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

Refreshing

November 21, 2017
Year 2, Day 325 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

What is the ideal life?  For me it would mean personally to be acceptable to God; to father a family (or to be a part of another family) acceptable to God; to work fully at what God would have me do well; to meet my obligations including assistance to others who have not received the benefits I have enjoyed; to exert some influence on others for good, even if it were only to model the values of Scripture silently in loving attitude and righteous conduct; and, to accept the decline of old age with devotion and mental health to the awards of whatever follows the transition from nature’s environment.  In that long sentence the story is projected, is in process… Read more

Mystery Of Sex

November 20, 2017
Year 2, Day 324 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

One is impressed in the society of my lifetime, indeed for all of known written history about the subject, that sexual preoccupation and distortion has held so great attention for mankind.  It is subject to both very high regard and ugly abuse, and poorly addressed.  The world seems bent to substitute sexual drive to replace sexual morality.  Anything as spiritually originated as sex will be fodder for depravity conduct.  Some women have chosen suicide rather than suffer the sexual abuse of victorious armies in their communities. I recently reviewed the reminiscences of men and women, who can’t erase the memories of the screams of women in their neighborhoods when Russians soldiers, conquering Berlin in World War II raped women in… Read more

God’s Goodness

November 19, 2017
Year 2, Day 323 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

There are compelling reasons for the existence of nations and laws, with the call for nations to make fair laws, and enforce them.  The record of nations is spotty, but historically in the natural world that is all we have for communal living – unless we include God, who espouses values, in the equation.  Mankind can’t find agreement, from nation to nation, even from community to community, what the law should be.  Slavery was legal (good) in one part of America, and illegal (bad) in another part.  The death penalty is legal in some states and illegal in others.  There are vehicles legal in some states and not in others determined on emissions of spent fuel.  Gambling is legal in… Read more

Repentance

November 18, 2017
Year 2, Day 322 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

At the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, the public had become a bit jaded about the matter of repentance/forgiveness.  A governor had openly confessed his habit of going to prostitutes, resigned his office, and sought to mend his marriage.  The issue of sexual deviation even touched the White House and the American president.  An eminent golfer confessed ill conduct to the society of the world.  Even priests and ministers were also found out, and some made public, tearful confessions.  (Little was communicated about the responses of individual priests in child abuses, except in the regrets of church authorities.) Abuses and confessions were found in business, in religion, in entertainment, and nearly every social group that touched… Read more

Conflicting Truths

November 17, 2017
Year 2, Day 321 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

A student works with at least two common types of materials in a reading regimen.  The stern writings relate to what might be called research descriptions, from presuppositions to conclusions.  Based on, and appreciated, the recording is taken as highly authoritative in the veracity (genuineness) of the author to represent some research of measurable facts leading to a conclusion.  This is often referred to as scientific. It is so, if the rules are followed.  The other materials may be designated as general.  They begin with the creativity of a searcher/thinker, and are enhanced by the applications of activist/communicators who learn how to advance frontiers.  The better the style of language the greater is the impact upon the reader, and, perhaps… Read more

The Good Fight

November 16, 2017
Year 2, Day 320 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

The good fight for effective living commonly includes the family factor.  This is another factor in our lives that carries spiritual mystery.  Issues related to it are compounded in various ways.  Some theories even include the absence of family for large influence.  Biographies have included studies in some occupations, such as church ministry (conservative/liberal), or writers (secular/religious), or sports (usually relating to father/mother/athletes) – and others, especially the often tragic stories related to celebrity families.  The younger generation follows the lead of the family (sometimes individualized to father or mother), either for benefit or loss.  The loss is usually related to the adjustments made in the younger generation because the father, sometimes mother, was controlling, or abusive, or absent in… Read more

Idealism

November 15, 2017
Year 2, Day 319 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

The Apostle Paul has sent one of the most magnificent letters ever written.  He concludes it with an all-encompassing meaning, and summary.  What did he write?  He uses the word finally five times in his letters.  It is used twice in Philippians.  The word seems to hold special meaning for the Apostle.  It is though, as he writes, that if there is nothing more to be given from me, this is what I want to leave as important to Christian context.  He wrote for the ideal in the reader in the context of Christian culture.  He means here that this summary is the residue of applying Christianity to life.  This is what remains, when the person has matured, and has… Read more

Life And Death

November 14, 2017
Year 2, Day 318 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

There is something special about life itself.  If we knew enough about it we would use it as our first evidence of God.  Israel was told, from the time of Moses to: Choose life.  To follow Israel’s history is to follow an alternating pattern of choosing life, and choosing death, without the realization that if not choosing life the automatic alternative is death – even if it is slow death.  It is obvious, even if not fully comprehended, that the absence of life is death (silence/end).  Life may end suddenly as in an accident, but the common experience is that it slips away, or goes away, from the person.  According to Christian Scripture a major interest for God is to… Read more

Standards

November 13, 2017
Year 2, Day 317 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

I have no doubt that persons can act like Christians, that is to say perform (act) as in a reality play, and do fairly well.  If Christian life is dependent upon revealed truth (and it is), the drama actors can achieve for the enduring period of the drama. What reality offers in real life context includes eternity.  This last is denied the actor who is functioning for the currency of the drama.  He doesn’t have to believe what the character he is depicting and is known in the script as believing, but he is the best actor who can make the character believable to the audience, even to himself.  He is a part of the audience in this sense.  In… Read more

Natural/Supernatural

November 12, 2017
Year 2, Day 316 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

A highly appreciated part of my education has been to learn how to decipher that part that is secular, belonging to a mortal life and habitation, and that which is spiritual, belonging to an immortal life and habitation – and that without losing the concept of wholeness (oneness) for my life.  The natural and supernatural are divisions of life – life the main point.  The twain, existing together, and if valid, become an important consideration of the functioning of the mind and soul.  One is concerned with nature’s evidence, the other with spiritual evidence.  There is an overlap so that the two venues provide wholeness for one’s life, a matter demonstrated complete in the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus… Read more

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