Haven't read a whole lot, but was really struck by the account of the apostle Thomas that Johna MacArthur gave. Was also intrigued by MacArthur's relaying of the story of Lazarus. He had some interesting things to say about Christ's reason for tarrying before going to Bethany. I intend to study the story more closely for myself before I decide whether or not to agree with MacArthur's opinion on the subject. Maybe the JST has some insight that he wouldn't have considered.
His description of Thomas, though, was interesting. Most people call him "Doubting Thomas," because he didn't believe in Jesus's physical resurrection until he could touch the wounds himself. MacArthur points out that the other disciples didn't, either. It's just that Thomas wasn't in the Upper Room because he was so sorrowful about Christ's death that he didn't want to be around his friends. So he didn't believe that the other apostles had seen the resurrected body.
On pages 187 through 189, MacArthur describes Thomas's personality and the love that he had for our Savior. I wish I could quote the entirety of it all. But this excerpt from p. 188 sums things up nicely, and is one I find quite inspirational.
"Thomas obviously had a deep devotion to Christ that could not be dampened even by his own pessimism. He had no illusion that following Jesus would be easy. All he could see were the jaws of death opening to swallow him. But he followed Jesus with an undaunted courage. He was resolved to die if necessary with his Lord rather than forsake Him. He would rather die than be left behind and separated from Christ."
I think the motivation behind the book (which I'm almost finished with) can be summed up with this sentence on page 195:
"If the faults and character flaws of the apostles seem like a mirror of your own weaknesses, take heart. These are the kinds of people the Lord delights to use."
2009-02-18
2009-02-16
Reading Journal
I've made it through almost half of "One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven." And it's clearly written by someone who makes his living by giving speeches. I've got to give the guy (Mark Cahill) credit: he's got some interesting ideas. Like putting tracts in cases of pop and beer at the grocery store as a way to "witness." A word that's overused in the book, in my opinion.
I'm really interested to get to the chapters on what, specifically, he says when "witnessing," because the early, generic, motivational chapters really don't do much of that. Just him sharing stories of people he's run across spattered around his encouragement and directions. I find that, while his heart is near the right place, he is severely misguided. (And I haven't even read the chapters where he provides textbook answers to common questions yet.) That being said, I tend to make an effort to find wit and/or wisdom in all that I read.
Here's some now...
p. 39
This guy has a lot of stories about witnessing to prostitutes.
"Whenever I tell this story, it ruffles people's feathers. One person asked, 'What if someone from your church drove by and saw you picking up a prostitute?'
I answered, '...they would probably say, 'There goes Mark again witnessing to a prostitute; let's pray for him.' Then they would probably pray that if I ahd picked up that prostitute for the wrong reason, the Spirit would convict me so that I would not do anything to discredit the ministry."
p. 40
"I want every person I meet to be in a relationship with Jesus."
p. 56
"Are you sure you want to witness by your actions alone? I definitely don't want to do that, because sometimes my actions don't portray my Savior in a very good light."
p. 74
"I guarantee that you will be dead a whole lot longer than you will be alive."
p. 76
"Don't put your head on your pillow tonight unless you know exactly where you're going to spend eternity."
p. 79
"Personally, I don't have time for temporary friendships (that is, just hanging out with people who don't know the Lord). I do have a lot of temporary friends, but it's for the purpose of making them eternal friends."
Interesting concept....
____________________________
Because I was getting fed up with the word "witness" and it's various forms, I switched over to "Twelve Angry Men." Here are some insights I've found since the last time I posted about insights from this book.
p. 124
"Many people are just as imbalanced as John was....They place too much emphasis...on love....Some are merely ignorant; others are deceived; still others simply do not care about what is true. In each case, truth is missing, and all they are left with is error, clothed in a shallow, tolerant sentimentality. It is a poor substitute for genuine love. They talk a lot about love and tolerance, but they utterly lack any concern for the truth. Therefore even the "love" they speak of is a tainted love....
"On the other hand, there are many who have all their theological ducks in a row and know their doctrine but are unloving and self-exalting. They are left with truth as cold as facts, stifling and unattractive. Their lack of love cripples the power of the truth they profess to revere."
p. 125
"If you pursue anything in the spiritual realm, pursue a perfect balance of truth and love. Know the truth and uphold it in love."
"The authentically Christlike person knows the truth and speaks it in love. He knows the truth as Christ has revealed it, and he loves as Christ loves."
Holy smackdown!! (And, yes, I mean that both ways.)
p. 136
"And yet his love never slid into indulgent sentimentality."
I found that very poetic.
And this just occurred to me: I was talking with one of the sisters on my new Visiting Teaching list, and she commented how much of a page-turner the gospel of John was. And every single one of those quotes was from the chapter on John. Even things written about John are impressive. His awesomeness permeates even that which only mentions his name.
I'm really interested to get to the chapters on what, specifically, he says when "witnessing," because the early, generic, motivational chapters really don't do much of that. Just him sharing stories of people he's run across spattered around his encouragement and directions. I find that, while his heart is near the right place, he is severely misguided. (And I haven't even read the chapters where he provides textbook answers to common questions yet.) That being said, I tend to make an effort to find wit and/or wisdom in all that I read.
Here's some now...
p. 39
This guy has a lot of stories about witnessing to prostitutes.
"Whenever I tell this story, it ruffles people's feathers. One person asked, 'What if someone from your church drove by and saw you picking up a prostitute?'
I answered, '...they would probably say, 'There goes Mark again witnessing to a prostitute; let's pray for him.' Then they would probably pray that if I ahd picked up that prostitute for the wrong reason, the Spirit would convict me so that I would not do anything to discredit the ministry."
p. 40
"I want every person I meet to be in a relationship with Jesus."
p. 56
"Are you sure you want to witness by your actions alone? I definitely don't want to do that, because sometimes my actions don't portray my Savior in a very good light."
p. 74
"I guarantee that you will be dead a whole lot longer than you will be alive."
p. 76
"Don't put your head on your pillow tonight unless you know exactly where you're going to spend eternity."
p. 79
"Personally, I don't have time for temporary friendships (that is, just hanging out with people who don't know the Lord). I do have a lot of temporary friends, but it's for the purpose of making them eternal friends."
Interesting concept....
____________________________
Because I was getting fed up with the word "witness" and it's various forms, I switched over to "Twelve Angry Men." Here are some insights I've found since the last time I posted about insights from this book.
p. 124
"Many people are just as imbalanced as John was....They place too much emphasis...on love....Some are merely ignorant; others are deceived; still others simply do not care about what is true. In each case, truth is missing, and all they are left with is error, clothed in a shallow, tolerant sentimentality. It is a poor substitute for genuine love. They talk a lot about love and tolerance, but they utterly lack any concern for the truth. Therefore even the "love" they speak of is a tainted love....
"On the other hand, there are many who have all their theological ducks in a row and know their doctrine but are unloving and self-exalting. They are left with truth as cold as facts, stifling and unattractive. Their lack of love cripples the power of the truth they profess to revere."
p. 125
"If you pursue anything in the spiritual realm, pursue a perfect balance of truth and love. Know the truth and uphold it in love."
"The authentically Christlike person knows the truth and speaks it in love. He knows the truth as Christ has revealed it, and he loves as Christ loves."
Holy smackdown!! (And, yes, I mean that both ways.)
p. 136
"And yet his love never slid into indulgent sentimentality."
I found that very poetic.
And this just occurred to me: I was talking with one of the sisters on my new Visiting Teaching list, and she commented how much of a page-turner the gospel of John was. And every single one of those quotes was from the chapter on John. Even things written about John are impressive. His awesomeness permeates even that which only mentions his name.
2009-02-14
Reading Journal
During the month-long hiatus from this blog, I started and finished "Stranger in a Strange Land." It's apparently the most famous sci-fi novel ever written. Which explains why I've heard of it. A kid from work loaned it to me; he'd been bugging me to read it for a while.
Overall, I liked it. The premise, anyway. Humans make an expedition to Mars and a woman gives birth to a child conceived as a result of an affair, so she leaves him there. He gets raised by Martians and brought back to Earth. Loddy-doddy-this, loddy-doddy-that, I'm going to spoil the ending (since a truly good read is more about the journey than the destination, anyway) by telling you he runs off with the first woman he met and they establish a religious-based way of life. There were more parallels to Mormonism than I would expect from a European author in the early 60's, although I hesitate to say that. The hesitation comes from the unparallels.
I was also bugged by some editorial errors. I've returned the book, so I can't provide actual anecdotes, but there were things that editors should have caught. I don't know why they haven't. The loaner insisted that every mistake was intentional. And while there were some that I could view as intentional (you're going to have broken speech when you have a Martian learning English, after all), some of them were inexcusable.
Another downside to returning the book (on the day I was given the internet back, of all days) is that I can't reference any quotes I found particularly intriguing. However, there was one that struck me enough for me to write it down elsewhere.
p. 363
"Love" is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
I'm still, erm, pacing through "Twelve Ordinary Men." Once we got to the especially ordinary ones, it got less interesting. I also just started a book called "One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven." And the answer to your question (I know you're asking because that's why I started reading it) is: ministering to a non-believer. Not really far enough into it to be able to say much. Maybe it'll help with my new church calling as a ward missionary. Funny, but I just now realized that the former owners of this house were professional missionaries for some other evangelical organization.
Overall, I liked it. The premise, anyway. Humans make an expedition to Mars and a woman gives birth to a child conceived as a result of an affair, so she leaves him there. He gets raised by Martians and brought back to Earth. Loddy-doddy-this, loddy-doddy-that, I'm going to spoil the ending (since a truly good read is more about the journey than the destination, anyway) by telling you he runs off with the first woman he met and they establish a religious-based way of life. There were more parallels to Mormonism than I would expect from a European author in the early 60's, although I hesitate to say that. The hesitation comes from the unparallels.
I was also bugged by some editorial errors. I've returned the book, so I can't provide actual anecdotes, but there were things that editors should have caught. I don't know why they haven't. The loaner insisted that every mistake was intentional. And while there were some that I could view as intentional (you're going to have broken speech when you have a Martian learning English, after all), some of them were inexcusable.
Another downside to returning the book (on the day I was given the internet back, of all days) is that I can't reference any quotes I found particularly intriguing. However, there was one that struck me enough for me to write it down elsewhere.
p. 363
"Love" is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
I'm still, erm, pacing through "Twelve Ordinary Men." Once we got to the especially ordinary ones, it got less interesting. I also just started a book called "One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven." And the answer to your question (I know you're asking because that's why I started reading it) is: ministering to a non-believer. Not really far enough into it to be able to say much. Maybe it'll help with my new church calling as a ward missionary. Funny, but I just now realized that the former owners of this house were professional missionaries for some other evangelical organization.
2008-12-19
Reading Journal
On Wednesday, I read the third chapter of the book. "Andrew--the Apostle of Small Things." I really enjoyed reading about Andrew's example of simple service and how no act is too small. MacArthur pointed out that it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fishes to Jesus. Andrew was quite as skilled at finding the one lost sheep as his brother (Simon Peter) was at finding lost herds. I really enjoyed this chapter. My one peeve was that it made a little too much use of the word "obscure" and it's various forms. Oh, well. Can't have it all.
Quotes
ch. 2 ("Peter--the Apostle with the Foot-Shaped Mouth")
p. 37: "If Christ in His perfect humanity could not pour equal amounts of time and energy into everyone He drew around Him, no leader should expect to be able to do that." That was in regards to why there seemed to be 3 (Peter, James, and John) who Christ kept exceptionally close. The LDS church views that as Christ setting up the first First Presidency.
ch. 3 ("Andrew--the Apostle of Small Things")
p. 82: "All the fruits of Peter's ministry is ultimately also the fruit of Andrew's faithful, individual witness." One of the facts that I was really glad I learned from this chapter was how Andrew was the one who brought Peter to Christ (in a physical sense).
Quotes
ch. 2 ("Peter--the Apostle with the Foot-Shaped Mouth")
p. 37: "If Christ in His perfect humanity could not pour equal amounts of time and energy into everyone He drew around Him, no leader should expect to be able to do that." That was in regards to why there seemed to be 3 (Peter, James, and John) who Christ kept exceptionally close. The LDS church views that as Christ setting up the first First Presidency.
ch. 3 ("Andrew--the Apostle of Small Things")
p. 82: "All the fruits of Peter's ministry is ultimately also the fruit of Andrew's faithful, individual witness." One of the facts that I was really glad I learned from this chapter was how Andrew was the one who brought Peter to Christ (in a physical sense).
2008-12-02
Writing Journal
08-12-01
Today's soundtrack:
Kat 103.7 (I'm not going to keep track of the songs)
101.9 (after Kat 103 started going fuzzy, hardly listened to it for long)
Kat 103.7 (I tried it again)
Today's genre:
poetry, new stuff. Possibly cutting Gleamer and Thief to 2 solid pages.
Today's start time: 3:30
While crocheting and waiting for 3:30, (about 3:15) I heard a song that reminds me of my grandma. It was the only time I remember seeing her smile after my grandpa died. She didn't have a lot of reasons to smile the last few years of her life. She lost her husband a month after her birthday. Her youngest daughter was driving her back from the hospital when he finally passed. Because this was in the days before our family had cell phones, they didn't know until they arrived home. Her youngest son wasn't able to attend the burial service because he had to take his oldest son back to the county jail. About 12 and half months later, she lost her baby brother to alcoholism. He was so jaundiced that the whites of his eyes were a cross between manila and vanilla. An hour before his funeral, one of her sons-in-law passed away. About 12 and a half months after that, on the birthday of her youngest grandchild, she lost her father. She only outlived her father by 6 weeks.
During these years, she was also diagnosed with emphysema because she had been smoking since she was 15. She was in and out of the hospital herself with that. Add to this the stress of most of her children holding a grudge against her oldest grandson. Not to mention that she had been the Power of Attorney for her father for a number of years, her youngest daughter being the assistant PoA. In fact, not long before her death, she began the process of filing DNR papers and was torn between asking the CNA daughter who lived with her and her youngest daughter to be PoA for her.
She was so depressed and addicted to cigarettes that she would smoke with her O2 tank on, right next to her. As though she were trying to kill herself. I can see her there, in her seat at the head of the dining room table, in front of the china cabinet, with a full ashtray and word search book in front of her. Every so often, I get attacked with an image of her in a bed in an upstairs room in the old hospital. I'm standing with my back to the window and Kim is on my left. I was standing even with grandma's chest and looked at her face, which was turned towards my mom across from me. I remember seeing the butt of a Marlboro Light 100 mashed up in her hair and I had to look away. She had been in the hospital for a few days at that point and I nearly cried at the thought that none of the nurses had noticed or had had the courtesy to pull it out. It was my first experience with the dehumanization of elderly patients in a medical setting, and I never forgot it while I was working at the Care Center.
But the song that goes “Play me some country music, the kind that Grandma and Grandpa used to play” reminds me of a happy memory. Barb and Chris had just started going out to karaoke bars. Because they had convinced my mom and grandma to go with them, I got dragged along, also. I remember we were at Tolley's Allies and some older gentleman, maybe a little bit younger than Grandma, got up there and sang it. He had an excellent voice and someone, maybe the waitress, told us that he often sang that song. It was his signature song. I remember Grandma on the other side of the table, clapping along as the man's face turned red from the energy he was expending making her happy. It was the only time I remember her smiling after Grandpa died, and every time I hear that song, that memory is the one that returns and it cheers me as it saddens me.
I'm going to push out a poem immortalizing that moment.
I just finished the first draft. I'm going to say that I spent 45 minutes on it. Just to give a rounded time. It is now 4:05.
I'm going to break until 4:15 then I'm going to type up the ones I spent half an hour writing on Thursday, I think it was. Which reminds me, I need to update my log. I also spent half an hour at the mall writing a poem. So I can log that as well.
Sucks I can't count journaling time as writing time. Pooh.
Took 25 minutes to type those up. I'm counting it as 30.
Which brings today's total to...
30 mall minutes
30 typing minutes
45 Grandma minutes
Year's total: 40.5 hours. A full week's worth of work since August? Some dedicated writer I am. Even for only ever wanting to be obscure.
Starting time on the poetic phraseology I jotted down in code on yesterday's program because I can be a paranoid fool sometimes: 5:45
At 5:50, I had to go back to the journaling I did about the situation. Hopefully I'm not there for too long before I can get back to the emotion propelling the poem.
Those were a little bit of help.
So far, I've spent about 10 minutes with the actual poem. So if I can get another 5 in, I'll be able to count today's total time at 2 hours. Small victory.
Got one more stanza in. I should probably go back and rifle through the ones I wrote today. Go through and straighten them out. Pick out the good stuff, ditch the rest. After I take a little break; my shoulders are killing me.
The apartment's chilly—new stanza idea!
Fixed enough for now.
Today's soundtrack:
Kat 103.7 (I'm not going to keep track of the songs)
101.9 (after Kat 103 started going fuzzy, hardly listened to it for long)
Kat 103.7 (I tried it again)
Today's genre:
poetry, new stuff. Possibly cutting Gleamer and Thief to 2 solid pages.
Today's start time: 3:30
While crocheting and waiting for 3:30, (about 3:15) I heard a song that reminds me of my grandma. It was the only time I remember seeing her smile after my grandpa died. She didn't have a lot of reasons to smile the last few years of her life. She lost her husband a month after her birthday. Her youngest daughter was driving her back from the hospital when he finally passed. Because this was in the days before our family had cell phones, they didn't know until they arrived home. Her youngest son wasn't able to attend the burial service because he had to take his oldest son back to the county jail. About 12 and half months later, she lost her baby brother to alcoholism. He was so jaundiced that the whites of his eyes were a cross between manila and vanilla. An hour before his funeral, one of her sons-in-law passed away. About 12 and a half months after that, on the birthday of her youngest grandchild, she lost her father. She only outlived her father by 6 weeks.
During these years, she was also diagnosed with emphysema because she had been smoking since she was 15. She was in and out of the hospital herself with that. Add to this the stress of most of her children holding a grudge against her oldest grandson. Not to mention that she had been the Power of Attorney for her father for a number of years, her youngest daughter being the assistant PoA. In fact, not long before her death, she began the process of filing DNR papers and was torn between asking the CNA daughter who lived with her and her youngest daughter to be PoA for her.
She was so depressed and addicted to cigarettes that she would smoke with her O2 tank on, right next to her. As though she were trying to kill herself. I can see her there, in her seat at the head of the dining room table, in front of the china cabinet, with a full ashtray and word search book in front of her. Every so often, I get attacked with an image of her in a bed in an upstairs room in the old hospital. I'm standing with my back to the window and Kim is on my left. I was standing even with grandma's chest and looked at her face, which was turned towards my mom across from me. I remember seeing the butt of a Marlboro Light 100 mashed up in her hair and I had to look away. She had been in the hospital for a few days at that point and I nearly cried at the thought that none of the nurses had noticed or had had the courtesy to pull it out. It was my first experience with the dehumanization of elderly patients in a medical setting, and I never forgot it while I was working at the Care Center.
But the song that goes “Play me some country music, the kind that Grandma and Grandpa used to play” reminds me of a happy memory. Barb and Chris had just started going out to karaoke bars. Because they had convinced my mom and grandma to go with them, I got dragged along, also. I remember we were at Tolley's Allies and some older gentleman, maybe a little bit younger than Grandma, got up there and sang it. He had an excellent voice and someone, maybe the waitress, told us that he often sang that song. It was his signature song. I remember Grandma on the other side of the table, clapping along as the man's face turned red from the energy he was expending making her happy. It was the only time I remember her smiling after Grandpa died, and every time I hear that song, that memory is the one that returns and it cheers me as it saddens me.
I'm going to push out a poem immortalizing that moment.
I just finished the first draft. I'm going to say that I spent 45 minutes on it. Just to give a rounded time. It is now 4:05.
I'm going to break until 4:15 then I'm going to type up the ones I spent half an hour writing on Thursday, I think it was. Which reminds me, I need to update my log. I also spent half an hour at the mall writing a poem. So I can log that as well.
Sucks I can't count journaling time as writing time. Pooh.
Took 25 minutes to type those up. I'm counting it as 30.
Which brings today's total to...
30 mall minutes
30 typing minutes
45 Grandma minutes
Year's total: 40.5 hours. A full week's worth of work since August? Some dedicated writer I am. Even for only ever wanting to be obscure.
Starting time on the poetic phraseology I jotted down in code on yesterday's program because I can be a paranoid fool sometimes: 5:45
At 5:50, I had to go back to the journaling I did about the situation. Hopefully I'm not there for too long before I can get back to the emotion propelling the poem.
Those were a little bit of help.
So far, I've spent about 10 minutes with the actual poem. So if I can get another 5 in, I'll be able to count today's total time at 2 hours. Small victory.
Got one more stanza in. I should probably go back and rifle through the ones I wrote today. Go through and straighten them out. Pick out the good stuff, ditch the rest. After I take a little break; my shoulders are killing me.
The apartment's chilly—new stanza idea!
Fixed enough for now.
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