A different kind of study ... lol

AN INTERESTING BUT NOT TOO SURPRISING STUDY

A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ dependingon where she is in her menstrual cycle. For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with a spear lodged in his chest and tape over his mouth while he is on fire.

No further studies are planned.

Go For It!

Good morning!

"If you worry about the weather and don't plant seeds, you won't harvest a crop. No one can explain how a baby breathes before it is born. So how can anyone explain what God does? After all He created everything. Plant your seeds early in the morning and keep working in the field until dark. Who knows? Your work might pay off, and your seeds may produce." -Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 CEV

Yes, I'm in Ecclesiastes again... These verses are all so rural but they have a lot to say which is backed up elsewhere in the Bible. The bottom line is you never get to harvest what you never have the nerve to plant! I think what Solomon is saying here is get off the recliner and out of the house, say "Hi" to the girl at the market, take that class, in short get out, take risks and do something! He reminds the person who is unwilling to take risks "How can anyone explain what God does?" We live in a world in which there is no sure thing other that the Lords plans will take place. Therefore, those of us waiting for that "sure thing" may be waiting a very long, long time. How can anything be harvested if its not planted? We better be sowing and reaping when we can and keep at it, trusting God for the results. In other words go for it!

End of mini sermon...

Christianese (noun)

Christianese (noun) A language or linguistic style that is understood only by, or appeals only to, practicing Christians.

Judges 12:6 "Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Shibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce [it] right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

In Judges 12, the Gileadites find a way to distinguish between friend and foe by compelling captured refugees to say the word 'Shibboleth.' Evidently, Ephraimites couldn't pronounce it correctly, saying instead 'Shibboleth.' Those that said that latter were struck down while those who said the former were allowed to pass. Linguistically I am intrigued at the prospect of there being a language that even the people who are supposed to be using it don't understand! How cool is that? Pretty strange huh!

'Shibboleths' abound in society, including among Christians. Unfortunately, even among Christians, a Shibboleth isn't simply a quick way to distinguish where a person stands in relation to you but is used in a manner akin to the Gileadite's use, thankfully, of course, without the resulting slaughter. Sometimes we as Christians can speak language that others haven't got a clue what we are talking about. Its like our own secret language!!!

Often these are often the big theological words: atonement, incarnation, substitutionary, Trinity, creedal, Gospel, Sacrament, etc. Other examples might include "...just a blessing..." "if it's God's will"... and so on and so forth. Now, among Christians these terms generally make sense and at least there is enough understanding that one could talk for a little while before Shibboleths come into play. I am not denouncing the words, per se, only their application: with non Christians this sort of phraseology comes across as a whole new language, Christianese, if you will. In other words, Christianese is a Shibboleth in the ears of the nonbeliever. The moment you begin engaging in Christianese you are at risk of being dismissed or marginalized in the eyes of the person you are talking to.

The word ‘preach’ does not just mean ‘one-way verbal communication’ – as in a sermon or evangelistic address. It has a much broader sense - ‘to effectively communicate’. If the receivers have not understood the message, real communication has probably not occurred. Colossians 1:6 strongly implies that understanding on the part of the hearers is essential to true gospel preaching.

Do you know what the following means? Are there similar phrases that lose you? You would be surprised how many use these phrases without the recipients knowing what they are talking about.

Such as:

Abomination

Sacrament

Alpha Course

Anointing

Non Denominational

Testimony

Backslider

The World

Carpet Time

Born again

"I don't feel led ..."

Sanctified

Deliverance

Spiritual

Warfare

Seeker

Service

Thus Saith the Lord

Five Fold Blessing

Apologetics

Dispensationalism

Have a burden

Pelagianism

Omnipotent

Legalism ...

and many more...That should keep us busy??!!!

What do you all think of Christian shibboleths? Should we be using a language more people can understand? I know I catch myself talking to non Christians different from my brothers and sisters... Any thoughts?

How did Adam and Eve sin?

This question has been pondered for millenniums ... What in Adam and Eve caused them to sin? They were born innocent so what caused them to will disobedience to God? Perhaps the most insightful comments that I’ve heard on Gen 1-3 are from one of the brothers at Taizé. Here it is in a nutshell ... (because this is quite wise and it would be wrong to let you think that I came up with it myself…)

"In the context of the story, you need to think of the man and the woman as if they were children. Imagine a mother who says to her child ‘thou mayest play in the garden, but thou shalt not play in the road, for in the day when thou playest in the road thou shalt surely die’. The child understands that she is going to kill it if it chooses to play in the road; actually she is simply saying that it will get run over by a car. Simple cause and effect. God says ‘you may have everything in this entire garden, but I’d avoid that thing over there. Touching that one thing is a really bad idea.’ It’s also interesting that people tend to focus on the single thing that is off limits, and not the whole garden full of stuff that God does give them.

Furthermore, it isn’t that God doesn’t intend for the man and the woman ever to become wise, the question is how they are meant to become wise. God’s plan is for them to become wise by trusting and being in relationship with Him. In the surrounding cultures, the serpent, on the other hand, represents wisdom that you get to all by yourself without reference to God. So the choice is not wisdom or no wisdom, but wisdom with or without God. They choose to listen to the serpent, which is a choice to attain independent wisdom without wanting to continue to trust God."

I’m not sure if this quite answers the question, but it seems to me like a useful starting point to bear in mind. The disobedience is about wanting to get somewhere without God’s help, which doesn’t necessarily mean that God never intended for them to get there!

Have a blessed day everyone!

Bleu Testament

LOL ... I kid you not! At long last, the Bible done with cheese! Here's the intro:

"Herein, you will see an image slide show illustrating Biblical history, complete with referenced verses, detailed stories, and information about the cheeses. We have included events found in both the Hebrew Scriptures (Mold Testament) and the Christian Scriptures (Bleu Testament)."

Click here: All Too Flat : Bible Accoring to Cheese

http://www.alltooflat.com/serious/cheese/

It's actually pretty good, click on the slideshow button and watch it go. But read the scripture verses carefully...there are little funny zingers thrown in if you read carefully and know your cheese such as "God saw all that he had made, and it was gouda. You get the drift ...

A couple of Tolkiens and a Manning

A Blessing...

May all your expectations be frustrated;

May all your plans be thwarted;

May all your desires be withered to nothingness...

That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty

of a child and sing and dance in the compassion of God

Who is Father, Son and Spirit. Amen

-Brennan Manning

"This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world; small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

-J. R. R. Tolkien

"I will not give you counsel, saying do this or do that. For not in doing, or in contriving, nor in choosing between this course or another, can I avail, but only in knowing what was, or is, and in part also what shall be."

-J. R. R. Tolkien

The Great Mosaic of God

The Great Mosaic of God

If you feel that you don't fit in,

that no place seems to be "your place";

It is because earth is too small for the

grand, eternal design of God to be displayed

in all its splendor.

Someday, in a new heaven and earth,

the pieces that have been flung to the four winds,

to rough terrain, and dry, hidden corners,

to the bottom of the sea and to the top of

rarely-climbed mountains,

Will be gathered up into a great mosaic

of God's own making.

A mosaic made, in praise of Christ, and

as a present to the Victor

for having ransomed every sort of man

and woman from the tribes and nations

of the old earth.

In that day, you will fit perfectly,

for you have been chosen

and designed for that.

It will be a great work of art.

It will be a great day.

You will fit.

Perfectly.

God can see it in His mind,

even now.

He is smiling

~Rose-Marie Slosek