#according to cs lewis. at least.

[apollos-boyfriend]

there’s a trend on tiktok where people have been taking the “are you a soldier, poet, or king?” uquiz and the large brunt of it is people complaining how they didn’t get poet and like. i get what the point is. i get the quiz gives it’s own definitions of each title. but also they are all just arguing over what side of jesus they wish they identified with more and i can’t stop thinking about it

[anamericangirl]

I’m not sure if you know or care who Th3Birdman is, but he’s a former Christian movie YTer, just saying to preface this. I stumbled across this statement he said about God and human suffering in his Suicide Squad video, I’ll need to put it in quotes to get the entire context, so excuse the formatting:

Movie: “If God existed, wouldn’t this be proof that he wasn’t good at all?”

CS: “Well no actually, God’s goodness, at least biblically speaking from a New Testament perspective, is not something that prevents all human suffering but rather something that offers grace and redemption to all those who have suffered.”

Th3Birdman: “But that skirts the fact that this hypothetical god created everything, including the concept of suffering, and that he knew the people he created would suffer, thereby making him the direct cause of suffering. That’s the problem with primitive fairy tales — they fail at logic and can’t keep up with societal morality. Imagine believing an all-powerful deity needs to send an avatar of himself to Earth with the intention of dying to forgive sins instead of… just forgiving the sins… that he knew was going to happen anyway…”

In another video, he’s also agrees with CS saying that parents force religion onto their children when they’re young since they can’t object, and that Christianity’s “real name” is Christian Mythology. I wanted to know your thoughts on these perspectives since I think it sounds a bit off and you know more about Christianity than I do.

I'm not familiar with him but he sounds like someone who is very hostile against Christianity and God and also doesn't understand the nature of God.

His premise is that suffering is bad and since God is the creator and allows suffering and "created the concept" of suffering then that means God can't be good. But first he has to explain why suffering is bad. Sure, we don't like to suffer but why is the reality of suffering evidence of God not being good?

It sounds like he's saying if God were really good, then he, Birdman, would just be able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, he could reject God and disobey him and if God were really good, He would just allow it and Birdman would never have to experience any consequences for anything and never worry about repentance because if God were good he would just forgive him and never let anything bad happen to him while Birdman just does whatever he wants.

For God to be "good" according to his misguided opinion, God would have to eliminate choice out of the equation. And God giving us choice and freedom was a good thing. God didn't create suffering, we created it. And if God took away the concept of suffering then that would demand he take our choice away with it.

We can't have the choice to follow God if the choice to not follow him is not also there. And whether Birdman likes it or not, the evil and suffering in the world is what life is like when we don't follow God. God is not a do-gooder, he is goodness itself and if you choose not to follow goodness then you are left without goodness. We are living in a world that we brought evil and suffering into by choosing to reject the goodness of God. And you can be like Birdman and think well if God was really good he wouldn't have made it so not following him is bad. As C.S. Lewis wrote "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there." But that's what Birdman wants. He wants peace and happiness apart from God, where it cannot exist.

He is criticizing God for allowing evil and suffering but he's also criticizing him for stopping it because he's not stopping it how the pseudo-intellectual Birdman is thinks it should be stopped. Whatever Birdman thinks God "could have done" is irrelevant to what reality is.

The reality is sin is real. The reality is consequences are real. The reality is sin is separation from God and it has a price and Birdman better be glad God sent the "avatar" of himself to die and take the punishment that Birdman deserves.

And the thing is God did create a sinless world. We were created in a perfect state with no evil and no suffering and then we broke it. We created it. Blaming God because it’s possible to break perfection is like blaming a chef if you drop a cake they made on the floor and saying, “well, if they were a good chef, they would have made their cake in such a way where throwing it on the floor wouldn’t have destroyed it. And I’m not going to clean up my mess but if they clean it themselves it just proves they aren’t a good chef because they could have made a cake that wouldn’t make a mess.”

Also, he calls it a fairy tale because it doesn't "keep up" with societal morals. And, uh, that's the point. Christianity is not supposed to keep up with societal morals. We keep up with God's morals. Society should be keeping up with God, not the other way around. Societal morals are crap and ever changing and he's a fool if he considers them something God should be "keeping up with."

Does Birdman think he is a good person? If he is a good person and knows how to correctly do forgiveness, which means no one needs to be punished we can "just forgive," is that what he practices and is that how he wants our justice system to work? Should we not prosecute rapists and murderers and just "forgive them" because that's what goodness is like? Is it bad for people to experience consequences for their choices or not? And unless Birdman is without sin he cannot claim to be an authority or even a credible source as to what goodness really is.

Another C.S. Lewis quote because I think it's relevant to Birdman's claims.

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if i did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus, in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.” 

I hope that answered you and made sense. Sorry it's a little all over the place. Sometimes it really irritates me when atheists try to pass themselves off as intellectuals just by the very nature of being atheist when their arguments against Christianity boil down to "if God were good then evil wouldn't exist" which just shows they don't even have a basic understanding of the religion they're trying to criticize. They like to throw out phrases like christianity is a "fairy tale" and then pretend they are wells of logic and intelligence when that's one of the dumbest statements you can make. You don't have to believe the Bible or Christianity but if you think it's a fairy-tale that's an objectively ignorant and shows you really have no idea what you're talking about.

And he can pretend religion is "forced" onto children when they're young by their parents but I could say the same about atheism. Parents are going to raise their children in accordance with the values and beliefs they subscribe to. Religion is no more forced onto children by religious parents then atheism is forced onto children by atheist parents.

[trivalentlinks]

so I've seen a lot of posts about how people don't like seeing harry potter related content due to aversion to JK Rowling's awful and transphobic views, and I totally get that (seeing HP stuff kinda makes me cringe too)

but I low-key have a similar reaction to seeing Narnia or other CS Lewis related content, especially CS Lewis quotes, and i wonder if/why other people don't feel the same way about that?

Maybe this is just my first exposure to CS Lewis was in reading some of his essays for a class in high school (it was a class on JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis and over the course of the term i came to adore Tolkien, but did not feel the same way about Lewis, even though they were besties)

imho, CS Lewis was easily as much of a gender essentialist as JKR, even relative to his time (at least according to my memory from high school, which admittedly was a long time ago)

TW: gender essentialism, transphobia, cs lewis negativity

CS Lewis was a deeply, unapologetically Christian man, and I think his gender-essentialist views were most apparent in his essay "Priestesses in the Church?" (1948) in which he responded to an essay by Lady Marjorie Nunburnholme arguing for ordaining women into the priesthood.

Lewis wrote,

The innovators are really implying that sex is something superficial, irrelevant to the spiritual life. To say that men and women are equally eligible for a certain profession is to say that for the purposes of that profession their sex is irrelevant. We are, within that context, treating both as neuters. As the State grows more like a hive or an ant-hill it needs an increasing number of workers who can be treated as neuters. This may be inevitable for our secular life. But in our Christian life we must return to reality. There we are not homogeneous units, but different and complementary organs of a mystical body. Lady Nunburnholme has claimed that the equality of men and women is a Christian principle. I do not remember the text in scripture [...]; but that is not here my point. The point is that unless "equal" means "interchangeable", equality makes nothing for the priesthood of women. And the kind of equality which implies that the equals are interchangeable (like counters or identical machines) is, among humans, a legal fiction[...] But in church we turn our back on fictions. One of the ends for which sex was created was to symbolize to us the hidden things of G-d. One of the functions of human marriage is to express the nature of the union between Christ and the Church. We have no authority to take the living and semitive figures which G-d has painted on the canvas of our nature and shift them about as if they were mere geometrical figures. [...] It is painful, being a man, to have to assert the privilege, or the burden, which Christianity lays upon my own sex. I am crushingly aware how inadequate most of us are, in our actual and historical individualities, to fill the place prepared for us. But it is an old saying in the army that you salute the uniform not the wearer. Only one wearing the masculine uniform can [...] represent the Lord to the Church: for we are all, corporately and individually, feminine to Him. We men may often make very bad priests. That is because we are insufficiently masculine. It is no cure to call in those who are not masculine at all. A given man may make a very bad husband; you cannot mend matters by trying to reverse the roles. [...]

(emphasis mine, as well as some paragraph breaks, and minor spelling things)

The central point of this essay is to say that Lewis believes that sex is not something superficial, it is something essential about who were are. It is essential to the way G-d made us,

He says with some lament that roles in secular society are increasing treating people as "neuter", but insists that in our spiritual lives we can't do that.

(I should note that CS Lewis strongly believed that it was bad that society was starting to treat women as interchangeable with men, even in secular life. This is evident from his essays and even in his fiction:

For example, in That Hideous Strength, one of the main female characters starts out desperately unhappy in a broken marriage where she keeps trying to take a leadership role and her passive husband lets her, and she finds her happiness by learning to embrace her femininity and be a humble, loving, and obedient wife. It is strongly implied by the narrative that this is the only way a woman can be happy.)

Lewis was not merely a product of his time on this issue; that is apparent from the fact that Lady Nunburnholme clearly thought differently above, but also very clear in the essay "Mere Christianity" (1952), in which Lewis claims that most other people are doing Christianity wrong:

All the same, the New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty clear hint of what a fully Christian society would be like. Perhaps it gives us more than we can take. It tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. [...] On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience-obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands...]

(emphasis and paragraph break mine)

note the "I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular". He was not just expressing popular views of his time in his insistence that wives should obey their husbands, just by virtue of their gender (or at least, he didn't think he was); instead, he seemed to think this is a very unpopular view that he has taken the burden of defending

.

To be clear, I am not saying that I think CS Lewis was sexist or hated women or anything. Based on the essays that I read by him and, of course, the Chronicles of Narnia and his other novels, I did get the vibe that CS Lewis had a deep respect for the worth and value of women, especially women who embraced their (in his opinion) G-d given role in marriage and in society as a whole.

He just believed that gender (meaning assigned sex at birth afaik) was an essential part of a person and should determine their role in society, which did not vibe with my high-school self at all, still does not really vibe with me, and, in my understanding, is also people's problem with JKR.

As a side-note, I don't recall him saying anything about trans people in particular, but I believe that he would have been opposed to medical transitioning: he did make clear in several essays that he was very opposed to all forms of contraception, because he believed that man's attempt to control nature like that was abhorrent and an absolute act of violence, and I can't see him not feeling the same way about medical transition.

(I suspect Tolkien (a devout Catholic who was also very big on man not trying to control nature) would have agreed with Lewis on contraception, but his essays and letters were generally more forgiving and less ardent and less direct. I remember feeling like they were more nuanced, but also made it harder to pin down what his views were exactly. (Except on Nazis. Tolkien was very anti-Nazi and did not mince words about that.))

[jess-the-reckless]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I preferred Trump as mad King Baby of Twitter. At least he was subject to some kind of moderation and was moronic enough to understand art only as a commodity he could buy, less, or destroy when it was in his way, like those beautiful Art Deco frescos he had smashed up when he destroyed the old Bonwit & Teller building to put up his dumb gold tower.

Elno, on the other hand, had Opinions on Art, and good fucking lord they are terrible.

I'm not linking, because I want to vent, not engage. Suffice to say Elno appears to have found his Albert Speer in the shape of one of those 'earn money writing' hustlebro types who has over 100k Twitter followers, a feed full of inspirational aphorisms, and a single book to their name. Granted, that's usually one more book than usual than these scammers have usually written, and in this case it's the antidote to wokery in the shape of a Christian children's book about a king and a lion. (Sound familar?)

Oh, and by the way, he was right wing, according to this clown. CS Lewis? I mean, probably. Almost definitely, but some of the other writers he wants to dump on the right wing pile? Homer? Shakespeare?

SHAKESPEARE?

I'm sorry, but are you on glue? You get Ayn Rand, honey. Ayn Rand and Terry Goodkind.

These fucking people, I swear. I may create woke, degenerate art about rimjobs, but better that than tonguing Elno's crack on main.

[sophiechoir]

Thoughts from Mass 5/17/20 (6th Sunday of Easter)

@ St. Teresa of Avila’s <3

Today’s theme: Courage

Canticle of the Son (opening song)

One body in faith - plagued

Fr. Chris is taking the approach of making direct, intense eye contact with the camera for the entire duration of Mass. *blush*

“with one accord, the crowds paid attention” miracle indeed

a joyous city - paradox? nah, that’s just the cynicism talking

acceptance and baptism not enough to receive the Holy Spirit (so confirmation is in fact something more than either of those sacraments, and necessarily so)

sanctify Christ (hm - sanctify Him according to ourselves, maybe) -> in your hearts

*** “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence...” ***

>an explanation, not an attack or defense - your hope, not your persecution or aggressive proselytizing - they should want to learn from you, and you should teach instead of wound - many keyboard warriors could stand to take these words to heart

err on the side of martyrdom

“If you *love* me, you will keep my commandments”

The Spirit of Truth, apparently male (vs Wisdom - female?)

“The world will no longer see me, but you will see me”

love love love <3

“Whoever loves me will be loved by the Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” ***sequence

>begin with love for Christ specifically. Christ the gate

>but can’t one approach God without necessarily knowing or fully knowing Christ? even here it says that after one is loved by the Father, one them comes to fully see Christ - Christ reveals himself. either way, love and trust before knowledge

churches reopening!! oh thank God - well, in Indiana, at least

>hm, smaller churches might have more difficult time getting supplies necessary to reopen? I wonder how that will shift the church’s demographics

the confidence of a priest secure in his vocation - that must be the best feeling. that must be like being in love

I’m sick of homilies reflecting on COVID-related anxieties. The most comforting homily right now would be something very academic/theological/more separated from this bog of reality

>(but then again, I’m a coward lol)

The Son loves us as the Father loves Him

Roll back the stone from the tomb! Open the churches!

“Jesus promised the disciples he would not leave them orphans.”

Upper room at Passover vs at Pentecost - look up details (?)

The Lord doesn’t take away the danger or fear or trials, but instead gives us what we need for the next step

Spirit in life, in truth (life = truth)

*** “Courage is using what you’ve been given in the moment that it’s needed the most.” *** (not quite the usual cliche - lovely)

We can’t exercise any of the virtues if we don’t have courage (CS Lewis)

*** Trust over fear. Trust over fear. Trust over fear. ***

“Hope does not disappoint.” A bold statement, Fr. Chris. I want to believe it - can I believe it?

I wonder if anyone’s studied the “Masses” held by children who grew up to be priests. What sort of spiritual value or power do they have? What an amazing phenomenon

You are My All in All (song)

Spiritual Challenge: Look up Thomas Merton’s “Prayer of Abandonment and Trust”:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

[ilosttrackofthings]

Wow so i just found out that the Tolkien film doesn't include his faith at all! Nor does it have CS Lewis in it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised its Hollywood

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen this movie and, frankly, I have no interest in seeing it. (This ask and the rabbit hole I went down after I got it have certainly not helped things there.)

I’ll forgive the lack of Lewis, seeing as the film takes place before the two met. 

But apparently it also doesn’t do much to clue the audience in on Tolkien’s wealth of knowledge regarding the Western canon, which did at least as much to influence his writing as his own personal experiences. Given that, I’d imagine it’ll be a very shallow movie, treating Tolkien as if his genius is his alone, owing little, if anything, to the great minds that came before him. This is probably seen as a compliment to Tolkien, as, I’d expect, is the absence of his devout Catholicism. Religion (the devout atheist says) is backwards and barbaric and the truly enlightened of the world know better than to believe in such childish nonsense, thus it’s a service to our heroes when we ignore their silly lapses in judgment in that arena.

This is probably why the Tolkien estate has disavowed the film. The man who said "[...] the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks” is probably not gonna be too interested in having his life story separated from his faith. In fact, I can’t imagine any Christian who would. 

But yeah, I’m not surprised by Hollywood either, nonnie. Satan’s probably got beachfront property up there and I’m sure he’s pleased by any depiction of the famous among us which sees the believer separated from his relationship with God.

That said, I doubt Tolkien’s too bothered. He’s chillin with Jesus, has that eternal perspective that makes all this worldly stuff way less annoying. He’s good. And hopefully this poor representation will inspire a more honest Tolkien biopic in the future.

[kar-a-kael]

Space trilogy! Yay! I can talk about this!

So what if CS Lewis, in his endless wisdom, decided to write Narnia for adults? But obviously adults would go in space ships, right? Its just so much more sensible! And there’s all these planets out there, and they’re sure to have people, right? But, frankly, humans can be kind of dicks, so maybe there would be some problems. 

So the main character has to be a really good guy, to make up for the other shitty humans. Like, an awesome friend. The best. Like, totally not JRR Tolkien in a mustache. Just, y’know, a Professor of Philology who likes taking long walks in the woods and would totally be incapable of hiding on an alien world be cause there is A New Language to Learn! And write papers on! Why are these evil astronauts being so evil when they could be learning Paralandran? 

And maybe in the second book, not-Tolkien will have to punch Satan in the face to prevent the Fall of Man pt. II. And in the 3rd he’ll be the leader of the Round Table fighting demons trying to take over Earth, and that is a bit weird. But guys. What if Mars had a whole new language?! And the Christian God? And you got to have philosophical discussions with Aliens about God? Wouldn’t that be so. fricken. cool?! 

They’re honestly not the best Lewis books. And I was tempted to throw the last one across the room for the line ‘Don’t have dreams, have children’. But if you want a book series that is ‘Narnia but for adults*’, I honestly couldn’t recommend them more!

((*’for adults’ meaning discussions of slightly more complex morality than suitable for children, not making everything awful and dark and about sex. Because misery isn’t Adult, it’s something every right-thinking person fights against. At least, according to Mr. Lewis. And I certainly think he’s right))

narnia has actually way too many completely devastating concepts in it that are not explored At All

[kingdomofthelogos]

Sensational Idolatry

Read Jude 1:1-4

Download a printable version here.

Evil will come and break into your life, for its desire is always for you. It comes, not always through grand fanfare with clear declarations of its presence, but often in small subtle ways that creep into your house that it might infect and pervert that which is good, true, and natural. The devil and his demons are not happy to remain in hell, they want to be in your house with you. Hell is wrought with joy when households are twisted and contorted by the wiles of sin. Even the house of God is desired by their licentious appetite, and we may even find ourselves twisting the house of God according to our carnal desires if we are not careful.

Just as there are two ways, the Way of Life and the way of death, Jude illuminates for us two modes of personal character. One is that of mercy, peace, and love abundance. The second is that of hungry licentiousness, the craven life of sensual corruption. Jude, who was one of Christ’s Twelve Apostles, aspires for the faithful to achieve an abundance of mercy, peace, and Christlike love. Moreover, he knows this cannot happen without conflict with the wicked, for sin is always crouching near. Jude understands that victory is found through heavy battle against chaos while nobly standing in the joyous truth of Christ. 

Jude opens his letter in declaration of the contrast between the sheep and wolves in sheep's clothing. Furthermore, there is a cosmic nature to the conflict between the two. It is no mere accident that intruders have crept in; and, it is a constant theme in fallen creation that we must stand against enemies within.

One of the great problems bringing chaos into the world is the fact that people sensationalize God. This sin is devastating, and it is more than a mere footnote in Scripture. This is a mode of thinking which begins in a corrupt understanding of God, and then pours over into all areas of life.

Jude is correct in his precise diagnosis of sensationalism. There is a real and serious problem in that people will shift their God designed senses and emotions out of their proper place and run them up a Tower of Babel to occupy the throne of Heaven. This is both an act of idolatry and tyranny, and it produces a vile rot. Despite the fact that this sin takes place in the arena of the senses, it will quickly overrun everything in life.

Jude's diagnosis is that this sin is phonographic; and, as with all pornography, people indulge a heightened moment of intense satisfaction, but then they lose interest quickly once they've satisfied the flickering itch. There is a reason why pornography makes up such a significant portion of the internet, it is both highly desirable and highly disposable. It is a pathway of ever increasing desire coupled to ever diminishing fulfillment. Moreover, it leads one to a point where they can feel nothing at all, and therefore lose any real ability to use their bodies as God intended. This sad tyranny produces small, temporary satisfactions while rejecting enduring happiness. This same mechanism of rot frequently happens to our faith and every aspect of our lives. Jude is in fact correct, people do turn faith into pornography, and hence the need for ever changing worship to satiate our ever changing appetite.

Once God is sensationalized, so then will be everything else. People will start to question the presence of the Holy Spirit based on whether or not they felt the "movement." They start to question the legitimacy of their family's love based on whether or not they are getting the form of attention they desire. They will question the motive of their neighbor based on how an interaction made them feel. Ideas start to be weighed out as whether or not they are inoffensive and politically correct, whether they are nice or mean. Nothing in life will be taken seriously for its deeper meaning, for truth itself becomes a sensation.

The problem with sensations is not that they are inherently sinful, for God made all things good, but because they can be so fully contained within our person that we start to think our own feelings and sensations dictate what is and what is not. This is the idolatry of feelings. It is the Tower of Babel made complete, where our emotional and hormonal systems make their way to the throne of heaven and decide what is and what is not good.

This is a huge problem in our modern age. Information, news, and interactions with one another is almost entirely designed to be sensational. We like click bait news, where a sensational headline catches our eye, so we snatch up the story and read through the scandal only to forget about it moments later. Never is the question asked of whether or not something is true, and if it is true, then we must do something about. Instead we ask about biases and angles, if something is traditional or modern, if it is what the experts say, how it makes us look, if it is what is popular and what advances a cause. We pleasure ourselves with conversations on social justice without the slightest idea of what is true, but only select ideas of what is felt. Anything is asked but the question of truth. The idolatry of sensation creates a world where we hold no one accountable for anything, and instead we forget that truth and action actually matter. 

The idolatry of sensation is so wretched because it moves the question of truth into the arena of chaos, an arena where there is no standard other than a person's desire for emotional satisfaction. Moreover, it causes us to forget that our thoughts of whether or not we felt the Holy Spirit may have less to do with the Holy Presence and more to do with the person that cut us off on the highway, the breakfast that got a little burnt, or even the dreams we had last night whose emotions lingered on long after we forgot the exact story in the dream. The tyranny of sensationalism is that it lacks any standard other than the self, and only values what the self feels in a given moment. It produces a world were none can think clearly.

But this is not how God designed us to live. Truth is larger than any of us, and even our senses are creations of God that we might have joy while navigate life with Him. Jude's argument is not that the senses are bad, but he knows how dislocated senses can corrupt the true joys of God's design. Pornography gives an ever diminishing small satisfaction in replacement of the large satisfaction of marriage. All sensationally tyranny does this. It replaces the true happiness, the joy unspeakable and full of glory, with a joy that deserves no words and is full of nothing.

Specifically, this is an intense but small satisfaction that a person becomes immediately bored with after they have reached the emotional climax; then, after hitting that climax they discard the material quickly for it serves no further purpose. Later when the itch returns, they will seek out licentious material again, but this time looking for new material, for the previous has lost its novelty and can never quite give the same feeling. This happens with our faith, and these are not my words but Scripture's. We need a new song, a new style of education, a new interpretation, new names and new words, and so forth and so on.

When this infects the church, it creates rot in the heart of believers who are always looking for how God might satisfy their whims without ever a consideration of how they might serve Him. It replaces true joy with discardable garbage, things to be forgotten in a moment because they never really brought fulfillment in the first place.

Now, this does indicate that music and other emotional stirring forces are always sinful, for they are creations of God. All creations of God can draw us to Him, from the logic of mathematical algorithms to the majesties found in both mountains and musical harmony. What we must do to avoid error, is to ask ourselves why we do things. Do we sing out of motivation to God, even if doing so fails to give us a vivid sensation? Or do we sing to satisfy the self? These are serious issues, but this message is not chiefly critique on worship styles. Our entire society has been sensationalized to the point that the public sphere has almost no meaning at all.

Proverbs 18:27 reminds us that the one who first states a case seems right, until the other comes and cross-examines. Truth, and even the presence of God, is not determined by opinion or awareness. Often, we think one thing is the case, only to realize we were wrong. 

Christ tells us how people will know we are His by how we love one another with Christlike love, not by how we feel about the matter. The Scriptures also tell us that there will be dark valleys, moments when we feel as if we are cut off from the light. It is in these moments that we feel as if God's hand has withdrawn. But, God looks upon His creatures and commands endurance, that at a minimum we carry on through the perceived loneliness of the valley of the shadow of death and at least draw interest on a single talent while we await the return of the Master. That at a minimum, we produce some small fruit out of motivated service to Him even as we think Him to be distant. 

God created the sensations, not hell. Sin's power is not to invent new desires, but to have us take the natural desires and pleasures and indulge them in ways, times, and degrees that are the farthest removed from what gives real satisfaction. CS Lewis shared with us a letter from Screwtape, a demon in hell, who revelled in how happy the father below is for you to trade your soul to hell for absolutely nothing in return. Not only is it a certain way for hell to acquire you, but the devil also considers it good style. The senses must be in their proper place, as God designed them, and that is where they give us the most satisfaction. 

Now that we have distinctly identified this sensual idolatry, let us consider the hope of God's truth. There is evangelism in standing against this tyranny. People are liberated when they live and walk in the truth, and the senses bring far more joy in their natural forms than when used as slaves to the sensual idols of small satisfaction.

Do not think that Jude's aspiration to mercy, peace and love comes without a fight. Salvation in Christ did not come without a fight. Tyrannical idols are always around us, and we do well to stand firmly against them. The pathway to mercy, peace, and love is found through combat against sensual idols. Truth and beauty belong to God, and if we are going to enjoy them, then we must fight for them. Do not think that liberty and mercy come without conflict; therefore, let us stand firm with Christ as conquerors against the world.

[ajourneythroughtime]

Let’s go down a rabbit hole shall we...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland (I’m not going to make it easy. Go, attend, read, and follow as long as your short little attention span can handle ;)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin Serotonin (/ˌsɛrəˈtoʊnɪn, ˌsɪərə-/[6][7][8]) or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_neurotransmitter Monoaminergic systems, i.e., the networks of neurons that utilize monoamine neurotransmitters, are involved in the regulation of cognitive processes such as emotion, arousal, and certain types of memory. It has been found that monoamine neurotransmitters play an important role in the secretion and production of neurotrophin-3 by astrocytes, a chemical which maintains neuron integrity and provides neurons with trophic support.[1]Drugs used to increase (or reduce) the effect of monoamine are sometimes used to treat patients with psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

The shape of the gland resembles a pine cone, hence its name. The pineal gland is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join.

“The pineal gland is aqueous, meaning it contains and is surrounded by biological fluid. This fluid, often described as water, contains biological information [DNA] which means it’s actually more like cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid contains piezoelectric calcite crystals. [Piezoelectric simply means that when the crystals are stressed or cause to vibrate they generate an electrical voltage that can be coupling]. Using Kundalini chakra energy [“Kundalini Activation” is the balancing of all of the chakra energy centers and bringing them into high vibratory resonance], and allowing it to vibrate from your root chakra up, will cause the pineal gland to vibrate. When the pineal gland vibrates the fluid it sits in will vibrate as well. This causes the calcite crystals to resonate, “stressing” the crystals and creating the piezoelectric voltage. Since this piezoelectro-magnetism has coupling properties this makes possible the connecting to any external electromagenetic field, including those of other dimensions, which can then gate us over.” http://www.unariunwisdom.com/pineal-gland-mental-gateway-to-other-dimensions/

I am confident in fact that science has come to the conclusion that physical life in the universe simply can’t exist without other dimensions underpinning its existence. Unfortunately, I am not a scientist; if I were, my viewpoint would have been conditioned rather differently than by my work as an artist. The conclusions I draw are, obviously, subjective, and future observers may differ in their own.

Incredibly, we still believe that the brain is the main storage organ for everything we experience. Considering the fact that every moment – every split second – we encounter trillions of bits of information via our vision alone, it is clear that scientists still have no idea as to where or how the data is stored. All we know is that the brain’s synapses process the data. By studying the brain from a biological viewpoint we may understand its function but not its deeper mystery.

When looking at it from the next dimension up the brain is a fantastic relay station – a processing and communication plant between two dimensions. The information appears to be stored on another dimension altogether in a state that simply cannot be attributed to molecules or physical atoms. This doesn’t apply only to the information gathered while living in different energy configurations such as previous lives and inter-lives. 

The best way of describing it is by drawing a parallel of three visitors from outer space landing on Earth and having to report back of what they find. One lands in the desert, the other one in the middle of Venice and the third underwater in the Great Barrier Reef. Obviously, each one of them would give an accurate yet totally different account. Even if they had all landed in the same place their accounts would still deviate because they would focus on different attributes in accordance with their viewpoints and personalities.What can be said is that people vibrating on a higher energy level will be living more enjoyable and satisfying lives than those on a lower one. http://www.unariunwisdom.com/the-great-dimensional-subdivisions-part-i/

Duality is a dirty word in the circles of Enlightenment and  Oneness.  We strive to move past duality and into Oneness, integrating all without judgment.

However, the thought of integrating light and dark, "good" and "bad", male and female, is rather hard to conceive.  They are so different, so "opposite" to each other.  We tend to take sides.

Often when I speak to people about integrating "dark" into Oneness, they see it as an "absorption" of the darkness into the light.  But the reality of it is that this is not so.  Oneness doesn't have sides. It is not "light".  It is complete.  It doesn't have either light or dark, it is not non-duality.

A person or place that is only "light" is in as much dissonance to Oneness as one who, or which, is only "dark".

When "light" is integrated into Oneness, it too vanishes, it cannot exist as light.

So, what is the role of duality and how can we use it for ascension?

Duality exists within the 3rd, 4th, 5th and slightly in the 6th dimensions.   In this system there are 12 dimensions which are reachable through conscious awareness.  There are however an infinite number of dimensions. The 13th, for example, is out of our awareness, as it exists outside the parameters of conscious observation of the universe, we therefore conceive it as simply a void.  Without consciousness, matter and energy do not exist. https://ascension101.com/en/home/free-articles/29-july-2010/90-duality-and-its-role-in-ascension.html

René Descartes believed the pineal gland to be the "principal seat of the soul". Academic philosophy among his contemporaries considered the pineal gland as a neuroanatomical structure without special metaphysical qualities; science studied it as one endocrine gland among many. However, the pineal gland continues to have an exalted status in the realm of pseudoscience. 

Caesium or cesium[note 1] is a chemical element with symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of 28.5 °C (83.3 °F), which makes it one of only five elemental metals that are liquid at or near room temperature.[note 2] Caesium has physical and chemical properties similar to those of rubidium and potassium. The most reactive of all metals, it is pyrophoric and reacts with water even at −116 °C (−177 °F). It is the least electronegative element, with a value of 0.79 on the Pauling scale. It has only one stable isotope, caesium-133. Caesium is mined mostly from pollucite, while the radioisotopes, especially caesium-137, a fission product, are extracted from waste produced by nuclear reactors.

The German chemist Robert Bunsen and physicist Gustav Kirchhoff discovered caesium in 1860 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy. The first small-scale applications for caesium were as a "getter" in vacuum tubes and in photoelectric cells. In 1967, acting on Einstein's proof that the speed of light is the most constant dimension in the universe, the International System of Units used two specific wave counts from an emission spectrum of caesium-133 to co-define the second and the metre. Since then, caesium has been widely used in highly accurate atomic clocks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium

The 1955 Cesium Atomic Clock at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. It kept time to a second in 300 years.

A "cesium(-beam) atomic clock" (or "cesium-beam frequency standard") is a device that uses as a reference the exact frequency of the microwave spectral line emitted by atoms of the metallic element cesium, in particular its isotope of atomic weight 133 ("Cs-133"). The integral of frequency is time, so this frequency, 9,192,631,770 hertz (Hz = cycles/second), provides the fundamental unit of time, which may thus be measured by cesium clocks.

Today, cesium clocks measure frequency with an accuracy of from 2 to 3 parts in 10 to the 14th, i.e. 0.00000000000002 Hz; this corresponds to a time measurement accuracy of 2 nanoseconds per day or one second in 1,400,000 years. It is the most accurate realization of a unit that mankind has yet achieved. A cesium clock operates by exposing cesium atoms to microwaves until they vibrate at one of their resonant frequencies and then counting the corresponding cycles as a measure of time. The frequency involved is that of the energy absorbed from the incident photons when they excite the outermost electron in a cesium atom to jump ("transition") from a lower to a higher orbit.

In 1860, Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discovered caesium in the mineral water from Dürkheim, Germany. Because of the bright blue lines in the emission spectrum, they derived the name from the Latin word caesius, meaning sky-blue

The Caesium standard is the primary standard for standards-compliant time and frequency measurements.[75] Caesium clocks regulate the timing of cell phone networks and the Internet.

as

at·lasˈatləs/

noun

1.a book of maps or charts.

In Greek mythology, Atlas (/ˈætləs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄτλας) was a Titan condemned to hold up the sky for eternity after the Titanomachy.

Hyginus emphasises the primordial nature of Atlas by making him the son of Aether and Gaia.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.[1] It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.

[brilliantorinsane]

Thank you for the tag, @thespiritualmultinerd !

1. First things first, what is your MBTI type? I’ve gotten both INFP and INFJ at different times; but on the whole I think the INFJ description fits me best.

2. When did you learn to read? According to Mom I was reading on my own at four, but I’m not sure with what level of success—the story seems to shift slightly every time!

3. What languages can you read in? Only English, embarrassingly. I can fudge along a bit with Greek, and I’m currently learning French

4. What book are you currently reading or most recently read? Fingersmtih by Sarah Waters (also periodic Sherlock Holmes stores—I’m still working through the cannon)

5. Name 3 books you never finished: Oh gosh, I know there are some, but I’m blanking on them. Generally speaking I’m too stubborn about finishing books for my own good …

6. What are your favorite books from childhood? The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis- my Dad used to read at least a few of these books to me and my siblings most summers, so there are a lot of good memories attached to this series. And I still haven’t gotten over wanting to ride on Aslan’s back and bury my hands in his mane. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery (Yeah, spiritualmultinerd!) - as a child I was basically a quiet version of Anne, so I really connected to this series. I think it was especially important to me because few of the books I read had relatable female leads, although I hadn’t observed that fact at the time. Little Women - for similar reasons. The Phantom Tollbooth - Even though the premise (“Learning is fun and good!”) is simplistic, this book is endlessly clever, and I got no end of entertainment from it as a child. The Lord of the Rings - My Dad read this one to my siblings and I, too, and I really connected to the intensity of the friendships and the characters’ endless endurance and hope despite impossible odds. Honorable mentions: Emma by Jane Austen, The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Osborne, Twenty and Ten by Claire Bishop, The Lost Princess by George McDonald. I should probably just stop now …

7. What are your current favorite books? Anne of Green Gables and Little Women still make the list - I returned to them recently and discovered that they are just as good as and significantly more feminist than I remembered. Middlemarch by George Eliot - Eliot is amazing at creating characters, and her portrayals are realistic and critical yet deeply compassionate. The Sherlock Holmes stories, naturally. Paradise by Toni Morrison - it’s a tough read, but Morrison has incredible things to say about oppressive social system, abuse, and recovery. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell - a lovely story about a bunch of old spinsters which manages to be sentimental but not sappy. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - okay, I haven’t read enough for this to be definitive yet, but its an award-winning novel about lesbians in the Victorian Era (my area of study) so honestly. It’s gonna make the list.

Multiple Choice (bold as many as apply to you & add your own choice if you must)

8. Your favorite genres:

Mystery/Sci-fi/Fantasy/Chick Lit/Young Adult/Horror/Nonfiction/Memoir/Dystopia/Poetry/Self-Help/Historical Fiction/Fanfiction/Realistic Fiction/Biography.

9. Your opinion on rereading books:

I do it all the time/It has to be a really good book/I can’t stand it/I  haven’t done it since I was a child/I only reread my favorite sections.

10. How long does it take you to read one book on average?

1 to 3 days/a week/a few weeks (it depends on how busy I am and the length of the book)/about a month/several months

11. How do you typically read?

Every opportunity I get, in transit, while waiting, etc./Before bed/On the go by audiobook/When I can truly relax/When I remember to.

12. How many books do you typically read in a year?

None or 1/About 1 to 3/Maybe 4 to 10/At least more than 10/ At least 50 (but I’m in uni studying English Literature, so I’m cheating)/ Too much. I can’t keep track.

13. For school assigned books, what type of student are/were you?

I read all the books in detail/I read all but sometimes skimmed/I nearly read all, I may have skipped a few because they were too boring/I only read the interesting ones/There’s a reason why Sparknotes was made!

Thanks again for the tag :)

We’ll see if my tags actually work this time :P

@unicornglitternutellacookie @look-at-us-both @i-am-gaylocked@authordrawingmusic @missallainyus @a-reocurring-dream@theveryunnecessaryfeelings @wssh-watson

[bigyack-com]

Terry de Havilland, Cobbler to the Stars, Is Dead at 81

If you wanted style and edge in your footwear in the 1970s, Terry de Havilland was your go-to designer. He offered gravity-defying wedges with metallic accents. Also bondage boots. Even winkle-pickers. They came in his favored psychedelic colors, inspired by his frequent trips on LSD.Mr. de Havilland, a noted party boy and cobbler to the stars, died on Nov. 27 in London at 81. His website did not give a cause in announcing his death. His output included python boots for Rudolf Nureyev, black leather thigh-high boots with red satin lining for Jacqueline Onassis, spangled platforms for David Bowie and a naughty creation for Kate Moss, who asked him to make her a pair of bright red snakeskin platforms decorated with a vulgarity written in Swarovski crystals.“I designed most of my shoes on acid, and the opening party for my shop in the King’s Road was famous for the three Cs — champagne, cocaine and caviar,” Mr. de Havilland wrote in The Guardian in 2006. “God knows who was there — everybody.”His shop, Cobblers to the World, with its mirrored walls and purple velvet banquettes, opened in 1972 and became party central. His designs ran from acid green to peach. His cowgirl boots featured glittering stilettos. His clientele included the Beatles and Elton John. He became known as “the rock ’n’ roll cobbler.” He often didn’t know who was in his shop. “I was usually doing drugs out back,” he once said. He was also pouring milk into shoe samples to feed stray cats. In those early days, his first wife, Sandy Conlin, left him for a woman. She later turned to hard drugs and died of an overdose.The shop flew high for years, but in the 1980s and ’90s Mr. de Havilland fell into a business slump and slipped off the fashion pages. So completely had he vanished, according to The Telegraph, that Cher assumed he had shuffled off his mortal coil — until she ran into him one day in 1995. She had gone to his factory looking for shoes for herself and her friend Bette Midler when she spotted him.“My God,” she told him. “Me and Bette used to buy your shoes in Paris — we assumed you were French, gay and dead.”In Mr. de Havilland’s version of that story, in The Guardian, Cher was wearing “a daggy old tracksuit,” and after crying out, “I thought you were dead!” she told him that she and Ms. Midler “were down to sharing their last pair of de Havilland shoes.” She bought 13 pairs on the spot “to tide her over,” he said.Mr. de Havilland said he always loved women, and he fathered three sons with three different ones. His only criterion for them seemed to be that they had small feet — what he called “sample size,” preferably Size 5. “Couldn’t have lived with them otherwise,” he wrote.No doubt his sky-high heels could be difficult to wear. But Mr. de Havilland took care that they did not impede his clientele, whether it was Beyoncé, Amy Winehouse or Madonna, from dancing or otherwise performing. And no one complained.“The effect on the wearer’s confidence, to his mind, far outweighed any discomfort,” The Telegraph said in its obituary, “and when questioned about his heels he insisted: ‘I think they empower women. They give you your own little stage to stand on.’”He was born Terrence Higgins in London’s East End on March 21, 1938, and grew up there. During the war, his cobbler parents made black-market shoes from scavenged scraps for showgirls. By the time he was 5, Terry was hammering in dowels for their three-tier wedges.“He had been playing with leather scraps and wooden lasts since infancy and had unbridled ideas about exotic and erotic materials, shape and decoration,” The Guardian said.He married Ms. Conlin when she became pregnant. In the late 1950s, they went to Rome to see if he could break into acting, but that didn’t work out and he returned to London to immerse himself in his parents’ shoe business. Once there, he found the surname Higgins insufficiently glamorous, so Sandy reached for a phone book and picked out the name de Havilland for him.Mr. de Havilland first came to public attention in 1964, when, during a photo shoot in London, someone spotted the shoes he had designed for his girlfriend, the model Perin Lewis. A feature in the fashion magazine Queen followed and made those shoes an instant must-have.He was soon attracting celebrities. Both Ms. Midler and Bianca Jagger would showcase his distinctive snakeskin three-tiered wedges.In 1970, his father was accidentally electrocuted by machinery in his shoe factory and died in his son’s arms, The Telegraph said. Control of the business passed to Terry.It was successful for a time. He created Tim Curry’s shoes for his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the extravagant cult movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975). But shoe fashion was fickle, and in 1979 his shop was liquidated. While many of his creations were hits, the market kept shifting, and his business was uneven for the next several years. Finding it difficult to compete in the global marketplace, he was forced into liquidation again, in 1999, and in 2001 he suffered a minor heart attack.He married Liz Cotton in 2003. She survives him, as do his son Perry, from his first marriage; his son Jason, whose mother was Ms. Lewis; his son Caesar, whose mother was Angie Burdon; and five grandchildren.In time, the ’70s styles that had made him popular made a comeback. He received a burst of welcome publicity after the BBC broadcast a documentary, “Trouble at the Top” (2004), about a spat he had with Prada’s Miu Miu label over its copying one of his metallic platform creations. (Prada called it a “homage,” and it appeared in an episode of “Sex and the City.”) Prada eventually paid him a settlement.Mr. de Havilland went on to start new labels, and by 2013 his signature Margaux shoe, a five-inch wedge, was once again all the rage — 40 years after it was first introduced.At least one pair of his ’70s snakeskin leather platforms, in iridescent metallic colors, went into the fashion collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2010 he received the Drapers Footwear Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed by the British Footwear Association, for his half-century in the industry.In an interview with Drapers.com, Mr. de Havilland said that Queen Elizabeth II and the pope (he did not specify which one) had both considered having him design custom shoes for them, but that they both pulled out at the last minute — probably, he said, “because they Googled me.” Read the full article

[judefan828-blog]

compensation per order they fetch you

There are seven books in the series. Why don't they make a film of the Magicians Nephew or the Horse and his Boy, both of which are superb, and better than the over rated Lion, Witch and Wardrobe? Oh, and when I read them as a kid, it was for the fun and Cheap Jerseys free shipping escapism. The Christian symbolism went right over my head, and I think it probably would do today too!I grew up reading everything by Tolkien, CS Lewis and Ursula K LeGuin.

You may catch hold of the owners of local cyber cafs and offer them compensation per order they fetch you. In my case, I contacted only one cyber caf where the owner referred me to customers almost every other day. Other than these, you may list your computer repair business in cheap jerseys free online yellow pages.

That pretty cool ; ). Anthony, you be amazed at how animals with these types of mutations can survive in the wild. I study penguins and was lucky enough to see a white (leucistic) Yellow eyed Penguin while doing fieldwork. WR Derrick Mayes has scored at least one touchdown www.cheapjerseysofchina.com in three straight games. The Seahawks have limited the opposition to 17 or fewer points in 8 of 15 contests in '99. Since 1996, the Seahawks have allowed 140 or more yards rushing in 23 of 63 games, 180 plus yards rushing in nine of those contests..

Immediately on opening it, the book seems reminiscent of the older modules available at the beginning of the D and Advanced Dungeons Dragons era. This is wholesale jerseys from china deliberate, as is pointed out in the Forward. The module will be less easy to use with such as Pathfinder or D 3.5, as it lacks the extensive battle maps that are pretty much essential to play those games.

No one likes to box out, but I have to do that. The girls I play against from New York and Long Island, they're huge. So I have no choice."One of the chores of the players who stay near the basket is the occasional jump ball. If you happen to be a person who is of the opinion that remaining single is nothing but a cruel punishment meted out by the Almighty, then I suggest that you immediately sign up for a singles' backpacking wholesale jerseys junket. Even better, grab your overnight bag and head out into the countryside or to some unexplored destination. Very few people realize this, but traveling solo is often a great way of self discovery, and it is also a good way to connect with Cheap Jerseys from china different people..

The secret garden is actually up on top of the big ass tower, whose lower levels Cheap Jerseys china serve as your base of operations. In order to get up there, you have to raise your grip bar to its maximum (by finding and killing a shitload of white lizards), and then just start climbing until you run out of tower wholesale nfl jerseys from china or will to live. If you lose your grip, or miss a jump, you have a decision to make: Start over, or smash your controller."Might survive this, might survive this, cheap nfl jerseys might " splat.

The absolute best time to bike ride on Old Mine Road is wholesale nfl jerseys during the week due to very few travelers along the road. Start your ride from Millbrook Village and ride to the www.cheapjerseys-football.com Delaware visitors center, this direction makes a more intense strenuous ride but a faster ride back. The road has a good assortment of hills, twists and turns to get your heart pumping.

If I had jumped in when I thought they were struggling, I would have wasted my energy and robbed them of the game that came out of it. Recently, I was outside with my boys, walking around and riding scooters. A mask fell out of the stroller I was pushing, and Asher asked me to put it on him.

On the day of my very scary incident I was doing a 20 mile bike ride. I started out at my house and got onto the main highway. The highway has a bike lane so it's relatively safe. Half the teams from nfl jerseys the preseason top 10 survived: Oregon (9), Texas Christian (5), Boise State (1), Ohio State (2) and Virginia Tech (7). Auburn was 18 to open the wholesale nfl jerseys season, Stanford was 19, Wisconsin was 13 and Arkansas was 17. Nevada, like a pistol shot, rose all the way from unranked.

A painting by iconic US artist Andy Warhol has sold for a staggering $105m ( at an auction in New York.The piece, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) smashed the previous record price for a Warhol piece by over $30m.It was the second highest price ever paid for modern art after the $142.4m splashed out on Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian Freud at Christie's this week.Warhol's previous highest selling painting was Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) which fetched $71.7m ( in 2007, according to the BBC.The disturbing painting depicts the immediate aftermath of a car crash, with a mangled body visible.The artist used images from wholesale nfl jerseys from china newspaper which were then "silk screened" onto canvas, the BBC reports.The piece has previously been owned by collectors including Briton Charles Saatchi.The other three double panel car crash paintings by Warhol are in museums.Competition for Silver Car Crash at Sotherby's auctioneers was extremely fierce, with five bidders going up to $80m in order to bag it, according to the auctioneers.The unidentified winner placed their bid by phone.Auctioneer Tobias Meyer told the BBC: "It's a great price Cheap Jerseys from china and completely worth it. It's the best painting I've ever sold in my whole career."Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDaily NewsletterMore OnAndy WarholArtCharles SaatchiSummer transfer windowTransfer news LIVE: Liverpool end interest in Virgil van Dijk, plus latest on Kylian Mbappe, Hector Bellerin and every dealThe summer sales are on the way as clubs look forward to a busy few months. Keep up to date with all the latest hereCourt caseMum had 'part of her cheek bitten off after sending 13 year old daughter to get milk from neighbour'Hazel Gill, 36, and her son Michael Gill, 20, are on trial but both deny www.cheapjerseyssalesupply.com wounding with intent and unlawful woundingCourt caseNaked pensioner, 82, 'crawled into woman's bed and 'said: "It's about time I gave you a good seeing to"'Alan Stevenson was found guilty of attempting to sexually assault the woman but cleared of sexual assaultLotteryNational Lottery results: Winning numbers for 10m Lotto jackpot on Wednesday, June 7Tonight's lottery could make you a very rich person but have you got a winning ticket?General election pollsUK general election 2017 poll tracker: All the latest results as Conservatives battle LabourPolls are a crucial part of the election wallchart even if they've got a bad rep.

[gw-thesis]

BANG ZINE RATIONALE PT.2

As a follow up to pt.1. I show the contrasting voices that are rooted in scripture, rather than culture. 

Sources:  1. https://theologydegreesonline.com/the-40-greatest-theologians-throughout-history/ 2. https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-famous-theologians/reference 3. 

Voices known:

Saint Augustine John Calvin CS Lewis Apostle Paul Jonathan Edwards Billy Graham Ravi Zacharias William Laine Craig John Piper Lee Strobel Karl Barth John Lennox NT Wright Charles Spurgeon RC Sproul GK Chesterson AW Tozer

However, I would like to select specific contrasting quotes or parts in scriptures that addressing the current culture

1.2.2 BIG BANG: First thought of to go to is the beginning according to the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Gen 1:1.  Further thoughts shared by Frank Turek in this article, “When I debated atheist Christopher Hitchens recently, one of the eight arguments I offered for God’s existence was the creation of this supremely fine-tuned universe out of nothing.  I spoke of the five main lines of scientific evidence—denoted by the acronym SURGE—that point to the definite beginning of the space-time continuum. They are: The Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Expanding Universe, the Radiation Afterglow from the Big Bang Explosion, the Great galaxy seeds in the Radiation Afterglow, and Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.” He later follows with, “ Now why would scientists such as Jastrow and Eddington admit, despite their personal misgivings, that there are “supernatural” forces at work? Why couldn’t natural forces have produced the universe? Because there was no nature and there were no natural forces ontologically prior to the Big Bang—nature itself was created at the Big Bang. That means the cause of the universe must be something beyond nature—something we would call supernatural.  It also means that the supernatural cause of the universe must at least be: - spaceless because it created space  - timeless  because it created time - immaterial because it created matter - powerful because it created out of nothing - intelligent because the creation event and the universe was precisely designed - personal because it made a choice to convert a state of nothing into something (impersonal forces don’t make choices). Those are the same attributes of the God of the Bible (which is one reason I believe in a the God of the Bible and not a god of mythology like Zeus)... George Smoot—co-discoverer of the Great Galaxy Seeds which won him a Nobel Prize as well—echoed Wilson’s assessment by saying, “There is no doubt that a parallel exists between the Big Bang as an event and the Christian notion of creation from nothing.”

“Whatever begins to exist has a cause; the universe began to exist; therefore, the universe has a cause”—William Laine Craig  [mentioning a law of causality— http://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=3716]

2.2 Responding to two notions that have happened due to the “God is Dead” point. (1) The intention of the quote, (2) the public’s response in acceptance and misunderstanding. Before this we list 9 verses about God’s eternal nature, so we can squash the idea of Him ever being dead— provided by this article. 1. For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite— 1 Peter 1:6-7 2. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.— Psalm 93:2 3. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.— Genesis 21:33 4. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.— Psalm 90:2 5. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.— Revelation 22:13 6. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.— Romans 1:20-21 7. Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.—Isa 41:4 8. Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.— Isa 44:6 9. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.— Rev 1:8

The Guardian explains, now following is the Enlightenment revolution whereas we could know without God; God was made irrelevant to the equation. He was plugged in to explanations regarding ‘the origin of man’ but the quote “God is dead” meant a few things, though one of the main themes was “the awfulness of men killed him,” however this has led to a response from the atheists of today that has exacerbated the original intention of the message. “The other narrative that already in the mid-19th century told the western world God had died was, of course, Darwin's. Nietzsche was not part of post-Darwinism, but what he had to say fed into the 20th-century "after God" cultural steam.”

Before leading in to the Darwinism part in 3.2 we’ll respond to the heart of the message. Nietzche believed in erasing God and replacing it with man’s work and science we were accomplishing. “And the place where you need to look for how to respond in Nietzschean style to the death of God is back to his Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1886), which I would translate as "The Science of Joy"” but Jonathan Edwards warns us of this and speaks on it here:  “Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory of redemption. Let us endeavour to obtain, and increase in, a sensibleness of our great dependence, to have our eye on him alone, to mortify a self-dependent and self-righteous disposition. Man is naturally exceeding prone to exalt himself, and depend on his own power of goodness; as though from himself he must expect happiness. He is prone to have respect to enjoyments alien from God and his Spirit, as those in which happiness is to be found. But this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone: as by trust and reliance, so by praise. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord. Hath any man hope that he is converted, and sanctified, and that his mind is endowed with that true excellency and spiritual beauty? That his sins are forgiven, and he received into God’s favour, and exalted to the honour and blessedness of being his child, and an heir of eternal life? Let him give God all the glory; who alone makes him to differ from the worst of men in this world, or the most miserable of the damned in hell. Hath any man much comfort and strong hope of eternal life, let not his hope lift him up, but to dispose him the more to abase himself, to reflect on his own exceeding unworthiness of such a favour, and to exalt God alone. Is any man eminent in holiness, and abundant in good works, let him take nothing of the glory of it to himself, but ascribe it to him whose ‘workmanship we are, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” (source).

Another approach to this argument or explanation for further thought is in Neitzche’s words from Twilight of the Idols “When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident… Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole.” The source continues to explain “Nietzsche thought this could be a good thing for some people, saying: “... at hearing the news that 'the old god is dead', we philosophers and 'free spirits' feel illuminated by a new dawn. A bright morning had arrived.”  Funny enough he foresaw and feared nihilism “His fear of nihilism and our reaction to it was shown in The Will to Power, when he wrote that: "What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism... For some time now our whole European culture has been moving as toward a catastrophe." In other words, eventually this would snowball into meaningless. Freedom yes, but eventually meaningless. 

** What’s beautiful is a parallel if not a response to his thought in Zarathustra: "For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred yes is needed: the spirit now wills his own will." CS Lewis in his book The Great Divorce says “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.” [ I chose this response because God can be ‘dead’ in our life and for many, He is. He’s rejected and we can choose to live without Him. There isn’t much a fight. But a life without Him can be free but ultimately ‘free from Him’ and in the end, that is what we have chosen. Our eternity is a forever of our desire as mentioned in Romans 1:20-21.]

3.2 In response to us not being designed, immediately a few bible verses come to mind like:

- Psalm 139:13-14—For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. - Genesis 1:26— Let us make man in our own image

Then thinkers have such sayings in response to Intelligent Design as  “The fundamental claim of intelligent design is straightforward and easily intelligible: namely, there are natural systems that cannot be adequately explained in terms of undirected natural forces and that exhibit features which in any other circumstance we would attribute to intelligence.”— William A Dembski, The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design

For centuries the most powerful argument for God's existence from the physical world was the so-called argument from design: Living things are so beautiful and elegant and so apparently purposeful, they could only have been made by an intelligent designer. But [Charles] Darwin provided a simpler explanation. His way is a gradual, incremental improvement starting from very simple beginnings and working up step by tiny incremental step to more complexity, more elegance, more adaptive perfection.— Richard Dawkins

4.2 Postmodernism comes after the modernist thought based around individualism and for that, postmodernism applies this to truth—something may be true but is only true to the individual. McGrath makes a point  “To the postmodern suggestion that something can be "true for me" but not "true" the following reply might be made. Is fascism as equally true as democratic libertarianism? Consider the person who believes, passionately and sincerely, that it is an excellent thing to place millions of Jews in gas chambers. That is certainly "true for him". But can it be allowed to pass unchallenged? Is it as equally true as the belief that one ought to live in peace and tolerance with one's neighbours, including Jews?(Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35, 1992).”

In response to postmodernity it’s written in this article, “Christianity cannot embrace postmodernity, yet we must not retreat to the hills either. There are certain lessons we must learn from postmodernity. Postmodernity reminds us to abandon "truth as arrival", yet we must humbly affirm that truth is nonetheless available. Postmodernity rightly warns us of misuse of the biblical metanarrative, yet we must resist the temptation to discard or water-down the metanarrative.” Later he addreses and responds, “D.A. Carson best summarizes the Christian response to postmodernity when he insists that we must recognize "certain truths in postmodernity, without getting snookered by the entire package"(Carson 136). So let us resolve to stand firm against the negative currents of postmodernity, but let us do so humbly .”

** “What the postmodern world celebrates in its rejection of all absolutes and in its assumed right to define all reality privately is a sign of God's wrath (cf. Rom. 1:22). People may plead ignorance in this situation, but Paul says they are "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). Later, he develops this in terms of internal consciousness. Even the Gentiles who are without the written moral law still show that what it requires "is written on their hearts" because their conscience is actively at work within them (Rom. 2:14- 15; cf. 1 Cor. 9:21). It is no small scandal what Paul has to say here. What is revealed to all people everywhere? It is not that God is loving, though he is. It is not that he is accepting, though sinners may find acceptance with him. It is not that we can find him on our own terms, though he should be sought (Acts 17:27). No, what is revealed is the fact that he is wrathful. It is true that this disclosure comes alongside the fact that the creation also bespeaks his glory and the greatness of his power. Yet the greatness of his power and his glory do not obscure the fact that God is alienated from human beings. Indeed, his glory is precisely the reason that he is alienated! There is, as a result, already a faint foretaste of final judgment as the consequences of sin visit their retribution upon the sinner. This is scandalous to a postmodern ear, but locked in that scandal is the key to meaning in the world, and in that meaning there is hope.” ― John Piper, The Supremacy Of Christ In A Postmodern World

“In this fallen world, and in their fallen lives, those who are alienated from God are a part of this age, which is now passing. It has no future and there are intimations of that in the depths of human consciousness where a tangle of contradictions lie, for we are made for meaning but find only emptiness, made as moral beings but are estranged from what is holy, made to understand but are thwarted in so many of our quests to know. These are the sure signs of a reality out of joint with itself. This is what, in fact, points to something else. These contradictions are unresolved in the absence of that age to come which is rooted in the triune God of whom Scripture speaks. He it is who not only sustains all of life, directing it all to its appointed end, but who also is the measure of what is enduringly true and right, and the fountain of all meaning, purpose, and hope.” ― John Piper, The Supremacy Of Christ In A Postmodern World

Some verses on truth come about as well: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.— Jn 14:6 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.—Proverbs 30:5 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.—Jn 14:17 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.— 1 Jn1:8

fin: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.— Mt24:35

**further read: https://www.equip.org/article/the-postmodern-challenge/

side note/ side read: The Eternal Gospel Meets the Modern World  listen to: https://www.rzim.org/resources/post-modernism

[anneedmonds]

Is This Lipstick Perfection?

I’ve been testing out quite a few new luxury lipstick launches and a couple of them are really quite fabulous. Comfortable, creamy, immensely flattering lipsticks that manage to retain a real punch of colour and (at least in the case of the Becca lipsticks I’m about to show you) do a good job of staying put. The first new-ish launch that impressed me no end is the Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love range and the second, the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lipsticks.

I’m going to review the Bobbi Brown lipsticks separately because they are very different to the Becca ones – they’re liquid, for a start. But I also want the Ultimate Lipstick Loves to have their own dedicated post because there’s something rather clever about them that’s rather unique. (I think.)

The clever thing is that rather than having a mass of lipstick shades covering every possible colour on the colourwheel – pale peach to deepest mauve, pearlised beige to bright blue – the new Becca range concentrates on finding your perfect nude and your ideal red and – to help with this mission – categorises the 30 shades according to skin undertone. There are six cool-toned nudes, six warm-toned, six neutral nudes and then the same drill for the reds – six with a cool tone, six reds with a neutral tone and six with a warm.

So you work out your undertone (Becca advise that you’re a “cool” if you look best wearing white, a “warm” if you look better in cream and a “neutral” if you look equally good in both) and restrict your lipstick choice to the relevant groups. Rather like finding a foundation, where you determine the depth of colour that you need and then look for the right tone – one might look too pink, one too yellow, one will be just right – the cool, neutral and warm labelling makes it easy, or at least easier, to find the perfect colour.

Because I had the whole shade range I decided to do a little experiment and see whether or not the whole “picking a shade by tone” actually worked in practice. I first selected shades based on gut instinct and then chose the shades that I should select to according to my skin undertone. Amazingly, most of the shades I first selected were in the cool category – I just seemed to be drawn to the crisp freshness of the colours – but as soon as I tried them on my face it was clear that they were simply wrong for me. And then, when I applied the equivalent warm or neutral lipstick, they looked instantly perfect. It was like trying on a load of jeans that were slightly too tight, or too gapey at the back, or too loose on the knee, and then slipping on a pair that made me look like Gisele but felt as comfy as pyjamas.

Buy Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love*

So the organisation of the shade range is exemplary – whatever your skintone and skin undertone, you should be able to find a lipstick that suits you completely. Of course you can absolutely ignore the undertone system and select whatever you bloody want – it’s just a guide. Go wild.

And it’s not just the shade system that’s brilliant; the texture and finish of the Becca Ultimate Lipstick is, without exaggeration, near-perfect. I can’t think of anything I don’t like about it, which, strictly speaking, should make it fully-perfect and not near-perfect, but there’s always got to be some wriggle room hasn’t there? Perfect is a bold statement. It’s a commitment. It’s a risk. I like to have a contingency for any small complaints that may crop up in the future. For the moment I can’t think of any complaints (some may not like the fragrance, which is faint but gourmand) but life wears us down and I’m a grumpy sod, so perhaps after a few months I’ll find the packaging a little heavy or the product name (Ultimate Lipstick Love?) a bit irksome.

Back to the texture and finish; applying this lipstick is an utter joy. It’s creamy but not too slidey, comfortable and moisturising but not so oily that the formula bleeds into fine lines. Soft as can be, a light butteriness, a gorgeous surface sheen but nothing too glossy or high-maintenance…

The greatest thing is that this immense degree of comfort and creaminess doesn’t affect the depth or vibrancy of the colour – the lipstick shades are punchy and vibrant, larger than life. And the colour is relatively long-lasting, too – it’s not at all comparable to some of the new longwear liquid lipsticks that stay on for weeks, but for such a hydrating, cushiony finish it’s more than adequate. You have to reapply after eating lunch, for example, but in between meals and drinks the Becca Ultimate lipstick sticks fast.

In these pictures I’m wearing my perfect nude (Dune) and my perfect red (Poppy). If you look on the Becca website here* then they have all of the shades swatched on different skintones – it makes it very simple to see at a glance which depth of colour you need, and then you cross reference with your undertone and Bob’s your Uncle. A flattering shade match.

You can find Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love at Cult Beauty here* – lipsticks are £20 each, which I think is pretty reasonable for a luxury buy. Chanel’s lipsticks now come in at £30 ish and Tom Ford’s (far less creamy and moisturising than the Becca) are £40. Perhaps you don’t get the same little rush without the double-Cs on the lid or the signature square casing of the Tom Ford lipsticks, but Becca’s packaging is equally premium in feel. As I said, we’re talking near-perfection – thank me later.

You can see these lipsticks (and three other luxury lip launches) in my latest video – just click play below. The products featured are listed below the video screen.

Chanel Coco Rouge Flash in shades Boy, Pulse and Beat – £31 at John Lewis*: http://bit.ly/2TJGTPi

Hourglass No28 Lip Oil Neutral Rose, £45 (yikes!) at SpaceNK here*: http://bit.ly/2F7px4Y

Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lipstick in Hippy Shake and Peach & Quiet, £16.50 (at time of writing) John Lewis here*: http://bit.ly/2F7px4Y

Becca Ultimate Lip Love £20 at Cult Beauty*: http://bit.ly/2TEQC9E

The neutral shades I tried were Sugar (cool) Bare (Warm) and Dune (Neutral) and then the red shades were Blaze and Poppy. 

The post Is This Lipstick Perfection? appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Is This Lipstick Perfection? was first posted on March 17, 2019 at 10:41 pm. ©2018 "A Model Recommends". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at contact@amodelrecommends.com Is This Lipstick Perfection? published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

[watchstandpray]

From the Creator of Watch Stand Pray

Though the subtitle reads “Moral Motivation”, I do not consider myself any moral authority by any means. Morality is a topic society is hungry for. It would be a crime not to spread the news: Morals are good.

Note that the title is not “Moral Perfection”. I write these words to myself as much as to everyone else. As the words suggest, this work is both a motivation for morals and a set of moral-centered motivationals.

I was inspired by my many students and friends, as well as Oswald Chambers. I was introduced to his work when a kind of spiritual grandmother in my life gave me a copy as I went off to Moody. My Utmost for His Highest, the gold standard of Bible-based devotionals, was a collection of notes from Chambers’ widow; our loved ones often know our best values best. He died at 43 years old of a health condition. His first book, Biblical Psychology, was published five years before that. If he could address both Bible and culture at such a young age, I can too.

I write this at 37 years old. When I first wrote this Introduction, I had only finished the first read, drafted about eleven other candidate reads, and had a list of about 180 for other topics, at least 100 of them Bible Theology topics. Most of those are rants I have given to friends on more than one occasion. It seems, according to the fact that his wife took notes of what he would say at home, Oswald was a bit of a “ranter” like myself. What writer/teacher isn’t?

My father would also go on “wisdom rants”. He called them “little Walter thoughts”. Our family treasures them today. Toward the end of his life, he started to write them down, but most of what he said remains only in memory. I don’t want that for my own ideas for future generations. Although I have written political columns, Bible teachings of many kinds, fiction, and numerous other pieces in various genres, nothing I ever wrote before this really had “Jesse thoughts”. This does.

Oswald Chambers brought us all something special. His daily readings aren’t just “Bible study”. They were real, passionate, and natural from the moment. Those kinds of “household wisdom rants” have the strongest “didactic” teaching impact in childhood. Some of our best books are the ones we don’t know we write. Oswald remains unique in the devotional world.

The lesser among devotionals can often be with cliche, are quite dry, belong best under dust on a coffee table’s lower shelf, or were invaluable for readers from another time. Many good Bible devotionals are aimed at novice Bible readers who love Jesus and need elementary teaching to enrich their busy, hectic lives. There are many rich daily-Bible books, such as 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories, the “Uncle” Arthor Maxwell collections, and it goes without mention that Max Lucado and my dear friend, Joe Stowell, are generally awesome. But, all of these are heavily focused on traditional Bible-preaching topics.

What about the professional? What about the Christian who wants to minister through the marketplace or in government? Wisdom such as, “Make sure you’re nice to people because God really loves you as much as them,” carries truth that can be properly applied if we take it to heart; but it doesn’t necessarily answer all challenges of the working professional.

Who disciples the Daniels and Josephs? Who motivates the motivational speakers? They weren’t without mentors of their own. Without any spite, I believe there is a “red ocean” marketable need for a book that daily enriches the lives of self-proclaimed “Christian yuppies”. I wanted “Tony Robins meets Oswald Chambers”. Frankly, that’s Jesse Steele.

Oswald Chambers didn’t intend to write the book he wrote. That was part of its magic. The only reason that I can justify even being worthy to want to follow in his shoes is that every one of these 365 reads—353 of them yet-to-be-drafted—are from rants I have already made. I’m doing zero research and zero outlining for these devotionals. I’m simply sitting at a keyboard and pounding out “repeating broken record rants” of my past that people have thanked me for time and again. The book will be finished as fast as I can type. (Now we know how long it took.)

(Don’t tell her, but this is arguably a romance tactic. If I publish all my brilliant ideas before I meet my future wife, that might deter her from taking notes while I’m ranting. Wouldn’t that have been kind of funny—a young couple getting into it when the wife suddenly pulls out a pad of paper and starts taking notes? Just sayin’. But, I kinda’ like that kinda’ woman.)

No, I’m not married. I just haven’t had time to pursue it, being too busy with other important things that I won’t have time for in the future. So, how can I even include anything about marriage and family in these readings?

I am a son and an uncle, for what it’s worth. I hope I’m valuable to my nieces and nephews. Still, I severely limit myself on the topic of raising a family. I can’t speak to the 24/7 parenting gig; it’s exhausting just to think about. But, if it is wrong to write wisdom for children when you don’t have any of your own then most of CS Lewis’ work would be unqualified.

In terms of marriage, I am just an inquisitive observer. I’ve often picked the brains of married couples to see what works for them, why they fail, why they succeed, and I often know more about what goes on behind the scenes than people realize. I’m somewhat of the grapevine in that sense. I don’t think God would let those little “bees” buzz over and keep me so informed if I flapped jaw about other people’s problems. I keep a tighter lip than most will ever know. Many a secret will go to my grave with me. From those secrets, I have a wide scope of what I have seen fail and succeed. I think it would be a crime not to share at least a little from that insight.

These reads contain the warnings and wisdom anyone can see in advance, with a little diligence and “grapevining”. I’ll probably write a post-parenting book on how it all worked out. My mother often told me with all sincerity and no animosity, “I can’t wait to see how your ideas actually work out when you’re a parent.”

What do I have to say about being a father?

I write this not as a father, but as a godfather of a godson whose father left him forever when he was three, to whom I gave my name. I have none of the rights nor powers of a real father, yet I carry much of the responsibility. I have no influence in his regular instruction or situation. I am only available when called on and can only act in the capacity of a commentator and cheerleader. In many ways, I wish I had even some of the powers of a real father to David, with no second thought for the burdens that would come with them. I did not ask for him to be my godson and I cannot ask to be released. I only write about the topic of fathering because no devotional would be complete without it. In this, I write from what I little I do know and from what the Bible teaches. I hope that God grants you the powers to glean from my wisdom and disregard my lacking.

But, I am no novice to these matters either.

My grandmother was called “Grandma” even by her elders because of her wide and long work with children in her local church. Even after she died, my aunt’s neighbor, who barely knew her, had a dream in which she called her “Grandma”. My mother was listed in the local newspaper among the top ten local daycare providers. My own babysitter, from before I entered elementary school, was a leader in her community and I am still in touch with her to this day. We often talk about dealing with people as we never stop growing up.

During the ages of nine and ten, when I was homeschooled, I listened to Dr. Kevin Leman on the radio every day as parents called into his national talk radio program for advice. Sadly, yet honestly, I believed I have studied the subject of parenting more than most parents. In addition to that, I have twenty-three years of one-on-one tutoring experience with ages ranging from five to seventy and in three different cultures. I have seen many parenting styles, what fails and what succeeds, and I say confidently as humbly: It’s all predictable.

Books have already been published about most every problem and conflict. Talk radio hosts, even the less famous, have addressed many challenges. Yet, most of the people who face great challenges in family relationships rarely seek advice, let alone seek advice in advance. Not seeking advice in advance is usually among the greatest problems in family. Never have I encountered a situation where my own counsel had not already been published by men more experienced than I. When it comes to family, I have absolutely nothing new to say, yet I think I have seen one quarter of all there is to see, the total being unfathomable.

I do not have experience as a husband or as a biological father. I can’t speak from impure relations either. I can only speak from the perspective of one who has the wisdom to wait for things for which I know I am not prepared. Of all the experience I lack, the greatest is preventable and unnecessary failure. For the failures I have, I am glad I was at least absent from the bleachers and present on the game field.

Aside from parenting, I feel competent in the areas of which I write. I survived nine years overseas with my only financial plan being God as my provider. Everything I write about money came from what I have observed in life and read in the Bible. The same goes for leadership, whether organizationally, in business relations, friendship, or positions of authority such as controlling a classroom or working in government.

My work speaks for itself, including the fifteen other books I have written as of 2018, all of them available as ebooks and through print on demand, as well as the inkVerb and PinkWrite projects along with many others. I have a degree in Bible, ten years of work in food service, twenty years in education, and am a pianist of thirty. I am son to a widowed mother and Military Police renaissance-man and teacher of a father. I am a brother, uncle, godfather, Linux programmer, designer, podcaster, columnist, predictor of politics, adviser to unnamed few, ESL and piano teacher, forever student, individual sport enthusiast, hands-on student of culture, lover of people almost as much as I am lover of our Creator God, sinner, mentor, friend, hunter, tamer of animals, writer, editor, survivor, and hope-to-be-better every day all-around good guy.

I write this at 37 years old. At this time, I have only drafted the first read, about eleven other candidate reads, and have a list of about 180 for other topics, at least 100 of them Bible Theology topics. Most of these are rants I have given to friends on more than one occasion. It seems, according to the fact that his wife took notes of what he would say at home, Oswald was a bit of a “ranter” like myself. What writer/teacher isn’t?

My father would also go on “wisdom rants”. He called them “little Walter thoughts”. We treasure them today. Toward the end of his life, he started to write them down, but most of what he said remains only in memory. I don’t want that. Although I have written political, Bible, fiction, and numerous other pieces in various genres, nothing really had “Jesse thoughts”. This does.

Oswald Chambers brought something special. His daily readings aren’t just “Bible study”. They were real, passionate, and natural from the moment. Those kinds of “household wisdom rants” have the strongest “didactic” teaching impact in childhood. Some of our best books are the ones we don’t know we write. Oswald remains unique in the devotional world.

The lesser among devotionals can be filled with cliche, quite dry, belong best under dust on a coffee table’s lower shelf, or were invaluable for readers from another time. Many good Bible devotionals are aimed at novice Bible readers who love Jesus and need elementary teaching to enrich their busy, hectic lives. There are many rich daily-Bible books, such as 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories, the “Uncle” Arthor Maxwell collections, and it goes without mention that Max Lucado and my good friend, Joe Stowell, are generally awesome. But, all of these are heavily focused on traditional Bible-preaching topics.

What about the professional? What about the Christian who wants to minister through the marketplace or in government? Wisdom such as, “Make sure you’re nice to people because God really loves you as much as them,” carries truth that can be properly applied if we take it to heart; but it doesn’t necessarily answer all challenges of the working professional.

Who disciples the Daniels and Josephs? Who motivates the motivational speakers? They weren’t without mentors of their own. Without any spite, I believe there is a “red ocean” marketable need for a book that daily enriches the lives of self-proclaimed Christian yuppies. I wanted “Tony Robins meets Oswald Chambers”. Frankly, that’s Jesse Steele.

Oswald Chambers didn’t intend to write the book he wrote. That was part of its magic. The only reason that I can justify even being worthy to follow in his shoes is that every one of these 365 reads—353 of them yet-to-be-drafted—are from rants I have already made. I’m doing zero research and zero outlining for these devotionals. I’m simply sitting at a keyboard and pounding out “broken record rants” of my past that people have thanked me for time and again. The book will be finished as fast as I can type.

(Don’t tell her, but this is arguably a romance tactic. If I publish all my brilliant ideas before I meet my future wife, that might deter her from taking notes while I’m ranting. Wouldn’t that have been kind of funny—a young couple getting into it when the wife suddenly pulls out a pad of paper and starts taking notes? Just sayin’. But, I kinda’ like that kinda’ woman.)

No, I’m not married. I just haven’t had time to pursue it, being too busy with other important things that I won’t have time for in the future. So, how can I even include anything about marriage and family in these readings?

I am a son and an uncle, for what it’s worth. I hope I’m valuable to my nieces and nephews. Still, I severely limit myself to the topic of raising a family. I can’t speak to the 24/7 gig; it’s exhausting just to think about. But, if it is wrong to write wisdom for children when you don’t have any of your own then most of CS Lewis’ work would be unqualified.

In terms of marriage, I am just an inquisitive observer. I’ve often picked the brains of married couples to see what works for them, why they fail, and I often know more about what goes on behind the scenes than people realize. I’m somewhat of the grapevine in that sense. I don’t think God would let those little “bees” buzz over and keep me so informed if I flapped jaw about other people’s problems. I keep a tighter lip than most will ever know. Many a secret will go to my grave with me. From those secrets, I have a wide scope of what I have seen fail and succeed. I think it would be a crime not to share at least a little from that insight.

These reads contain the warnings and wisdom anyone can see in advance, with a little diligence. I’ll probably write a post-parenting book on how it all worked out. My mother often told me with all sincerity and no animosity, “I can’t wait to see how your ideas actually work out when you’re a parent.”

What do I have to say about being a father?

I write this not as a father, but as a godfather of a godson whose father left him forever when he was three, to whom I gave my name. I have none of the rights nor powers of a real father, yet I carry much of the responsibility. I have no influence in his regular instruction or situation. I am only available when called on and can only act in the capacity of a commentator and cheerleader. In many ways, I wish I had even some of the powers of a real father to David, with no second thought for the burdens that would come with them. I did not ask for him to be my godson and I cannot ask to be released. I only write about the topic of fathering because no devotional would be complete without it. In this, I write from what I little I do know and from what the Bible teaches. I hope that God grants you the powers to glean from my wisdom and disregard my lacking.

But, I am no novice to these matters either.

My grandmother was called “Grandma” even by her elders because of her wide and long work with children in her local church. Even after she died, my aunt’s neighbor, who barely knew her, had a dream in which she called her “Grandma”. My mother was listed in the local newspaper among the top ten local daycare providers. My own babysitter, from before I entered elementary school, was a leader in her community and I am still in touch with her to this day. We often talk about dealing with people as we never stop growing up.

During the ages of nine and ten, when I was homeschooled, I listened to Dr. Kevin Leman on the radio every day as parents called into his national talk radio program for advice. Sadly, yet honestly, I believed I have studied the subject of parenting more than most parents. In addition to that, I have twenty years of one-on-one tutoring experience with ages ranging from five to seventy and in three different cultures. I have seen many parenting styles, what fails and what succeeds, and I say confidently as humbly: It’s all predictable.

Books have already been published about every problem and conflict. Talk radio hosts, even the less famous, have addressed many challenges. Yet, most of the people who face great challenges in family relationships rarely seek advice, let alone seek advice in advance. Not seeking advice in advance is usually among the greatest problems in family. Never have I encountered a situation where my own counsel had not already been published by men more experienced than I. When it comes to family, I have absolutely nothing new to say, yet I think I have seen one quarter of all there is to see, the total being unfathomable.

I do not have experience as a husband or as a biological father. I can’t speak from impure relations either. I can only speak from the perspective of one who has the wisdom to wait for things for which I know I am not prepared. Of all the experience I lack, the greatest is preventable and unnecessary failure. For the failures I have, I am glad I was at least absent from the bleachers and present on the game field.

Aside from parenting, I feel competent in the areas of which I write. I survived nine years overseas with my only financial plan being God as my provider. Everything I write about money came from what I have seen in life and read in the Bible. The same goes for leadership, whether organizationally, in business relations, friendship, or positions of authority such as controlling a classroom.

My work speaks for itself, including the fifteen other books I have written as of 2018, all of them available as ebooks and through print on demand, as well as the inkVerb and PinkWrite projects along with many others. I have a degree in Bible, ten years of work in food service, twenty years in education, and am a pianist of thirty. I am son to a widowed mother and Military Police renaissance-man and teacher of father, brother, uncle, godfather, Linux programmer, designer, podcaster, columnist, predictor of politics, adviser to unnamed few, ESL and piano teacher, forever student, individual sport enthusiast, hands-on student of culture, lover of people almost as much as I am lover of our Creator God, sinner, mentor, friend, hunter, tamer of animals, writer, editor, survivor, and hope-to-be-better every day all-around good guy.

— Jesse Steele Creator of Watch Stand Pray

[nokhwezi-blog]

God, my helper

8 July 2017 I have been feeling low lately, feeling that God is distant. Even as I stick to my daily prayer and Bible study routine of two hours or more, my alone time with Jehovah, I haven't been feeling as fired up as I usually am. The readings are not digesting, even my prayers were lacklustre at best. I really was worried I am not making any impact. I have been praying about a lot of things. My house does not get auctioned as it hasn't been paid for in over a month and there seemed little hope of a recovery; my children pass their semester exams; that God continue to sustain us this month as money had dried up and we couldn't afford petrol and basic necessities as the month of June was drawing out. Then I received this message from Mo yesterday: "I just received a call from FNB Homeloans to inform me that our house was scheduled to be auctioned on the 30 June 2017. "I asked the lady why was it not auctioned and she told me she does not know why, because according to their system it was scheduled as such?" I sunk to my knees after reading this and thanked God heartily. I was reminded that God is holding me. I may not always feel it, and I may not understand all that's going on. But He knows what we don't always know. He sees the big picture when we see only a small part.  The day's verses began to echo in my head. I realised it was God talking to me.   Matthew 6:25-26: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Without me knowing it, my faithful father was protecting me the whole time because He knowswhat I need. Isaiah 49:2: "He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver." Even though I may not feel my prayers were having any impact, my pleas were heard. CS Lewis once wrote: What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard. Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I have worked very hard to develop courage and contentment in my relationship with God. Especially where Jesus tells us to not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34) Exodus 33:22: "When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by." To God be the glory!