He/she is dating you, right? He/she clearly thinks you are the most amazing You there will every be. You've been told you're pretty. Stop worrying.

(Again, or you're single. Thought... Maybe you're last relationship died because you spent too much time convinced you weren't good enough that he/she couldn't love you? If that wasn't it, then clearly he/she wasn't good enough for you and is an idiot who was probably dropped as a child and is insecure therefore cannot keep you or anyone around because they are insecure and, well, stupid.)

Insecurities have no place in this day. Valentine's day should Never be a test of how much you and whoever love each other. The minute it becomes that you need to do one of two things. You need to either have a long talk with your person, Or. You need to take a step back, pray, and get some inner healing for rejection.

Who you are is not based on what your person thinks of you. It is not based on how well this day goes. There is some grace, I suppose, for if this is you and person's first Valentine's day together. If you've only been dating a month then ok, I can understand some insecurities. And I'm not saying you should be totally and completely unconcerned about what he/she thinks at all.

But spending a week worrying about it? Questioning whether he/she will break up with you? You are dooming your relationship to a short life of worry and pain. If you're doubting whether he/she is being honest when they say "I love you," then you really shouldn't even Be Dating.

Don't you know who you are?

Let's play compare for a second.

Once upon a time God wanted a bride for His Son, so He made you.

You.

Not some amazing angelic Thing.

He made YOU.

YOU, who YOU are, is more than good enough for God. It is so much more than good enough for God that His Son Died For You.
He stepped out of heaven, stepped out of glory, out of a place where if he wanted it, He could be eating a cloud sunday while choirs of sheep and dinosaurs sang to him... And then became this itty bitty dust-thing sleeping where farm animals eat. He was the poorest of the poor. A carpenter. Not anything wealthy or important.

You're afraid someone will never truly love you?
You're afraid you're not good enough?

God died for you, in a roundabout way. Jesus left the love of his father so he could take up all Your sins.

So if you're afraid you're not good enough for someone, please first throw it into this perspective.

Of course then we have the evil people who make everyone else feel like they're not good enough.

You've heard this before but please listen to me.

If. Your boyfriend or girlfriend. On a regular basis. Spends time making you feel inferior. Treats you like the dust of the earth. Compares you to people they think are better than you. Compares you to their ex all the time, who they clearly think are better than you. Manipulates you into doing things because that would make you more awesome...

Leave them.

They are insecure, and have made you feel the same so that they can keep you. They are afraid of losing you. They are using who you are and what you do as a basis for who they are and what they do. You are going to be miserable for a very long time if you don't fix it now.

No one has any right at all to define you unless they are defining you as God's. Anything else is a lie.

That's why your relationship with God is supposed to come first. Unless you really have what God says about you at your core, you're going to spend a lot of time being miserable and insecure and unhappy.

if valentine's day is a day of terror for you, you really need to question what's going on in your heart, and go to God with it and settle it.

Also, if you know a single person, make it a point on the 14th to give them a hug and a box of candy, k? :)

~Silver

You are Nothing.......... If you stand alone.

“Guess what?

You are not enough.

Why do you keep trying?

Give up. “

It’s true, what I said last time. (You need to read this post before you can read the one you're at now. It is imperative. Sorry.) [(... I'm not actually sorry. Go read it.)]

Yeah, so maybe the post was a little cruel sounding (You: A little cruel sounding? A Little, cruel sounding? You sick, sadistic human being…) Well, alright. So maybe a little more than a little harsh.

But why dance around it? It’s something we all hear, something we all feel.. Why pretend that isn’t an accusation on your heart?

If no one brings up the cruel things in life, all our problems will never be solved.

That’s my theory, anyways. (You: Well, your theory sucks.) Fine, I’ll write about kittens next time.

But until then, lemme finish up here. Last week’s post was not a meandering stab at your heart. 

We’ve all heard the saying, “The truth will set you free.” And we all know, it’s true. 

But context is everything.

If I were to look a girl in the eyes and say “You are beautiful,” she’d probably smile. It’d hit her heart a little, but not much. However, if a guy did the same thing, she’d probably blush a little and she’d feel it more. She’d believe it a little more. And if the guy she likes did the exact same thing, she’d be on cloud nine. She’d spend the rest of the day living off the emotions from that comment. 

One truth. Three reactions.

Now, take the phrase “You’re beautiful,” and put it into advertising. Stick it on the walls of Victoria’s Secret. Stick it in a shampoo commercial. Suddenly, this truth is a ploy. A lure. A trap of sorts. 

Give the phrase to a rapist (Or, you know, someone friendlier. A player maybe.) Now this truth is deadly.

The truth in and of itself is neutral. It’s how you use it that counts.

Now that we’ve settled that, let’s move on.

“You are not enough.” 

That’s another truth. Do you see where I’m going with this? When we hear this one, we immediately rebel against it. “No! I am enough!” we cry, desperately hoping to ease the pain we feel. 

And that’s exactly the reaction the enemy would want. I don’t talk about spirit stuff much. I mostly just lean towards God. But allow me to introduce you to the dark side, and what the dark side does.

The truth is, you alone are not enough. 

God designed you to work with people, and most importantly to work with him. Companionship. We weren’t made to lean solely upon ourselves. But then the prince of shadows came along and said, “Hmm. If I focus on that truth, I bet you the sad little humans’ll start running from it.” And that’s exactly what has happened. When you take the truth out of the context of leaning on God, suddenly, you feel weak. You feel insignificant. And, you have no reasoning behind it. 

The truth is, you are weak.

The truth is, you are insignificant.

The truth is, you were made to lean on God and you were made to find your significance in Him. 

But we’ve turned from that and we’ve built our own lies. We call them the truth, because they feel safer than the accusations of our hearts. And still, the accusations stand because, well, the accusations are not false.

It all depends on the context. It all depends on what you finish the sentence with. On where it comes from. On who’s saying it. On what meaning you give it.

It's time for a change.

You are not enough… Because you need God.

Why do you keep trying? … Your insistence on leaning upon your brokenness is killing you.

Give up…. And let God take control. 

Let it fall where it may. When you are looking at God, the world around you stops mattering.

You can’t hold it up. It’s not your place.

So.

Stop.

~Silver

The Power Of Prayer

Well. I have a bunch of long posts that I'm refining. So until I can get one of them postable (The question being, Should it be the music post, a love post, or an evangelizing post?) this is a short post. About prayer.

Prayer is important. We all have heard this at least, even if we don't get it. And, most of us don't get it. Why is prayer important? Does God need us to ask Him? Does His mind require changing? I thought He was omnipotent, and all knowing. Doesn't He know things need doing? Doesn't he care enough to help me on His own? 

The easiest example to use probably speaks to guys the best. How long does a relationship last when the girl expects the guy to know all of her needs and desires? Guy gets girl a purple scarf, she's mad cuz her favorite color is blue. But she never told him her favorite color, and most of her clothes are purple, so he guessed and was really excited to find her the scarf.

(You: but God knows everything)

Yes, yes He does. That wouldn't be a relationship, now, would it? That would be rather one sided. You get everything you want or need, and you don't ever talk to Him. Except occasionally to thank Him. 

(You: But.. He's God. He's above all that.)

Above all what? We were made in His image, complete with His emotions. Including sadness. Sorrow. Pain. You thought God was immune to that? No.

God feels pain. 

God feels pain every time you arrogantly expect Him to cater to your every need. 

Every time you turn from Him and try to fix it on your own instead of simply killing your pride and asking Him. 

Every time you get mad at Him for not being there. 

God feels pain when you do. Did you know what? The same way when someone you love is hurt, you want to fix it and help them and you empathize with them... God's like that. 

That doesn't make God more human. Because remember, He came first and made us in His image. Not the other way around. 

We were made to partner with His heart, to ask for things and pray for burdens so that it could be a shared joy.

He doesn't need us. He wants us. 

~Silver

A matter of Perspective.

Our perspective of God: We are chess pieces in a sick and twisted game.

God’s perspective: I’m training an entire world of people. To judge angels.

Our perspective: Hell? That’s just cruelty.

God’s perspective: So, you have two choices. Life with me and life without. But to live with me, you have to love me before you love others, and you have to love others as you love yourself. Sound simple? Great. If you don’t want to do that, and you’d rather hell, then hell it is.

It’s up to you.

Our perspective: Yeah, I accepted Jesus into my heart. God’s pretty far away though. In heaven somewhere.

God’s perspective: Jesus and I are one. I am inside of you. My name is the Holy Spirit.

Our perspective: Why would I say yes to you? You won’t tell me what you’re doing!

God’s perspective: I wish you’d just say yes. You’re dying. I’m trying to save you. And if you’d just listen to me and stop trying to fix everything, you’d know exactly what I’m doing. And, you’d stop dying!

Our perspective: We got kicked out of Eden… For one person’s sin?

God’s perspective: I made mankind, planning to teach them how to love. But they chose to love themselves. They won’t listen if I keep them here in Eden, if I overlook their selfishness. But look, for one person’s death I’ll save all of them. Fair? Thought so too. Glad we agree.

Our perspective: So we just have to repent and be forgiven? Sounds too easy. I bet God stays mad at us for a week. And we have to do penance. And be extra good.

God’s perspective: … I forgave you. Why are you avoiding me? That’s nice that you’re being extra good but… I like talking to you. Why won’t you respond? I thought we were friends?

Our perspective: I have to change. That way I can get closer to God. He won’t see me unless I fix myself.

God’s perspective: So.. Here I am, living inside of you….. Closer to you than I am to the angels… But you’ve locked me in the guest room so you can clean your house. Except you’ve got mud all over your feet and you’re just knocking things over and making it worse. If you’d let me, you know, I’m God… All powerful, all knowing, and I am Love… I could… Help you.. Fix you….

I didn’t make you to change yourself you know. I made you to lean on me. I made it so we’d work together on this.

Our perspective: We have to pray and change God’s mind!!!!

God’s perspective: I love it when you pray, when you agree with my heart. I love that you’re partnering with me on this! This is what I want to do! Thanks for asking! I love you. I love when you agree with me.

Wait, what? Change my mind? …. But.. I don’t… change o.O

Our perspective: I have a guardian angel. He keeps me safe. So God can go do other stuff.

God’s perspective: I feel like I’ve said this before. Oh wait. I have. I’m living in your heart.

Btw I’m omnipresent. I am everywhere. I can do everything at once. Or did you forget?

Our perspective: I’m a terrible person. And I’m ugly And worthless.

God’s perspective: So once upon a time I had this thought. This thought was you. And you were perfect in my head. And then I made you. Know what? You’re even better now! Cuz everything I make is perfect. I make no mistakes. And I don’t make ugly worthless things.

And you especially? You were made in my image.

Our perspective: God loves us, but that’s as far as he cares.

God’s perspective: Love is everything. I love you. I want to give you everything and make you happy and alive and you know what? I enjoy you. And talking to you. I care about you more than anything else I’ve created.

Our perspective: Love is just a feeling.

God’s perspective: Love is everything.

It’s the reason you breath.

It is all I am.

It is the reason for pain, it is the reason for joy.

It is the reason for anger. it is the reason for fear.

Love is the reason for death.

It is the reason you are in this world.

There is nothing that isn’t rooted in love.

We really don’t know the God we worship. And even if we know it so often we don’t

really believe it. There is so much more depth and reality to what we think but we spend so much time being afraid of getting close, believing lies even if we know better.

We are so, so weak. It’s time we wake up to this and let Him fix us.

Amen?

~Silver

Waiting....

Waiting.

What is waiting, other than something christians seem to do a lot of?

I'm learning to wait.

Right now, what I think it means is sitting still. You know, be still and know He is God? That sort of thing. But can you do stuff in stillness?

Maybe. I don't really know.

I think... I think waiting and being still means you aren't trying to make yourself do anything. It means you're not trying to make yourself stronger or more honest or more faithful or a harder worker.

It means you're just.... Being. It means you're sitting (Well, not literally sitting but whatevs.) and Thinking.

(You: Oh, well that's easy. I can do that)
No, you can't. cuz it's not thinking like... I think Sally and Mindy are cool people but they need to stop fighting over Jake cuz he and Rose make a perfect couple already.

That's easy thinking. Or thinking about yourself. That's easy too. Or thinking about what you're gonna do later, or what you're gonna wear or what your friend will say when you tell her what happened today... That's not being still. That's planning a future. And that's definitely not waiting.

You know when you're picking up a friend for school and they're taking forever and you're sitting in your car bored out of your skull and worried that you'll be late for class but you can't do anything about it?

That. That is waiting.

And if you read the old testament, people did a lot of that. They have to wait for Moses to go talk to God, they have to wait to go into the promise land, they have to wait for God before they can go decimate people in battle.

And if you pull a Saul and decide, screw this waiting sucks, you get immense consequences. Saul got his entire kingdom stripped from him.

Of courseeeeee...... God knows us. He knows how impatient we are. he knows how our tiny little selves are only so disciplined.

And he toook the kingdom from Saul not just cause he didn't wait, but mostly because Saul had a long history of doing what was bad from Israel simply cuz he wanted to look good.

God knows your heart. He punishes and rewards us based on that, not based on our actions. (Though... Actions do stem from the heart, most of the time.)

But back to waiting.

It's a discipline.
(You: So where does thinking come in?)

Fantastic question! The discipline set before us is meditation. Which is thinking. (You: Right. Got that. Still confused.)

Have patience I'm getting there.
Waiting, which is sitting still and thinking, which is meditation, has to be focused on something or else we humans tend to focus it by accident.

(You: Ok. Still confused though. What am I focusing on.)

God.

(you:......)

Right. Exactly. There's my problem. I think... Well, I sort of know anyways, what that means meditating on who God is and who He says I am. If you're thinking of yourself it's not good but if you're thinking of what God thinks of you (And asking Him. Not just thinking.) Then... That's good.

And you're waiting for an answer.

But... What if other than that you don't know what you're waiting for or what needs answered, you just know you're supposed to be waiting. What then?




~Silver

Holiness, which doesn't fit inside my head

So, I wrote this paper for my class. And about a third of the way through it, I thought Hey, this would make a great blog post!
So yeah.
It's written more formally than other posts (Obviously).

Tell me your thoughts... It's due tuesday. I don't actually know how formally it had to be written. But yeah. If you feel like pointing out mistakes, comment :)

We are human. Holiness has become to us as a people similar to what love is: a shallow shadow of the truth. There is no real way to describe the holiness of God. Holy, to the world, really just means divine or consecrated. Sometimes it means perfect. Most times it’s part of something to exclaim when you stub your toe, like “Holy crap!” This is what the American culture has created out of God. They’ve made Him and any description of Him something so shallow that it can be fit into and used in their own unfortunate lives. As Christians, however, we cannot live with this shabby definition, this imposter of Holiness. So what, then, is the Holiness of God?

Holy, as the Greek word ἅγιος (said ag-ee-os) means “set apart” or “other than,” originally anyways. That our God is holy means, obviously, that He is other than. Other than what? Other than human. Set apart from anything of this world. Completely other than and set apart from anything that is not God. That is what He is other than. This may not fit into our heads but then again, if it did, would it really be the truth? Holiness is the entirety of just how much and how perfectly God is separate than man. The infinity of that can never and probably will never really make sense to us as humans but that’s ok. The moment it makes sense to you is when you should start worrying.

Having said that, this is what me, in my weak and unfortunate understanding of the complete other-ness of God, knows. People can say that they are other than other people. Especially in this age, everyone is “unique.” But that’s not holy. Yeah, God is unique. But that is because He is perfect. He is like nothing else because any similarities a person can have to Him makes that person like God, not vice versa. Holy speaks of every aspect of God. It speaks of His Justice. Who else could judge perfectly in love? It speaks of His infinitude; He is like no one because there is no one He can be like. He came first. He always was and always will be. He isn’t like a fire. Rather, fire is like Him. He had to make things to represent himself because His Holiness, He Himself, is so vastly unfathomable that we need something to compare to Him. And He doesn’t change to be more than or less than anything; He simply is. And He simply is perfect. Unlike the world, there is no part of God that makes bad decisions, that protects itself, or that unexpectedly is born into a bad place. There is no such thing as unexpected for God!

What I have said barely even scratches the surface of the Holy One who decided to create a form in the dust and breathe into it. And it doesn’t really say what Holiness is. Is Holiness righteousness? Yes. But that isn’t all it is. So is it loving-kindness? Yes. But that still isn’t the entirety of Holiness. Holiness is the only word that can describe who God is as a perfect Judge, a perfect Lover. Holiness is just how high above creation God is.

This is what moves my heart the most; that as big of a word as Holy is and as big of a God our God is, He sees us. This is a being, an entity, so beautiful and glorious that we have to use barely definable words to describe Him. And at the same time this is a Man. The God so vast that He can’t fit into logic or reason lives in the innermost center of our hearts. This is a spirit dwelling within dust. This is the breath that we breathe. Holiness, the concept of separation, likes me. It washes me in the blood of its Holy Son and it calls me clean. It tells me I can be Holy as it is Holy. And it doesn’t do this grudgingly and it doesn’t sigh and shake its head at me. Holiness does not say I AM higher than you. Holiness says I AM love and I will teach you how to be like me. Holiness says “Come up here” (Rev 4:1). It calls us to repentance and to reverence for our good.

What sort of God do we have that it could create the heavens and the world and molecules and atoms and make everything work perfectly, but then turn around and Love the very definition of immaturity and imperfection? How much unlike humanity is He! How can He love us? It is because He is Holy. He is a trinity that lives, and loves, and died, and lives again. Who came and stayed in our hearts changing us to be with Him in Holiness.

Our God is Holy, but He is not unattainable. Our God is not a slave driver or a impulsive mass murderer, rather He is Just. Our God is not like the gods of this world. Our God is Holy, and a mystery, and that is why our God is real. Because if we could understand how Holiness works and how we are allowed into the throne room, (Trust me, you can’t. There’s logic to it but the logic and reasoning itself doesn’t even make sense.) then He wouldn’t be God any more. He would fit in our heads. We’d have conquered the mystery, just like we have “conquered” the rest of the things of this universe.

Holiness wants us. It is the greatest and most beautiful mystery. Dwell on that; if it doesn’t shake you at all, even to make your brain stop working for a second so all you can hear is your fragile heart beating as you realize Holiness is the reason for it, then you have a serious problem on your hands.

~Silver

The image of God... Sins?

Continuing the last train of thought, lets go from the fact that we’re made in his image to why, if we are reflections of the living God, do we sin?

Let’s think about this logically.

God made man in His image, the image of love (See last post).

But he didn’t just make these mature beings who would know the very power and purpose of love. He made Adam and Eve and gave them a choice: to love him or to love themselves. Surprise of surprises, they chose themselves over Him. We all do. Every day. Which is where the concept of sin came from.

Here. I’ll make an acronym for it. Selfish Intentions Named Supreme. That is what our sins are. Straight up.

Make sense?

Because every day God chooses us over himself. Every day God chooses to love us.

In fact, Jesus, the exact representation of the father, decided to give up his place in heaven watching us… So he could walk with us… Be hated by us… And then.. Get beaten and die. And not just get beaten and die, but be forsaken by God. And now he sits in heaven not just watching over us, but spending his time Pleading for our lives, giving his life still every day so that we can be whole. Reminding his father of what he did.

Not that God forgets. But we see it everywhere in the bible, “Remember your servant oh Lord…” and especially with Israel, in Genesis and Exodus. Moses reminds God over and over again of God’s promises.

Honestly, I think God likes being reminded. Because when you’re reminded of a moment that was important to you, a moment that still is important to you, it takes you to that moment and you re-live it for a moment. It also means that the person reminding you remembers it to. That that moment is not forgotten by the others, that it still holds importance and that it hasn’t been cast off. Moses still holds to the promises God made, and because Moses remembers and wants to keep it still, doesn’t want it broken off and isn’t rejecting it, it means God has a partner….

But that’s an entirely different subject.

See, most people think the opposite of love is hate. But let me tell you why it’s not. Let me explain why it’s selfishness.

Firstly we have to have a right definition of love. What does that mean? Does it mean you want to be close to someone all the time? That you want to take care of them? And hold their hand? And kiss them and make out with them and then marry them? Well, sure those can be Related to love. As in, affects of love.

But this is not love.

Loving is giving. In first and second John, he writes that Love is that we walk according to Gods commandments. (Don’t believe me? Go find it. I gave you the books didn’t I?)

Obviously this is not the only definition of love. But it’s the definition I’m working with right now we can discuss others later.

(you: discuss? I don’t see much discussing here.) Well, maybe if you commented we could have an actual discussion but so far there’s been no one to actually discuss With.

Anyways.

To Love is to Obey God’s commands. (You: well that sounds… Painful. And useless. How can that be love?)

Well, to get back to genesis and exodus, notice how obedience results in good things. In fact, in all of the OT (Old Testament). Like… David loves God with all of his heart (which, speaking of God’s commands psalm 119 is dedicated to God’s law.) and look, he became a king. Of all Israel. And then his son became king. And generations later, he becomes the many time great grandfather of the son of God.

Not that it was a cake walk. But he waited on God. Instead of saying, “God why not now can’t I be king Now and do whatever the heck I want now?” he waited for God’s timing. Meaning, the selfish ex-king Saul chased him all over the Middle East trying to kill him.

See, Saul was a good person. But he didn’t follow God’s commands, instead he chose what would make himself look better and feel better. He loved himself, not God. So the spirit of God left him and he was tormented by demons and had no rest and died knowing he had separated himself from the destiny God had had for him.

That is probably the best contrast of love and not love.

David does slip up once or twice, I know. Bathsheba, instead of leading his army in war he decided to love himself and to give himself a vacation, which lead to him stealing another man’s wife, which led to pain.

See, selfishness was his sin. Selfishness was Saul’s sin. (You: Yes yes I get the point. Selfishness is a sin.)

So, think about every sin and ask yourself, what’s the core reason for it? Adultery? Is pretty much always done for pleasuring self. So selfishness. Lying? Is used to protect self or to get self things. So selfishness. Murder? Is used to punish for a “wrong” done to self. So selfishness. Stealing? Is used to get things for self. So selfishness.

Sin is Love. Love of Self. 

(You: But, what if a man is stealing because his family can’t afford food?)

It’s still a sin because instead of leaning on God for protection, he is choosing his own strength. He is choosing himself, saying his decisions are greater than Gods and that he can provide better than God the provider can.

God, who rained bread from the sky to feed thousands of people.

The God of the Old testament has not changed. But we, in our weakness, want to say he has because he has not saved us when we wanted to be saved. He has not provided for us when we wanted to be provided for.

He has not given us what we want, so why should we give him anything?

But see here’s the thing: All that we deserve is Death. We have, ever since Eve denied God and chose to benefit herself by eating the fruit, consistently chosen ourselves.

God loved us first. He made us in his image, he gave us his own breath, and then to save us his own son, literally a part of him, became one of us and lived selflessly so he could (still selflessly) die.

He already did the hardest thing. But we think it’s too hard to let go of ourselves and to be take care of.

Isn’t it funny? All God wants us to do is follow his commandments so that he can take care of us, but we don’t think it’s fair that we have to do what he wants instead of what we want?

As if we can satisfy our own souls.

Comments are welcome, arguments are welcome. You can find everything in the bible; 1^st and 2^nd Samuel have David and Saul’s lives, Psalms has David’s personal cries to God… Etc.

Blessings, and I hope you love today J

~Silver

Images

Who’s image were You made in?

I know, I’m supposedly doing the purity thing this week, well actually last week’s last last week… but as you can see I’ve lost track. I haven’t had the time to continue upon that train of thought. Fire in the night keeps me pretty busy.

So. Back to the question.

Who’s image were You, the reader, not your friends parents Or enemies, made in?

Don’t know what you think, but I was made in the image of God. To be a reflection of who he is, to showcase an aspect of Him.

And I’m pretty sure you were made the same. Actually, I know you were. The beginning of the bible says man was made in the image of God.

I like to think of man as like a moon, reflecting the sun. Without God we have no real light of our own. I think maybe God thinks of it that way too. He’s built a lot of analogies and stuff into the world. But I won’t speak for him. That may take it too far.

I mean think about it. God made angels, and according to the bible and people talking about encounters, a lot of angels are similar in shape to Man. (Which sounds insane only if you’ve decided that God couldn’t Really have made angels and let people see them. Which if you think that, then you sound like the insane one to me. Just sayin’)

What then does it mean to be made in the image of God? Does it mean we have free will? Well, obviously the angels had that or we would have no Satan and therefore probably not so much sin.

God made angels, and then he took dust and made us. What does that even mean???

Actually, I don’t know what it means, but I’ll tell you what little me, in my weak understanding thinks. God made us in his image so that we could love as he loves and so we could rule and reign with him. He put his beauty and his power into us. He made us each unique. You could raise two kids exactly the same and not get the same results.

God made the angels to serve him. Then God was all like, but I want someone to love. Remember when he made Eve so Adam wouldn’t be alone? (No, he didn’t make Eve just to populate the earth.)

Yeah. I think God made Man because he wanted a partner too.

Partnership of man and woman being a reflection of partnership of human and God. I told you there was a lot of analogy symbolism type stuff.

(BIBLICAL INSERT TIME!!!1!!!1!!!!)

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Se, also by this I think that means God made Adam and Eve here, and then the story just gets told next chapter. Maybe you all figured that part out already and I’m just slow. But whatevs.

And then, and then guess what guys????

(OMG ANOTHER INSERT!!!!)

Genesis 2:7

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

We’re made with the breath of God!!!!

Does that not make you excited about breathing? No? Well fine then.

Anyways. Now we have that God made us, from dust, but then put his breath within that dust, called it man, decided man would need a partner.

(ANNND ANOTHER!)

Genesis 2:18

18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

So he made man someone so man would not be alone. He made man so he would not be alone. He made someone comparable to man so man would not be lonely. Following the analogy, what does this mean? Exactly.

Now I realize, it sounds vaguely like I’m saying we are gods. I want to be very clear here and say We Are Not Gods In Any Way Shape Or Form. Thank you very much.

What I am saying is that who you are, who God made you to be, is very specifically a reflection of him. Not just any reflection. You, yourself, individually, were made to be an image bearer. You are not the same image bearer as your brother. Or your friend. Or your parents. Or your pastor. Or anyone else.

You were made to be You. You have God’s breath in you. You were made to be his partner. Not that he needs one, I mean come one guys, he’s God. Uncreated light and power and beauty. But he wanted one. He wanted you. Specifically.

It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around, isn’t it?

Now to go back to the analogy, what do man and woman do? They love each other. No, I’m not being all over-sensitive and avoiding saying sex. If I meant it I’d say it. I mean love the emotion which kills while bringing life at the same time.

God made man and his wife to love each other. Some people say that was just so they wouldn’t kill each other. My opinion on those people is that they simply haven’t fallen in love yet and if they have, they need to forgive and get healing.

My point being, if God made a dude and his partner for love, what do you think he made man initially for?

If you said for love you got it right.

If not pray that God would kiss you with the kisses of his word, pray it every day, pray it every moment you can, and read Genesis, Song of Solomon, and Revelation.

(Sticking in more verses. Don’t freak)

Isaiah 62:1-5

1 For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. 2 The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name. 3 You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem In the hand of your God. 4 You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the Lord delights in you, And your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.

Breaking this down real fast, we have God not holding his peace and/or resting until Israel is made beautiful and his people shine among unbelievers. Yes, non-jews, you are his people. If you don’t think so read Ephesians 1:6. Or Acts. Or both.

Then you have him calling you beautiful and lovely and His, for He delights in you. And then you have him rejoicing over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

Hpw do bridegrooms rejoice over brides? Is it like, Yay good job you did it! No. Is it… YAYY I’m so glad to finally see you!!! Sort of but… No.

It’s more like… You are SO Beautiful and I get to MARRY you I’m so Excited!!! This is Awesome! You are Amazing and I Love you!!

Yeah. And that’s God rejoicing over you.

That’s what it means to be a Christian, you know. It means we partner with God, we live by Matthew 5-7 (Which, btw, people tend to think this is simply a rule book but all of 6 is basically saying God’ll take care of you if you follow him so don’t worry. Or, best said. God is the best cure for stress if you follow the directions.) and it means that we get to love God as he loves us.

Isn’t that cool?

It also means the rest of the universe hates us but that’s besides the point. If the God who made them loves us who cares who hates us… right? Right.

Sometimes I feel like when I blog my trains of thought they decide to take the scenic route to my point. This is one of those times.

His is a long journey of thinking and reading. Here, have a map.

!. God made You (Out of dust) in His image so that

@. You could partner with God and rule an reing with God because

#. God wanted a bride, someone to love who would love him.

$. God made You a partner so You could get a small taste of this.

It’s all so much more interesting when you replace the “man”s with “You”s.

Now we get to the most important point. Stick with me for a little bit longer, kay?

God made you individually to be a unique lover of Him. If that’s who you are what happens when you try to copy someone else cause you don’t like yourself?

You deprive the rest of the world of the unique image of God that you are.

When you try to not be you, you deprive everyone around you. And yourself, in fact. And!! You hurt God. Sounds ridiculous but you know how you feel when you take a lot of time thinking and planning something for someone and then you give it to them and they’re all like “Meh, whatever”? And then your hearts all like “I have just deflated in your chest and am in fact sinking down into your stomach”?

God takes forever, from before time exists till the moment you were conceived, thinking and planning you. And then you’re born and you grow up and are like Meh whatever.

See where I’m going?

So the only think you can really do is ask God who you are. Don’t ask other people. Did they make you? Maybe your parents made you I guess but… Not really no.

God made you. Therefore he knows you. And he likes what he made or else he wouldn’t have made it.

Ask God to show you how he sees you. Read Isaiah 62, the part I stuckup there, over yourself. And read song of songs. Look in the mirror and call yourself beautiful and God’s beloved cause that’s what you are.

Make sense? Great.

Doesn’t make sense? That’s what they invented the comments section for.

Peace, blessings, love, and tribulation to you. Amen.

~Silver

Purity, week 2.

Fascination is represented by sight. We don’t readily choose to see that which is uninteresting to us, and with most things if we see them enough we end up fascinated. (Like, people and tv. Not school. Not very many people get fascinated by school any more.)

So like, if you’re watching this tv show, and it’s not very interesting but you have to watch it every week, eventually you will get drawn into it. The plot, the characters, the dialogue. Etc. You’ll want to know what happens next, you’ll want to see if so and so is still there next week, whatever.

This is fascination.

And it is a dangerous thing.

You see, what we’re fascinated with reflects upon us. Just like my previous example of you talking with your friends. You don’t just hear their words; you see their attitudes. And you unknowingly copy them.

You see a movie and suddenly you want to be that person, the dude who can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes, or the chick with the horse and not a care in the world. This is sight and sound, reflected in you.

So…. What if what you’re seeing isn’t pure? And you must remember here my definition of pure: clean and right.

Do you know how important your eyes are?

Like, say you see this guy at the store. And he has the most gorgeous eyes ever, and the kind of flippy hair, and whatever else.

And you never talked to him. You don’t even hear him talk cause he’s busy staring blankly at the milk trying to figure out what he’s doing.

You’re more likely than not to think about him at least a few times for the rest of the day, and you’ll remember him whenever you go to the store. You might even hope to see him. You imagine saying hi to him, or running in to him, or helping him figure out what the heck he’s getting.

That is fascination. Even without the imagining talking. And it started by sight.

Or guys. You see that video game or skateboard or whatever. (I’m avoiding saying chick cause I don’t want to describe a chick from a guy’s p.o.v.) And it’s new, it’s awesome. So you plan to get it, you plan to invite your friends over to play whatever game, and then getting achievements on it, and wondering if gameplay is as awesome as it’s supposed to be or if the graphics are super lame and the controls suck.

That is fascination.

Or you play said game too long and then you end up wandering around seeing everything from the perspective of that game. (The top of those stairs would be a great place for an ambush. If I cut that grass, would rupees come out? […. The grass one has happened to me…])

That is fascination.

And as humans doing what we do best, we reflect what we’re fascinated with. We reflect mannerisms. We act upon our thoughts.

So what happens if we get fascinated by God?

What happens if we protect our eyes from things that are wrong and look instead to uncreated light?

(You: well that’s just plain ridiculous. Are you suggesting I go blind? And last I checked no one can see God.)

Well, you see there’s this thing, called the Bible. And there’s this person I may have mentioned called the Holy Spirit. And he knows everything about the Bible. And everything about God.

So if you take your bible, meditate on it, and then ask the HS about it, you will eventually get some answers.

(Eventually. Sounds like it’ll take too long. But I guess I could try it once or twice and see…)

Something I’ve heard a lot recently is, don’t just try it for a week then give up.

Is it hurting you to do this? No. It’s not. Is it a waste of time? Well that depends. If hanging out with your friends and watching soap operas and crime shows and checking facebook once an hour is a pressing thing and can’t be set aside, then yes it is a waste of time. But if you’re more interested in learning about eternity and things beautiful beyond belief then this is what you want to do.

Look at it this way. You will die. Your friends will die. You will not have a tv when you are dead. Or a phone. Or a computer.

You will just have you, and your life in eternity. If you want your life in eternity to be awesome then you should do this. Even if you die and there is no eternity you may as well take some time every day and do this. It seriously isn’t hurting you.

If you have to believe something why not this?

Don’t say why, but rather why not.

So tell me, why not get fascinated by living love (God.) and ask Him what he thinks bout you and life?

Why not live like there’s an eternity where you’ll want to be a friend of God when he comes as a judge?

Matthew 6:22-24:

22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot trust in and serve both God and other things.

Proverbs 20:6-12:

6 Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man? ] 7 The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him. 8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment Scatters all evil with his eyes. 9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”? 10 Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD. 11 Even a child is known by his deeds, Whether what he does is pure and right. 12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made them both.

Proverbs 30:12-13:

12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness. 13 There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up.

~Silver

Purity, week 1.

I don’t know how you feel about the Bible, but to me it’s pretty important. I mean, even if you don’t believe all the stuff in there you must admit a lot of it is true. I personally believe all of it is true.

Now, one of the things in the bible is this thing called purity. Forever ago, that meant keeping your speech clean, keeping your eyes from seeing… things… And waiting till marriage to do so much as hold hands. It meant having a standard. 

Over the years all that’s declined. (You: Thanks, captain obvious. I hadn’t noticed.) You’re quite welcome, private sarcasm.

Now purity basically just means no sex before you’re married. Some people still hold a standard of no kissing till then but the people that do that are fewer and fewer.

When did we lose the speech and seeing part of purity? Since when could we say whatever the carp we wanted about anything and be fine?

Since when did purity just pertain to sex, for that matter?

You’re probably rolling your eyes at me right now, but I am being perfectly serious. When did we trade our innocence for recklessness? Why did we trade our innocence for recklessness? What happened to self discipline and talking about stuff that actually matters?

Where the carp are our standards?

Now, I know I can’t bring them all back, and I know I can’t discuss (rant at…) all of them right now. So I’m picking one a week for as long as that lasts. Maybe the next 3 weeks? I dunno.

So right now I’ll just go with an over view, how all of them as a group are related, and then speech.

You see, I know plenty of guys who claim not to even think about, or even so much as look at, girls in a sexual way. Thing is, these same guys speak loosely, making jokes in that line of thought. As much as people like to deny it, they really do think about things they talk about. And joke about. Since joking is talking. Even if the thoughts are in the back of their heads.

I mean come on guys, we’re all human. If you know how you very basically work, you know how everyone very basically works. There are no exceptions. That’s where discipline comes in. You can’t claim to be disciplined in one area when you’re obviously not in the others.

And where people’s speech goes, their thought life follows.

And where their thoughts go, their actions follow. 

But speech has to come from somewhere. You don’t just start talking a certain way. When you’re a baby, you learn to talk from your parents. You talk like they talk. If you hang out with other little baby friends you pick up stuff from them. Why are three year olds always running around saying “No”? Because three year olds get told “No” a lot.

Then when kids get older they start learning to talk from things like tv. If they watch sesame street they might learn something. If they're watching Hannah Montana, chances are they’re gonna learn how to get an attitude with anyone who disagrees.

We, humans, learn from what we hear and what we see. We start as clean slates. We start as pure, happy little screaming babies. Tiny unexposed souls in tiny unexposed bodies. Life is scary. Everything is big. And as soon as we’re born we learn what life is from what’s going on. We don’t know anything. So if out world around us is bad and hates us, we will learn life is bad and we will hate ourselves.

Everyone knows this. And I’m starting to get off track.

The point is, what we see is what we do. And what we hear is what we say. And what we do and say we eventually have to think about even if we don’t notice our thoughts. And what we think about we tend to notice and see and then eventually even look for.

So let’s say you’re hanging out with a group of friends, and they don’t really care. They hate their families. They down-talk anyone and anything that bothers them in the slightest.

No matter how much you may love your other friends and your family, the more you hang out with this particular group the more you will become like them. Meaning, if you’re hanging out with them every day you will eventually see your family and other friends they way they see their families and other people. And you’ll start talking about it.

That is not pure.

(You: Wait but I thought purity was just like… Kissing and stuff. Right?)

No. Pure comes from the Latin purus, which means clean. Not chaste. Clean. Cussing is not clean, which is why it’s fun to do. Insulting other people is not clean. It’s dirty. It makes other people’s opinions of who you’re talking about dirty.

True purity does not soil how people are seen. True purity is clean. Clean is not dirt. So dirtying a reputation is obviously bad.

Now do you understand why not to gossip? It’s not just so you don’t hurt people. Gossip means dirt is pouring out in your words. Meaning that you are dirty. Making you a terrible, dirty person.

Purity does not talk about others behind their backs. Purity does not destroy people.

To be pure, to discipline yourself into being pure, start with your speech. Watch what you say. Don’t say stuff to other people just for shock factor or just for fun; your words will always be remembered by someone. Weigh your words as though they are your single most important accomplishment.

If your friends, who are your most prominent influences, hold no standards in their speech, mayhap you need a different group. Or to make a group commitment to watch your speech.

(Note: I will NEVER tell you to drop your friends. I am NOT telling you to abandon them or to tell them they suck or to just stop talking to them. If you feel like you need to do that then grace to you…)

If your family, also a prominent influence, holds no standards… Try talking to them, and if that doesn’t work I still haven’t figured it out. Pray for them I guess.

Controlling your speech is the hardest discipline to matter, but also one of the most important.

Trust me guys, you want to learn self discipline and/or follow the bible? Start with your words.

~ Silver

James 3:1-15 (New King James Version)

1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in words, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 We put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.