Today was an interesting day....It was good with a slight downer that I choose to look at as a blessing. God makes no mistakes. He knows my heart. I am patient but there is a limit. So I am choosing not to go into the new year with anyone that I deem unhealthy for me personally or professionally.( Or if I am unhealthy for them) Including clients. Money isn't everything. Peace of mind is everything. In my entire career as a hair stylist I had only told 1 client that I could no longer service them as their stylist, and believe me that was after being extremely patient. Unfortunately, today, I had to do that again...
So that is my news of the day :-/ :-)
I leave you with this scripture: (one of my favorites)
Romans 8:28(KJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Bantu Knot Out on Natural Hair: How To Take Down Knots on Short Transiti...
Gorgeous !!!!! I love..
and I am back on my natural journey
Monday, December 16, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Government takeover with common core
http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/04/08/the-whole-story-on-common-core/
Monday, September 30, 2013
rfid chip, obamacare and revelation
http://youtu.be/iMzl-4jDI3Q
and of course this was in motion before Obama was ever elected. It just happened to be finalized under his watch.
Accept Jesus as you Lord and Savior TODAY
and of course this was in motion before Obama was ever elected. It just happened to be finalized under his watch.
Accept Jesus as you Lord and Savior TODAY
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Truth or Tradition.
Does the teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, not God Himself, demean him?Date: Friday, November 21Topic: The Doctrine of the TrinityWe believe that the doctrine that Jesus is God actually diminishes the magnitude of his heroism on our behalf. For God to do what Jesus did? Obviously it wouldn't have been hard for Him. And what would we expect God to do but be true to His nature and inherent perfection?Does the teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, not God himself, demean him? Audio Teaching | Podcast | PrintQ: Doesn't the teaching that Jesus is not God, but the Son of God, demean him and make him smaller in people's eyes?Good question. The answer is: "No, it makes him bigger."But let's think about it. First of all, the real issue is not who Jesus is not, but who he is. If I introduce myself to you by saying, "Hi, I'm not Elvis Presley," you are left with a major question: "Why is he not institutionalized?" No, the question is: "Who are you?" Knowing who someone is not doesn't tell you who he is, but knowing who he is tells you everyone he is not.The Word of God makes it clear that Satan's primary goal is to blind people to the truth about Jesus Christ, because he is the only way to salvation, and because he is the perfect re-presentation of God's heart for mankind. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says just that: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."God is spirit, and Satan doesn't have to "blind" people to something that is invisible. But he does all he can to blind people to the glorious image of God, Jesus Christ. His chief goal is to stop people from believing in Jesus as Lord and being saved, and to that end he offers a wide variety of lies about Jesus, which millions of well meaning people have believed.But Satan obviously cannot turn everyone away from the truth that Jesus is the Savior, and millions of other people do believe and are saved. That in no way dissuades the Enemy from his main goal: distorting as much of the truth about Jesus Christ as he possibly can. The Devil has succeeded in obscuring a key truth about Jesus for most Christians by way of the spurious idea that Jesus is God in human flesh, a God-man who is 100% God and 100% man. At best, this is 200% puzzling.At least, it negates one's genuine identification with Jesus as a man who had to trust God and live by faith, just as we are asked to do. Follow my logic now as we think about how both truth and error relate to one's quality of life, and consider what might be the practical consequences of thinking that Jesus is God in human flesh. If this doctrine is actually from the Enemy, what is his goal in trying to get people to believe it?At this juncture, John 8:32 is a key verse: "And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Ever thought about the converse to that statement? Wouldn't it be that believing error puts one in bondage to some degree? Absolutely. Suppose you were locked in California, but no one told you that. You could go through your whole life without realizing any practical consequence of this restriction, providing that you never needed to leave California. But what if you got a phone call that your filthy rich aunt in Iowa just died and left you $8 billion, and all you had to do to claim it was go there and sign for it? And that via an eccentric stipulation in her will, if you didn't, you'd be hung? Bondage.As opposed to being locked in California, what if you were locked in a two by two by six foot box? That bondage would be much more noticeable, right? The quality of your life would be much more obviously and painfully diminished.Spiritually, it is important to note that the importance of the subject in question determines the degree of bondage for the one who is in the dark about it. If you think there were two sheep on Noah's ark (the Bible says 14), it will probably not wreck Thursday for you. But if you think that God sends sickness to purify you, and that He also determines the time of your death, you may not make it to Thursday. [For further study, read "Don't Blame God!"]If Jesus were God, what he did would not mean that much, because nothing is hard for God. Neither could he have been tempted in all ways as we are so that we can now relate to him and identify with him in that.The truth is that Jesus was tempted far beyond what any of us will ever experience, because Satan threw everything he had at the Son of God, who was God's only hope for man's redemption. And Jesus responded by "entrusting himself to God" (1 Pet. 2:23), just as he now asks us to do. He really did live by faith, that is, by trusting the promises of His Father. Never did Jesus allow fear to cause him to sin by looking anywhere but God for what he needed. Never did he allow pride to dictate an ungodly response on his part. Never did self-pity distort his perspective of reality to the end that he became depressed under the burden of mankind's sins. If Jesus is God, we have no real example of faith. [For further study, read For the Joy that was set before him.]By the way, the fact that Jesus (the Last Adam) had no sin nature is not why he did not sin. How do we know that? Because Adam #1 had no sin nature, and he sinned royally. Each had genuine free will, and Jesus did not sin because he chose not to. And when Scripture says that he was tempted in all ways as we are, it means that he felt the same internal pull toward lust, self-defense, self-pity, etc., as we do, but time after time he subjugated it and chose to respond in a godly way.The idea of the Trinity muddies the waters in regard to many other critical biblical topics, but let us focus on the FAQ at hand. We believe that the doctrine that Jesus is God actually diminishes the magnitude of his heroism on our behalf. For God to do what Jesus did? Obviously it wouldn't have been hard for Him. And what would we expect God to do but be true to His nature and inherent perfection?But for a human being to face knucklehead humanity as well as Satan's subtle ploys umpteen times a day for his whole life and never respond sinfully, and then to endure about 40 hours of indescribable torture (how much pent up demonic fury do you think was unleashed on Jesus from Monday night through Wednesday morning?) and then hang on the Cross for six hours of excruciating agony while still focusing on Scripture he had to fulfill—and forgiving those who were killing him?? Thank you!!! I love you for that!Oh, by the way, he said that we human being believers, biblically called his "brothers" (same Father, per Hebrews 2:11), can be and do like he was and did. Think about that, because it is that kind of identification with him that Satan does not want you to have.If we become like Jesus, do you think we will stand out among other people? Well, did he? What was the testimony of those who encountered him? "We've never seen a guy like this." "We've never heard anyone speak like this." Especially in the gospel of John, the word "glory" is often used in regard to Jesus, and the Greek word is interesting. Bullinger's Lexicon says it means "not the object itself, but the appearance of the object that attracts attention." Think about a bowl of apples. Take one and polish it for a minute. Put it back in the bowl. What might someone say when he sees the bowl? "Look at that apple!" Not because it is an apple (that's no big deal), but because of its appearance compared to the other apples.Ditto for Jesus. "Look at that man!" Not because he was a man, that was commonplace. But because of how his way of being and his words and deeds stood out compared to those around him. Had he been God, that luster would be greatly diminished, but seeing the truth that he was, and is, the Son of God, The Man among men, we can say with awe, respect, and gratitude, What a man!!! And we can be like him.If you like what we are doing and you would like to help us continue to spread the Gospel all over the globe, please consider sowing into our ministry.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Just some random
So I woke today feeling that chill outside...wanting to stay in bed longer. I got up, prayed and made coffee and breakfast. I then started reading about trinitarians vs non trinitarians See I am a bit of a history buff.. I like to know where things originate.
anyway, I got caught up in my reading. I was scheduled to work out this morning (btw, have been exercising 3-4x per week) I did not make it this morning but will do so this evening. I have some hair to do early afternoon. Yay! LOL Hair biz has been slow the past month. But this is normal in this business. I am thankful to God because He truly is my bread and butter. He sustains me. thank you Lord.
Some other good news: My new phone is coming today! yay! my husband got us both Galaxy 3. I am happy cause now I can accept credit, where I couldn't before.
So I just smiled thinking of him. Love that man of mine :-)
So I have to run. Have a wonderful and blessed filled day. Show love when it's hard. Get to know Jesus if you haven't already. Need help? Let me know.
God Bless
Interesting regarding the trinity. I have been reading a lot. Doing research. Here are a few quotes.
http://jesus-messiah.com/apologetics/catholic/trinity.html
"The necessity to formulate the doctrine was thrust upon the Church by forces from without, and it was, in particular, its faith in the deity of Christ, and the necessity to defend it, that first compelled the Church to face the duty of formulating a full doctrine of the Trinity for its rule of faith" (New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas & F. F. Bruce, Trinity, p 1298).
"In the immediate post New Testament period of the Apostolic Fathers no attempt was made to work out the God-Christ (Father-Son) relationship in ontological terms. By the end of the fourth century, and owing mainly to the challenge posed by various heresies, theologians went beyond the immediate testimony of the Bible and also beyond liturgical and creedal expressions of trinitarian faith to the ontological trinity of coequal persons "within" God. The shift is from function to ontology, from the "economic trinity" (Father, Son, and Spirit in relation to us) to the "immanent" or "essential Trinity" (Father, Son, and Spirit in relation to each other). It was prompted chiefly by belief in the divinity of Christ and later in the divinity of the Holy Spirit, but even earlier by the consistent worship of God in a trinitarian pattern and the practice of baptism into the threefold name of God. By the close of the fourth century the orthodox teaching was in place: God is one nature, three persons (mia ousia, treis hupostaseis)" (The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade, Trinity, Vol 15, p53-57).
"In the New Testament affirmations about the Son were largely functional and soteriological, and stressed what the Son is to us. Arians willingly recited these affirmations but read into them their own meaning. To preclude this Arian abuse of the Scripture affirmations Nicea transposed these Biblical affirmations into ontological formulas, and gathered the multiplicity of scriptural affirmations, titles, symbols, images, and predicates about the Son into a single affirmation that the Son is not made but born of the Father, true God from true God, and consubstantial with the Father" (The Triune God, Edmund J. Fortman, p 66-70).
"Economic and essential trinity:- (a) The transition from the Trinity of experience to the Trinity of dogma is describable in other terms as the transition from the economic or dispensational Trinity [Greek] to the essential, immanent or ontological Trinity [Greek]. At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian in the a strictly ontological reference. It was not so in the apostolic and sub-apostolic ages, as reflected in apostolic the NT and other early Christian writings. Nor was it so even in the age of the Christian apologists. And even Tertullian, who founded the nomenclature of the orthodox doctrine, knew as little of an ontological Trinity as did the apologists; his still the economic or relative conception of the Johannine and Pauline theology. So Harnack holds, and he says further that the whole history of Christological and Trinitarian dogma from Athanasius to Augustine is the history of the displacement of the Logos-conception by that of the Son, of the substitution of the immanent and absolute Trinity for the economic and relative. In any case the orthodox doctrine in its developed form is a Trinity of essence rather than of manifestation, as having to do in the first instance with the subjective rather than the objective Being of God. And, just because these two meanings of the Trinity-the theoretical and the practical, as they might also be described-are being sharply distinguished in modern Christian thought, it might be well if the term 'Trinity' were employed to designate the Trinity of revelation or the doctrine of the threefold self-manifestation of God), and the term ‘Triunity' (cf. Germ. Dreienigkeit) Adopted as the designation of the essential Trinity (or the doctrine of the tri-personal nature of God)" (Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings, Trinity, p 461).
"Of course the doctrine of our Lord's divinity itself partly implies and partly recommends the doctrine of the Trinity ... First, the Creeds of that early day make no mention in their letter of the Catholic doctrine at all. They make mention indeed of a Three; but that there is any mystery in the doctrine, that the Three are One, that They are coequal, coeternal, all increate, all omnipotent, all incomprehensible, is not stated and never could be gathered from them. Of course we believe that they imply it, or rather intend it" (Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Newman, a cardinal by Pope Leo III in 1879, 1878, p40-42).
"The ideas implicit in these early catechedical and liturgical formulae, as in the New Testament writers' use of the same dyadic and triadic patterns, represent a pre-reflective, pre-theological phase of Christian belief. It was out of the raw material thus provided by the preaching, worshiping Church that theologians had to construct their more sophisticated accounts of the Christian doctrine of the Godhead" (J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, p 90).
"First, it is important to note that the doctrine of the Trinity does not go back to non-Christian sources [this is his opinion], as has sometimes been supposed in the past. There has been no lack of attempts to find the initial form of the doctrine of the Trinity in Plato, or in Hinduism, or in Parsiism. All such attempts may be regarded today as having floundered [again his opinion refuted below]. It is another question, of course, whether or not the church, in developing the doctrine of the Trinity [why develope something if it already existed?], had recourse to certain thought forms already present in the philosophical and religious environment, in order that, with the help of these, it might give its own faith clear intellectual expression [see an admission of borrowing pagan philosophy]. This question must definitely be answered in the affirmative. In particular cases the appropriation of this concept or that can often be proved. Unfortunately, however, it is true that particularly in reference to the beginnings of the doctrine of the Trinity there is still much uncertainty. In this area final clarity has not yet been achieved. As far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity. This does not mean very much, however, for generally speaking the New Testament is less intent upon setting forth certain doctrines than it is upon proclaiming the kingdom of God, a kingdom that dawns in and with the person of Jesus Christ. At the same time, however, there are in the New Testament the rudiments of a concept of God that was susceptible of further development and clarification, along doctrinal lines [his opinion]. ... Speaking first of the person of Jesus Christ ... In other passages of the New Testament the predicate "God" is without a doubt applied to Christ" (A Short History of Christian Doctrine, Bernard Lohse, 1966, p37-39).
"It is a good thing to examine the revelation that God made to the Jewish people in the Old Testament. We shall not find in it a lesson on the trinity--there is none [Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Vol. 20, What Is The Trinity, Bernard Piault]."
"In the book A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton says of the Trinity: 'We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy . . . The Trinity is not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists" (A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton, 1872, Fifth edition, American Unitarian Association, Boston, MA, p 94, 104).
"What does the Old Testament tell us of God? It tells us there is one God, a wonderful God of life and love and righteousness and power and glory and mystery, who is the creator and lord of the whole universe, who is intensely concerned with the tiny people of Israel. It tells us of His Word, Wisdom. Spirit, of the Messieh He will send, of a Son of Man and a Suffering Servant to come. But it tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit." "But nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead" (The Triune God, Edmund Fortman, pp 6, 15).
"The Bible does not teach the doctrine of the trinity. Neither the word trinity itself, nor such language as one in three, three in one, one essence or substance or three persons, is biblical language. The language of the doctrine is the language of the ancient Church, taken not from the Bible but from classical Greek philosophy [Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr., Christian Doctrine, p 92]."
"There is no evidence the Apostles of Jesus ever heard of a trinity [H. G. Wells, Outline of History, 1920 Edition, p 499]."
"The word trinity is not found in the Bible [The Illustrated Bible Dictionary]."
"It was at this stage that Constantine made his momentous suggestion. Might not the relationship of Son to Father be expressed by the term homoousios ("of the same substance" ). Its use, however, by the Sabellian bishops of Libya had been condemned by Dionysius of Alexandria in the 260s, and, in a different sense, its use by Paul of Samosata bad been condemned by the Council of Antioch in 268. It was thus a "loaded" word as well as being unscriptural. Why Constantine put it forward we do not know. The possibility is that once again he was prompted by Hosius, and he may have been using it as a "translation" of the traditional view held in the West, that the Trinity was composed of "Three Persons in one substance," without inquiring further into the meaning of these terms. The Emperor bad spoken, and no one dared touch the creed during his lifetime. The great majority of the Eastern bishops found themselves in a false position" (The Rise of Christianity, 1985, W.H.C. Frend, p140-141).
"The doctrine of the Trinity is considered beyond the grasp of human reasoning [The Encyclopedia Americana]."
"Because the Trinity is such an important part of later Christian doctrine, it is striking that the term does not appear in the New Testament. Likewise, the developed concept of three coequal partners in the Godhead found in later creedal formulations cannot be clearly detected within the confines of the canon. Since the Christians have come to worship Jesus as a god ... Matthew 28.19 ... Matthew records a special connection between God the Father and Jesus the Son (e.g., 11.27), but he falls short of claiming that Jesus is equal with God. It is John's gospel that suggests the idea of equality between Jesus and God ... While there are other New Testament texts where God, Jesus, and the Spirit are referred to in the same passage (e.g., Jude 20-21), it is important to avoid reading the Trinity into places where it does not appear. An example is 1 Peter 1.1-2" (Oxford Companion to the Bible, Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, Trinity, p 782).
"The trinity is not directly and immediately the Word of God [New Catholic Encyclopedia]."
"The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. ... This Greek philosopher's conception of the divine trinity ... can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions" (French Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel [New Universal Dictionary], Vol. 2, p. 1467).
"The doctrine of the holy trinity is not taught in the Old Testament [New Catholic Encyclopedia]."
"Without abandoning our principle that Egyptian influence made itself felt as an undercurrent throughout Hellenism, we may nevertheless claim pride of place for Alexandria and so consider Alexandrian theology as the intermediary between the Egyptian religious heritage and Christianity [yet those who accept the Alexandria trinity infusion cry the loudest over Alexandrian manuscripts for the Bible?]. The Trinity is not the only subject- matter at issue here. Also Christology, which is closely linked to it - the doctrine concerning the nature of Christ and especially his pre-existence before the creation and time - revolves around questions which had been posed earlier by Egyptian theologians and which they solved in a strikingly similar way" (Egyptian Religion, Siegfried Morenz, p254-257).
"In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together. The word [tri'as] (of which the Latin trinitas is a translation) is first found in Theophilus of Antioch about A. D. 180. . . . Shortly afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian" (The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912, Vol. 15, Trinity, p 47).
"The Old Testament tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a triune God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of a trinity within the Godhead. Even to see in the Old Testament, suggestions or fore-shadowings or veiled signs of the trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers. The New Testament writers give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the trinity, no explicit teaching that in one God there are three co-equal divine persons. Nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead [The Triune God, by Edmund Fortman, Jesuit].
"Neither the word trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament" [The New Encyclopedia Britannica]."
"Let us allow that the whole circle of doctrines, of which our Lord is the subject, was consistently and uniformly confessed by the Primitive Church . . . But it surely is otherwise with the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity. I do not see in what sense it can be said that there is a consensus of primitive [church authorities] in its favour . . . The Creeds of that early day make no mention . . . of the [Trinity] at all. They make mention indeed of a Three; but that there is any mystery in the doctrine, that the Three are One, that They are coequal, co-eternal, all increate, all omnipotent, all incomprehensible, is not stated, and never could be gathered from them" (Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Newman, a cardinal by Pope Leo III in 1879, 1878, p40).
"As Far as the New Testament is concerned, one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the trinity [A Short History of Christian Doctrine, by Bernhard Lohse]."
"(b) Although the notion of a divine Triad or Trinity is characteristic of the Christian religion, it is by no means peculiar to it. In Indian religion e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma, siva, and Visnu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, constituting a divine family, like the Father, Mother, and Son in medieval Christian pictures. Nor is it only in historical religions that we find God viewed as a Trinity. One recalls in particular the Neo-Platonic view of the Supreme or Ultimate Reality, which was suggested by Plato in the Timmoeus; e.g., in the philosophy of Plotinus the primary or original Realities are triadically represented as the Good or (in numerical symbol) the One, the Intelligence or the One-Many, and the World-Soul or the One and Many. The religious Trinity associated, if somewhat loosely, with Comte's philosophy might also be cited here: the cultus of humanity as the Great Being, of space as the Great Medium, and of the earth as the Great Fetish. (c) What lends a special character to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is its close association with the distinctive Christian view of divine incarnation" [still borrowed from paganism]... " As Augustine said, "if in the books of the Platonists it was to be found that 'in the beginning was the Word,' it was not found there that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.'" ... "None the less Christ is acknowledged as the eternal Son of God and the supreme revelation of the Father, and the quickening Spirit of life is acknowledged to be derived ' from on high." And so, when the early Christians would describe their conception of God, all the three elements-God, Christ, and the Spirit-enter into the description, and the one God is found to be revealed in a threefold way" [revealed via Plato philosophy] (Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings, Trinity, p 458).
"The New Testament does not contain the developed doctrine of the trinity [The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology]."
"The doctrine of the Trinity did not form part of the apostles' preaching, as this is reported in the New Testament" (Encyclopedia International, Ian Henderson, University of Glasgow, 1969, page 226).
"This sublime pronouncement of absolute monotheism was a declaration of war against all polytheism . . . In the same way, the Shema excludes the trinity of the Christian creed as a violation of the Unity of God" (The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, J. H. Hertz, 1941, Vol. 1, p. 215).
"Luther was uneasy with the term trinity, not the idea of Trinity, for Luther most certainly always was a trinitarian: "On the words persona, (etc. ). . . . Much has been said, about the time of the Reformation, concerning the tendency of these terms to lead to tritheism [believing in three gods]; and among the advocates for their expulsion from theological disquisition, might be mentioned a number of the first divines of the age, not excepting Minnius and even Luther himself.--Yet, to prevent the charge of Arianism or Socinianism, which he knew his enemies would eagerly seize the least pretext to prefer against them, Luther yielded to Melanchthon's wishes, and in the Augsburg Confession, the doctrine of the Trinity is couched in the old scholastic terms" [scholastic, meaning borrowed paganism] (G. C. Storr & Flatt's , Biblical Theology. S. S. Schmucker, trans., p. 301).
"The fanciful idea that [elo-him] referred to the trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of powers displayed by God" (William Smith: A Dictionary Of The Bible, p220).
"The doctrine of the trinity he [Michael Servetus] felt to be a Catholic perversion and himself to be a good New Testament Christian in combating it. According to his conception, a trinity composed of three distinct persons in one God is a rational impossibility" (Man's Religion, John B. Noss, 1968) [note: John Calvin, founder of the Presbyterian Church, had Servetus burned at the stake because of his anti-trinitarian views].
"The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who ... were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy ... That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied" (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson, 1957, Vol. IX, p. 91).
"To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity was apparently never known. They say nothing about it [Origin and Evolution of Religion, by Yale University Professor E. Washburn Hopkins]."
"Christianity had conquered paganism, and paganism had corrupted Christianity" (Winwood Reade, Philosopher and historian, The Martyrdom of Man, p 183-84).
"Yet it is self-evident that Father, Son and Spirit are here linked in an indissoluble threefold relationship. On the other hand, the NT does not actually speak of triunity. We seek this in vain in the triadic formulae of the NT. ... Early Christianity itself, however, does not yet have the problem of the Trinity in view" (Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 3, p. 108).
"The Christian religion in the 3rd century made no compromise with any of the pagan religions and kept far away from the numerous intersections out of which, under the influence of the monotheistic philosophy of religion, a now religiousness developed itself. But the spirit of this religiousness entered into the Church and produced forms of expression in doctrine and cultus to correspond with itself. The testament of primitive Christianity-the Holy Scriptures-and the testament of antiquity-the New-Platonic speculation-were by the end of the 3d century intimately and, as it seemed, inseparably united in the great churches of the East. Through the acceptance of the Logos- Christology as the central dogma of the Church, the Church doctrine was, even for the laity, firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of Christians" (Outlines of the History of Dogma, Adolf Harnack, p193).
"At first the Christian Faith was not trinitarian. It was not so in the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic ages, as reflected in the New Testament and of the early Christian writings [Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics]."
"The doctrine of the trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation. It had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. It grew up, and was engrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers. [The Church of the First Three Centuries]."
"Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it ... From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity" (The Story of Civilization, Caesar and Christ, Will Durant, Part III, 1944, p. 595).
"The trinity "is a corruption borrowed from the heathen religions, and ingrafted on the Christian faith" (A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, Lyman Abbott, 1875, p944).
"Precisely what the doctrine is, or precisely how it is to be explained, Trinitarians are not agreed among themselves" (A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge" (Lyman Abbott, 1875, p. 944).
"The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, and, though used by Tertullian in the last decade of the 2nd century, it did not find a place formally in the theology of the Church till the 4th century" (New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas & F. F. Bruce, Trinity, p 1298).
The trinity: "is a very marked feature in Hindooism, and is discernible in Persian, Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, Indian and the most ancient Grecian mythologies" (Religious Dictionary, Lyman Abbott, p944).
"Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity ... theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity. In the immediate post New Testament period of the Apostolic Fathers no attempt was made to work out the God-Christ (Father-Son) relationship in ontological terms" (The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade, Trinity, Vol 15, p53-57).
"Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: "Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4). ... Thus, the New Testament established the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies" (Encyclopedia Britannica, Trinity, Vol. X, p.126, 1979).
"The New Testament does not contain a formalized explanation of the trinity that uses such words as trinity, three persons, one substance, and the like" (Why You Should Believe In The Trinity, 1989, Robert M. Bowman Jr.).
"The Trinity. The NT does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity. "The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence and therefore in an equal sense God himself" (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Brown, Colin, 1932, God, vol 2, p84, J. Schneider).
"When we turn to the problem of the doctrine of the Trinity, we are confronted by a peculiarly contradictory situation. On the one hand, the history of Christian theology and of dogma teaches us to regard the dogma of the Trinity as the distinctive element in the Christian idea of God, that which distinguishes it from the idea of God in Judaism and in Islam, and indeed, in all forms of rational Theism. Judaism, Islam, and rational Theism are Unitarian. On the other hand, we must honestly admit that the doctrine of the Trinity did NOT form part of the early Christian-New Testament-message. Certainly, it cannot be denied that not only the word "Trinity", but even the EXPLICIT IDEA of the Trinity is absent from the apostolic witness of the faith.. The doctrine of the Trinity itself, however, is not a Biblical Doctrine" (Emil Brunner, "The Christian Doctrine of God", Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1949, pp. 205 & 236).
"All this underlines the point that primitive Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity such as was subsequently elaborated in the creeds of the early church" (James L. Barker, "Apostacy From the Divine Church", Salt Lake City UT, 1960, p. 44).
"Thus the New Testament itself is far from any doctrine of the Trinity or of a triune God who is three co-equal Persons of One Nature" (William J. Hill, "The Three-Personed God", Washington DC, The Catholic University of America Press, 1982, p. 27).
"These passages give no doctrine of the Trinity... Paul has no formal Trinitarian doctrine and no clear-cut realization of a Trinitarian problem......there is no trinitarian doctrine in the Synoptics or Acts... nowhere do we find any trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead" (Fortman, "Triune God", pp. 22-23).
"In order to argue sucessfully for the unconditionality and permanence of the ancient Trinitarian Creeds, it is necessary to make a distinction between doctrines, on the one hand, and on the terminology and conceptuality in which they were formulated on the other... Some of the crucial concepts employed by these creeds, such as "substance", "person", and "in two natures" are postbiblical novelties. If these particular notions are essential, the doctrines of these creeds are clearly conditional, dependent on the LATE HELLENISTIC MILIEU" (George A. Lindbeck, Professon of Historical Theology, Yale University, "The Nature of Doctrine", Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984, p. 92).
Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as others, presents a somewhat unsteady sillouette. Two things have happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Bibical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is also the closely parallel recognition on the part of historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century" (R.L.Richard, "Trinity, Holy", in New Catholic Encyclopedia, 15 vols.).
"The concept of three divine persons-Father, son, and Holy Spirit united in one Godhead-came into Christianity, not via the Bible, but from philosophical categories of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. ...It baffles and repels modern man, who misses the nuances of the Greek ('Prosopon') in which the doctrine was formulated and therefore concludes, mistakenly, that Christianity preaches a kind of polytheism. ...Nothing essential would be lost and much clarity would be gained if Christians abandoned traditional Trinitarian terminology and simply spoke of God acting as the Creator and sustainer of the universe, revealing Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, or dwelling within men as a holy spirit" (Bishop James A. Pike, Denver Post, August 28, 1965).
"The trinitarian doctrine is pagan. The idea of three gods is paganism and comes from polythiesm and pantheism. The overwhelming majority of trinitarian scholars admit the trinity is not Biblical, did not exist in the Apostolic age, and was developed over a period of 295 years. It appears to be the basic doctrine of the gnostic sect called the Nicolatines in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. While it is true that many trinitarians confess the trinity doctrine came from paganism, they elect to believe it, remain in it, because that is where their employment is. The doctrine of salvation by faith (mind religion) allows for belief in paganism with no threat to salvation. Thus, these have no invested interest to identify the paganism of the trinity as a damnable philosophy. They also have no interest in actually saying the tinity is pagan and comes from paganism. They will skirt this declaration to say only that it is not in the Old Testament, not intended in the New Tesament, was not known by Jesus or the Apostles, and was developed over nearly three centuries. To protect their jobs, their reputations, and to remain financially secure, they will support the trinity doctrine. So, for anyone to say that there are no trinitarian scholars of repute who confess the trinity came from pagan sources, is falsehood. And for anyone to labor to prove the trinity did not come from pagan sources, shows a total disregard and disrespect for the God of the Bible" (The Trinity Doctrine Is Pagan, Cohen G. Reckart, Pastor; Copyright 1995).
Note: Some of the quotes contained here were copied from the anti-Semitic web site <http://www.bible.ca/trinity/>. By anti-Semitic, we mean those at this web site do not believe in the absolute oneness Monarchy of God as contained in the First Commandment and throughout the Old Testament. We believe that at the root of trinitarianism lies the ancient root of anti-Semitism of Gentile nations trying to destroy Israel, the only Monothestic religion and nation in the world. Anyone who espouses an anti-oneness, an anti-Monarchian view, are therefore advocating subtle paganism (Greek pagan Hellenism), to overthrow the ancient Apostolic Messianic Jewish belief in one God and one person in the godhead. While the Jews reject Jesus as God, the Apostolic doctrine is that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. Jesus said he was this God in Revelation 21:6-7. We hold to the strict monothestic, oneness, monarchian Messianic Jewish faith in God.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
From my heart
I don't live a life free of problems. Yet I live a life free of worry. I sometimes have a lot and other times a little. I look over my life. Things I have been involved with..people I have been involved with, both business and personal, and I have no regrets. Everything happens for a reason. I am on a path. I understand people and places can be for seasons. Some places you aren't meant to stay. Some people aren't meant to stay. I often wonder and marvel how God works. He is an awesome God. I have not always known Him. But since giving my life to Him I really see His hand. I see that He was there even before I knew He was there. Get it? I was a wild one. I use to think everything was ok to do, as long as I wanted to do it. But I understand Paul when he wrote: 1 Corinthians 10:23 NIV
"Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive.
My thoughts have changed. My mindset is so different today than 2 years ago. Than even a year ago. Because I am constantly growing. I am a living witness, a walking testimony to how real God is. How good God is. And I trust Him! In all things and at all times. So even when things are not going well I trust Him. Even when I don't understand I trust Him. This is the christian walk. I have that trust because I have real experience with Him, and when you have that, it can't be denied. I am currently in the world but not apart of the world. And this is where any true believer is. in but not apart of. I am not interested in people pleasing, but in pleasing God. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. My prayer is to let God's light shine thru me and to be encouraging to someone else. Get to know Jesus today. He will take you as you are. Don't worry about cleaning yourself up. He will do that. Don't worry about things you have done. Believe me I did a lot and He cleaned me up. But it's an unfinished work that won't be complete until He arrives as is written in Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: thanks for reading. I know it was long but it was in my spirit to share this. have a blessed day and remember to show love even when it's hard.
"Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive.
My thoughts have changed. My mindset is so different today than 2 years ago. Than even a year ago. Because I am constantly growing. I am a living witness, a walking testimony to how real God is. How good God is. And I trust Him! In all things and at all times. So even when things are not going well I trust Him. Even when I don't understand I trust Him. This is the christian walk. I have that trust because I have real experience with Him, and when you have that, it can't be denied. I am currently in the world but not apart of the world. And this is where any true believer is. in but not apart of. I am not interested in people pleasing, but in pleasing God. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. My prayer is to let God's light shine thru me and to be encouraging to someone else. Get to know Jesus today. He will take you as you are. Don't worry about cleaning yourself up. He will do that. Don't worry about things you have done. Believe me I did a lot and He cleaned me up. But it's an unfinished work that won't be complete until He arrives as is written in Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: thanks for reading. I know it was long but it was in my spirit to share this. have a blessed day and remember to show love even when it's hard.
Back to the Bible - God's Time (a must read)
Back to the Bible - God's Time
God's Time
by Woodrow Kroll
Pearl of Wisdom
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
Our lives revolve around time. If I asked you what time it is, I have a pretty good idea what you'd do. You'd glance at your watch, check the time and respond appropriately. If you were enjoying what you were doing at the moment, you might exclaim, "My, how time flies!" If you weren't especially happy about what you were doing, you'd probably groan, "Is it only _____?" Time has been the theme of ballads like "As Time Goes By," and a common excuse for many failures is, "I didn't have time." Most of us check our watch several times a day--or several times an hour. Sometimes we do it more often than we should, like when we're in church. All of this only goes to show how involved we are with time.
But actually, time, as we know it, is a very recent phenomenon. Through the persistence of Charles Dodd, a schoolteacher, and William Allen, a railroad engineer, time was finally standardized in the United States on November 10, 1883. It was only after American railroads accepted Dodd and Allen's idea of four time zones across the United States that trains could schedule their arrivals and departures with any degree of consistency. Before that, every community decided what time it was on their own. It took another year for a meeting of 26 nations to determine the 24-hour worldwide time zones that we use today.
Nor have we always had seven days in our week. Back in 1792 the French tried a ten-day week with ten hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour and 100 seconds in a minute. But it didn't work. Undaunted, the Russians tried a five-day week in 1929 and even named the days of the week after colors. But nobody paid any attention, so the Russians switched to a six-day week in 1932. Finally they abandoned the whole idea and returned to the standard seven-day week.
Although the way we describe time hasn't been around all that long, God has been working with time since the beginning of creation. In fact, He's the originator of time. The first mention of time is in Genesis 1:5: "So the evening and the morning were the first day." But the great time chapter of the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3. In this chapter the word time occurs on 28 occasions in 14 pairs of polar opposites divided into seven groups. Seven, the number of completeness, suggests that these contrasting pairs cover almost every conceivable experience of man, beginning with birth and ending with death.
So what time is it for you? How are you using your time? What does time hold in store for you? Perhaps you will find answers to some of your time questions in the time chapter, Ecclesiastes 3.
Season and time
The first phrase in Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us the right perspective on time: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." The two words here--season and time--imply duration and a point in time. Because everything has a season, nothing (at least on earth) lasts forever. God has appointed a "season" for everything. Seasons have beginnings and endings. They last, but not too long. In the life cycle there is a season for gestation, a season for childhood and youth, a season for middle age and a season for old age, followed by death. It's all quite natural; it's all ordained by God.
The word translated "time" means "a point in time." Within any give season, there is a point in time in which God has ordained everything to happen. Within the season of our older youth, my wife and I decided to get married. We were in the season of our 20s, but the time was June 26. So season means a period of time and time means a point in time.
Solomon's thesis is this: Every activity of mankind has a proper time and a predetermined duration. Our lives will be a lot less stressful if we recognize that the omniscient hand of God has appointed a time when things are to be done, and He has a predetermined duration for those things to last.
Examples of polar opposites
Solomon now demonstrates how this process of time fitting into a season takes place. For example, verse 2 says, "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted." Nature has a season of growth, but within that season there is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Sowing first, then, after a duration, harvesting. How often we allow the tyranny of time to rob us of the patience of seasons.
There's also the process of constructing and destroying, or tearing down. A building is built in a few months, and then, 50 years or so later, that building is torn down. The destruction of the building is usually faster than its construction, but the duration (season) is always longer than either the time of building or the time of tearing down.
Verse 5 says, "A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones." Again, using the image of building, Solomon says, "There's a time to cast away the stones from your fields so that you can farm the field. And then there's a time to pick up those stones on the edge of the field and build a house with them." Building and rebuilding are what the seasons of our lives are all about.
Verse 6 continues this thought: "A time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away." There is a time to go shopping (the time your wife likes best) and a time to throw old, useless things away (the time she hates the most). If you're a shopper by nature--you have that extra shopping gene that impels you to drop everything and go shopping--you know how easy it is to enjoy the time for acquiring new things. But do you have the same disposition when it comes time to part with those things? After the season of usefulness, the time to gain is past; the time to throw away has come. I have to admit, the pain of this time has been greatly reduced with the invention of the garage sale. There is duration--a season of time--for everything, and then there is a point in time for change.
Solomon's example of polar opposites in verse 7 may seem strange to you: "A time to tear, and a time to sew." In the Middle East, tearing was a sign of mourning. Sewing your clothes after the mourning period was over was the signal to return to a life of joy. Remember when Job's three friends came to comfort him? The first thing Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar did was weep. Then "each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven" (Job 2:12). There is a time to show that you're commiserating with someone--a time to tear your gown. But then there's also a time to move beyond your sorrow and to sew the gown again.
Everyone goes through good times and bad times; together they make up the season of your life. It's not the times of our lives that shape us, but the seasons. Make sure you don't live only for the good times; when the bad times come, and they will, you won't have the strength to handle them. And make sure you don't let the bad times defeat you. If you do, you'll miss out on all the good times God still has in store for you. It takes both to make a life. Make certain your attitude toward life is such that, even if you can't enjoy all the times, you do enjoy the season. Praise God that neither good times nor bad times last; only eternity does.
Even the polar opposites in verse 8 can be understood if we place time into the arena of duration: "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." Of course, Solomon is not advocating either hate or war. But the reality is, there are things for us to hate (the things God hates), and there may be a time for us to fight (as God's people, Israel, did). His point is that we are to balance all the times of our lives so that the season pleases God. That's a pearl of wisdom. If things aren't going your way, give it time. If things are going your way, prepare for the time when they won't. Set your sights on the duration season, not on the peaks and valleys of time. Build your life on God's Word and you will be a seasoned Christian. Build your life on the things that happen in time, and you will be a soured Christian.
All things beautiful
Why does Solomon say all these things about time? The answer is found in verse 11: "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time." At the appropriate point in time, God will make everything fit into the season of your life. It's like the pieces of a puzzle. You struggle to piece things together, and then all of a sudden things just seem to fall into place. That's what happens when you commit both your times and your seasons to God.
The word translated "beautiful" doesn't mean "lovely" or "pretty." It means "fitting," "appropriate" or "proper." There is a fitting point in time that God has determined something should happen. Accordingly, God will never be late and He'll never be early. Furthermore, He knows the proper duration for that event. He never holds it over too long or cuts it off too short.
In the same fashion, God knows the most fitting points and the most appropriate seasons of our lives as well. He knows exactly the number of days He's given to you, and nobody can shorten those days; nobody can lengthen them either. Our times and seasons are in God's hand. And what we entrust to God's hand, God makes "proper" in its time.
So what does that mean--God makes everything fitting or proper in its own time? Consider the polar opposites in verse 2 again as an example: "A time to be born, and a time to die." Is it possible that God can make even death beautiful in its time? He can. At the proper time, God makes death fitting. He makes it appropriate. He makes it proper. There is a time for us to be born--a day in which God determines we will be born--and there's also a day in which God determines that our life on this side of the grave will end. A time to be born, and a time to die. To shorten our days through suicide or to lengthen them through heroic care fails to demonstrate faith in God's ability to know the proper season of our lives.
After Jacob had seen his long-lost son Joseph, he said, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive" (Gen. 46:30). He knew his days had been fulfilled. The duration--the season--was done. The exact day of his death was in God's hands. But Jacob knew this season of his life had reached its completion.
Going according to plan
If God has already determined the times and seasons of our lives, is it possible to die before our time? In a sense it is. Solomon exhorted, "Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish: why should you die before your time?" (Eccles. 7:17). Through wickedness or self-will, we can deprive ourselves of the fullness of days that God would have liked to have given us, but even this must be approved by God and is a part of His eternal plan.
For a believer, the thought that not only do we have a time to be born, but there is a set duration before our death, is a tremendous comfort. It means everything is going according to God's plan. The apostle John said, "Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Write: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"' (Rev. 14:13). The psalmist added, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Ps. 116:15). Of course, we still don't look forward to death. And when death comes to our family--to our spouse, to our little children, to our parents--we always say, "Why, Lord? Why now?" But we must never forget that God has a duration for our life. In God's grace He will not allow one day more or one day less than that duration. It's all according to His divine plan.
And here's one final and exciting possibility within God's plan. It is also possible that those in Christ will never die. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Paul says, "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." It is possible that the season of our lives will simply be swallowed up in the eternity of God. The omnipotent One can interrupt the sequence of "a time to be born and a time to die," and one day He will do just that. Perhaps today!
Whether God chooses to take us to Himself through the blessing of death or the blessed hope, in God's plan we end up being with Him forever. Instead of fretting about the days of our lives or worrying about how long we will live, life would be more enjoyable if we simply rested in the Lord and committed all those days to Him, including our final days.
In a world of heroic medical care and wonder drugs, let's not forget that just as the day of our birth was part of God's eternal timetable, so is the day of our death. None of us likes the idea of facing death, but those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior can face it very differently than those who are fearing the consequences of their sin. For believers, the day of our death is another day to glorify the Lord. The day when we die is simply another day to commit to a loving and omniscient God. The day of our death is, in His hands, every bit as wonderful as the day of our birth. "This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24).
When you live and die in the knowledge of God's eternal plan, you live and die with this confidence--God makes all things beautiful in their time.
Are you tired of everything in your life going wrong? Are you fed up with trying to make things in your life lovely and easy and pleasant, only to have them turn out messy and hard and distasteful? Maybe you've gone the whole route. You've been through alcohol, you've been through drugs, you've been through sex addiction, you've been through climbing the ladder of success--and your life is still a colossal mess. But don't give up yet. There is an answer. The answer is Jesus Christ in your life. It's through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior that God can make your life beautiful, and He does it in His own time. And maybe--just maybe--this is God's time for you. Let Him make your life beautiful.
God's Time
by Woodrow Kroll
Pearl of Wisdom
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
Our lives revolve around time. If I asked you what time it is, I have a pretty good idea what you'd do. You'd glance at your watch, check the time and respond appropriately. If you were enjoying what you were doing at the moment, you might exclaim, "My, how time flies!" If you weren't especially happy about what you were doing, you'd probably groan, "Is it only _____?" Time has been the theme of ballads like "As Time Goes By," and a common excuse for many failures is, "I didn't have time." Most of us check our watch several times a day--or several times an hour. Sometimes we do it more often than we should, like when we're in church. All of this only goes to show how involved we are with time.
But actually, time, as we know it, is a very recent phenomenon. Through the persistence of Charles Dodd, a schoolteacher, and William Allen, a railroad engineer, time was finally standardized in the United States on November 10, 1883. It was only after American railroads accepted Dodd and Allen's idea of four time zones across the United States that trains could schedule their arrivals and departures with any degree of consistency. Before that, every community decided what time it was on their own. It took another year for a meeting of 26 nations to determine the 24-hour worldwide time zones that we use today.
Nor have we always had seven days in our week. Back in 1792 the French tried a ten-day week with ten hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour and 100 seconds in a minute. But it didn't work. Undaunted, the Russians tried a five-day week in 1929 and even named the days of the week after colors. But nobody paid any attention, so the Russians switched to a six-day week in 1932. Finally they abandoned the whole idea and returned to the standard seven-day week.
Although the way we describe time hasn't been around all that long, God has been working with time since the beginning of creation. In fact, He's the originator of time. The first mention of time is in Genesis 1:5: "So the evening and the morning were the first day." But the great time chapter of the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3. In this chapter the word time occurs on 28 occasions in 14 pairs of polar opposites divided into seven groups. Seven, the number of completeness, suggests that these contrasting pairs cover almost every conceivable experience of man, beginning with birth and ending with death.
So what time is it for you? How are you using your time? What does time hold in store for you? Perhaps you will find answers to some of your time questions in the time chapter, Ecclesiastes 3.
Season and time
The first phrase in Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us the right perspective on time: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." The two words here--season and time--imply duration and a point in time. Because everything has a season, nothing (at least on earth) lasts forever. God has appointed a "season" for everything. Seasons have beginnings and endings. They last, but not too long. In the life cycle there is a season for gestation, a season for childhood and youth, a season for middle age and a season for old age, followed by death. It's all quite natural; it's all ordained by God.
The word translated "time" means "a point in time." Within any give season, there is a point in time in which God has ordained everything to happen. Within the season of our older youth, my wife and I decided to get married. We were in the season of our 20s, but the time was June 26. So season means a period of time and time means a point in time.
Solomon's thesis is this: Every activity of mankind has a proper time and a predetermined duration. Our lives will be a lot less stressful if we recognize that the omniscient hand of God has appointed a time when things are to be done, and He has a predetermined duration for those things to last.
Examples of polar opposites
Solomon now demonstrates how this process of time fitting into a season takes place. For example, verse 2 says, "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted." Nature has a season of growth, but within that season there is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Sowing first, then, after a duration, harvesting. How often we allow the tyranny of time to rob us of the patience of seasons.
There's also the process of constructing and destroying, or tearing down. A building is built in a few months, and then, 50 years or so later, that building is torn down. The destruction of the building is usually faster than its construction, but the duration (season) is always longer than either the time of building or the time of tearing down.
Verse 5 says, "A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones." Again, using the image of building, Solomon says, "There's a time to cast away the stones from your fields so that you can farm the field. And then there's a time to pick up those stones on the edge of the field and build a house with them." Building and rebuilding are what the seasons of our lives are all about.
Verse 6 continues this thought: "A time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away." There is a time to go shopping (the time your wife likes best) and a time to throw old, useless things away (the time she hates the most). If you're a shopper by nature--you have that extra shopping gene that impels you to drop everything and go shopping--you know how easy it is to enjoy the time for acquiring new things. But do you have the same disposition when it comes time to part with those things? After the season of usefulness, the time to gain is past; the time to throw away has come. I have to admit, the pain of this time has been greatly reduced with the invention of the garage sale. There is duration--a season of time--for everything, and then there is a point in time for change.
Solomon's example of polar opposites in verse 7 may seem strange to you: "A time to tear, and a time to sew." In the Middle East, tearing was a sign of mourning. Sewing your clothes after the mourning period was over was the signal to return to a life of joy. Remember when Job's three friends came to comfort him? The first thing Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar did was weep. Then "each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven" (Job 2:12). There is a time to show that you're commiserating with someone--a time to tear your gown. But then there's also a time to move beyond your sorrow and to sew the gown again.
Everyone goes through good times and bad times; together they make up the season of your life. It's not the times of our lives that shape us, but the seasons. Make sure you don't live only for the good times; when the bad times come, and they will, you won't have the strength to handle them. And make sure you don't let the bad times defeat you. If you do, you'll miss out on all the good times God still has in store for you. It takes both to make a life. Make certain your attitude toward life is such that, even if you can't enjoy all the times, you do enjoy the season. Praise God that neither good times nor bad times last; only eternity does.
Even the polar opposites in verse 8 can be understood if we place time into the arena of duration: "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." Of course, Solomon is not advocating either hate or war. But the reality is, there are things for us to hate (the things God hates), and there may be a time for us to fight (as God's people, Israel, did). His point is that we are to balance all the times of our lives so that the season pleases God. That's a pearl of wisdom. If things aren't going your way, give it time. If things are going your way, prepare for the time when they won't. Set your sights on the duration season, not on the peaks and valleys of time. Build your life on God's Word and you will be a seasoned Christian. Build your life on the things that happen in time, and you will be a soured Christian.
All things beautiful
Why does Solomon say all these things about time? The answer is found in verse 11: "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time." At the appropriate point in time, God will make everything fit into the season of your life. It's like the pieces of a puzzle. You struggle to piece things together, and then all of a sudden things just seem to fall into place. That's what happens when you commit both your times and your seasons to God.
The word translated "beautiful" doesn't mean "lovely" or "pretty." It means "fitting," "appropriate" or "proper." There is a fitting point in time that God has determined something should happen. Accordingly, God will never be late and He'll never be early. Furthermore, He knows the proper duration for that event. He never holds it over too long or cuts it off too short.
In the same fashion, God knows the most fitting points and the most appropriate seasons of our lives as well. He knows exactly the number of days He's given to you, and nobody can shorten those days; nobody can lengthen them either. Our times and seasons are in God's hand. And what we entrust to God's hand, God makes "proper" in its time.
So what does that mean--God makes everything fitting or proper in its own time? Consider the polar opposites in verse 2 again as an example: "A time to be born, and a time to die." Is it possible that God can make even death beautiful in its time? He can. At the proper time, God makes death fitting. He makes it appropriate. He makes it proper. There is a time for us to be born--a day in which God determines we will be born--and there's also a day in which God determines that our life on this side of the grave will end. A time to be born, and a time to die. To shorten our days through suicide or to lengthen them through heroic care fails to demonstrate faith in God's ability to know the proper season of our lives.
After Jacob had seen his long-lost son Joseph, he said, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive" (Gen. 46:30). He knew his days had been fulfilled. The duration--the season--was done. The exact day of his death was in God's hands. But Jacob knew this season of his life had reached its completion.
Going according to plan
If God has already determined the times and seasons of our lives, is it possible to die before our time? In a sense it is. Solomon exhorted, "Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish: why should you die before your time?" (Eccles. 7:17). Through wickedness or self-will, we can deprive ourselves of the fullness of days that God would have liked to have given us, but even this must be approved by God and is a part of His eternal plan.
For a believer, the thought that not only do we have a time to be born, but there is a set duration before our death, is a tremendous comfort. It means everything is going according to God's plan. The apostle John said, "Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Write: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"' (Rev. 14:13). The psalmist added, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Ps. 116:15). Of course, we still don't look forward to death. And when death comes to our family--to our spouse, to our little children, to our parents--we always say, "Why, Lord? Why now?" But we must never forget that God has a duration for our life. In God's grace He will not allow one day more or one day less than that duration. It's all according to His divine plan.
And here's one final and exciting possibility within God's plan. It is also possible that those in Christ will never die. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Paul says, "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." It is possible that the season of our lives will simply be swallowed up in the eternity of God. The omnipotent One can interrupt the sequence of "a time to be born and a time to die," and one day He will do just that. Perhaps today!
Whether God chooses to take us to Himself through the blessing of death or the blessed hope, in God's plan we end up being with Him forever. Instead of fretting about the days of our lives or worrying about how long we will live, life would be more enjoyable if we simply rested in the Lord and committed all those days to Him, including our final days.
In a world of heroic medical care and wonder drugs, let's not forget that just as the day of our birth was part of God's eternal timetable, so is the day of our death. None of us likes the idea of facing death, but those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior can face it very differently than those who are fearing the consequences of their sin. For believers, the day of our death is another day to glorify the Lord. The day when we die is simply another day to commit to a loving and omniscient God. The day of our death is, in His hands, every bit as wonderful as the day of our birth. "This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24).
When you live and die in the knowledge of God's eternal plan, you live and die with this confidence--God makes all things beautiful in their time.
Are you tired of everything in your life going wrong? Are you fed up with trying to make things in your life lovely and easy and pleasant, only to have them turn out messy and hard and distasteful? Maybe you've gone the whole route. You've been through alcohol, you've been through drugs, you've been through sex addiction, you've been through climbing the ladder of success--and your life is still a colossal mess. But don't give up yet. There is an answer. The answer is Jesus Christ in your life. It's through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior that God can make your life beautiful, and He does it in His own time. And maybe--just maybe--this is God's time for you. Let Him make your life beautiful.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
I love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQRovxYDt1o&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I want to naturally (with my own hair) be able to achieve this look. Locs will come later...possibly when I hit 40 ;-)
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Don't say a word! Lol
Braids came out today...I couldn't do it ..it didn't look right. Like I literally fussed with it everyday. I think they were entirely too thin. So I sewed this brazilian curly hair that I bought several months ago. You can keep reusing this hair, its good stuff. So, I still have a natural look which I love. My locs are on hold...for now
Oh and let me tell you, taking yarn braids out is allot of work. Omg
And on another note, my work outs are going great. I feel wonderful. I'm counting calories and truly watching what I eat.
Thanks for reading,
God bless
Monday, July 29, 2013
Day 3 and Day 1
OK so this is day 3 of my loc journey (via yarn braids) and day 1 of "Operation Tara" What is that you ask? Well befor I get into that I want to talk about day 3. ok so I seem to stay in the mirror fussing with my hair. I have removed some and redid them, I have wrapped yarn around them to do yarn wraps (not all of them) ...Just trying it out. My daughter didn't like them. She said to leave them as they were. My husband says in a week I will be taking them down LOL. He says that because I keep messing with them.
The reason I have them to begin with is because I didn't want to cut my hair. I have relaxed ends and did not want to cut them off, so I was looking for an alternate way to lock. I have to give it a shot. It's either this or the big chop and get comb twist until they lock.
OK about day 1. Day 1 is the start of healthier living. I ate differently today and I pray that I am able to continue. I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me. I spoke that Word frequently today, especially while doing my 2 mile walk. Yes I started that part too. Exercise! woo hooo LOL well I also jogged about a half mile. I need to lose 15 lbs- 20 lbs ..and I can achieve that by eating right and staying active. My best friend has been doing the Insanity work out for like 4 months. This girl looks good! She has lost sooo many inches and everything. I felt very motivated from her before and after pictures. (not motivated enough to do the Insanity workout, mind you, but motivated ) :-)
So what's a girl to do??? Well for one I need to commit to my yarn braids. I decided to lock with them and should commit to that. I read and watch on you tube where several girls are saying they look better as time goes on. We shall see. My biggest issue, if I have not made that clear, is that they are too small. I wish I had used more than 3 strands for the braiding. Also, they are very short. Like a short bob. An a-line bob. My idea :-/
Anyway good evening and God bless
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Ok Day two
Here is a photo of my braids when I first got them done. They were stuck together. I was not feeling the black so added red yesterday evenin.Also, dipped it in water that had been boiled. So now they were moving like natural hair does. So I was feeling pretty ..the red was very red lol and I kept feeling like I needed to tone it down. I really wanted a blonde type. So I went to Joann Fabrics after church today and bought some yarn that looked like a dirty blonde. I replaced the red with the blonde yarn and I love it! Why I am going thru so much?because it must be right. I must be 100% satisfied because I am keeping them in and locking my hair with them.
Ok have to go my family wants to play Wheel of Fortune
Have a wonderful evening
And God bless.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
DAY ONE
Ok so day 1 with my yarn braids....ok Let me digress for a bit. It's late, I know. Yet I refused to go to bed without sharing about my day 1 experience.
My friend finished about midnight or a little after last night. It took about 8 hours. I do not have as many as the girl on the pic below. I wish I did, but I had to do it a bit differently because I am keeping them and locking my hair.
I have perfect parts. and I know when they lock they will look great; however, I woke up today, looking in the mirror wondering what did I do LOL I was just feeling very unattractive. I know this is a process and it will past but boy oh boy it was a shocker. So I texted my bff this morning. She has had locks for 3 years. I wasn't even thinking of locs at that time. Not at all. Anyway, She texted me back then she called and she just reassured me that this is just day 1. It will get better. Then she let me know how she was feeling when she started her process. Granted she didn't start with yarn extensions as I am, but same type of feelings existed for us both and probably most people who go thru this. My braids are short. I did not want them long. I was questioning that decision today LOL .
They looked awful today and I had to go into the salon. It is Saturday you know, and my book was full. So I couldn't do much but suck it up today. :-/
But I read online that I could dip my hair into boiling water to soften it. Oh did I not mention, they were stiff as a board...smh..a mess. Also, I went back to Walmart looking for colored thread because this black is just too dark for me. I wanted blonde, but couldn't find anything that looked good enough so I bought red. It's bright. But it will do. So I took down several braids and re-braided them with the red yarn. It looks better. I have them in a short bob. I will post a pic.
My husband said to me "Oh I thought they would be longer" LOL sooo do you like them? yea they alright" hmmmmmm :-)
Well it is what it is really. One good thing about him is that he is always supportive of me.
Ok so enough about my day. I am so tired.
Have a wonderful evening, and God bless.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Yarn braids
This is the style that I am aiming for just like dreadlocks but they are not I am conteplating locking my hair. This is a good way to try them out if I like them I will just leave them and keep re twisting my roots
morning
Great morning!
I slept wonderfully and am now drinking coffee and waiting on my sausage. I am about to make an omelet. yum ...with no bread. It will consist of onions, tomatoes, cheese and sausage....and no bread...did I mention that already? (sigh) I am on this new thing of cutting back on my starches because I am a devout starch lover but it doesn't love me :-( ...I have gained some weight...well the cookies and ice cream helped :-)
How many know that it is a mind thing??That changing your eating habits starts with changing the way we think? Our mind is so powerful. I'm fighting mine right now. It's telling me to make taost, and I said shut up. no toast! :-)
anywho~~Client at 8:30
ok so what great about today is that I am getting my hair in genie locs! so excited.
Will post pics when done. Have to go!
Enjoy your day and God bless
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Starting today
So today, well actually for a few days I have been thinking of starting a blog again. I had one before and deleted it.
So much has been going on and I life to vent so to speak in writing. If that makes sense. I am so comfortable writing and believe I am a better writer than speaker. In terms of expression. I express myself better.
So today started off with me getting up at 6:30 to get ready for a 8 am client. She called Thursday evening asking for the 8 am appointment. She is a regular client. Ok so back to this morning...I dragged myself out of bed. I didn't sleep well. My allergies and sinus has really been acting up. I get up, and get myself together. I am finishing my coffee and about to walk out the house when my cell rang with my client. I say "Hey I am on my way out the door" She says, " I was calling to tell you to take your time" Red flag ~~~then she proceeds to tell me why, and in the midst of that, she canceled instead of just pushing it back. WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT (sigh) ...ok..sure..yes I understand (no I don't ..really...cause I got up especially for you) but I am forgiving. This is part of my business. I am a hairdresser. not to mention, I love this particular client (well I do have awesome clients) so I laid back down with my dear husband who was knocked out. my next client was not until 10:30, so I could definitely use a little nap. right? ha! only if you understood.
So I napped. I got up to another cup (well quarter of a cup) of coffee. I never finish a second cup. Not sure why I even made it..smh.. But I digress...My day ended up great. I had a nice full day and the Lord even replaced my client who canceled (He does that for me often)
Thank you God.
I ran up to Walmart to buy yarn, for the genie locs that I am getting. This; however, is another story which I will share with you tomorrow. I am getting them done tomorrow and super duper excited!!!
So I will end it here. I could literally type so much more lol but I won't. Too much on the first day. Chatty sometimes.
Have a wonderful day, afternoon or evening and God bless,
So much has been going on and I life to vent so to speak in writing. If that makes sense. I am so comfortable writing and believe I am a better writer than speaker. In terms of expression. I express myself better.
So today started off with me getting up at 6:30 to get ready for a 8 am client. She called Thursday evening asking for the 8 am appointment. She is a regular client. Ok so back to this morning...I dragged myself out of bed. I didn't sleep well. My allergies and sinus has really been acting up. I get up, and get myself together. I am finishing my coffee and about to walk out the house when my cell rang with my client. I say "Hey I am on my way out the door" She says, " I was calling to tell you to take your time" Red flag ~~~then she proceeds to tell me why, and in the midst of that, she canceled instead of just pushing it back. WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT (sigh) ...ok..sure..yes I understand (no I don't ..really...cause I got up especially for you) but I am forgiving. This is part of my business. I am a hairdresser. not to mention, I love this particular client (well I do have awesome clients) so I laid back down with my dear husband who was knocked out. my next client was not until 10:30, so I could definitely use a little nap. right? ha! only if you understood.
So I napped. I got up to another cup (well quarter of a cup) of coffee. I never finish a second cup. Not sure why I even made it..smh.. But I digress...My day ended up great. I had a nice full day and the Lord even replaced my client who canceled (He does that for me often)
Thank you God.
I ran up to Walmart to buy yarn, for the genie locs that I am getting. This; however, is another story which I will share with you tomorrow. I am getting them done tomorrow and super duper excited!!!
So I will end it here. I could literally type so much more lol but I won't. Too much on the first day. Chatty sometimes.
Have a wonderful day, afternoon or evening and God bless,
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