Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Attitude

July 24, 2019
Year 4, Day 205 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

This date has been reserved for focus on reaction and response in human experience.  Analysis of reaction to anything, but especially to persons and speech conduct – is a major matter for human consideration and education.  So much of life direction turns on our reactions, and that life is much improved when the matters related to reaction are understood and managed.  My wife told me one day that a sermon I delivered on Action and Reaction changed her in the management of her depressions.  From that day her life seemed changed, and it was changed, not only for her, but for me in detecting triggers that would set off some depressions.  She was visibly better to the point that some… Read more

Unified In Scope

July 23, 2019
Year 4, Day 204 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

We do not know if the word Christian was coined by secular observers or by Christians themselves in the months of energetic, even feverish, evangelization following the ascension of Jesus.  There was an apostolic force given for the lifetimes of the disciples of Jesus.  They had been trained and educated by Jesus and deserved the special gifts they offered and recorded for all time following. What did they teach that is Christian?  The answer from them, from their disciples (Church Fathers) and forward to history appear in Scripture, the Constitution of Christians for faith and practice.  It takes a rather simple and expanding scope that ought to be clear to Christian and non-Christian so guiding understanding to arrive at a… Read more

Heaven’s Immortality

July 22, 2019
Year 4, Day 203 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

In the context of the life of mankind, it is common to vary definitions of words.  Those variations have within them the characteristics of facts and feelings.  The facts can be found or designated, but the emotions often garble meanings.  Almost always, language touches something of facts and emotions when verbalization about beliefs and conduct are included in the context of verbal exchanges.  In reviewing materials I have filed during decades, related to biblical texts, I found material related to the above text a column from fifty years ago written by Herbert Palmquist relative to the various applications of the word Christian that he observed or heard in his lifetime.  The column appearing in print in 1964 appealed to me… Read more

Transcendence

July 21, 2019
Year 4, Day 202 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

So, we are left in our search for God with some strong factors, the clues that point mankind to God. Understanding, related to faith, becomes the persuasive context for our reasoning.  The reasoning is for ourselves and others relating to our life’s journey, and that for which we are willing to base our life commitments.  Of all the factors we hold valuable, as human beings, the first one that counts is life.  Either it has a future, or it does not.  If it does not, all the other factors are temporary so seem to pass us by, implying they are more important than we are.  All persons leave legacies, even if unknown, for good or ill, of greater or lesser… Read more

Things New and Old

July 20, 2019
Year 4, Day 201 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

We return to an intriguing exercise, the treatment of a theme in two acceptable contexts – human and divine.  On many occasions they run parallel to each other, and that is comforting.  On other occasions they appear to be running, and are doing so, in contrary, even contradictory directions.  Truly objective naturalists holding only the context of nature for all things human, when running into contradictions will, with Einstein, call them paradoxes which are seeming contradictions, perhaps to be explained in some future era when more has been discovered related to the arena of earth and space.  As exciting, perhaps even life- saving, as that research related to nature’s terms may be, the first interest of Christians relates not to… Read more

Cultural Orientation

July 19, 2019
Year 4, Day 200 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

A year ago, on this date, I reviewed nearly fifty factors found in the Fruit of the Spirit, and discovered I did not have enough space to complete my outlined thoughts and biblical references related to the subject.  This is an important follow up to that Page that listed 49 factors in the Fruit of the Spirit.  The theme was related to Christian culture for the personal self, and for education on the practice of the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian life – even to the point of persuasion to influence favorably the secular culture.  I am here assuming the Bible verses noted there – even negations implying affirmations.  Positive spiritual traits always have their negatives that are attractive… Read more

Truth and Preference

July 18, 2019
Year 4, Day 199 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

Generations change in their orientations related to almost anything we identify as social.  God permits, in common grace, for nations to work through and adopt for social benefit, whatever peaceful laws work for them.  The laws ought to be directed toward peace, freedom and in a context of respect (love) for mankind.  The best laws permit the functioning of minorities and majorities, as long as those minorities and majorities do not resort to violence.  Vituperation in verbal exchange is a form of violence and should not occur, but is more acceptable than physical violence.  Differences in culture ought to be faced by all persons in discussion of effectiveness and ineffectiveness, of right and wrong, of respect, rights and freedom. This… Read more

Increments

July 17, 2019
Year 4, Day 198 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

We must remember that change is inevitable, dictated by many factors important to life related more to the ever-changing flow of water over the same terrain.  It is more forceful than the hardness of metal in the many contexts where hardness of metal is vital to meaning where it is found.  We need to choose our life parables and keep them consistent.  We study the context for analogies, and study parables to understand contexts. This understanding is vital to a proper interpretation of Scripture and other literature significant to our understanding of life and meaning.  The stream of serious literature informs us about life and has within it the implications of life, even when change has directed the stream to… Read more

Christianized

July 16, 2019
Year 4, Day 197 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

In the Freshman Series of these Pages, the word Christianized was used.  I use it to relate to forms of Christianity.  Some are good in contexts, serving people well in nature’s reality.  When serious and sincere they are attempts to mimic Christ, life and/or culture, to the degree assumed.  In this sense it takes advantage of the higher level of common grace than strict humanism affords, and permitted of God.  The analysis of the approach is clearest in relating to values.  The culture of the context may be identified as righteous as far as persons can invoke righteousness (right) on their own.  There are broad passages in Scripture that appear to permit this for those who wish to find values,… Read more

Democracy

July 15, 2019
Year 4, Day 196 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

In our interpretation of life and thought/conduct in contexts related to God (spiritual) and mankind (natural) we return to concepts of government and respect.  God will govern his kingdom even if in human logic nature rules mankind.  At best, human government is under the direction of faulty persons, but competent to guide it.  In a spirit of fairness the American Founding Fathers created a good plan for overcoming human frailty by forming a threefold system, and leaving the authority for initiation to the majority of the electorate.  Plato accented doubt in an electorate, crediting the intellectuals as more competent, so to representative states.  That belief held even by much of the peasantry likely lengthened the authority of royal heirs living… Read more

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