Beholding the Beauty

"the anonymous" W. Holmes made a good point in the first comment on this post . This post is a reply to that. (I tried to do this as a second comment, but the Comments don't allow the "<sup>" HTML tag, which I use for my footnotes. That said, here's my reply: -------------------------------- Great thought, W. I completely concur. As Moses said in Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." What "things" are revealed to us now? All things (that we need to know, anyway), are revealed in Christ. Indeed, even though the "secret things belong unto the LORD", we can know all we need to know and understand about Him, since He has revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ, His "Son...Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person," 1 an...

Should a hymn, which has endured the test of time, be stripped away from God’s people merely because it does not appeal to the ear of individuals who do not love God? — Dan Miller, Pastor From his article at Sharper Iron.org .

I finally got together, this afternoon, with the Watchtowerites for a discussion over coffee. From our phone conversations setting up the meeting, I was let to believe that we would have at least 45 minutes, and possibly an hour. For the last couple of weeks, I have been studying, as a refreshment and expanding of previous study, the topic of the Deity of Christ: that His title as the "unique Son of God" necessitates that He is "God the Son". Well, we started the conversation by looking at the the Watchtower organization's "restoration of the name" to the New Testament. If you read the New World Translation, you will notice the name "Jehovah" popping up all over the New Testament, where it is not in the Greek. The Watchtower avers that the name was in the originals, but was written out of them in reverence for the name. They cite Hebrew Translations "from the 14th century onward" that include the Tetragrammaton ("YHWH...

The JW I was talking to put off our meeting, because he wanted to bring along "a buddy," who wasn't able to make it that day. Then, on the newly appointed day (last Saturday), I called, and he put it off again, claiming he is tired from a long week of "Bible training". He asked to "tentatively" schedule it for Wednesday, to which I agreed. I am going to attempt to record the conversation (with his permission, of course) if/when we finally get to it.

Together for the Gospel, 2008 conference, Session 7: How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice , by John Piper. Quote starts 13m23s. The quote is in context of I Tim. 6:9, and pastoral ministry. The world is not going to glorify Christ because they see that Christians are wealthy, and healthy, and prosperous. Very simple reason why: that's what they live for! So you use Jesus to get it? They use other means to get it. They're not impressed! Jesus is the ticket? When the show starts, you throw the ticket away! They don't need your ticket. They're not impressed! You should really listen to the sermon, since there are nuances of expression that don't come through in transcription. :)

I just split this blog into two. I started a new blog called On Freedom and Oppression , and moved a few of the posts I had here over there. Beholding the Beauty is still my main blog, since the majority of my posts are related to spiritual things, but I really got the sense that the political stuff needed it's own space to play in.

...but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou has cast all my sins behind thy back. (Isaiah 38:17) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:10) Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. ... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it...(Eph. 5:1, 2, 25) But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness w...

I'd like to start this series by asking the question: Why am I doing this? Why am I taking all this time to prove plainly from the Scriptures that Jesus is God -- not a created being inferior to the Father -- Who is one with the Father not just in purpose, but also in substance? What difference does it make whether we see Him as a created being or the One Who has no beginning? Why is it important that we understand what the phrase "the Son of God" means? First, Jesus thought it was important enough to explicitly take time to make sure His disciples "got it," and had the Holy Ghost record the lesson through Matthew. When He was here, some of the people were confused about Who He was: His identity. Let's take a look (Matt. 16:13ff): When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some [say that thou art] John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one...

The place I work is an actual office, but it is in a neighborhood. As I was pulling into the parking lot, two gentlemen from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (commonly called the "Jehovah's Witnesses") were crossing the entrance. They waited to cross until I was parked, and started to address me through my open window. Now, it has been some time since I had any substantial interaction with any from this (IMHO) cult, and I was in a particularly spunky mood today, so I grabbed by Bible off of the front seat next to me, and prepared for battle. (Disclaimer: I make it sound as though my attitude was one of wanting to destroy these men. It was not. In fact, I realized that they are trapped in false teaching, and only want to destroy their belief in that. I want them to see our matchless God and Savior in all of His wondrous glory -- not as a created, and therefore necessarily inferior, being.) They began the conversation by mentioning my Bible (it's a rather la...

The Lord is so good to me. He instructs me constantly, even in my faults. Over the weekend, He has taught me even more the value, meaning, and joy of sanctification: living daily in the grace of God by applying the same faith that brought justification -- faith in His Son. This past week at Family Camp, Dr. Fox brought a great message on advocacy of Jesus, and how that relates to our daily forgiveness for sin. I really enjoyed the messages all week, and was greatly instructed in the Lord; and that message was no exception. So, of course, I got an opportunity to apply that teaching. Unfortunately, I yielded to temptation in a certain area, and in doing so I sinned! (Don't look at me in that tone of voice! cf. Matt. 7:1-5; Rom. 2:1; 1 Cor. 4:5, James 4:11, 12; 1 John 1:8-10) Instantly, the Holy Spirit worked me over with conviction, and assured me constantly that my fellowship with the Father was going to be pretty much nonexistent until we got this thing taken care of. At once,...

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. (Ps. 40:1-3) And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and next to him, Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom: and Jeiel with psalteris and with harps; but Asaph made a sound with cymbals; Benaiah also and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. "Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sin...

For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. (Ps. 31:22) I never noticed this verse before. I was thinking earlier today about the folly of making "snap" decisions for most things in life (to be blogged about later), and so I did a search (using e-Sword ) for the word "haste," which brought me to this verse. I got to meditating on it, and several things occurred to me. I know I've been there before: You pray for something, and when it doesn't happen immediately, or as you planned, you get cynical and pouty. "But I trusted You, Lord! What happened?" My question is: what are we trusting Him for ? Too often, we "trust" Him to immediately swoop to our aid like a magic genie -- to do our will. Then we act all surprised and get despondent when He doesn't do it. Then, much later, when some or all of the details of God's plan come out,...