05 February 2004 02:02
a few random things i learned/observed tonight in bible study:1. pet peeve: does this annoy you as much as it annoys me? from our lesson...
Read Romans 12:3-8
Observation:
1. What does this passage tell us not to do?
now let's read verse three together, shall we?
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
i don't know about you, but that particular lesson plan insulted my intelligence. it's pointless. it's supposed to foster discussion, but if you can read it right out of the bible, there's nothing left to discuss. the leader reads that question and all he's going to get is uncomfortable silence. nobody's willing to act like the know it all and read it right out of the bible. becuase they know the next question will be just like it, and the one after that. if i'm supposed to lead a bible study from one of these things, the first thing i do is get rid of the questions and come up with my own, questions that don't get answered right from the text word for word.
2. one of the members is in the airforce reserve. we were talking about using our gifts in the workplace, and somebody commented on whether or not "the air force has the ten commandments displayed anywhere...thou shalt not kill." there was a fair amount of ironic laughter. it was an enlightening moment i'm sure [3]. see unrelated but similar comic here.
3. www.analogy.com i was thinking about the body of Christ and what an excellent analogy it is. do you ever type in random domain names to see what's there? analogy.com is some computer company. that was much more boring than i'd hoped it be. .org and .net arn't even occupied. what a great oppurtunity for someone to have a huge site on analogies :). even basic words, like frustration.com, inexorably.com, and assimilation.com are unoccupied. fate.com seems occupied, but their server was down when i tried. {sigh} what a waste :).
4. one of the men at the study said this: "teaching the word, sharing the word of God is the equivalent of prophecy [today]." the way i understood him, he meant that there is no such thing as me (through the Holy Spirit) declaring that by this time next year this church will have overcome a great obstacle (a random example). m-w.com on prophecy:
1 : an inspired utterance of a prophet
2 : the function or vocation of a prophet; specifically : the inspired declaration of divine will and purpose
if this is indeed what he meant, that there is no longer any prophecy from God regarding the future, then i disagree most wholeheartedly with his statement, considering it to be grossly inaccurate according to the bible.
5. my first cousin's birthday is in a week. he is currently leading a mission team in Bangladesh. i thought tonight about emailing him a two word email.. "happy birthday." it would be the first time i've ever emailed him in my life. he's one year younger than me, this makes him the closest in age of all my cousins. the last time i saw him though, was probably in christmas of 02, at our family reunion. it is interesting. as family, i could meet him by accident on the street tomorrow and we would be up to speed in a matter of minutes, as if the intervening year had never passed without communication. as brother's in christ, i support him 100% in his work in bangladesh, even though we have never talked about what he's doing. in fact, the only thing i know about his work is that one, he's team leader, two, i know what organization he's with. that's it. but i can still confidently support him. why? because i know his parents, i know his grandparents, i know his mission organization, i know reasonably well what his beliefs are, that they are similar to mine. but despite all that, if i were to email him, i would run out of things to say very quickly. we are part of the same body of Christ, we are also part of the same bloodline, we have a unifying common goal as Christians, but we have very little association with each other. i find that interesting. ..and i find it encouraging. many millions of people, utter strangers, working towards the same goal
6. shoe laces. why do we still have shoe laces? these things have been around for centuries and we're still tying the same knot. velcro should have been the future, but it's not (much to my disappointment). or even zippers. how come our shoes don't have zippers? what's with these shoelaces? they're not aerodynamic. they get wet and sloppy. they fray and unravel. think about it. think about how much more sleek a dress shoe would look without the laces in the way? i mean, come on, shoelaces are practically prehistoric, let's get on with our lives. nobody wears tophats anymore. why? because they look dumb and becuase that's what people used to wear. it should be that way with shoelaces. and why doesn't anybody have something up and running at shoelaces.com? what are we going to do when a mysterious and unknown pulse from a solar flare destroys all of our shoelace-making machines? then where will we be? i remembered when i first tied my shoes. i had put them on (they were brown clod-hoppers) and was standing by the patio door, waiting for mom to come tie them like she usually did. i yelled for her to come several times but she tarried long. being the ever so patient [3] child that i am, i bent over and tied them myself, then went on my merry way. after watching my parents do it so often, it came quite naturally. ..but velcro is still easier.
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