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

Grief and Lament

January 15, 2019
Year 4, Day 15 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

Cultures vary on their interpretation of death, both in the way expired persons’ bodies are treated and in the social/personal management of the change that death brings into the lives of those remaining.  As at birth the family is accented in the life origin, the family is usually accented in life ending.  The family is not only perceived as something of the beginning and ending of an individual’s life, but is treated legally as a means of managing the beginning and ending of a life.  The death of a person has an ongoing meaning, no matter how small, in a period following the death.  At this writing a new prince has been born to the royal family of Windsor in… Read more

Animals

January 14, 2019
Year 4, Day 14 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

My own deep conviction is that life is an evidence of God.  Mankind tends to look for evidence of God, and failing that, the beginning of life.  The presumption is that if the origin of life is found in some mechanical action in the cosmos or nature, we will have either found proof of God, or we have proof in the process unveiled that there is no personal God.  Perhaps number one on the list of factors looked for by space scientists is life.  They yearn to find some evidence of life outside the earth’s atmosphere.  If life can’t be found, they look for an environment that might have once supported life, or could if there were life to be… Read more

Revelation

January 13, 2019
Year 4, Day 13 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

This Page is better understood in readings of Pages for this date in previous volumes that address the knotty problem of biblical meaning and interpretation in the light of human experience.  The uniqueness of Scripture from other literature requires adjustment from standard preferences for literature because Scripture is addressing the issues of two very different contexts, one human and one divine.  The chasm between the two is so great that Scripture admits to mystery for mankind.  If a person is unwilling to exercise faith in God that covers the ultimate mystery that person is limited to humanism.  Humanism also has its mystery envelope, but it is assumed that science will attack that mystery to some solutions that will improve the… Read more

Academic Hoops

January 12, 2019
Year 4, Day 12 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

This morning I read the current issue of Biblical Archaeology that included a number of articles on the latest information related to a number of topics.  Some of the main ones included: 1- an article on whether or not the evidence proved Rahab a harlot or an innkeeper, and how she assisted the spies from Israel; 2- an article on Hezekiah’s tunnel, and whether or not it was Hezekiah’s or that of some other; and, 3- an article on the identity of the Kings of Israel, and whether or not they were genuine renditions.  There was much else – including book reviews, a section always of interest to me in any publication.  The reviews here were not so much reviews… Read more

Faith Learning

January 11, 2019
Year 4, Day 11 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

Reading widely with an attitude of search for truth and meaning, one finds statements that reflect what the reader would like to say.  I found another one quoted from: Man:The Dwelling Place of God, but without noting the author (A. W. Tozer): In natural matters faith follows evidence and is impossible without it, but in the realm of the spirit faith precedes understanding; it does not follow it.  The natural man must know in order to believe; the spiritual man must believe in order to know.  The faith that saves is not a conclusion drawn from evidence; it is a moral thing, a thing of the spirit, a supernatural infusion of confidence in Jesus Christ, a very gift of God…. Read more

Social Orientation

January 10, 2019
Year 4, Day 10 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

It was during the early 1930s when there appeared some laws that ended Common Law Marriage.  The change was based on several beliefs which were perceived as negative to both the social structure (as represented in government), and other reasons such as effect on children and the hypocrisies that grew out of acknowledging singleness when that proved a benefit, and marriage when that proved a benefit.  Before the law was stricken there was no contract that would hold up in court when unmarried couples split and a settlement of mutual property was legally appealed.  Living together without marriage was taken as something of a moral matter, even by the state.  It had always been a major issue of morality in… Read more

Self Symbols

January 9, 2019
Year 4, Day 9 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Thomas Edison once mildly shocked his associates when he introduced an important staff meeting with the question: How many light posts are there between the door of our building and the street curb? As I recall the response was that none of these brilliant persons knew the correct answer.  Edison responded by saying that their attention and alertness was lacking for the job of discovering and developing the currently unknown facts important to the advancement of the programs he and they had designed.  He was focusing on a factor that is seldom, if ever, mentioned in either our daily lives or formal education.  We have little sayings that have been used related to the matter, such as: He is so… Read more

Problem of Leadership

January 8, 2019
Year 4, Day 8 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

Not a great deal has changed in leadership qualities through the years, although concepts and application are always matters for analysis, understanding and adaptation.  From season to season emphases change, and that is important for persons who are engaged in leadership.  For example, during my first years as a professional there was a strong hangover of the rugged, individualistic pattern of leadership found in authoritarian perceptions (I have the authority, so do what I say).  Henry Ford, or John Calvin, and many others are illustrative of the genre.  It is a method that is sometimes identified as militaristic.  Today, the person is presumed most perceptive in leadership who is sensitive to the followers, workers, citizens he or she leads, and… Read more

Competition

January 7, 2019
Year 4, Day 7 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

We return to a favorite contextual parable of spiritual life – the concept of a life race, followed in the culture of Christian context.  This is a major difference from competition in the humanistic (secular) context.  In natural environment the competition is against individuals or against things.  The runner wants to beat his competitive runners.  The adventurer wants to be first ahead of others. Competition was so intense on who would be the first to fly the Atlantic that Lindberg took chances, even to the hour of take-off, in concern that another rival was about to take off for the first successful Atlantic flight.  Competition is constant.  It appears from conception in that you reached the ovum before all those… Read more

The Gospel Name Of Jesus

January 6, 2019
Year 4, Day 6 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

What is the minimal content of a person’s faith to establish biblical assurance about spiritual safety?  This is not a question (minimal qualification) that a Christian should ask for self, and not one a knowing Christian would ask, except in reasoning about God and mankind – so to be rhetorical.  A knowledgeable Christian is growing (maturing), which is to say that there is a seeking of knowledge for wisdom in the holiness and affirmations of God affecting individual beliefs, motivations and conduct.  Christian life is a measure of the genuineness of the initial Christian experience of faith that relates to redemption.  If I am not living the life of Scripture instruction, I have reason to fumble with my claim to… Read more

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