sufficient-unto-this-day

My Pet-Wiebe

2010-01-25T10:34:00.000+05:30

Burqa as weapon

2010-01-13T10:57:00.001+05:30

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Monday that the Islamic burqa is not welcome in France, branding the face-covering, body-length gown as a symbol of subservience that suppresses women's identities and turns them into "prisoners behind a screen." I have no problem with such a ban since each country has its own rules on which it tries to create a common basis where ethnic groups may interface with the rest: culture of the host country is to absorb the minorities and not other way round.
Think of nation as a family each member being part of the whole and with duties and rights. Most important is that each works for the common good. If we are visiting a family we don't arm-twist our hosts to serve our whims and fancies. Politeness is the duty of a guest that he doesn’t throw the routine of the family for his indulgence but conform to the general since he is there at the permission of the host. If religion has not taught him to simple courtesies of human beings he had better migrate to some wilderness and learn from the beasts. Perhaps he may improve and so will his religion in practice. Animals kill for their food and not for a dry as dust idea.
France has a long tradition and their culture is second to none. They cannot dilute their values for the few. How minorities may want to practice their own identities in the privacy of their homes is largely left to each.
Culture is not imposed from outside but subject to natural processes evolved over centuries. Strength of France derives from that.

Of course French are not angels or supernatural beings.
Islam has glorious Koran given to them, so the Moslems pride themselves. Islam however glorious cannot replace what was true to the French soil on which it grew as natural. Remember religion of the Semitic races, Judaism and Islam are given from above by an outside agency, and not something natural . So any nation being not supernatural but only subject to weak natures of humans would wish to keep its culture natural it is its rightful privilege.

When some cry intolerance and Islamophobia are the Islamic countries free from what they accuse others of? In case of UAE will they allow other religions freely practice their faith or carry visible symbols of faith as freely as Moslems are allowed in most parts of Europe?
2.
The number of churches being torched over a silly controversy in Malaysia is not as innocuous as it seems.
In Modern Turkey secularism is established by the constitution but the present trend of women to express their religious identity aggressively cannot be by some curious accident. There is a groundswell of radicalization in which some misguided imams from pulpits of the mosque are playing into the hands of terrorists who shall test the will and resolve of the secular government.

3.

I suspect that there is an insidious move to wear out the Western ideals by imposing some primitive aspects of Sharia law.If a believer,because religion has taken over his body, mind and soul,cannot think of his world or enjoy the natural pleasures that such a world and its uses provide it is like playing one stringed music. It numbs the senses and wearies others.

One who cannot be human because some dogma has got into his eyes like a splinter, he is blind: he sees nothing but the splinter. He like Don Quixote sees a windmill of one who doesn't pray as he does; and mistakes him for Iblis. Poor deluded creature! He needs cure. With such a mindset he sees his arid soul and thinks it is paradise.

World is not uniform anymore than human being are. For one who believes God as the creator of peoples and the earth such a variety should mean something. Of course desert has its beauty but to deny the lush verdure of one part the globe or craggy mountains and majestic peaks of another would mean one hasn't grown enough to see it all as blessings that are only given to the living. This is what excess religion robs one. The west lived somewhat similar in the Middle Ages. There were rascals who were mistaken for saints and who, their filth and grime they extolled as fitting tribute to God. There are still some vestiges of these in the Church of Rome. Thank God the west, majority of the believers have awakened from their drowsiness. If they do not share the craze of a Moslem believer for religion he ought not hasten damn them to perdition.

4.

In Islam it is forbidden for men or women wear the dress of opposite sex. Yet such a garb is one means adopted by terrorists to commit acts of terrorism. As long as Islam as a religion has not effectively prevented its followers from such acts in Europe especially in France the moral authority of Islam over secular non-believing countries must be considered as null and void.
Ok. One might say such misuse of burqa are isolated cases and not to be treated as general. Think of a plane as a metaphor for nation. Passengers are citizens,migrant workers,aliens, believers and non believers. One underwear bomber or a shoe bomber could put the whole plane in jeopardy. If one shot could kill the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and start WWI so shall an isolated incident work far greater misery for all who trust in the nation. WWI didn't end with one war. Nation's future is not to be left to chance or to inherent lapses in security. If a government allows these breaches in national security to be left for nation's enemies to do their dastardly crimes as they will, such government is enemy to its citizens.

benny

Sheldonia#6

2010-01-12T17:46:00.003+05:30

Sheldonia#5

2010-01-10T18:33:00.002+05:30

Sheldonia#4 by benny thomas

2010-01-09T08:07:00.002+05:30

Sheldonia#3

2010-01-08T07:46:00.001+05:30

Sheldonia#2

2010-01-07T07:31:00.001+05:30

Sheldonia-comic strips

2010-01-06T09:11:00.003+05:30

New Year

2010-01-03T11:42:00.002+05:30

A head with tattoos

2009-12-25T20:47:00.001+05:30

A Hare

2009-12-25T20:41:00.001+05:30

Sign of the Times

2008-12-02T17:26:00.002+05:30

"Socialism for the Rich"

'Cleanliness is next to....'

2008-11-30T09:40:00.000+05:30

Genie in a Bottle

2008-11-21T19:20:00.001+05:30

a portrait

2008-11-13T08:39:00.002+05:30

Slofjes

2008-11-13T08:36:00.001+05:30

rooster

2008-10-22T06:55:00.000+05:30

pelican

2008-10-22T06:52:00.000+05:30

eagle head

2008-10-21T07:31:00.000+05:30

snow owl

2008-10-21T07:28:00.001+05:30

hippo,bearded seal

2008-10-20T09:14:00.002+05:30

snapping turtle

2008-10-20T09:11:00.001+05:30

birds

2008-10-19T19:09:00.002+05:30

lotus

2008-10-19T08:28:00.000+05:30

cover design-poems

2008-10-19T08:24:00.000+05:30

A portfolio of artworks

2008-10-18T18:06:00.003+05:30

In the days to come I shall be posting my drawings and paintings. I am an architect by profession and I am self taught in drawing. Hope my works give pleasure to all who visit my space.

A potted banana plant

2008-10-18T18:02:00.000+05:30

portrait-Ayan

2008-10-18T17:58:00.000+05:30

portrait-arnold

2008-10-18T17:52:00.001+05:30

The Book of Life

2008-10-15T05:40:00.004+05:30

Consider the optical illusion where we could spot a figure or a vase depending on what we are looking at. In other words we choose to see what we want to see. (see note)
Can there be an island without the sea or a doughnut without the hole in the middle? We may be talking about the island but sea is ever in the background as a reality. Man has a body to which spirit is conjugated. Our physical reality has its counterpart in spirit world and so on. Soul is that aspect which is common to both worlds. On the pinions of soul suppose we could reverse our shapes as in the face-vase illustration mentioned above.
2.
Hereafter denotes the period in which we have spiritual bodies reverse with physical realities here and now. What we experienced in the body in such a case remains in terms of energy or any other mode that is clear as day. As though written down in a book. The book of life which is mentioned in Revelation 20:15
The light of the body is eye… if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness”(Mt.6:22-23)The eye here would stand for the soul of man.
Note:‘To make sense of the world it is necessary to organize incoming sensations into information which is meaningful. Gestalt psychologists believe one way this is done is by perceiving individual sensory stimuli as a meaningful whole. Gestalt organization can be used to explain many illusions including the Duck-Rabbit illusion where the image as a whole switches back and forth from being a duck then being a rabbit and why in the figure-ground illusion the figure and ground are reversible’(wikipedia).
benny

God's Promise

2008-07-15T21:44:00.001+05:30

‘It repented the Lord that he had made man…’ (Gen 6:6,5)
Does God repent or grieve over His creation or the work of His hands?
Let me cite two verses. ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent.’(Num. 23:19) This verse was spoken by Balaam, a prophet. He was brought before the King of Moab to curse the people of Israel. Here repentance that he refers to is something else. God had earlier warned him in a dream not to curse the people whom He had blessed (Num 22:12). It had nothing to do with His work or creation. The next verse refers to the point where Samuel brings God’s word concerning the kingship of Saul. ‘…the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent’(1 Sam 15:29). Here the venerable prophet and Judge of Israel refers to David: ‘Out of the stem of Jesse’ as we read in the book of Isaiah(11:1) God had decided Saul had not in him to be the Chosen One. The anointed one or the Messiah was, instead, to emerge from the root of Jesse. Here again the word repentance is used to refer Israel and His promise to bless them through His anointed one who shall be an ensign …to it shall the Gentiles seek…’(Is.1:10)
God shall never repent as to His Promise, which is revealed gradually in a dispensation that as I mentioned earlier is representational. That Promise in a nutshell embraces both Old Testament as well as New Testament. In any case Israel is a linchpin around which His blessings should cover the whole earth. In a manner of speaking His Promise to Abraham is valid at any point of time. (Gen 12:1-3).
His repentance that He had created man must refer to something else to which I shall come in the next post.
benny

Representational Dispensation

2008-07-10T14:00:00.002+05:30

Dispensation is a theological term. In American Heritage dictionary dispensation is defined as divine ordering of worldly affairs. Considering the order of Divine Will in Old Testament pertains to Israel in terms of other nations it is implied that His Dispensation is representational in its working. It becomes all the more significant since dispersal of Israel happened as a result of His judgment for their unbelief and apostasy, the blessing of God was to cover all other nations as well.(Gen12:3)This being the case judgment on Abraham’s seed was to work as a blessing for the gentiles by the same token. Like the widow whose lump of leaven covered the whole dough Divine chastisement though bitter at first shall work for the blessing of the whole nations. Hence we need to see Divine Will in terms of Judgment as representational in essence.
In Old Testament the Law of Moses set apart strangers from the Children of Israel. But in the New Testament grace that came with the advent of Jesus(Jn1:17) would reach the ends of the earth. The nation of Israel also would be reinstated consequently. (Rom 8:24) Such promises ought to show dispensation of God in setting apart the line of Seth from that of Cain would set apart a nation of Israel. As a prelude to this we see God sending a great flood. Did that cover the whole earth? In my opinion it was more of a local occurrence, which judged the nations inhabiting around what is now Middle East.
Divine dispensations prior to Last Judgment must be thus seen as representational in its nature.
benny

Key To Bible Study

2008-07-09T19:44:00.004+05:30

‘that no prophesy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.’( 2 Pe. 1:20)
While we study the Bible grace the single most essential quality we need to ask for. As Peter says it is God of all grace who can make us perfect, strengthen and settle us (1 Pe 5:10). If we rely on our own wisdom or imagination we are likely to go out of bounds and arrive at conclusions that may prove to be contentious and also detrimental to our own spiritual growth. Grace of God however does not make interpretation fit only one size but does according to each person’s needs. If it were the case Paul would have had no case for finding fault with Peter while he visited Antioch. (Gal 2:9-11) Grace was given to Paul as one coming to the Lord from a Gentile background to worship Him in a manner that Peter could not entertain. We see Peter was too steeped in Hebraic tradition to hearken unto the vision of God. While in Joppa he heard the voice say: ‘Arise Peter; slay and eat.(Ac 11-7’ Was not the vision in preparation for an important turning point in the history of the Early Church? We have no right to give private interpretation but exercise the spirit given to us from above. By which grace working in Peter allowed him to give Paul an upstart in comparison his freedom to go among the Gentiles as he himself would minister to the converts from Jewish sect.
All interpretations that build up the church in love and unity must be considered as from God. That of the worldly wisdom caters to divisions, pride; such division distracts us from God. What is not glory for the Lord might end up as grist for the mill of Satan.
What are we at best? We are rational in thinking and yet we are far from adequate in measuring His Wisdom and Power.
In the coming posts I shall try to explain the nature of Dispensation to explain the second part of Genesis.
benny

Just One Point

2008-07-08T21:30:00.004+05:30

Our conception of God as a patriarchal figure in white with flowing robes has nothing to do with reality. Perhaps it may owe much to the art of Michaelangelo for an example. But is it a true image? It isn’t. No man has seen God and yet we create an image which is cunningly devised to give art its due.
Similarly we find many cunningly devised fables’ (2 Pe 1:16) associated with the birth of Christ. What is the worth of celebrating Christmas if the spirit of Christ is missing?
benny
Technorati Profile

Two Geneologies

2008-07-08T18:45:00.004+05:30

‘Adam…begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth’. Gen 5:3
Curiously we see two sets of geneology as the creation account in the preceding sections, of Holy Spirit focusing God and Man on the other. The two geneologies are similarly of two groups: of godly and worldly family.
In Hebrew tradition name of a person is the essence of his being. It is not without reason Abram was renamed as Abraham.(Gen17:5) He was to be the father of many nations just as God had promised. Eve named her firstborn Cain meaning ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord (Gen 4:1).
Let me digress here a little. Cain’s destiny was too much bound up with the sin of disobedience of his parents that he was not adequately protected from it. Since we do not read what sort of home life young Cain had it is a matter of conjuncture to think his parents neglected him. Did they train him in godly ways? Perhaps tilling the ground and eking out a life from the ground took too much out of Adam. We do not read of Eve stepping in to prepare the boy to walk with God as Enoch later would do (Gen5:22). We read however that God in His mercy set a sign on Cain so he might survive in the world. What was that mark? Was it something that would make him succeed in life? Did he cultivate those social skills that we see in celebrities of the present day? As the expression is ‘if you cannot win them, join them’. Cain settled down outside the Garden where God had initially intended. Outside God’s will Cain certainly prospered because of the mark. He didn’t build any mega church or gathered people around him but he built a city and named it after the name of his son Enoch (Gen 4:17).
From internal evidence I suppose Cain’s descendants at some point married into one from Adam’s descendants. Thus we have two sets of genealogies.
It is the second geneology that I want to focus on.
Seth came into the world to take the place of Abel whom Cain slew. His name meaning ‘appointed’ by God was very apt. Through him was His Will to be perfected. Merely because man failed the intent of God didn’t mean that God had scaled down His Will or His Holiness. ‘The foundation of God standeth sure…’ (2 Ti-2:19)
God had let Adam begin anew: In him lay the foundation of His church. Sin of obedience must have removed His explicit seal that His image signified. Consequentially Adam begat a son in his own likeness. Even so his geneology would measure up to the Holiness and perfection He had intended for Adam. Cain and his progeny stand for those who prosper without God. In them dynamics of their prosperity and visible trappings of success owe to the spirit of the world. They march to a different drummer than God. Their beliefs or gods are not to be compared with the manner Holy Spirit has chosen to highlight the destiny of Seth and his descendants. In him we may trace our kinship to Adam. The geneology of Jesus where Adam was the son of God ties up Old Testament and our destinies together. (Lk 3:38)This account was given in the gospel in order to show our antecedents.
benny

Our Strengths...

2008-06-29T10:08:00.004+05:30

In serving God we need to have an entirely different attitude. Our strengths are weaknesses since we rely on our own bodies than What He Can do. The gospel of Luke gives an interesting example. Peter who had known the lake of Gennesaret like the back of his palm would fail to catch any fish. He might have persevered whole night but still he drew a blank. His own industry shall fail. Why? It was not because there weren’t any catch but his own knowledge was at fault. (Lk 5:4-5) Our knowledge however excellent is still the second best and also erratic at the best of times. Knowledge of good and evil is what we have to work with. Where we attempt on our strengths alone we may no be able to set apart the two as God can. Hence we let Him guide us and also take control of the events.
Coming back to the sacrifice of Cain, he was working with a ground that was accursed. He should have left out himself from the equation and presented the fruit of the ground to God as it was his duty to do. His abundant grace could have transformed it unto a sweet savour.
Our best effort in wrestling with our bodies only highlights things of the body. Vow of silence, dietary restrictions etc., aren’t worth a fig if grace was not present in the equation. Not our weakness or strengths but God ought to be glorified above all.
benny

Grace And Works

2008-06-28T06:27:00.002+05:30

‘If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire…' Gen 4:7
Here we see the outcome of two sacrifices offered by two brothers. From a casual reading one might feel sympathy for Cain. Was God partial to Abel or harsh with the firstborn? In the preceding chapter we read that God had put Adam after his fall to till the ground (3:23). The ground had become a constant reminder of his fall. For all that would God hold it against Cain because he chose to follow the footsteps of his father? I think not. Does God hold anything against farming? Of course not!
Cain joined his father to till the ground and naturally brought the fruit of the ground as an offering. It was his own work that Cain highlighted. So far, so good. Then where did he go wrong?
Didn’t Cain present in self-righteousness the fruit of his labour? In my opinion he presented it in bad spirit. It was made clear when he resented Abel. The Reason? God preferred those of Abel over his gifts. Cain felt injured.
Jesus shows how we are to serve in the gospel of Luke, ‘ …we are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do.’(Lk 17:10) If we maintain that outlook would there be any need for envy as Cain demonstrated? We are unworthy like the prodigal son to be called as sons (Lk 15:21). We are unprofitable in His service but His abundant grace covers our shortcomings in everything that we do. It ought to be always our credo as stated in Lk 17:10.
Cain was given by God (Gen 4:1) but did he give himself in his sacrifice? He held back his best part to himself. ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.’(Ps.51:10)
Benny

Two Worlds

2008-06-23T14:44:00.001+05:30

‘…you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’Gen3:5

Is it not a wise thing to know good and evil? Before I proceed further let me point out to the march of events that were taking place outside the Garden of Eden. From the first verse of Chapter 6 we are given a hint that the earth was populated by men. There were men of renown who we know were the descendents of sons of God (6:5,2) Who are they? We can only guess from oblique references elsewhere in the Bible. In the second epistle of Peter we read of the angels that sinned.(2:4).Jude also mention of those angels who didn’t keep their first estate. Their sin must then owe to their straying out of their bounds. It is not difficult to guess the reason for their estrangement. Anyway a different order of mankind other than of Adam and Eve came about.
There were other people then but were they created by God? God created Adam in His image. The Bible tells so. It cannot be otherwise. Because we do not read verses of other races or beliefs in the Creation Account it doesn’t mean God has nothing to do with nations. There were people with their distinct religious practices and customs. God is the Lord of all godly nations as well as pagans. How the latter chose to live is outside the purview of the history of God’s chosen people. Only where their history collides with that of His people we get to read of it in the Book. So we shall do well to remember that there was evil outside the Garden. Of this evil perhaps Satan had much to speak about.
But Adam and Eve being a contextual substance as God, had nothing to do with evil. In listening to Satan they let evil in. As we read in the epistle of James God does not tempt man but Satan. (Jas 1:13-15) Our senses could entice us as Eve was. In Gen3:6 we see how they sinned step by step.
2.
Adam and Eve could learn from the very light of His Being. Knowledge of Good was their portion. Hence knowledge of evil was useless knowledge so to speak. By sin they were onto knowledge of evil. Death is a natural consequence of it.
Having not kept their first estate as those angels who sinned, Adam and Eve had to live with the consequences. Their knowledge was set in terms of the world. Like the man who went to London to found a salon ended up setting up a saloon Adam made it very difficult for him to find the right direction as we shall see. Knowledge of Adam among the children of darkness was at a disadvantageous position. ‘ Be ye wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.’(St. Mat 10:16) and in Luke 16:8 ‘ the children of this world are …wiser than the children of light.’
What was the use of such knowledge that gave children of light every disadvantage as we find so pertinent even in the present times?
benny

Law and Grace

2008-06-08T10:37:00.003+05:30

‘I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid…’(Gen3:10)
Third chapter of Genesis is seen from the standpoint of son of Man: in three states we see him express his relationship to God.
1.He hides from the presence of God.
In the first gospel of John we read that ‘He that feareth is not made perfect in love’(4:18,16-17). Adam had cause to fear. He had gained Knowledge of good and evil at the expense of disobedience. Conversely obedience of Adam would have meant he was in the garden even as God was. Of this we read in the verse quoted from John. ‘ As he is so are we in this world’ In ourselves we have no merit but the knowledge that our Redeemer lives and his grace has covered all our insufficiency. This is the hallmark of obedience that every Christian should develop. Adam by sinning sees much more into his body than was necessary. He was like God or in the image of God and yet he discovers he was naked.
2. He learns to shift the blame.
God created man, male and female created he them. Now having disobeyed he distances himself from her in a manner not intended by God. It will eventually be made concrete in host of traditions, customs and also by law. Woman as a result comes to be someone to be subjugated and her dependence to man shown in injunctions as we read in Paul’s epistle, ‘every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth head…’(1 Co 11: 3-12) Law is the natural consequence of man’s disobedience. Thus when we read in the gospel of John that law came from Moses and grace and truth came by Jesus’(1:17) we have to understand the origin of law as a matter of necessity that man’s disobedience warranted.
3.He admits his insufficiency. The aprons of fig leaves that man made were inadequate. These were replaced by coat of skins. Lambskins or any other would require shedding of blood. We read of the first sacrifice mentioned in the Bible. This may be seen as a forerunner of the redemptive work of the Son of Man.
benny

Two Kinds Of Spirit

2008-06-04T19:41:00.002+05:30

‘And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;…’(Gen3:7)
In the Book of Psalms we read that ‘God is clothed with honour and majesty’(Ps 93,97,104) ‘It is how the Psalmist envisions his God and rightly so. In the gospel of John we read that ‘No man hath seen God at any time’(Jo 1:16) How does then the Psalmist describe God and the Creation chronicle in an ecstatic hymn if not for the Spirit? We have a sure word of this from the disciple of Jesus.’ But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.(2 Pe 1:21)
Man has two avenues by which he may know of the world about him. As I mentioned in the previous post ‘On Mysteries’ he has his physical world and also his inner world. There is spirit of the world and also ‘Spirit which is of God.’ (1 Co 2:12)
Man’s knowledge cannot be built on the right foundations if it only provides for his needs in part.
2.
Adam being in the right context of God was filled with knowledge of Good. In the first chapter of Genesis God saw that everything that he had made was good. This being the case by eating the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil he overreached himself.
Adam and Eve were in the direct context of God. They were naked but they were not ashamed. Why? They were covered by the same glory and honour that clothed God. Knowledge of everything Good was in their very core of their being. Spirit of God was about them and basking in that light the nakedness was a sign of their perfection. They being so happily placed in their association with God was there any need to listen to some gratuitous advice of Satan? After they disobeyed we read that their eyes were opened,(Gen3:7) just as Satan had told them. Satan as always is the master of half-truths. Satan was right partially.
Adam and Eve had discovered the spirit of the world right where they were placed in the East of Eden. Spirit of the world gave them skills to make themselves aprons. Where man misses the spirit of God he needs to fall on the spirit of the world. It is like having a tiger by the tail. He calls it progress and it is always at the expense of something else.
benny

Adams' Case

2008-06-02T22:54:00.003+05:30

A Rare Medical Condition
The infant had a rare medical condition. His doctor assured his parents that the medical science had not yet found a name for his case but it was curable. ‘Only that you should not let him touch a drop of alcohol.’ The boy stayed out of everything that made one tipsy or drunk. His doctor assured him that his body made its own levels of alcohol that his liver could handle and a drop more would be fatal.
The boy murmured and said, “ Can I not drink like every other and get a kick out of an evening?” The boy was an extrovert and had a knack of livening up things even while cold sober. “ A lively boy like you do not need the bottle for a crutch. You can be soul and wit of a party if you choose to.” The old doctor was one of the family and he could be frank. The boy understood his case well.
But later in life he thought he was an adult and he had the right do anything he thought fit. He thought it was unfair not to try drinking for fun. ‘After all it is my body.’So he took a couple of drinks among company. Next morning he didn’t get up from his bed. He died from complications arising out of his rare medical condition.

Adams case was something similar. There was no need for him to eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Instead he disobeyed God or to put in other words to his soul's hurt.
benny

On Mysteries

2008-06-02T04:59:00.001+05:30

‘ This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman.’….Gen 2: 23
This verse I know is controversial and apt to bring strong disapproval from many since it goes against all known facts, that are tagged under Science. The Bible is not Science as far as man’s enquiry is limited to his physical world where every aspect of what could be measured and classified hangs upon pegs of man’s understanding. His rational mind is then the arbiter of such facts. When plastics was invented the world went ga-ga as to what it could do to add to the comforts of modern living. The world's annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tonnes in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes today. No one had foreseen clearly then as to the threat it would pose one day in fouling our environment. Technology merely speaks of man’s certain capacity to create but not his mastery of his creations. Science similarly bears the hallmark of his enquiring mind but do not insure against the errors that his mind is privy to.
As a Christian I have no fight with Science: my contention with it is only that it addresses my needs in part. It is woefully wanting in several other parts. I am concerned about my physical world as well as a world, which I can feel within my bones as real. I straddled all these 65 years two worlds as it were, never feeling a stranger in either. So Science must not intrude in matters it has no useful role to play.
When I read a verse that proclaims God created man in his image it is unnecessary for me to ask myself if man were evolved from the family of apes or not. ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God … for instruction in righteousness’(2 Ti 3:16) In the earlier post I quoted the verse where Adam became a living soul because God breathed into him. Since my conception of my soul is derived from that act, it is a living thing, as real as the credit card I use for buying weekly groceries. Money may lose in value but my soul isn’t affected by such vagaries of market economy. It may be science that explains why we have fallen into recession but what does it matter to my soul?
Soul I hold as the pinion on which my both worlds revolve. As the verse in the epistle to Timothy tells when I need to be instructed in righteouness I rely on the Scriptures and not Science. Thus the key verse that I quoted is to be spiritually discerned. (1 Co 2: 14)
Our righteousness is derived as Adam’s contextual substance came from his context to God. Therefore Adam bearing the breath of God shall consider himself as a source: it is indeed the truth since Eve was a spiritual creation meant to be his comfort and companion as God had intended from the beginning.
benny

A Bride For Adam

2008-05-24T08:20:00.002+05:30

In John’s gospel we read the office of the Holy Spirit being as follows: ‘…the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost…he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance…’(14: 26,17)
Adam didn’t find a partner from the creatures God had made.

In the first chapter of Genesis we read that God commanded, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind… and God saw that it was good. (Gen1:24-25) Gods creations are good: cattle, fish of the sea and fowl of the air etc.,( ‘What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.’(Ac 11:9) God had made them good and yet Adam didn’t find them fit for his requirement. He wanted a companion to share his idyllic life. Of this we can read in the verse 19 of Genesis chapter 2.
As mentioned in an earlier post this chapter is speaking of the same Creative Chronicle but from another angle. From the standpoint of the Holy Spirit.
God had breathed into man. (vs.7)
As a living soul His spirit dwells in Adam. Holy Spirit is a spirit of Revelation, of Knowledge and as we read in the gospel of John is the Spirit of Truth. What is the office of the Spirit? He brings to remembrance what is the will of God. Then as now. Man was made a contextual substance so he could understand his own position in the Divine Will. Being taught of the Holy Spirit that was in him he could place all the creatures in relation to his own. He didn’t find in them a helpmeet. Rightly so.
It was then the Lord God caused a deep sleep in Adam. He had to have a woman. We are still following the thread of Creation Chronicle from the standpoint of the Holy Spirit. This being the case we are not to take creation of Eve in a literal sense.
In the previous chapter we read that, ’male and female he created them.’(vs.27) With the creation of Eve we see woman who is co-equal with man and having contextual substance. She also serves a special function: she is his spiritual Counsellor and Comforter. Man and woman are as one just as God the Father was with the Holy Spirit.
Woman had become a sign of the Indwelling of Spirit , the raison d’etre for the Church. Adam and Eve is a type of Christ and the Church.
benny

On Darwinism

2008-05-24T05:25:00.001+05:30

Natural selection is the way Nature follows the dictates of the Holy Spirit. Think of Nature like a roulette wheel and it is the Holy Spirit that gives it a spin. Of course it is a continuous motion: God has set it in operation and only God can command ‘halt’.
benny

A Matter for Inspiration

2008-05-23T10:20:00.001+05:30

Before I go into the second chapter from Genesis let me point out the role of Holy Spirit. In the second verse we read thus: ‘and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. ’In one of my earlier post I had defined the role of Holy Spirit as Inspiration. Under its influence St. Peter could discern Jesus of Nazareth was Christ, the Son of God. What did Jesus say to a revelation that he never did divulge to him? ‘Blessed art thou,…for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’(St. Mat 16:15—17)
God’s intent is put into operation though the agency of the Holy Spirit. That office was very much evident while God set out to bring order out of chaos. In the first chapter we read God commanded waters under the heavens to come together to form Seas. It was so.(vs.7) The Spirit of God moved through the face of the waters. Of this we read in so many details in the chapter 2. Evolution of the earth from chaos to order meant every atom in our material world was sensitized and had caught the glory of His spirit. Thus if at quantum level fundamental particles should behave in a certain mode and in macrocosmos in another it still follows an order that was received at the Creation Day.
‘There went up a mist from the earth,…’ The waters had seen the glory of God and it made no difference if there were waters separated by the introduction of a firmament. (The earth and the fullness thereof belongs to God.) If matter can thus be inspired to create conditions for life how much more man who is the very image of God?
benny

Man and Nature

2008-05-22T17:51:00.004+05:30

'And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold it was very good...' Here we have a verse as to His creative Judgment over His creation. As contextual substance we also should reflect His mind ever so little in our attitude towards Nature. We reflect it in our conservation and care for our cattle, pets and plants. In our appreciation of Nature we are 'yea saying' to His creative wisdom.

If we do catch the shine of our Father in our context with Him we also should see it in nature and if that is missing it is time we asked ourselves:'where did I go wrong?'
benny

Substance/shadow

2008-05-20T09:51:00.001+05:30

Contextual substance of Man is the glory of God indwelling as Shekina glory that filled the tabernacle when it was set up in the wilderness. By ourselves what are we? As Pascal would say we are thinking reeds, and as transient as grass. Will not a Christian on seeing a blade of grass with a drop of dew in the morning Sun winking think of God’ promise? The dew has become a symbol.
A symbol works because of contextual substance.
We are the shadow and He is the Substance. Yet because of the fact that we bear the breath of God we ourselves become the substance too. Our validity is confirmed by our context with Him.
Nature declares the glory of God not because it is His mirror image but in that we are created in His image.
benny

Creative Spirit

2008-05-20T06:35:00.003+05:30

As soon as God created Day and Night, the host of angels came to God and asked,"O Lord there is division among us. Which of the two, Day or Night is better?" God chose not to reply. The day He separated the Heaven from the Earth the angels came and asked," Which is better, heaven or the earth?"Again God remained silent. He went on creating and after he had created man the angels in so many groups asked," We are going to pieces with contrary opinions. Tell us God, Are we not better than the man you created?"
God fell silent. Archangel prodded," O Lord of hosts! If man were better you would have set him here in heavenly places. Now we see your face all the time and we are definitely superior."
Instead of replying God breathed in to Adam and asked" Which is better- I being among you or my spirit in him? Answer me and I shall answer those questions you asked me earlier."
benny

In His Image

2008-05-20T03:43:00.002+05:30

If one reads the first chapter of Genesis carefully one is struck by the fact the Creative Narrative is a series of separations. When God commands ‘Let there be light!’(vs.3) there is light and it is in terms of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Corollary of this shows up in Day and Night. Day is in terms of Night. Creation Day is to be set in direct context of Creation Night and the two components are Not to be interpreted either mystically or in spiritual sense. God intended the coupling of both by same standard of His creative judgment.
What about the Sun, you might ask me. The Sun He set in the firmament to give light on the earth. The Moon is introduced in keeping true to His creative judgment as a celestial sign in terms of the Sun. Of this I shall come in a moment.

In verse 6 the separation of waters created Heaven and the waters of the Earth. The latter is gathered to form Seas. If we go back to the verse2 we shall understand that while God separated Day from Night, various other events were also concurrently happening. The Earth that was without form, became organized or to use an expression we are all familiar with, evolving into the form that we know of. The point we need to keep in mind is that Creative process for the heavens was no less different from that existed below on the Earth. God is not the God of Chaos but as St. Paul says is of Order. As with living creatures that came later God’s creative Mind has made His creation to fall into a certain pattern.
Heavens and the Earth
The Sun and the Moon.
Order is in the same sense we may make of a mirror image. The substance and its shadow should not sow chaos over one another but remain beyond shadow of doubt connected to one another. It is in this context we need to understand the creation of man. He created man in His image (vs.27). ‘Male and female he created them’, does not mean any transgender issue but of God being reflected as in a mirror. Man and woman as one. Of equal standing. God has not set man head over the woman but in His image. No more no less.
benny

Bible Study-Genesis

2008-05-19T06:35:00.002+05:30

Chapters 1-3
By way of introduction let me say these three are from different points of view and hence emphases also differ. For instance In the Creation Chronicle of the first chapter God says,’Behold,I have given you… every tree …to you it shall be for meat.’(vs29).Whereas in the second chapter verses 9,16-17 give a different accent. ‘Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree…the tree of life also.’ In the Third chapter we curiously note thistles and thorns are caused as result of man’s disobedience(vs18).
The first chapter is straight out of the mind of God as to how the creation was intended. The second chapter is more of a narrative supplementing God’s intent with topographical lay-out of the garden and the denizens who were to appropriate the bounty of God. It reminds me more of a legal document, setting forth the various obligations of the leaseholder; and extent and the boundaries of the leased property.
Chapter Three is yet again from a different standpoint as though the events leading up to the fall and the manner the First Family has to deal with the question of their disobedience. The view is from the position of Man while the second chapter is from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit.
In the three chapters we note the triune God working from three standpoints.
In the third chapter the key word is coats of skins and in the second is of helpmeet. The first chapter lays stress on His image of this I shall come back in the next post.
benny

Representational Culpability

2008-05-03T10:07:00.001+05:30

Representational Culpability is where one is damned for what one is (as the devil’s advocate appointed by the See is deemed as one till the deliberations are completed) and is freed for one does. Thus in Adam we are under the yoke of sin and in Jesus we are freed from its bondage by an act of faith.
benny

One Man's Sin

2008-05-02T11:01:00.002+05:30

‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.,’(Ro3:23)
In this context I shall cite another verse again from the epistle to the Romans, ‘wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin..’(5:12-13) St. Paul here is referring to the fall of man. Adam disobeyed a direct commandment of God and with it threw wide open the nature of sin as part and parcel of man’s lot. From the story of Adam’s fall we need to know an axiom: A man’s culpability compromises the entire species. In other words, an individual as representation of the whole. One man’s fall is described in terms of the fall of the whole; one man’s victory opens the way for victory for all. Thu Adam and Jesus are two types each illustrating the above axiom.
Does it not raise many an eyebrow, and through ages we have heard voices refusing the idea of a child being sinful. A baby comes into the world carrying the nature of sin as sure as he is bearing the genetic material of his parents in his person. Here I am not saying a baby would have wilfully sinned but implies he is representative of the entire race and Adam in particular.
How so?
Let me draw your attention to my post of November 18, 2007
A Paradox

Life is indescribable. Having said that in my entry #1 what if I described Life as a matrix? Am I not contradictory?
When I qualify Life as an envelope I am merely using a symbol from direct evidences: nature as a manifestation of Life…
Paradox of Life is like silence, of which we shall have no understanding but for sounds.
From the above our material make up gives Life a discernible form. We are like Adam, a living soul, and yet we bear the material nature of Adam, which makes us share his sin of disobedience as well. We catch the dimensionless Life even though as an aura and we know Him as God. If we call on Him as Father since we have direct experience of an earthly father we are right on and He is indeed ‘Our Father which art in heaven..’
Sin is our patrimony that may be exchanged for another so we are translated from sinful state to that of ‘being set in heavenly places.’(Col 3:1) God’s patrimony is something that we receive by faith. This is where many stumble.
benny

Notice

2008-05-01T09:51:00.002+05:30

In the coming posts I shall explain some of the fundamental theological concepts like sin, redemption, resurrection etc., As a Christian my faith has its own reasons, partly inherited and some enlarged upon life experience and its validity is non negotiable or something for laying it in public view. My religion is as Jefferson asserted, solely a matter between my God and myself. Since I believe in the inspiration of Holy Spirit I ascribe my philosophical stand as merely a view of my profession from another vantage point. I never found a cogent reason despite of a secular mantle I had put on to question the wisdom and power of God. For example when I described His godhead as Oneness of Things or Life I held a secular position. In defining His absolute nature as Truth it was as though God the Lord of Hosts in the Scriptures had come into His own as far as I am concerned. By the same token I hold the historical Jesus or his example as Truth expressed in human terms:Love.
If one views the Holy Bible as inerrant every word has its own place and validity. Merely because its veracity in the light of our rational thought or earthly experience cannot be proved, will not mean the book is like curate’s egg good in parts. Here is then another difficulty for those who use the Bible to create or continue divisions in the One and Holy Church or use their religion to score points in the secular world. In short whoever uses the Bible, like with any double-edged sword needs to handle the Word carefully.
benny

The Order of Melchisadek

2008-04-17T16:39:00.001+05:30

‘…we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God…’ (He 4:14)
In Jesus we have a high priest who is ‘the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him.’(He 5:9) The word ‘all’ is what we need to focus on. The office of Levi was strictly for the Children of Israel and according to Law.
‘For the Law was given by Moses.’(Jn1:17). The writer of the Hebrews makes a point: there is an inherent infirmity of law on the reason that each high priest needs to offer up sacrifice first for himself and then for the people, and every time repeat the same procedure, in comparison with Jesus ‘who is holy harmless, undefiled …made higher than the heavens.’(He7:26-28, 24). With one offering he has fulfilled his Service. Since Jesus overcame death his priesthood is far superior to that of Levi, in that He continues forever to intercede for all those who hope in His mercy. This hope is qualified as‘an anchor of the soul.’
Jesus by birth cannot be entitled to a Levitical priesthood since he is from the tribe of Judah.(He.7:14) Be that it may the prophetical verse from the Psalm of David(Ps 110:4) refers to him as a priest after the order of Melchisedek.
The point is that a second Order of Priesthood exists since ‘the Law made nothing perfect’(He7:19).
2.
Who was this Melchisadek, the King of Salem?
According to the Bible scholars he was the priest of God Most High(‘el ‘elyôn) .There are records attesting to the fact there was indeed an office of high priests among the Cannanites around 2nd mil. BC. In a Ras Shamra liturgy, Baal, the supreme deity of the Canaanite pantheon,is referred as the ‘God Most High.’ Then the question arises was Melchisadek a worshiper of Yahweh or Baal? His sudden emergence from obscurity to bless Abraham and the patriarch giving tithes to the priest-king must be seen as the work of God even as Ruth, a Moabite woman becoming the progenitor of David and of Messiah. Whom God has taken in hand for His work is adopted into the family of God and has passed from life into immortality. Thus the priest-king of Jerusalem has no beginning or ‘end of life; but made like unto the Son of God...’(He7:3). Melchisadek is a type for Christ and his priesthood notwithstanding the odium of being a Canaanite priest-king , is universal. With Moses came Law while with Christ came Grace and Truth. Truth of the Order of Melchsadek transcends that of Levi since Levitical priests served under the infirmity of truth of nature.
benny

Apples Of Gold in pictures of silver

2008-04-15T06:12:00.006+05:30

‘He shall purify the sons of Levi,...that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.’Mal3:3
This verse is part of a prophesy and it brings sure enough a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Since Jesus came and offered his body as a sacrifice hasn’t he replaced the Old Covenant with the New?
For this reason many scholars have found the chapters 43-46 of Ezekiel very puzzling.
Let us consider who is the refiner and purifier of silver. Messiah is the refiner. I would like to point out the metal Silver is used with particular reference to the Children of Israel. Two trumpets in silver mentioned in Nu 10:10 can be seen as a forerunner of the gospel. More on this anon.
Whereas gold is especially used in conjunction with the Church. First of all let me strike a word of caution that the relative value of silver and gold is not of any relevance but merely as a prophetic tag.( It is somewhat like rhymes in poetry to aid the memory of the bards of yore, a literary device.) The nation of Israel and the Church are like two eyes set wide apart on a face, both called to work as one. Better still I shall refer to the title of this post from Proverbs ‘of a word fitly spoken being like apples of gold in pictures of silver.’( 25:11 ).
Old and New Covenants need to converge not as scattered light but as laser.
‘Law had made nothing perfect.’ (Heb7:19).
Jesus shall bring both Old and the New into one. In the light of the above I think Jesus as a High Priest must reveal exclusively for the nation of Israel. Ezekiel must be referring to this phase in the history of the Children of the Covenant, and of the seed of Abraham, in the chapters 43-46.
Law shall be perfected in Him (Heb:7:26-28). In terms of the nation of Israel. Amen.
2.
Rev 21:15 ‘And he that talked with me had a golden reed..’ In the preceding verse we read of the foundations of the Holy Jerusalem being inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles. The significance of the Holy Jerusalem can only be revealed after Messiah ( who came as a Servant and was rejected by the nation of Israel) would supplant the temple worship of which the Law is its Holiest of the Holy. ‘I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are the temple of it(vs.22).’ The day of Pentecost was marked by outpouring of His Spirit and in the Book of Revelation we are told of a similar event where Holy Jerusalem shall descend out of heaven from God. In one we saw Grace at work and in the other we shall see Law in its perfect state. In one as St. Paul describes, the epistle of Christ being written in fleshly tablets of the heart.(2 Co 3:3) Here we see two strands of God’s mode of Redemption: for the Church and for the nation of Israel. Rather than entering into controversies should not the Church be built up according to what was revealed?
benny

Son of Man

2008-04-13T07:18:00.001+05:30

“I saw in the night visions…one like the Son of man…”(Dan 7: 13-14)
Jesus was the Messiah that Daniel saw in his night visions. The Son of Man corroborates the same in the verse ‘The son of man came eating and drinking…’(Mt 11:19) Jesus during his earthly ministry said, ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom…’ (Lk 22:9) Was not his authority attested even in the prophesy of Daniel that ‘…his kingdom was one that which shall not be destroyed.’ Dan 7:14 He came unto his own, and his own received him not’(Jn 1:11). As he began his ministry he commanded the disciples to ‘go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’(Mt10:6) Jesus was well aware of the rejection and his warning ‘You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the son of man be come’ therefore would mean another advent than his first.(Mt.10: 23)
Coming back to the vs 2 of Malachi ‘ Who may abide the day of his coming?... he shall purify the sons of Levi … that they may offer unto the Lord, an offering in righteousness.’ Does it not refer to the Great Tribulation and the redemption of the sons of Levi or nation of Israel?
benny

In God's Time

2008-04-09T16:11:00.006+05:30

'Behold, I will send my messenger,…even the messenger of the covenant…' Mal 3:1-3
Evidently the first part pertains to John the Baptist (Mt3:3)Prophet Isaiah prophesied ‘Prepare ye the way of the lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our lord.(Is 40:3)’
Getting back to our key text Malachi then goes on to point out a prophesy beyond the immediate, beyond the ministry of John or Jesus, that could only hold significance for the nation of Israel. Thus while studying a Biblical prophesy we need to fix in our minds time is more like a kangaroo word within Time or Day of the Lord. Many of the Biblical prophesies thus can be broken on the clue given by the Lord. I shall explain what I mean by kangaroo word. The word ‘nourished’ would also carry another word ‘nursed’ that may as well agree with the general meaning.Nursed is a kangaroo word.
Day of the Lord accommodates different time frames.
Those who tackle prophesies in the Scriptures ought to keep in mind on what slippery ground they stand on. What makes a scholar think he shall crack the code of God unless it is given from high? 'One day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day'.(2 Pe3:8)’
Problem of the interpretation is compounded by our concept of time. We are trying to unlock mysteries that is the prerogative of God, the father.(Mt 24:36)
Jesus referring himself as the son of man predicted a future event closely before his death. He said when he shall come to the Throne his disciples also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.(Mt 19:28.)

Mt.19: 28) Would it mean then that Judas Iscariot would also sit in judgment?
Peter on whom this charge fell as we read in the acts of the Apostles chose Mattias to replace Judas Iscariot (Ac.1: 15-26). Jesus said:‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.’(Mt18:18) Didn’t Peter have then the authority established by no less person than Son of man to induct a replacement for the betrayer?
From the clear evidences given by the Scriptures we ought to compare the like with the like. Thus we may conclude that Judas had forfeited his place as we have the verse 18 with which to underpin our interpretation. Spiritualizing some texts in order to get around some difficulties is often fraught with danger. Historical events with which we place the ministry of Jesus or of Israel nation fall according to time and place. In order to interpret some scholars resort to spiritualizing: these are clever by half. They compare apples with oranges.
benny

Time Out

2008-04-07T11:04:00.002+05:30

A Miracle Off Broadway©

The other day I called on a friend of mine at his office on the 32nd street, Mañana Ave., off Broadway. Applebaum worked for Paranormal Absurdities Inc., Knowing how keen he was to expose every fraud that went under psychic phenomena I had to be wary notwithstanding our 20 years of friendship. He was a dragracer and one who tinkered with anything that came with wheels. After exchanging pleasantries I paused unable to find an opening line. Noting my fumbling he asked me to shoot. Well it was a clear and succinct invitation. So I took my .45 magnum and shot. The bullet went right through his shirt and hit the rubber plant in the corner of his cabin.
“What was that?’ Applebaum sat up suddenly and wrinkled his nose. “ Sounds like a gunreport.” He said. Seeing me grin widely he sat up on his swivel chair and said,” What is the matter with you?” You look weird!” I explained triumphantly,”I just shot at you. You survived. If you can prove this isn’t a miracle I shall believe you are holding a proper job and not wasting your talents in some fraudulent set up.” My friend guffawed. “You are on. I can smell a fraud miles away!” He took the gun from me and checked to say,” One bullet less here. His eyes narrowed and looked at me suspiciously,” So you did shoot at me?”
“Then it is a miracle?”
“ No. Don’t be in a hurry.” He levelled the gun and aimed at the cabin of his boss where his name Henry Winkleman was neatly written on the frosted glass.
Bam! The gun went off and the glass shattered in zillion splinters. The man came out and checked the damage to his cabin. It was sign for the personnel to converge around their boss. They all were in a shock. Mr. Winkleman came in quick steps followed by the staff. He stood before my friend red in the face and cursing him he wanted an explanation. My friend said,
” This guy here a nut case. I happen to know him from school. He came here with a cock and bull story of a miracle. I had to prove him wrong.” The boss took the gun and checked “A real McCoy, obviously.” Before I could reply he added in irritation,” Must you waste time, Mr. Applebaum with every nut who comes to you with a miracle?"
As my friend floundered I found my voice.” Miracle wasn’t in the gun sir. I have miraculous powers.That is all.” While I said my piece I had deftly extricated a manila envelope with the Army seal. I said, “ As you can see I would have enlisted but because of my powers I was exempted.”
It was true a gun was a toy in my hands.” If you don’t believe I can prove with AK-47. Or Kalashnikov?”
Applebaum looked at me as if I had gone off the rocker. His boss with his rat like face looked at me. “I suspect fraud here sir. Would you mind if we put you to a series,- non-invasive tests? ’ Before leaving the office I had to surrender the gun for close examination. I agreed and went to the lab specified by the company. For three days I was probed, swabbed and pinched by a few nurses and I had all my extremities connected to a number of panels where I could see needles recording everything that was to be known of me. For a good measure I underwent psychological tests and what not. Applebaum was there to keep me company. A fortnight later I received an envelope, which was stamped: PERSONAL. Beneath in red, For your eyes only
I scanned hastily the report. It read.” “The patient under reference is non-existent. There was an annexure that had a heading GUN REPORT
Only one line was neatly typed: The gun with serial number X@-A-23674: real.
Since then Mr.Applebaum refused to take or return my calls.
benny

Kingdom of Heaven

2008-04-04T18:07:00.002+05:30

‘If ye then be risen with Christ…’Col 3:1
In one of my previous posts I had defined a new birth as changing the world-view by accepting Jesus Christ. It is a work done in faith and completed by Grace that has appeared with the advent of Christ.(Jn 1:16-17). Jesus described it as ‘an yoke that is easy.’(Mt 11:30
What would salvation in practice mean to us? God has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son (Col 1:13) This kingdom is of a different standard than kingdoms of the earth. St. John the divine qualifies them as Children of the Devil(1 Jn 3: 10), Children of disobedience (Col 3: 6).
God so loved the world that He sent his dear Son to redeem those who were sinners. Sinners are those whose appetites and works are totally wrapped up in themselves. They are the children of the kingdom. (Mt 8:12). One sign of those who belong to this kingdom is given in the verse:‘…love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy.’ (Mt:5: 43).The ministry of Jesus was to translate these children from the ways of the world. Thus Jesus said,‘ Love your enemies, bless them that curse you… that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven;’ Thus all those who have accepted Jesus as their savior are added to that kingdom where they are made righteous.(1 Jn 3:9) We bear his seed which is the Word. Secondary meaning of the seed ought to indicate that we are still far from being perfected. ‘…every good tree bringeth forth good fruit…’
‘All scripture is …profitable for doctrine,..for correction, for instruction in righteousness.(2 Ti 3:16) We, having put on the new man, are renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us (Col 3:10)Through his word we are instructed in the way we should go and Jesus Christ has emphatically said, ‘ Not every one that saith … Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.(Mt7:21)’
Even while we are in our corrupt bodies we have been set down spiritually in heavenly places. The epistle unto the Ephesians makes it very clear that we have been sealed until the redemption of our bodies (Ep:1:13) and we have an inheritance. We are waiting for His promises to be completely fulfilled(Ep 1:9-11). If it were not so our Lord’s Prayer wouldn’t have included the line: ‘Thy kingdom come.’ If we are groaning in our spirits for it, any amassing of wealth or prosperity that children of this world seek with total focus wouldn’t mean so much to us. We as children of God need to hold a mature view of what is needful for our creature comforts. ‘ Give us this day our daily bread’ is our prayer and it is indeed in his will.
If we cannot witness while on earth effectively who we are and of our inheritance, we are like salt that has lost its saltiness.
benny

Counting The Cost

2008-04-03T11:51:00.002+05:30

‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother…’ St. Lu 14:26
The Bible is all things to all men. Many sects with their strange practices and exclusiveness owe their being to some verses scattered here and there in it. These sects or cults have a form of godliness but for any one seeking spiritual nourishment and an all round growth, a system that is built on superfluities than God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as the core value, shall come indeed short of His Will. A tree planted by the river of water is of a different league than a seed swept along the current willy-nilly by some isolated verses. (Ps 1:3)
Did Jesus literally want Peter, Andrew, John and others to hate their kith and kin or families in order to be considered his disciples? If this were truly as intended why did Jesus assign to Peter the building of the Church he had in mind? (Mt 16:18)
We read from the gospels that Peter was married (Mk1:30) and his wife traveled with him in his later ministry(1 Co 9:5). It seems to me that the significance of the key verse cannot be taken in a literal sense. Perhaps the key to the problem of deciphering this hard saying is not in hate but in the verses that follow. Our Christian growth is gradual and we need to take stock of what our abilities are and whom we have put our trust in. We have been called to glory through Jesus Christ. Then it is not works but Grace ( 1 Pe 5:10) that we bank on.
Who will wait to set up a home till one is hundred percent mature? Is it not more of a challenge that each partner hopes to be made mature from marriage than out of it? Maturity comes from a spirit of accommodation, love and shared responsibilities etc., that marriage enjoins on each partner. We are more likely to cast ourselves into the business of living with all that is at our command and leave the rest on Him to supply our shortfall.
Christianity in practice has always been the enterprise of the imperfect to work its way up on the wings of faith and grace. What a Christian could supply in that pursuit unto excellence has been faith,- and of course to keep flying. The matter of the other pinion, that of grace, would be the testimony of all believers, without any exception.
benny

A Prophesy Of Little Worth

2008-04-02T11:30:00.003+05:30

‘It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people..’ (St.Jn 11:49-52)
In the previous post I had narrated an incident in the house of Simon the leper. Mary, the brother of Lazarus anointed Jesus with spikenard that must have cost her a fortune. She had foreknowledge of the passion and death of Jesus and took appropriate steps to prepare him for the event. He knew why she did it. One might say it was a woman’s intuition spiritually discerned and given expression. It became a perpetual memorial for her. Her visiting card to heaven one might say was embroidered on actions in consonance with her revelation.
We have an example of another who had a revelation of sorts.
Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas touched on the ministry of Jesus once again inspired by the Spirit of Christ. The office of the High Priest was not by any standards a mean one. In his day he might have been elevated to that office by the Roman procurator. Even so he stood in the line of great many worthies who ever guided the destinies of the Jewish nation. None could have exceeded in the excellence of that office than Aaron who was ordained by the Lord God to that post.(Ex 4:14-16 ) God also accorded him a special place alongside Moses to meet Him (Ex19:24). This being the case the prophetic utterance of Caiaphas was merely in the fitness of his office.
He would also have known the revelation concerning Messiah from the book of Daniel.(Dan 7:13) Teachings unlike that of any other rabbi before him and especially miracles attributed to Jesus (raising of Lazarus etc.,) ought to have given the High Priest an intimation as to the role of Jesus.
Be that as it may Caiaphas owed his office to the goodwill of Rome. Under the Roman aegis much of his energy went into safeguard his authority. We read from the gospel of Luke that behind his throne the one who held the clout was his father in-law Annas (St. Lu 3:2). In his day there existed backroom politics that we are well familiar with.
He had to make certain his religious administration did not cave in under the political repercussions that were bound to happen if the prophet from Nazareth was let to speak his mind. It was political expediency pure and simple when he prophesied the key verse. A latter day Balaam (Num: 22-24) whose prophesy was of little worth since his self-interest had rendered it null and void.
In the Jewish trial of Jesus (Jn 18:24) we read that he rent clothes publicly separating him from ‘the blasphemy’. He must have been quaking in his shoes at the prospect of being seen as a ‘sympathizer’ or fellow traveler by the powers that be. The Sanhedrin as a matter of immediate urgency delivered Jesus to the governor thereby distancing publicly from the fate the Son of man had invited on himself.
No man can serve two masters. The high priest presiding over the religious affairs of the Jewish nation was looking for the advent of Messiah. But there was before his Judgment seat and he didn’t know Messiah. Reason? As we read in the gospel of John ‘ he loved the praise of men (St.Jn 12:43)’ He served the interests of Rome too well to discern the only one who bore in him their blessed hope.
Note: By reliable historical accounts Caiaphas was deposed by Vitellius, the President of Syria.(Jos Ant xviii 2:2, 4:3)-ack Ralph Earle, Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia . Pub: Moody paperback edition-1983)
benny

So Close,Yet So Far

2008-04-01T10:42:00.003+05:30

‘You have the poor always with you…’ (Mt.26:11)
From the verse cited above would it mean that Jesus was for the status quo? Didn’t he care for the poor or for their betterment? Let us look in what context he made this statement. Jesus as we read in the gospel was dining in the house of Simon the leper. In that house of festivity one can well imagine what was the mood like: while wine flowed and conversation uncorked from the guests assembled, there must have flowed plenty of small talk all froth and goodwill. In the midst of it a woman did something very unusual but very significant considering that enemies of Jesus was very much active. (Their schemes cannot have been laid out in absolute secrecy.) The woman who brought the alabaster box with precious ointment must have had an inkling that Jesus may be ‘taken out’ as we hear of the expression these days. Jesus must have surely known his life was on collision course and there was surely a point where his earthly mission had to stop. So her act however extravagant was in line with his ministry. ‘She hath wrought a good work upon me’ as Jesus saw it. She tapped on the spirit of Christ that radiated from his words and deeds as to anticipate a moment where her action could dovetail into his ministry. She knew the time and place; and also how to give to her hurt.
The Lord loves a cheerful giver, as St. Paul would say. It comes to us as a surprise that the disciples were moved with indignation. They may have often moved with their master but did that help them to plumb the depths of their master? No, they were more wrapped in the daily grind of their ministry than see the true significance of her action. Their ministry was done as per his master’s injunction, ‘Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses.’(St. Mat 10:9-10) They had scrimped and saved in order to be found worthy of their meat. Perhaps it was excusable that they judged her extravagance from their circumstances. Are we not guilty of judging others without understanding their circumstances?
benny

A Reasonable Service

2008-03-30T12:34:00.005+05:30

‘But godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1Tim 6:6). Godliness in KJV is translated from the Greek word ‘eusebia.’Here the apostle gives a classic recipe for living in a changing world. Godliness is practical Christian life centered on God. In our times we see around us a subtle shift from God,- and prosperity theology is merely a symptom, and if one comes to believe that practical Christian life is what is centered on material riches than contentment we need not be surprised. In the age of instant gratification where consumerism is vigorously practised no one wants to be left out or be considered a square. For a cool generation and ‘wannabes’ the verse from the third epistle of S. John must hold special significance. The elder writes thus, ‘…I wish above all things that thou prosper…’
If we study the Pauline epistles closely we shall see that he exhorts us to practise godliness so our lives no matter whatever clime or culture we live in, are fully engaged with God.
Godliness thus must be seen as an integral and essential part of Christian growth where we yield to God through Jesus Christ at every step.
God is Truth and also Love.We perfect Truth through Love though we in both departments are deficient. In our insufficiency and admission of being imperfect we are letting God to work. This is the most vital part of godliness. How does He work? It may be that the soul convicts us, or the Word instructs us a way different than we are accustomed to.
One may ask what is the goal of godliness ?
In conforming to the world we are lumped along with the world. A new birth is where we transform our world-view. We develop sensitivity to discern what is holy and acceptable to God. As St. Paul says, ‘ we need to be transformed by the renewed by our mind.’(Rom12:1-3) In hitching truth a notch higher or love demonstrated by Jesus Christ into our lives we are increasing in knowledge (2 Pe 1:6, 1Tim 6:11).
Godliness is a sober life and living to the full being conscious God is at the centre of his life.
benny

The Haves and Havenots

2008-03-28T10:12:00.002+05:30

‘ From such withdraw thyself.’ 1Tim 6:5
In this pastoral letter St.Paul speaks of those who resist wholesome words that are ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the verses preceding the text the apostle passes on his thoughts as to how slaves ought to conduct towards their believing masters. In St. Paul’s time slaves were an essential part of the Greek and Roman households. In our society we do not accept slaves; nor do we consider any system that allows men to be bonded to serve for another, either by coercion or monetary inducement as correct. Since God’s word is unchangeable we might look beyond the question of slave-master relationship to what is godliness inherent in relationship of any one who may have to serve another in terms of goods or service.
Godliness is where God is at the centre of any transaction. Its validity is based on Truth. Any transaction in order to be right must move on truth. This holds true where the supplier is obliged to the consumer and an entrepreneur to his employee. Where truth is God is part of the deal. God who giveth richly all things to us,- the taskmaster and his subordinate alike, is the mediator. So in all transactions we need to remember the name of God or his doctrine be not blasphemed. (1 Tim 6:17)
Doctrine of truth expects the rich and the poor alike to lay hold on eternal life.(vs.19)
benny

Love and Marriage

2008-03-26T09:56:00.003+05:30

It strikes me that Love is to be seen as Truth in action at the gray areas where the values are as finite as our human nature would indicate. Jesus who came into the world is the embodiment of Love.
Which came first: Truth or Love? Truth obviously. Jesus came as representation of Truth that human nature can latch onto. What Jn 3:16 therefore says fits with Love as the embodiment of Truth and can bridge the chasm or gray areas where Truth is often misunderstood and also expressed very poorly.
In love we seek truth in our inward parts: we love the one on whom we have pledged our loyalty and made a commitment; it is demonstrated no matter what our circumstances are,- in health, in sickness and rich or poor. Despite what our external circumstances may be we rely on our own interior life where soul has its sovereignty. That is where ‘deep calls unto the deep’. Soul can take Truth as axiomatic. But our body comes in between. Alas.
Jesus didn’t marry and yet we look up to him for the sanctity and health of our marriage. He is the embodiment of Truth and it means he has a body like every one else. He expressed love in the way he took our infirmities and weaknesses on the cross. In sharing that love in our married state we are aiming at a higher Truth than what truth of nature speaks to us with a lisp.
benny

Building Bridges

2008-03-24T07:23:00.002+05:30

On the day of Pentecost the act of pouring down Holy Spirit in cloven tongues of fire was a proof that God bestowed grace to all.
What is Holy Spirit ? It works in us with the same creative genius by which God masterminded the genesis of the earth and heaven: He found all things as good( Gen1:31).
Grace backed by Holy Spirit surely must allow man to strive for something better for His glory though he might fail in the attempt. Putting the candlestick under the bushel isn’t the profitable way of Christian life. Each of us can work with the spirit so the world may see grace in his or her life.
Attempt greater things and with a clean and renewed frame of mind one might find healing even in hopeless cases. Medical science has not written the last word on the way our body and mind can work together. Solution for the Canaanite woman with the issue of blood was not because she couldn’t find competent physicians to treat her but the moment for grace hadn’t arrived. When she was inspired to touch the hem of the lord lo and behold grace sprang forth to effect healing. In some cases the art of medicine works through human agency with lot of co-operation from the sufferer.
God raised Bezaleel and Aholiab to assist Moses in raising the Tabernacle ( Exo 31:1-7)Bazaleel was from the tribe of Judah while the latter was from th tribe of Dan. They were to work together. This brings me to the main point.
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Inspiration touches man and woman so they may prove their universality. With that single event Galilee is no further than Crete or Arabia. In God’s sight the wall of separation between Medes and Parthians are man made that shall be removed. It is done under the inspiration of Holy Spirit.
My soul or that what makes me distinct from another, as an individual knows no man-made labels. Thus separation of mankind into tribes or nations by language of any other is superficial and a lie. Soul does not accept gender difference or ageism. Before Truth soul is like a mirror reflecting the truth of the Highest. Where the mirror from which our body takes its measure shall always be clouded. ‘Through a glass darkly’ we see our human aspects whereas Truth sees it plainly.
You shall agree then there is a wide chasm within our own being: between body that is carnal and soul that is sacred.
The work of Holy Spirit is to bridge that abyss.
The king in the story of ‘Spare The Rod’ succeeded in disciplining his son because he could take his understanding to a higher
plane: appeal to what was the quintessence of the boy than resort to a rod.
benny

God, the Spirit

2008-03-23T07:44:00.001+05:30

The Holy Spirit signifies His presence among men. It is the spirit of truth, a catalytic agent to animate the soul to lead every believer to a higher plane.
We while in our corrupt bodies and subject to lusts and passions of the world, do hold the spirit as our Comforter. It convicts us of where we went wrong. Anything realized right is to free us from falling prey again to it. Spirit of rebellion is to resist what we know in our bones to be right. In obedience we are letting the error go from our midst. It is thus we are being perfected. Holy Spirit the comforter.
With Holy Spirit we are in Him, and He in us.
Holy Spirit reveals that we are the extended family of Trinity even while we are imperfect. The office of Holy Spirit historically makes that point very clear.
benny

God The Son

2008-03-21T08:24:00.002+05:30

Soul like a mirror shows us Truth by which Jesus serves every Christian as a symbol.
Soul says ‘amen’ to Truth however weak and ill-equipped we are (may be because of circumstances and natural inclination) to resist temptation.
A New Birth is an example pure and simple. We hold Jesus as a symbol and as an example. It is in so many ways an unlearning process where we learn weakness as a kind of strength and love more enduring that hatred. ‘ Practice maketh perfect’, so goes the old saw. It is here the example of Jesus becomes much more defined. Jesus for us has become by faith the Redeemer. As babes in Christ we grow mature when we learn to depend on his life for guidance. What is that we hope to achieve? Love shown while in his body is all-sufficient to overcome the world. Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered (Heb 5:8). In his life He reconciled Truth and love. Thereby he has become a Representational Man for all.
benny

To Recap

2008-03-19T19:19:00.003+05:30

Let me recap some of the points I have covered previously with regards to the nature and office of our soul.
God is Truth the Absolute and when we read Adam was created in the image of God we need to focus on Truth in a way we can grasp: truth of nature, truth of experience and truth of actions.
His breath in us signifies the soul by which we know by instinct that there is a higher calling for the truth than that we handle.
( For example we see Truth as the basis for our moral fiber and yet speaking truth is more often than not inconvenient in our everyday transactions. Calling a spade as spade may not get you into trouble but if you dare speak of the House being packed with crooks and adulterers ( It is in all probability the truth) you are likely to be called to the floor of the House to be reprimanded for lowering the dignity of the House.)
In short we cannot hit that right note which establishes the Absolute value.
Thus when we speak of being part of God’s family we mean we have been adopted into heavenly places even as ‘imperfect as we are’ because of our obedience to Truth. Placing ourselves under its rod and being blameless in our personal lives are entirely two different things.
The Father Figure
While we are on the earth we shall realize Truth in the reality of love. God is love and it denotes God the Father.
benny

Stairway To Heaven

2008-03-19T13:05:00.002+05:30

That day of pouring out Holy Spirit in Jerusalem was an event in the building of the Church: it came as an outward manifestation of the many promises of God, which Jesus revealed to his disciples in private.
If God hadn’t dwelt among mankind of what use was the Church?
Each member of that Church shall know His presence and shall build his or her life as Paul would say on the foundation of Christ( 1Co3:11). Church as the body. Yes while we are in our corporeal bodies we are part and parcel of Him. His presence envelops us. Hence we need not seek the reality of heaven as a geographical location. His presence is good enough for me. When I read a verse or recall what was read ages ago I can experience it still vividly. The Emmaus experience?
benny

In Jerusalem

2008-03-18T07:16:00.006+05:30

The Holy Spirit came down, like many tongues of fire, as a fulfillment of prophesy from the book of Joel. In the many tongues those who assembled in Jerusalem spoke lay the unassailable proof of God being among mankind.
Our standing with God is our righteousness made secure by the Spirit. No man can access to God except through the office of Holy Spirit. Thus whoever accepts Jesus must be under the working of the Holy Spirit. Each of us does hold that Spirit by faith. But do we do anything further with it? Do we shake off the spirit of despondency with it? Do we fight the spirit of rebelliousness with the Spirit that is holy? Do we forgive those who spread malicious gossip about us? Do we try to grow in the knowledge after the example of him?
When Peter guessed who his master really was what did Jesus say? “ For flesh and blood has not revealed unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.” ( St.Matt.16:17) We ought to create conditions for our growth with the Spirit that is given to us.
Spirit is creative: he that is within you is the spirit of truth(St.Jn14:27). So when we are assailed by the spirit of this world and we need answers to the way we ought to go why not take time to listen to what soul says?
We are in search of the truth. Aren't we?
benny

Suffering In Context Of Truth

2008-03-14T11:04:00.003+05:30

You may have worked diligently for attaining excellence in a certain discipline and suppose you lose to another who has not worked hard as you. It is natural that you feel let down. But equating failure or success on the basis of what you consider as a prize worthy of you is not correct. How would you know the outcome of any enterprise?
Take the life of Joseph for example.
Why Joseph had to suffer? He had whipped up the jealousy of His brethren. At a human level we can understand it. Was God whimsical or wayward to let the misfortunes sweep off Joseph from his home? We shall learn soon that he had to extend his experience far beyond that he had in his father’s house. He had to have the breadth and depth needful in a King’s counselor. As a slave sold to the Ishmaeelites and Midianites he had to understand the feel of the subjects he would one day govern. It was a huge responsibility and he would not have got it while mollycoddled at home.
Joseph had to earn the trust of the King of Egypt as he had earned the love of his father. The ability to interpret dreams for which he became hateful to his brethren became more defined in the prison and when opportunity arose he was there to guide his king. Joseph as a trusted counselor of Pharaoh led his aged parent and brethren to safety in the years of famine. But another Pharoah who didn’t know or care for the name of Joseph (Exo.1:8) ascended to the throne. We read how brutal he and his cohorts were towards the children of Israel. Would we interpret this as God playing upon the trust of His servants? God is Truth and He doesn’t act willy-nilly. When we accept God as our guiding principle we ought to accept also this truism: what we think as good fortune also brings misfortune in its wake. But then God for whom all things are possible is still in control. He can still work around what is misfortune and strengthen and support us on our passage through life.
God is Truth but we may not see it as absolute. As Moses who wished to see His glory we may see it partly as truth of nature or as truth of experience.( Ex.33:23)
Truth of experience is what makes every experience you have gained serves your progress through life for the better.
benny

Truth Paraphrased

2008-03-13T15:35:00.002+05:30

Do we know that those who are unbelievers and scoffers of the holy things also might be caught within the nets of grace even as we were, and they might also turn out to be our friends. (A touch of suspicion can sour up friendships and a touch of goodwill makes our enemies into friends.)
Love of God is Truth expressed in human terms. Jesus is a symbol and Representational Man. Symbol in the sense he makes our love transcend its human level to touch the heavens. Our love freely given however limited, can multiply as loaves and fishes and spread out to feed many.’first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ (St. Mk4:28) Our growth is gradual and to which we are helped by what we may catch of the highest in our soul.
‘I am the Way’, he said. Jesus is the pinion on which our finite nature revolves so love we have shown to our brethren and unbelievers alike can broaden out to a higher plane.
We love those who love us. Jesus showed us another example. ‘ Whosoever shall smite thee..’ (St. Matt 5. 39-40) Turn the other cheek is love on a higher plane than the truth of nature underlying in verse’ iron sharpeneth iron.’(Pro.27:17).
benny

Our Enemies Are..

2008-03-13T07:08:00.003+05:30

Love of God, we must understand, is not the love that is defined in our lexicon. Jesus when he began the ministry mentioned love of his father. He characterized His all embracing love: He makes the Sun rise on the good as well as on the evil. (St.Matt 5:45) Those whom we may consider as bad or wicked are also in His safekeeping. Why do others ridicule or belittle us? In all probability we have given cause for others to doubt our sincerity though we profess His name. Is my ego hurt because others see through my hypocrisy? Our hearts are too deep for us to fathom. ( Jer.17:9) Who can tell where the fault lay, in us or in them? Instead of being abrupt or judgmental with them we ought to concentrate on matters that we may do better. Allow them to their views and accept what is real: real motives of man shall only be revealed in His own Time.
If God so loved the world why we suffer for no apparent reason? He sent Jesus to the earth as embodiment of His Love. Truth being absolute stands by itself. Whereas love according to our definition is conditional and it requires an object. Jesus as the Son in taking the form of Man didn’t surrender his basic quality, Truth, but demonstrated love can still go higher than possible with us. Love that can link Truth in one stroke is not what human dictionary speaks of.
Truth and Love. In Jesus it was personified. Truth of God like a diamond of the first water merely lay merged in the water of his humanity. His temptations and his sufferings were in context of Truth even as our sufferings are. We shall not decipher why we have suffered in context of our critics. When we shall know Truth in its perfection or see Him face to face we might say we have been wrong to dub our critics as our enemies.
Our enemies are not His enemies since Grace have been extended to them as well.
benny

Getting Down to Grips With Love

2008-03-12T07:23:00.006+05:30

‘God is Truth’ so we perceive in our soul. A gut feeling it is for me, suppose I say, and outside the ambit of reason. Nevertheless for another it may sound more emotional than rational. It is his view against mine. So be it.
In this Age of Technology and Instant Gratification, core values like faith, soul have become more synonymous with some New Age fads than blood, sweat and tears of a true believer. Our angst and frustration over our place in a world of eroding values are as real as in the early days of the Church. The only difference is that it is heresy and not orthodoxy that holds the whip now.
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Our faith cannot be much of faith if we are afraid of expressing when it is warranted.
It is so with soul. Our untested gut feelings must come up for breathing; each time how we put them to work in context of others we are filling in lungs of our inner life with oxygen.
Yes only through our exercise of faith in our life with the godly and ungodly we prove our love. We may be sidelined or teased for our faith in Jesus at the workplace. We need to accept the fools, saints, rascals and all sorts of men whose hiddensprings are unknown to us by the same all embracing sweep of Love first demonstrated by Jesus. By what motives are we ridiculed or belittled, we may not exactly understand. But we know Jesus was tested much more. Maybe they are vilifying us for the Jesus as presented in another age by the Church(Inquisition,Salem Witch trial etc.,) ‘Our fathers ate sour grapes. Should our teeth also be set on edge?’ Like the Romans who vilified the early Christians under the mistaken notion for the communion as ‘drinkers of blood and eating in secret flesh of children’ we may be treated as fools for believing in such redemptive love shown by Jesus.
But to love them who so callously treat us it must be really making the gorge rise in our throats. Isn’t it? When we are humiliated or trifled with we need to understand that we confess ‘God is Love’ and there is no way we can skip this part,- ‘running the gauntlet’ of unbelievers and scoffers, and yet say with a straight face,’ We love God?’
Why? If we believe Jesus Christ suffered much more than this when he came to reveal His Father’s love we ought to accept those who disagree with us as a necessary lesson in growing in love.
Jesus is our Firstborn in terms of all those who are rejected and unloved. He is our Representative Man. He also represents every Tom, Dick and Harry who now thinks of us as ridiculous lot.
benny

On Suffering

2008-03-11T08:11:00.004+05:30

How we perceive a thing to be and how we realize it are entirely two different things. There is a wide chasm between the two. As mortal beings we shall never translate exactly what the soul reveals to us: soul reveals to us Truth and our Mind, given its rational coloring interprets into an anthropomorphic form or Nature in symbols.
That shortfall of our actions to set it down truthfully must sow in us the seeds of suffering.
Life, as with Happiness is beyond circumstances. It has no dimension. But life in you and me require a context in order to justify a conduct. For example when I say I love there must be an object.
I love God. How can I love truthfully something that I cannot put my finger upon, literally? As St. John writes how can we taste love of God or express it except in our context of fellow men? (1 Jn 3:17). Our love isn't perfect and it must ride into the wind of changes: our love may fade and sickness and death sour our spirit and faith. We in ourselves suffer and also spread it. Yet love can be taken to higher grounds. But how? Not by withdrawing into your shell.
Practising detachment in the face of suffering is to give it more mileage than necessary.
benny

My Essence

2008-03-09T11:55:00.003+05:30

Essence of man can neither be in his corporeal form that is finite or in its abstract aspect as his mind.
What is mind?
It is something that his body can make use of. Mind is an accretion of many past influences, experiences and ideas that he can access to. Only in the way he uses them he puts his own stamp. No two persons see an event the same way. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans one preacher saw it as divine retribution as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. When his wife and daughter died in a tragic auto-crash he said, “ It was God teaching him to love Him more than anyone else on the earth’. .
One would ask,” Does God achieve His ends with you and me by dancing on the misery of others?"
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Man interprets his visible world with a logic peculiar to him. His actions also show his rational standpoint. He is not master of the consequences of his actions. His logic also falls apart as a rope of sand.
Coming back to my main point man’s essence cannot be in his body or its abstract shadows but in the way he acts. Soul therefore becomes the single most vital tool that he has in order to carve his name for all time.
Trying to please a world that is constantly changing with what is your essence is like writing your name on water. If you try to make an idea bear your essence, it shall be unfaithful in any other. Fine idea it was to found a new Canaan in the New World. When it has come at the cost of placing the Native Americans into reservations, squalor and degradation, the Acts passed by the Nation has killed the soul of the idea.
I shall end this post with my definition for soul as the quintessence or identity of the being. Many strands of Truth of nature, of experience and of action, all plaited into one. While the body is corporeal soul is timeless.
benny

The Stranger Among Us

2008-03-07T21:33:00.001+05:30

The Man in Red and Blue Robe©
The Man from En-Gedi was among the elders and while they discussed the day’s events a strange figure in red and blue robe also entered the tent and sat among them. The Chaldean saw how he put himself at ease among those bearded wights. He again saw him in the palace of the king who wanted to honor those who were strangers in his realm. The Chaldean being curious asked in whisper to another, “ That man in red and blue, who he might be, a foreigner? ” The man couldn’t answer him. Later he saw him again at a banquet. Strangely he was set down next to him. The Chaldean asked before he downed the last cup of friendship,” The party is about to break up. Each of us shall soon wend his own ways. I am curious. Who you might be?”
The stranger in red and blue robe didn’t answer. The Chaldean asked,” I see you wherever I turn. It seems by fate decreed that you and I have certain business to settle.”
“ You said it,” the stranger replied,” I am Truth.”
My soul is like the stranger. So close and yet I do not care to know what it really is. Instead of relying on Truth that it represents I would rather settle for the opinions of others and pay lip-service to customs that have by repetition lost its meaning.
benny

Soul And Conscience

2008-03-06T07:29:00.002+05:30

What is crucial for our understanding the concept of God is to fix on His Absolute value. God is Truth. Did that value become any the less because He breathed into the nostrils of Adam? From our rational point of view He can only retain that Absoluteness if the ‘living soul’ has also an absolute value. Truth cannot be halved and yet retain its purity. It is like a flame. A candle whenever it is lit has the same value as the flame that went before. Truth is that light radiating from the candle.
Soul is Absolute in terms of Truth. Conscience of man every time attests to the fact. We read how King David spared the life of the one who had chased him to the wilderness. He took a few items from the bolster of King Saul while he lay in deep sleep. (1 Sam.26:23) The fact that his implacable foe was still the Lord’s anointed deterred David from killing him. He could have succumbed to the truth of nature and made his way to the throne secure. No he didn’t yield to the temptation. He was not Saul.
David could rise above the truth his nature held out. He indeed waited for a higher Truth that God held out.
He had respect unto his soul.
benny

Life Prepares Us

2008-03-05T10:30:00.003+05:30

“So God created man in his own image.’(Gen 1:27)
God breathed into Adam and made him a living soul.
It is plain that we cannot claim our image resembles Him in a physical sense since no man has seen Him. Soul serves as a mirror but it doesn’t fully explain. Soul is a catalyst for the body with all its infirmities to grow unto perfection even as it is. As St. Peter writes we are called ‘to be partakers of the divine nature.’(2Pe1:4). Our carnal body shall stumble and let us down more times than we care to count them but soul’s hold on us is relentless and it never tires itself from its office.
Perfection can only come through our experience, or knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Since we do not have a physical model as such the Word helps us to some extent. Our life on the Earth must largely prepare us while living among so many. Life on this vale of tears is but a preparatory school.
benny

Mirror Mirror, on the wall...

2008-03-04T09:01:00.002+05:30

Cont'd from the previous post.
From Christian perspective the Spirit of God has a restrictive meaning to indicate the nature of soul in terms of an anthropomorphic God.
In the opening chapters of Genesis we read that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam. Imagine the pure breath of God! One might ask ‘Why should He pour His Spirit into a lowly vessel?
It seems to me that He equipped man with a soul so he may meet whatever challenges he faced whether he obeyed him or not. Because he fell would not mean God compromised the sanctity of His breath.
From that breath of God the man had plumbed in essentials of His Godhead. What does St. Paul say about this? Rom1:19 reads as thus, “ That which may be known… God hath shown it…”
Having a living soul how Adam responded to the wiles of the serpent was as if he had none. God didn’t take back his soul but death has since that time laid its hands on mankind as a matter of right.
Soul is like a mirror from which we take the measure of eternal things. Mirror on the wall of eternity gives us a reading to which how we respond is often different to each as with we make sense of our external world.
benny

A Creative Spirit

2008-03-03T13:38:00.002+05:30

Eyes are often characterized as the window of soul.
‘For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man in him…’ (1 Cor 2:11) Spirit of man is the divine spark that wells up and courses through entire being by which man has throughout the course of human history impressed on one another. Spirit is his animating principle. His creative genius could not have been sustained to author a treatise or literary work without the ability of spirit in communion with every other.
If not for my experience and spirit of the ages that envelop me would I be able to enjoy the work of Martial or Ovid? What has an Elizabethean Age to do with me? Yet the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe do hold charms for me.
In the pagan religion we see how spirit played a great role: what are the Delphic oracles but spirit giving utterance to answer seekers who were in need of guidance. These Phythia sat at specific spots and heard the supplicants and gave out their answers under its influence. One might say these virgins must have had a hallucinatory episode while they spoke. The fact that their oracles however bizarre were translated into words by another meant that spirit of man once again came into play here.
Art, literature and thought of the Pagan world, for their excellence and many artifacts of their cultural life still surviving, stand testimony to their spirit.
But as I mentioned in my previous post this spirit do not signify soul.
(2 b Cont'd)
benny

Breath Of Life

2008-03-02T18:04:00.002+05:30

I shall in the following posts try to put down my thoughts on the breath of life (or spirit) and soul and what these mean to me. In the Old Testament the Hebrew noun rûah stands for breath, wind or spirit. The same idea in terms of man is denoted by the word nephesh. There is a telling reason,- and very valid too, for the point under consideration: the latter word signifies the individual while the other has often to do with the animating principle. So ‘soul’ deals with the individual and rûah the spirit drives individuals to act in a certain manner. Spirit of the times as an expression explains it sufficiently well.
* In a dog-eat-dog world spirit of the times makes morals of some wiggle like the tail of a lapdog.
How we perceive the temper of our age and respond do color the spirit.
Soul of a man is at every turn is assailed by winds of change.
Suppose I need to pick up some life-saving medicine for my child who is in a touch and go situation. So I set out with the doctor’s prescription to the drugstore. If a blustery wind suddenly sweeps across do I say, ‘ OK I shall let the wind take me where it will. Joe’s Bar ought to give me a time for respite. Then I shall see.’ Will any right thinking person with an iota of concern for his child let a wind however contrary, swerve him from his purpose?
Soul of man is like the right thinking person who will brave the times however contrary rather than live with the guilt of having let down his child at the most critical point.
My soul is set there whether I willed it or not to express my quintessence. Spirit of the times is like a wind and often changes. But my soul I cannot deny. Instead I can adorn it with the fairest colors in the way I respond to the times.
benny

Inspiration Is Creative

2008-03-01T13:23:00.001+05:30

In my younger days one of Anatole France’s story concerning a juggler made a great impression on me. The Juggler felt so humiliated in the company of other monks who were either learned or accomplished. He didn’t know his scriptures well neither did he know Latin nor Greek. He couldn’t write with a fine hand on vellum or illumine the manuscripts for the greater glory of God. Dejected he would have ended his monastic life. One day he was found juggling in front of the statue of Virgin Mary. The other monks cried, “sacrilege!” He was brought before the abbot. He was let off from punishment in a very dramatic way.
The Juggler wanted to give glory to God in the only way he knew. It was acceptable in the eyes of the Blessed Virgin.
The Juggler at the end of his tether touched on the divine spark. He created something new which made the statue come alive! His devotion however unorthodox was acceptable before God.
benny

An Higher Understanding

2008-02-29T19:21:00.007+05:30

Spare The Rod©

This is the story of two fathers. One was a humble woodcutter who had a son. He knew the verse from the book of Proverbs. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son..”Pro 13: 24). Did he love his boy? Oh yes he disciplined him and he made sure the boy knew his limits. And the boy learned to live as obediently as he could. . As he grew older the woodcutter found that he didn’t make both ends with felling logs. He tried to find other means of livelihood. In those days he was often without job but he still loved his son. So he didn’t spare the rod whenever he thought the boy needed correction. It so happened the boy turned out to be thoroughly bad. Years later he admitted that it was he and not the boy who was to blame. His spiritual counselor queried, “ But you took the cue from the verse from the Proverbs, Did you not?”
“Yes,” replied the old man “ But often my irritations and my own sense of failure got in between like little foxes and they were running the show all in the name of correction.”
When we speak of taking a leaf out of the word of God it so happens that we are letting our own self to come in between. How we deceive ourselves!
The other father was the king of the realm and he had a son. He based his verse once again from the book of Proverbs, ’ Train up a child in the way he should go…” Prov: 22.6 The king pasted the verse in the play room and he constantly watched over his upbringing. Once the boy wrung the neck of a wounded sparrow. The boy wanted to spare the agony of the bird. “It is still unbecoming of you, son,” the king said. He called for a rod and beat the bed hard. . The prince wanted to know why he was beating the bed. “ You came out of it, this morning. Didn’t you?”
The boy of seven nodded. “Well till yesterday you were gentle and caring. Before you went to bed you came and kissed me good night like an angel. But today?
“The bed?” The king was sure some one has to take the blame for every wrong. You cannot be one yesterday and yet another today. So it must be the bed that is to blame.”
The boy understood the logic of his father’s example and restrained himself in the future from unkindly acts.
Later as the boy grew older his father explained as the future king every unjust or cruel act reflected on his subjects as well. The prince when he finally ascended to the throne was noted for his piety, humility and goodness.
He told his father confessor once thus: “ My royal father had a royal understanding. He knew his scriptures but every time he addressed to my own understanding and good sense. As a royal prince- in- waiting I thought the good name of my subjects and controlled myself from wayward passions or thoughtless acts".
One can literally apply the Word of God and yet be letting self to run the show. The other option is to to take it to a higher plane using the innate goodness of the child as a starting point into paths of righteousness.
benny

Love Matters

2008-02-28T19:45:00.003+05:30

What Do You Make Of Love©

Melchizadek, the King of Salem went on a mission: he was looking for a bride for the Man he had picked out at random. You see he hated his lonely splendor as much as a nightingale in a golden cage would feel. The bird loves its freedom and it can only pour itself forth into melodies in its free state.
The King with A Glorious Name embodied love and since he had no subjects he had made the Man to sit with him on his throne.
The Man one day said, “Oh King, I feel with a terrible longing. Nights are sheer torture.” He unburdened his heart and the King of Salem could understand it.
“ What you need is love, Man.” Said the king with his overflowing beard. I am a King and I shall certainly find a suitable companion for you.”
It was thus he set out to seek a suitable bride for the Man.
He visited all the kingdoms of the world and Royal Houses; not a princess of the perfect virtue he could find.
At last the King of Salem went back with a heavy heart. He had failed his Man.
To his astonishment on his return he found the Man had found himself a companion. “How did you settle on this woman?” he asked. He knew from one glance the woman was of an easy virtue and she was with uncontrollable appetites. She also had a name Love.
The Man just laughed and said,” Well I thought I will also check out a bride. Hardly I stepped outside into the dark, comes this sweetie pie out of the bushes. She kinda grabbed my heartstrings.”
King of Salem would have rebuked him for his lackadaisical attitude in choosing a bride. He restrained himself. “ Well Man it is your choice. Either she will be a blessing to you. Or you may be able to redeem her to be a blessing for all nations. What am I to speak ill of love?’
Man chooses according to circumstances and has still possibilities to make good out of bad choices. Whereas Truth like the king of Salem cannot lower its standards.

* Since man has not the Absolute values in himself his love cannot be an Absolute value.
benny

Missing The Woods

2008-02-28T08:12:00.004+05:30

For the many leaves we have missed the woods. So many religions and so many ways. Some ways are through penance and
self-loathing. What truth can a bed of nails express? Isn’t it a reminder to the fact one has a body that can feel the pain? Such a truth cannot find the joys of a life firmly fixed on Truth. Jesus could on the strength of it break Sabbath if there were reasons for doing so. (St. Lk: 14:1-6)
God for some seems most peculiar. They need to secure the holiness by their own brute majority in numbers. Any perceived insult to His Glorious name in their misguided notions, so they think, they must avenge by bloodshed. Cannot their God avenge such insults by Himself?
Religion for many has ceased to be significant: Of what worth their religion is if their God has to be invoked for sparing their investments or wealth from ruin? In their calculations God can be broken down in dollars and cents.
Show me a religion that can stand by itself. It has Truth in such measure that accepts all life forms equally where lamb may dwell safely by the lion and a babe may play on the hole of the asp (Isaiah11: 6-9). Mark of Truth is peace and joy of an overflowing kind. It connects with everything else and grows more abundantly unto something good for all concerned. The kid shall replenish a leopard and a wolf shall not lead the lamb astray.
Love, can it stand itself? No! It connects every time. So would our love for God. Only we express in our patience, kindness, peace with others. Since we know Truth in patches it is our safest bet.
benny

The Star Wars Program

2008-02-27T12:30:00.002+05:30

Prophet Isaiah saw the vision of a Millennium: If truly we look up to Jesus as the Prince of Peace should not peace reign in our hearts? We are in the New Millennium and we have extended War to a new level. It should warn us that we know neither peace nor Truth except in patches.
benny

Of Many Mansions

2008-02-26T20:19:00.003+05:30

“..and where I am,there you may be also.”( St. John 14:3) Firstly we need to look at the context in which he said this.
He speaks these words in context of many mansions that are in his Father’s house. He is also specific as to on what authority he makes this claim. He is the Truth and the Way.
Truth clarifies us through life in whatever dimensions we may be required to pass through till we shall be at one with Truth: truth of nature, actions and of experience have coalesced into one.
benny

Faith, Truth And Other Matters

2008-02-25T10:21:00.002+05:30

As a practising Christian what I believe of life after life is my own. After all if I didn’t believe in a life beyond I shall be making a mockery of my faith and Truth. (When I read the Scriptures I read it for my edification. Never have I felt any opinion of others however high and accepted by every one else should be allowed to come in between my God and myself.)
We read in the gospels how Jesus didn’t condemn the woman taken in adultery. Was he condoning her act? No. He exemplified Life and he could therefore understand the compulsions, or her lust for life (whatever her motives were) while her accusers could only see from a narrow range of their supposedly righteousness according to Law. Does Law express what is everything to be said of a life? It only touches man or woman superficially. Life is much more: it redeems every life form from circumstances that the life on earth circumscribes.
Tailpiece: Truth is the only scale on which actions or errors of our ways can be quantified.
Whatever we as finite beings speak of Truth in Absolute terms shall be less than what it really is.
benny

Is There Life After Life?

2008-02-24T08:50:00.002+05:30

Is there life after life? Life as I said in one of my early posts is indescribable. It also has no dimension. Life forms express motions of Life, each species after their fashion and in a corporeal sense. We see them and form our opinions, which do not fully delineate them. Who can vouch for what I think or my soul is alike?
But by the same yardstick of Truth we are all interconnected. We can relate to others at different levels. But no one may plumb the depths of another to decipher his or her soul.
Truth shall endure since life cannot be expressed in any other term than Life which is dimensionless. When we say one is dead we actually mean that the being has passed from one dimension to another. Death is a line to be crossed. Where I go past that line is not my concern. So I shall not speculate on what is unknowable.
benny

The Moral Imperative

2008-02-22T20:30:00.004+05:30

Pragmatism as I stated in the previous post is a compromise to succeed. Any one who wants to succeed at whatever cost it is a seductive proposition. The classic example of it is the keystone of Bolshevik ideology: the end justifies the means. From the fate of Soviet bloc we know that even such a method cannot guarantee success for long. Let us turn our attention from movements on a large scale to the individual. If I cannot succeed without turning opportunities to my advantage what use is my moral sense?
Am I not justified to let adrift my moral imperatives to succeed in a cutthroat world?
Alas, I have no such luxury to escape Truth no matter what value I may attach to it for all intents and purpose.
Truth is the bulwark that keeps all life forms secure for all time to come. It is the only touchstone for my life to separate my identity or soul from those of others. Truth of nature, of experience and that of action are building blocks for all time.
I may fail here and now as St. Thomas in the apocryphal story. But I can always vindicate my life in supplying some other in another time and place. So do I take the easy way out and lose my soul or strive to save it from every contamination of this world?
There is no time out from my soul imperative: my character
benny

An Apocryphal Story

2008-02-21T21:25:00.003+05:30

A Running Feud©
This story is apocryphal and it means you take it with a pinch of salt. St. Peter and St. Thomas had a running feud between them even while their master was around. The cause for their quarrel? St. Peter was vexed by the other who always cast doubts on everything he told on behalf of his master. One day St. Peter came and said he walked earlier in the day on the sea of Galilee. Doubting Thomas laughed in his sleeve and said,” Where did you find the boat large enough?”
St. Peter of course got angry. “Why doubt me?”
“ Pete, you always make sweeping statements. Once a fisherman you can’t escape that sort of talk. OK. The other day didn’t you say the fish you caught had the tribute money in its mouth?”
St. Peter just fled before he felt retorting angrily.
When Peter received the charge of his master he told all how important he was. "On me the master shall build his Church!"he crowed. While the Big Fisherman sketched a grand plan of the Church he had in mind for the future he felt small.
The Church of Rome was established and one day St. Peter while minding the Pearly Gates called out to St. Thomas and said,” Hey Tom, you know the Church they have built in my name is grandest you ever saw. So much of power and prestige! Even the kings of the world quake in their shoes before my representative?”
Later St. Thomas went up to St. Peter and sniggered,” Reformation is going on. You know what gave muscle to the protests.” St. Peter shook his head. “ I did. I am doubting Thomas right?”
“So?”
“ I helped all those skeptics below to doubt the authority of Rome. Well there was so much to point fingers at. Your Church is beaten hollow! Try to fix it if you can.”
benny

A Quote

2008-02-20T18:44:00.000+05:30

“Running with the knowledge of yesterday makes only a has-been; who must come first in the race on any given day must bring up something new from the day.”
benny

Ideals vs Pragmatism

2008-02-20T15:34:00.004+05:30

Ideas are what man is best capable of. His idealism pristine pure in its conception must be tested in real time and place with others. Me vs them. The ideals of others are not mine. My ideal as I conceived speak for me. No matter the ideas are somewhat rehashed to fit me. Just the same I am an entire world itself with a soul at its center. I cannot be otherwise.

But can my ideal hold its integrity for long pure? Unfortunately history of mankind doesn’t show from lives of anyone,- saint, sinner wise or fool included, as ever having succeeded. Pragmatism is what makes expediency come to the fore and make every moral value slip away unnoticed and unlamented.
Jesus came out of obscurity preaching ideas that sound very much that Communism seemed to offer: A Worker’s Paradise. So would Communism promise one.
Time presents opportunities with events at work, sometimes favorable for one and contrary. Circumstances are there always. Those who are totally committed to 'succeed' shall always find one point of time to act out. But is it the right one? Pragmatism got Lenin a closed train with the help of the Imperial Germany to persuade Russia to withdraw from the war. His pragmatism helped Bolshevik partisans to get controls over the country when all their sinews and nerves were strained to war effort.
Communism as a theory when practised by Lenin and Stalin will be so different. Or take Christianity for example. Did not the approach by Peter and Paul differ? The simple reason for their difference was the existence of Orthodox Jewish practices which both were well familiar with. Paul as a naturalized Roman citizen was sure his approach was more pragmatic in taking Christianity to far corners of the Empire. Whereas Peter claiming to the mantle of Christ chose another course. Ideals of any man must be tested against what has gone before. Thus even after the idea of Worker’s Paradise through Communism came a cropper, in Latin countries it will morph into Liberation Theology.The Church were not members of the Party. Even so it was easy for the Church to latch onto the Scriptures and some words of Jesus to give Communism a new change of clothes.
None of us is exempt from the slow contagion of ‘pragmatism’ somewhat a necessary compromise for anyone who wants to succeed. What success when by compromise soul of an idea has been killed? This is human condition. Why would Lenin work himself to death literally had he known Stalin would decimate the Party and set up a personality cult and change entire outlook of Communism within a decade?
benny

We Deceive Ourselves

2008-02-17T11:31:00.003+05:30

"In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order".
Carl Jung
So true; I call it anomaly of matter. Thus Laws of Nature in our cosmos allow light as a wave and as particle. In Newtonian model while studying dynamics of a ball we have precise equation to study its velocity and position at any given time. But in quantum mechanics it is not possible. The more accurate velocity is, its position can only be guessed. Vice versa. There is an uncertainty. All these contradictions or anomalies are smoothened out while we think of cosmos as a whole.
2
In Alice in Wonderland there is the Cheshire cat disappearing except for its grin. The grin must explain anomaly of matter. Its body must be elsewhere thereby validating its being. It is not dead because it can grin. Merely because Alice can’t see its body doesn’t mean it is non-existent. It is Alice’s problem.
Fortean anomalies as a whole, is strictly our problem since we cannot get our mind off from reason for a moment. So we build theories that get curioser and curioser. UFO ? Alien abduction? There is no end to the way we indulge in our fantasies.(Fantasies are alright as long as they serve to sharpen our focus on realities)
3.
A star dies in a blaze of light and dies. We see it still millions of light years later. Do we speak of it as paranormal? Do we identify it as UFO? No. There is something queer in the way we swallow what is truly marvelous ( as tsunami of starlight breaking on our time and place) as we accept Lewis Carrol’s story as a delightful story for children.
These anomalies are integrated in truth of nature.( cf:anomaly of matter)
benny

Cosmos As A Closed System

2008-02-16T17:59:00.001+05:30

Our Cosmos is like Pandora's box. The Big Bang opened up so many mysteries, which Science has explained away, not always elegantly but something that can stand critical scrutiny. But has it put to rest many anomalies we encounter?
What remains is hope. What is unexplained as I mentioned earlier remain in the realm of paranormal phenomena.
benny

Fortean Anomalies

2008-02-15T08:56:00.000+05:30

Charles Fort (1874 – 1932) is perhaps the best known researcher of unexplained anomalous phenomena. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained phenomena, which came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd events originally printed in respected mainstream scientific journals or newspapers such as Scientific American, The Times, Nature and Science.
Collectively these phenomena are now referred to as 'Fortean' phenomena, or Forteana. Reported events include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with coining); poltergeist events, falls of frogs, fishes, inorganic materials of an amazing range; crop circles; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires; levitation; ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort) There are many phenomena in Fort's works which have now been partially or entirely "recuperated" by mainstream science — ball lightning, for example, was largely rejected as impossible by the scientific consensus of Fort's day, but is now generally recognized as a genuine phenomenon.

Purported phenomena with explanations considered to be outside the scope of conventional science can be classified as paranormal phenomena

Phenomena considered outside the scope of parapsychology, but possibly within the scope of paranormal includes for example:

* alien abduction experiences
* cryptozoology
* spontaneous human combustion
* UFOs

To be classified as paranormal, a phenomenon must lack a scientific explanation. When an anomaly receives a valid scientific explanation, it becomes "perinormal." Perinormal is a term that has been suggested to describe previously unknown forces, which at first appeared to be paranormal and were later verified scientifically. For example, while the idea of stones falling from the sky was once considered anomalous, meteorites are now acknowledged and well understood.(Ack: wikipedia)
benny

A Point to Ponder-Mahatma

2008-02-14T09:04:00.001+05:30

If two laws of compensation and Deprivation are true opposite and equal, would it not mean that the strivings of the humankind shall always remain more or less static by such contrary forces? The fact that there are those who do not merey acquiesce to them as final and are willing to overcome odds against them we ought to consider them as the true pioneers who carry the civilization forward.
Such great souls speak for the entire species. Most of us work far below our full potentials. Where does that energy leftover go to?

*Great souls are those who cover our lapses or shortfall by their solid achievements. Mohandas Gandhi or Bapu as he is affectionately remembered by India was one such. He made non-violence an effective weapon and showed the world the path of Ahimsa. He showed to the world of violence against the growing stridency of fascism in Europe and military Jingoism of Japan a better path. Hitler was a bully and a mad man whereas Gandhi became a Mahatma.
benny

Lucy In The Sky...

2008-02-13T09:56:00.005+05:30

LSD was a lucky strike of Dr. Albert Hoffmann who was incidentally looking for a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. However, no real benefits of the compound were identified and its study was discontinued. This was in 1938. In the 1940’s, interest in the drug was revived because of its structural relationship to a chemical that is present in the brain. LSD was used as a research tool in studies of mental illness.

Sandoz Laboratories, the drug’s sole producer, began marketing LSD in 1947 under the trade name “Delysid” and it was introduced into the United States a year later. It was the time when Cold War swept across the globe. The CIA found it as an unconventional weapon to discredit their perceived enemies. One of their victims was one Frank Olson who was one of their own. The ensuing scandal made the CIA from further researches in this drug.
Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World in the 1950s became interested in psychedelic or mind-expanding drugs like mescaline and LSD, which he apparently took a dozen times over ten years. Sybille Bedford says he was looking for a drug that would allow an escape from the self and that if taken with caution would be physically and socially harmless.

He put his beliefs in such a drug and in sanity into several books. Two, based on his experiences taking mescaline under supervision, were nonfiction: Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956). Some readers have read those books as encouragements to experiment freely with drugs, but Huxley warned of the dangers of such experiments in an appendix he wrote to The Devils of Loudun (1952), a psychological study of an episode in French history.

In his book The Island he approved of the perfected version of LSD that the people of Island use in a religious way. (Ack: somaweb.org) The late Timothy Leary gave LSD its fame after being kicked out from Harvard University for using students and other volunteers to study the effects of LSD on the brain. He later became an advocate of the drug, promoting its “mind expanding qualities.” An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD. He coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
He was one voice of the Hippie movement,- and there were many other voices and influences that fed the growing cynicism of the young. They protested at the mindset of the establishment that neither learned from the past nor cared to improve the lot of the man on the street. On the other Martin Luther King was organizing a civil disobedient movement and it had jolted the whole nation. Drug culture of the sixties was amid the growing violence and unrest following escalation of US involvement in Vietnam and LSD that the very government had at first thought as an useful tool to repress the opposition, was just doing that: LSD had become a subversive tool to overthrow the society and their culture.
When an elected government blows its mind it affects the governed too: result of this must be one hell of a bad trip for all concerned.

benny