17 abril 2006

"I don’t operate at the sub-atomic level."

thought one:

RESOLVED: from now on, i will at least ask transients their names.

affirm that personhood, don't deny it.

thought two:

might be off on this one, but perhaps... modern evangelicals have attributed to "the Sinner's Prayer" the significance in salvation that the early Church (per the epistles) placed on baptism.

~John's "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins"
~Rom. 6:4 "we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
~1 Pet 3:21 "...baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"

thought three:

i have noticed within myself a certain shallowness of emotion. basically, i see three modes: happy, mellow, and depressed. generally, i don't really get depressed as long as i'm busy. really, there's no logical reason for me NOT to be sighing in blissful contentment. and that kind of makes me stop for a second. because the Bible was not written for *happy* persons.

my very super-secure contentment renders much of Scripture irrelevant. i can appreciate the Prophets by extension, but it's been a long time since i've been able to identify with them. James, Peter, the Sermon on the Mount... i get pieces of them. verses, here and there. the happy ones about being saved and holy and "different" from the world. but my word, how much do i miss.

i wonder if i am supposed to be so happy. biomedical ethics talk of whether something should be done, just because it can be done. just because i was born into the land of the brave and free and pampered, does that mean that i have the right to walk around in bliss?

the human experience involves suffering. sorrow. pain. anger. misery. here in America, we have the option of insulation from all that. our synthetic alternative is angst. ah... angst. but that's another subject.

Christ gave His flesh "for the life of the world..." do i know what that means? what a travesty, if my life on earth is so cushy that heaven is limited in its appeal...

so... solution... NOT to "feel" guilty, but to BE deeper emotionally... someday, definitely. what to do today?

work on my art paper? it's really the only option available at the moment. but i will be watching for others.

take-my-breath-away thought-of-the-day:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=399&letter=M
very very cool.