I'm a Minneapolis-area GTO-driving bass-and-northern-fishing God-fearing brown(and silver!)-haired green-eyed politically- and socially-conservative ex-sinner, ex-smoker blue-collar middle-class ecstatically-married tech-school-educated dad, step-dad, and grandpa with an older brother and a younger sister. Did I miss anything...?
No, I'm not referring to the courtroom exchange between Kaffee (Tom Cruise) and Jessep (Jack Nicholson) in the movie "A Few Good Men", where those words meant that Kaffee was not capable of dealing with what really happened. This post is about "The Truth" (Jesus) being physically handled by Mary Magdalene. Remember when Jesus appeared to Mary outside of His tomb and told her, "Do not touch me for I have not yet ascended to the Father."? I wonder what that was about. People had been touching Him for years. Why not now?
Possibly, it had to do with her being ceremonially unclean (Numbers 19:11), since she was there when His body was being prepared for burial, and may have hugged or otherwise touched His lifeless body.
It could also be that a clue lies in the word "touch", which I think would have been better translated as "cling". That gives the verse a little different flavor: "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" With that in mind, the idea becomes to not cling to His physical body, because it will not always be here.
Jesus says in John 14:25-26, "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
and in verses 28-29, "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe." You need to be letting go of this physical form of Me because My kingdom is not of this world. Instead, learn to set your mind on things that are above.
Will someone please quote Romans 3:23 in context? Almost every time I see or hear it quoted, it's used as evidence that "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Like it's a complete sentence.
I don't mean to be anal but man, talk about missing the point! The verse is totally about justification, grace and righteousness given freely. I get cranky when people make verses say what they were never meant to say. Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, butthat's absolutely NOT the point Paul is making. He's saying that since we all are in the same boat, we're all saved the same way- by grace. Quote verse 23 all you want but please... don't quote it alone! Thanks.
"21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
It's been one year, or 1.6 metric years, since my first post! (Did someone say "Woo-Hoo!"?) I think now that I'm an experienced blogger, I might impart wisdom to those who thirst for it.
In a nutshell, the secret of my obscurity is carefully choosing only topics that nobody else cares about. In this way, I can write whatever I want and even if someone finds my blog, and even if they disagree with me, they probably don't care enough about the topic to even bother leaving a comment. It's this "Four Layers Of Protection" concept (I call it "FLOP" for short) that helps keep my comment count so low. Working this simple idea into your own blog should leave you plenty of time for other things, since you won't always be tied up in the comment section of your blog!
I'd tally up myposts and number of comments if I thought anyone would read it, but I think I'll go watch some TV instead. I deserve it.
An Indian friend of mine sent me this link to Mumbai Help, a blog set up to help people contact their loved ones in Mumbai (Bombay) following the floods last year. Now it's mad busy with people looking for info after the train bombings. You can leave messages on the blog, and folks there will try to contact your loved ones and get back to you. If you know someone there and are having a hard time finding them, give it a look. Here's an article about the site if you want to learn more.
