11/14/2008

should the punishment meet the crime?

In we read that "Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, He made man."

There is conflict not just around the topic of capital punishment and the Bible but all punishment...
What do you think? Should the punishment of any crime meet the crime?

I think it is Biblical concept...

11/13/2008

Going from Woe is me to Send me

Isa. 6

1In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

12And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

13But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.



The Word "Woe" means death. Isaiah understood his place. He knew he was not holy, especially seeing the Lord seated on the throne. Isaiah knew he was a sinful man., not worthy. But yet Isaiah remained humble. He chose to have an encounter with the Lord. He repented from his sin. And he responded to the call of God to GO!

11/12/2008

Reasons why I plan on never purchasing a cable tv plan

There are some many great technologies available making watching my favorite television shows for free. There is no reason to pay for cable, tivos, and all of that when I have an HD laptop with internet connection, and even a cable to connect to a larger projection and or tv.

1. The simplest and easiest is watching tv and movies on the internet legally from the network's own website or another 3rd party website:
you name the network and they have a website where they will playback new episodes for free with limited advertising online.
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/10/01/where-to-find-your-favorite-shows-online/
3rd party sites with and without ads:
hulu.com
veoh.com
youtube.com
http://www.primetimerewind.tv/home
beelinetv.com

If you do not like the quality of the online experience, there are other great was to watch tv with out paying for cable monthly:

Satellite TV For PC
for a one time fee of about $50 you legally purchase software that get over 3000 channels to your laptop.

11/11/2008

illustration / random thought

In our culture in the movies, tv or where ever, a person who is "rough" around the edges is sometimes portrayed as a hero, as a attractive (whether the character is a good guy or bad guy).

The trait of being "rough" is not thought to be so bad. We can all relate to it. No one is perfect we all have rough areas in our personality that we are working on. We want to know that other people are like us. In fact it makes us feel better to know someone else is worse off, in some cases...and in other cases a person who is so "rough," is a hero of sorts to someone who has lived a "sheltered" lifestyle (at least in some cases.)

A thought I had though is that no one really likes a person who always play the "rough" personality card. No matter what happens these people come across as 'jerks' (to use polite language). Later they might come up to you and say they are "working on it." But the truth is they do not struggle with "rough patches"...their entire being is one sharp edge.

No one likes being poked by a sharp edge. It hurts.

11/10/2008

theories of eschatology


This chart you may have seen before it is on Wikipedia.

A lot of my friends are baptist and they believe in the notion of pre-tribulation dispensational premillennialism. - yeah the longest, most confusing title...and it actually is one of the more complex and confusing theories too! Are you familiar with the Left Behind books by Tim LeHaye. well those books portray this theory.

I have been studying the end times or eschatology with the help of apologetics.com and some theology books. I am still not sure where exactly I stand, but I have found problems with the pre-tribulation dispensational premillennialism. And am not a follower of that theory.

I also struggle to believe the symbolic millennailism or amillennialism. Basically, it suggests that number of years in Revelation 20 is a symbolic number, not a literal description; that the millennium has already begun and is identical with the church age. And Christ could return at any moment.