definition of the Holy Spirit

I had to define the Holy Spirit for a class 22-1-2009. I think it is a really good definition, so I pulled it out of the archives to post it.

The Holy Spirit is an inseparable part of God. It has extension, which is to say It can project itself into space (Psalm 139:7), and It has the power of movement (Psalm 51:12). It rests upon those whom God favors (1 Samuel 16:13), and guides them to live according to God’s will (Galations 5:18).

While the scientists of this age may reason that nothing exists except that which can be tested and observed, the Christian worldview affirms that the physical world is but a minor part of the greater existence, which contains an invisible spiritual realm and God’s court. The part of God that exists primarily in this invisible realm we call the Holy Spirit, which has special and unique capabilities and responsibilities. It is helpful to think of God the Father as being primarily in His court and of Jesus as deserving to be in the physical world, but He has withdrawn until the coming of the kingdom. Therefore the Spirit is left to be the main part of God that acts in our world (since the physical and spiritual realms are connected and interact). The Spirit was sent to have a much more active role at Pentecost after Jesus ascended into heaven. This is like God retracting His face from our proximity that His hands may work more freely among us. The Spirit guides, teaches, admonishes, encourages, gives out spiritual gifts, and grants the power to turn our hearts to God’s will, for otherwise our sin would prevent this from hearing His words. The Spirit is invisible, but very powerful, and It works in mysterious ways we shall not learn until redemption has finished its work.

Nov 5 2009 sermon on the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our sins.

The forgiveness of sins gives eternal life. This is a discipline out of which a Christian will never grow out. To look for something bigger, better, or more advanced in the faith is arrogant and wrong. All love, peace, and life is found in the simple act of forgiveness.

Read Matthew 6:5-13

Every other religion on Earth teaches that living a 'good life' is what will bring salvation, or nirvana, or happiness. Our sinful mind cannot get over the notion that we have to do something, anything, to secure our spiritual life. We anchor ourselves to our good works, and try to get through the storms of life our on the power of that line. We think in our minds that if we “just” could pray a little more, or “just” swear less, or “just” keep from breaking any of the bigger sins, the small sins we commit daily will be outweighed, and we will save ourselves by our good deeds. Fortunately, our works can never supply anything more than the illusion of security. When storms of temptation and trials arrive, we quickly find our own good deeds to be flimsy, and our hearts quickly despair. Our minds cannot see beyond the illusion of a balance between good and bad actions, so deliverance comes by faith alone.

If we are to see our salvation through the eyes of faith, we shall see that regardless of how much we sin, and regardless of how much good we do, we cannot hope to even come close to God. He is so far better than and above us that even what we consider our best works of righteousness, he considers them to be revolting. As it says in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” What we consider to be our best is trash compared to God, and we cannot build on even that as a firm foundation. We are born into a sinful world, and if we rest upon our own power, we are damned to stay away from God for all eternity. Even the most humanly righteous person is hopelessly far from God. Once we recognize that nothing we do can change our situation, we can either despair or find forgiveness.

Read Matthew 9:1-8

Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.

This is the good news that Jesus brings to us all. We are released from the despair of trying to do it on our own, which we know deep down to be impossible. The oppressive weight of trying to move our lives to a better place is taken away. All of our sins are forgiven. We no longer have to walk under the weight of the sins that drag us down, and more importantly, we don't have to try and support the bad things we have done with the good things we have done. Suddenly, everything is stripped away. The good, the bad, and the ugly all disappear in a flash as Jesus forgives us. In their place, we find instead happiness and peace.

When I was a junior in high school, my relationship with my mother was strained to say the least. She grew up on a farm where she learned a strong work ethic and was the youngest of four girls. She met my father after she moved to CA for college, and they married and had me a few years later. Because she was in a family of only girls, I was the first male between the ages of one and twenty-two with whom she had ever had a close relationship. This started our relationship off on a bad foot, and the fact that I inherited her stubbornness but not her work ethic only made things worse. As a child, I identified myself with my intelligence, and in being able to come up with better solutions to problems than my peers. Submission to parental authority was no problem for me, as long as the parent in question could defend before a grand jury that their solution to whatever problem had arisen was superior to my own. I soon began to believe that I knew better how to parent a teenage son than she did, and our relationship became hostile. I questioned her at every turn. When she asked me to do something, right that very second, I would question why it had to be done then, when it was perfectly logical to do it later while I didn't have something mildly entertaining to do. When she replied that I had to do it her way because she was my mother and that was that, I would point out that her reason did not follow from the argument, and therefore was invalid. I was an unbearable child. We clashed over everything from the dishes to school work to where I would go to college and on what time frame I would be applying. Most of the time it ended in yelling and one of us storming out, and sometimes with both of us in tears.

My sin was that of pride. I didn't think of her first. I did not obey because she was my mother. I KNEW I was right and that everything would be much better if she would submit to me instead of the other way around. If only my perfect plan could be implemented, things would run smoothly and happily, because I knew best.

It took me many years to finally submit my pride to God. During my senior year, I took my sin to God and asked for forgiveness, because my right way wasn't fixing the problem; it was only making it worse. I needed Him to fix the situation, because I didn't want a terrible relationship with my mother. A funny thing happened when I was forgiven my sin of pride and my righteousness of knowing a better way of doing things. I shut my mouth when she told me to do something, and I did it her way. I did it her inferior way, knowing that I had a better way, but I still did it her way without telling her what I thought of her way. She stopped yelling at me, and we stopped clashing. I gradually learned to obey in love, and to my surprise, the love I was able to express made her inferior way better than my superior way would ever have been.

When we confess our sins, God who is righteous and just will forgive us. Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven. Everything is taken and replaced with Gods peace. Gone is the fear and anxiety about those situations we are trying to control. Gone is the guilt about what we have done. Gone is the blindness to the truth, the blindfold of sin that covers our eyes and keeps us from seeing the fullness of Gods grace he want to give us. Sin is pure unhappiness, and forgiveness pure happiness. Once we ask forgiveness, we receive it. Upon receiving it, we feel the simple comfort and hear the words of Jesus: Be joyful! No longer feel guilt because of your sins, or feel the anxiety from not having done enough good, you are forgiven EVERYTHING. This is the free gift made available to us by the cross, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are free from guilt, free from the muck of our lives, free from all types of performance. Nothing we could do would ever earn us this freedom, and nothing we could do would ever make us worthy of it. It is completely free, and completely from Gods love and goodness alone. In our freely received forgiveness we can rejoice.

Read Psalm 130

God will redeem us from our sin because he is good and loves us. Once I was freed from my sin of pride and stubbornness with my mother, a weight was lifted off of my heart and mind. I found the happiness in our relationship that I wanted, but it was much purer and better than I had hoped. In forgiveness there is delight and happiness. Every day we need forgiveness because every day our sinful nature tries to take back control from God and we try to fix our own lives with our own good deeds. Notice that Jesus forgives the man his sins and says “take heart, your sins are forgiven” but ALSO lays out that when we pray, we should ask “forgive us our sins.” Forgiveness never ends, and we should never stop asking for it. Every day we have to give our sin and striving back over to God so that we can find his peace.

So I must ask myself, where is my sin and striving today? Where is there something I need to give to God and ask forgiveness? When I do, he will replace my guilt and anxiety with Joy.

Where in your life do you need to ask forgiveness? Where is the weight of your sin too heavy to bear? He wants to take it away. Where is your best effort far short of success? Jesus has taken away all striving, and given salvation freely to each of us, when none of us could earn or deserve it. This is the good news of the Gospel, that Christ died to eliminate the weight of sin and striving, and replace it with his eternal peace and joy.

I am going to read a Psalm and then start some songs. This time is for you to do whatever business you need with God. He wants to wash you cleaner than fresh snow. He wants you to rejoice in his forgiveness. Father, forgive us our sins.

Read Psalm 32

Listen to "Jealous Kind" by Jars of Clay

Les voyages, sont-ils utiles où pas ?

Le monde est grand, avec une multitude des coutures, nombreuse des langues, et plus de vues impossibles à quantifier en l’espace d’une vie. On voyage pour diverses raisons. Des gens voyagent entant que touriste, d’autres pour la richesse, et encore d’autres gens pour trouver quelque chose, que ce soit un plat délicieux, un endroit pour recommencer sa vie à zéro, un paysage exotique, où parfois- en voyageant- on se trouve soi-même. Ceci dit, les voyages sont-ils utiles ? Ne serait-il pas mieux rester chez lui, ne pas dépenser l’argent, et vivre facilement avec ses amis et sa famille ?
Je crois que les voyages sont utiles uniquement si le niveau de maturité du voyageur lui permet d’en tirer les éléments positifs socioculturels.
Il existe la possibilité pour les voyageurs d’apprendre énormément et de se perfectionner, mais seulement si on se prépare à l’avance apprendre quelque chose de totalement nouveau ; il faut partir avec un esprit ouvert.
Certains voyageurs ne seront jamais assez mûrs pour vraiment apprécier leurs périples. Pierre Loti, lorsqu'il a visité le Japon, avait déjà une idée du Japon et quand il s'est rendu compte du fait que le Japon (réel) était bien différent du sien, au lieu de découvrir le vrai Japon, il s'est acharné pour mieux comprendre le pays et ses habitants. Loti, dans son œuvre Mme. Chrysanthème, s'est démontré qu'il avait un esprit fermé et qu'il montrait une superficialité qui l’a paralysé entant que voyageur. Sa superficialité l'empêcha d'apprendre quoique ce soit pendant son voyage, ce qui est prouvé par le fait qu'il a acheté dix huit caisses de souvenirs et un tatouage, mais qu'il n'a jamais vraiment essayé de comprendre la manière de penser de sa femme japonaise, la japonaise avec laquelle il vivait tout le temps ! Il aurait été mieux servi d'acheter des photos et des livres au sujet du Japon, car il n'a jamais vu au-delà de la couleur de peau de toute façon. Le voyage ne lui aura rien offert.
Cette imperfection de Loti est le même de quel Montesquieu a critiqué des Parisiens dans son essai, <> Les Parisiens ne voyagent pas, mais quand une autre culture vient à eux, ils sont obsessifs avec la superficie ; les vêtements, l’apparence, et la nouveauté d’un persan. Cependant, la seule chose qui les Parisiens ont reçu est une histoire de l’arrivant d’un homme étranger. Ils n’ont rien appris pour amélioré eux-mêmes et n’ont rien donné au Persan pour mieux comprendre la France.
Un autre exemple de quelqu’un qui ne peut pas profiter de voyager est un étudiant qui voyage à un autre pays pour un programme d’échange ou pour les études étrangers, mais au lieu de parler la langue avec les citoyens ou apprendre la culture, il sort chaque soir avec les amis de son propre pays, parle son propre langue, pendant il fait les fêtes. Cette personne ne profit rien pour soi-même de son voyage parce qu’elle ne saute pas sur l’opportunité d’être à un autre pays.
Les trois exemples précédant sont des types pour qui les voyages sont inutiles à cause de leur immaturité. A mon avis, il existe assez moins de voyageurs avec maturité qu’une personne qui a appliqué le conseil de Platon, « connais-toi toi-même ». Mais, heureusement, ces types des voyageurs existent, mais peut-être mieux connaître dans la littérature fictive que dans la vie vrai car les meilleurs voyageurs n’ont pas besoin d’écrire de ses voyages et vendre ses mémoires, à cause de leurs voyages étant assez pour eux.
Le voyageur le plus connaît dans le monde de littérature pourrait être Gulliver, le personnage de Jonathan Swift qui a voyagé à tels endroits que Lilliput et Brobdingnag. Quand Gulliver a visité le sorcier de Balnibarbi et a parlé avec les personnages morts, il a dit « Je vis avec douleur combien, depuis cent ans, le genre humain avait dégénéré » (troisième partie, Ch. 8). C’est un but des voyages réfléchir la propre culture de le voyageur, et pour le voir avec les yeux ouverts tous les réussites et les points faibles. Si on ne prend jamais un autre point de vue dehors sa propre couture, on ne peut pas voir avec objectivité des parties des cultures pour apprendre avec sagesse lesquelles on doit adopter, lesquelles on doit adapter, et desquelles on doit s’abstenir. Gulliver a bien achevé ce point de vue à Balnibari, pour voir les cultures modern avec les yeux du passé. Les yeux de Gulliver sont enfin ouverts pour voir ces points faibles de sa propre culture, donc il peut bien s’améliorer par se rebeller contre ces maux et les gens avec qui ils habitent. Mais, il faut bien noter que Gulliver était assez mature pour chercher cette opportunité de découvert.
Deux révélations similaires à celui-là de Gulliver s’est passées sur la planète de Malacandra au Professeur Ransom, le héro de Dehors de la Planète Silencieuse par C. S. Lewis, quand il n’a pas transcendé le temps mais sa planète et son espèce. Après des mois pendant qu’il a habité sans contact humain avec les Hross et Sorns de cette planète, son cerveau et ses yeux sont devenus Malacandran pour deux petits moments. Dans la première, il a commencé penser comme un Malacandran, et que la vie a Malacandra est normale. Lewis a écrit, « enfin il est venu à l’esprit de lui qu’il n’était pas eux, mais sa propre espèce qui était le mystère » (Ch. XII). Dans la deuxième révélation, Ransom a aperçu une vue d’humanité comme celui des Malacandrans. « Soudainement, avec un changement indescriptible de sentiment, il s’est ris compte d’il a vu des homes. Les deux prisonniers étaient Weston et Devine et qu’il, pour un moment privilège, avait vu la forme humaine avec les yeux presque malacandrien » (Ch. XIX). Ransom a découvert une nouvelle vue dans le deux citations précèdent, de sa vie et son existence. Avec cette vue-ci, il peut voir sa culture et en conséquence une partie de soi-même, sans l’aveuglement normale quand au sein de la culture.
A chaque révélation naît un défi à vivre une meilleure vie, être un meilleur humain. A cause de son vol, Ransom a appris une facette de l’humanité qui n’est pas conforme au reste de l’univers. Une facette où humanité a échoué. Le défi l’a appelé à réussir où les autres ont échoué et un voyageur mature accepte le défi.
Les voyages se sont avérés utiles pour les voyageurs matures, mais qu’en est-il des miens ? Je serais aussi coupable que Loti, les Parisiens de Montesquieu, ou un autre mauvais voyageur si je ne m’interrogeais pas sur la valeur ni les leçons de mes voyages, et surtout mon voyage en cours.
J’ai eu des révélations, bien sûr. Par exemple, la puissance d’être cerné par milles de crois blancs en marbre des soldats américains à la plage d’Omaha, la plupart qui étaient plus jeunes que moi, tout tués sur un terre étrange pour leur pays et la liberté de tous. Ça me défie. Est-ce que je suis prêt de mourir si nécessaire, et est-ce que j’apprécie correctement les vertus de mon pays qui étaient achetés par le sang des autres ? J’essaye chaque jour depuis quant répondre « oui. »
Il existe des autres histoires, de la pickpocket parisienne au Métro après minuit, la vue de qui q instillé la pitié et pas la peur à moi et m’a donne une nouvelle vision de la pauvreté et le crime, à la beauté frappant de le Schwarzwald en automne qui m’a fait penser de la opposition anormale de le genre humain contre la nature dans ma culture, mais ils sont trop nombreux pour raconter ici. Les conversations avec les gens divers en deux langues et trois pays qui m’enseignaient des choses qui sont communes de l’humanité et pas seulement de ma culture seules pourraient être un livre entier, et mes réflexions de ces conversations pourraient être des volumes.
Les voyages sont utiles pour eux qui possèdent la maturité pour les apprécier. Le mien a une valeur énorme pour moi, comme les autres voyageurs qui essayent prendre l’avis de Platon et « connais-toi toi-même. »
Mais, comme Ransom, il faut réaliser que les voyages, aussi incroyables qu’ils soient, ne peuvent supplanter la réflexion personnelle. « Il a réfléchi qu’il aurait très peu à montrer de son voyage incroyable s’il y suivrait: quelques mots de la langue, quelques paysages, un peu de physique mal comprise- mais où étaient les statistiques, l’histoire, l’étude diverse des conditions extraterrestres, qu’un tel voyageur devrait rapporter? » (Ch. XIX). Cependant, cette expérience est adéquate parce que le voyage a changé Ransom pour toujours, et ce dernier possède désormais la capacité de changer le monde ; un pouvoir que les études statistiques ou ethnographiques ne pourront jamais offrir.

Draft on an essay on beauty

When I see a woman, it is like I see a precious gem. Every woman has a color, a cut, and a hue, and while many may argue one is better than another, at the end of the day the guy whose favorite color is red will find a ruby superior to an emerald.
As numerous as the different colors of gems are, there are also numerous cuts of the gems. Some gems look fantastically sharp, as if they could only have been cut by a master gemcutter, while others can be rough around the edges, plainly cut, or even rounded.
Women are like gems, but more like gem-fountain hybrids. I would say that these metaphorical gems shine with an inner life but that would not be a robust enough decsription. Women do not merely shine with an inner light, the vibrant rays of their souls spring forth from every orafice in a manner than can only be represented by aquifers, volcanos, and oil bubbling forth from the surface of the earth. Aquifers because the radiance of a truly beautiful woman flows from her eyes, saying to all who gaze into them "My beauty runs deeper than you can see with your eyes, and my river shall never run dry." Her lips are life giving water to those she deems worthy to be called 'prince'.

The color of the gem represents the innate personality traits of the corresponding girl. A red colored gem would represent a passionate girl and an amber would represent a more demure girl. The cut of the gem is the physical beauty of the girl; some seem as if they are ordinary while others look as if they were sculpted solely for the purpose of looking impressive and drawing the eye.

Doggrel

I know I do not know you
Though I know I wish I would
I pray you would want me too
And turn would bes into coulds

Poor words for high sentiment

Caffine dictates that I am awake for two more hours
So in this buzz I await sleep
Staring at the ceiling
Thinking of you

Of late, this is no rare occurrence
Indeed you owe me much stolen sleep
For you invade my mind and occupy it
As a victorious queen occupies newly conquested land

In a world of relativism
Where I define objects with greater than, less than, or equal to
You evoke the use of superlatives
Though my logic finds this naïve

Involuntarily you ambush my mind
And I pray for your perfection
Not that you be flawlessness incarnate
But, God willing, that you be perfect f o r m e

Ten Fingers

Ten Fingers Dance on the Keys.
expressive
stroking ivory
using a caress most reserve for the face of a beloved.
Ten Fingers Dance
an elegant ballet
choreographed by a long dead Muse.
The vibrations echo down ten feet,
and from there permeate space
this tribute to a genius.

Ten Fingers Dance on the Keys
wild
seemingly random
but in the long run shows the glorious symmetry.
striking with force, indiscriminant of color,
but without crying out in pain, the Keys strike back.
In this playful manner they engage in faux combat
the Fingers and the Keys.
the eyes of the song would sparkle with mirth
if it could see.
The song is dead, but it’s restless Soul is in tonight’s noise
as the chorus ends, the Fingers and Soul are in communion;
they compare notes,
then the Fingers show this Soul a few new tricks,
adding to the genius.

The Ten Dance
The Fingers paint a new portrait
on a blank canvas
they wander along a machine
there is no plan, no destination
but the fingers know beauty
so they feel along this uncertain landscape
when they find hidden fairness they expose it
the conception of Art
The Fingers tread over The Keys
often surprised by the result
but trusting prescient instinct
thus emerges fatalistic Art
now, joining The Fingers, is a Voice
this Voice knows not what is sings
but what must be sung is known
at the finale, The Fingers retire, their duty complete
they embrace fresh genius

in this ensuing white silence the Muse, the Soul, and the newborn Art meet
they compliment eachother in their differences
and together, conspire auditory delight
stimulating modern genius

The Forbidden Poem

Read
Read waery traveller,
I tempt thy thirst for art
for information
Read
Read my poem and have
All that I can promise
It shall be thine
Read
Read this line and know
Like all failed temptations
I have deceived thee

For I have not said a single thing

Homosexuality

What is homosexuality? Besides two members of the same sex having intimate relations with eachother. Is it a sin? Is it a disease? Is it natural? Is it the way some people are made? Is it love?

C.S. Lewis has a very interesting view on love. He states that there is affection for another human being (to like someone, care in a paternal or supportive sense), there is Eros (being in love), there is freindship, and there is Agape (love between God and Man).

People who engage in homosexual activities claim (and indeed there is little reason to doubt their claim) to be in love with thier partner. Which love is this that they are experiencing? Is it true Eros, or can Eros only be truly experienced between a man and a woman? In that case, would not homosexuality be an abomonation, a perversion of Eros? Or is it that Eros has different levels? True love being the 'highest' of the levels, and a crush being the lowest. Then would homosexuality still be a perversion of one or all of these levels? Or does it stand on the same scale? If it stands on the same scale, is it inherently 'lower' than heterosexual Eros?

Are people made homosexual? While there has never been a gene linked to homosexual behavior, this does not suprise me because genetics is such a vast and complex science that at our current pace we still have a good few hundered years before we can even guess at the results of manipulating a single chemical in a strand of DNA. However, it does seem that certain people are more prone to homosexuality than others. Could it be that homosexuality is truly a trait that people are born with and not a behavoiral anomoly? If it is an inborn trait, how does one account for bisexual people? Are these some people that have only half of whatever makes a person homosexual and half of whatever it is that makes people heterosexual? Or are the options simply binary and bisexuality is the perversion?

Is it natural for people to be homosexual? Some who claim homosexuality is an abomination say that sex is for the purpose of procreation. Any sexual activity outside of this is unnatural. However, what does that say about married couples? Every time a sperm fails to hit an egg, are we to believe that the sex was a perversion of what it should be? If some people truly are made to be only homosexual, they will never procreate in their life, however if someone is made to be purely heterosexual, it is entirely possible for them to never procreate in their life although they engage in sex many times in a manner that a preacher would find acceptable. Is there a fundamental difference just because one is with a member of the same sex? This question seems to boil down to the previous one, whether or not people are made to be homosexual from birth.

Is it a sin? Herein lies the crux of every argument about homosexuality. If homosexuality is a sin, it should not be engaged in. If there is no such thing as sin and morals are relativistic, then homosexuality is just fine and all religious types are loons. If there is such a thing as sin and homosexuality is not a sin, then it should be sanctioned by the church.

I believe firmly that homosexuality is a sin. It is abhorred by God as breaking the commandment against adultery, but it would be incorrect to judge it as worse or better than any other sin. Jesus said that looking at a woman with lust in your eye keeps you out of heaven exactly the same as having extramarital sex with her. Both are equally sins, equally in need of Jesus dying to forgive you of them. Homosexuality should be viewed in the same manner. It is a sin, and people who engage in a homosexual lifestyle are in a lifestyle of sin. So are those who live with their girlfriend, those who are addicted to drugs, serial killers, kleptomaniacs, and mass murdering tyrants. They all live in sin, and Jesus has offered them all forgiveness. Do not accept the sin, but accept the person as loved by God. They need to hear of his compassion and his forgiveness because that is the only way they can change, so bashing them over the head with fire and brimstone is not a good approach. I think some people are predisposed towards homosexualtiy by birth, and others by behavior. It is the same as families that all have trouble controlling their temper even when seperated at birth.

I work with three homosexuals. Today one of them, under eighteen, got off work and dressed up for his date with a guy he met. My mind and soul scream out that he is sinning, but what can I say? To say anything about it would break the first commandment of the national religion of tolerance, which I should stop caring about. I do not want to alienate him to future attempts to show him God's love, but I do not want to accidentally show approval by my silence. What can I do?