This just forced itself upon me. Really. I don't want to keep putting stuff on this site.
But I guess it (really) might be my duty. . . so here goes...
A Journal Chapter 16: The Duty of People

March 10, 2001  ******************************

. . . . . My Companion Bible opened this morning to Matthew 5, and I started reading the beatitudes. Verse 3 says ""Blessed are the poor in spirit..." and the note references Luke 6:20 (which just says "the poor") when the note says the "poor in spirit ... = poor in this world", obviously the simplest explanation for something over which I have puzzled and prayed quite a few times. And not just the simplest explanation but i think the most true.

. . . . . Verse 5 says "Blessed are the meek" and the note for meek says "Cp. Psalms 37:11" which says "But the meek shall inherit the earth" and the note there says "meek = patient oppressed ones." (Oppressed, recall, by the status quo, the system, oppressed by the devil of ordinary (natural, carnal) mind. The Hebrew word even can translate as "depressed in circumstances...poor".) "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow," is, of course, Isaiah 1:17. Kind of a summation: "Learn to do well." How? By seeking the judgment of God, which is to relieve oppressed people everywhere. It's really so simple ain't it?

. . . . . And don't say "Welfare just doesn't work." I realize that feeding a person a fish feeds that person once, and teaching a person to fish feeds that person the rest of his life (if there are fish, and if they're biting, and presuming bait is available, but those are other stories). As i've explained on this site (and as Lao Tsu taught so long ago), if we provide like beans and rice for anybody who wants it, people will be willing to work for sausauge. Period. And for the people who temporarily can't find work, well, the beans and rice will keep them from copping an attitude about the system. Follow? (Look, I've been down that 'between jobs' road a time or two believe me; and wanna talk about bad jobs? Shoot me an e. I'm convinced bad employees basically are made, not born, and for every bad employee there's a bad boss.

. . . . . I think it was Huxley who wrote something like "Our goal is to discover that we are where we are supposed to be." Hey, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, remember? Isaiah 1:18 says "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Let's not begrudge a neighbor a bowl of beans and rice huh? I mean, that don't cost what a cool drink of water costs in some of our (obscenely) fine restaurants.  (2021 note:  talk about repetition)

. . . . . Of course, this is all like applicable to the second greatest commandment, that we love other people like we love ourselves. What, you might ask, about the first and greatest commandment? ("Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 [and Mark 12:30].  "All thy strength" is in one of them.)

. . . . . Deuteronomy 18:13 says "Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God" (perhaps the inspiration for Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:48 to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"). My Companion Bible says in a note that the Hebrew for perfect translates "devoted, or single-hearted". "Devoted" is surely what man's doctrine would have us believe; it's subjective enough to be safe. I would ask that you consider "single-hearted", especially in light of Jesus' warnings (in Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34) to make sure that our "eye be single". (That these warnings in both Gospels immediately precedes the flat truth uttered by Jesus that we "cannot serve God and money" cannot, I think, be over-emphasized.)

. . . . . James 1:8 ("a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways"), of course, completes the trifecta. We have heart, eye (which rather obviously probably means like "vision" or "attitude"), and mind, with warnings to be singular. Paul writes that "the carnal mind is enmity against God" and Jesus and James (along with Moses [maybe he wrote that part about putting God first and not being covetousness anyway]) also acknowledge how critical it is that we overcome ordinary mind. All also indicate that, for the majority anyway, it just ain't easy. And anyone with eyes can see that most people don't devote much time or effort to it; low priority, good Sunday afternoon nap meditation huh? I mean, the Buddhists i think devote a real late part of their life to devotion to God, maybe quite a few actually leave their homes and families and become wandering ascetics begging for food and shelter. (Does that ring a faint bell, anyway, to any professing Christians? ["And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."( Luke 9:23; also Mark 10:21[ "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."], Mark 8:34-36[ "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"], and Matthew 16:24-27[ "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."])])

. . . . . Speaking of the duty of man, also check out Luke 12:29: "Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind." (This verse is mentioned here in Journal Chapter 15.) And we don't have to look back into the law (which needs to be observed, remember, not to the letter but [much more difficult] to the spirit) to find insight: "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Shelter and feed everybody. Duh!

. . . . . Like I've been saying though, I don't recommend anybody take the radical action of giving all their stuff to the poor and becoming a street person; the disciples backed off this bit of doctrine very early (though the early church held "all things common"[ Acts 4:32 and 2:44]), e.g. telling Paul only to "remember the poor" (Galatians 2:10) when he asked their blessing to become a missionary; I (still) say everybody should try to get everybody they know to agree to do something kind of like this, probably/possibly on a much lesser scale.

           Being in the dispensation of grace hasn't helped the patient oppressed of this world a bit; the Bible gives us no reason to believe we can act like we did when Jesus walked the earth and get away with it; lots of people (myself included) think these are the end times. The end of time might come in our time, 'cause certainly the kingdom of heaven is at hand and/or for all this His hand is stretched out still. Shall not His soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Sure, there's a whole lot I don't know, but I'm thinking the kingdom of heaven is closer to hand now than it has been since Jesus walked the earth. (Well, obviously it is; we haven't attained it yet, but the heavens and earth will pass away and that is undoubtedly closer now than it has been...) And the alternative to us agreeing on good will toward men appears to be the dreaded day of vengeance mentioned so often in the Bible.

. . . . . (Which reminds me: I'm convinced it wasn't so much that people were offended by Jesus claiming to be the Messiah when they knew [Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:57, e.g.] he was a sinner; rather, it was that Jesus kept telling them to do the unthinkable [and His sayings got harder and harder too] which basically was telling them to give up their lifestyle for the unknown "kingdom of heaven", thereby playing right into the hands of the aristocracy who so rightfully felt threatened by Him.)

. . . . . Opened Companion Bible this morning (just another day) to Haggai 2:6: "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;"

. . . . . back to Isaiah 1: idols is featured big here, in the ten commandments, and in Jesus' preaching as well. isaiah 2:8 says "Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made." We put a lot of time and attention into attaining stuff. Serving money. Period. (Yeah, sure, it serves you. Right.) A better car, a new house, a new television, refrigerator, composite kitchen counter-tops [almost as good as granite at half the price (which is still abomination you betcha)], how about those SUVs?, the list is almost endless. And folks, I'm not saying I'm any better than you but I'm also saying I'm not fooling myself. (Plus I'm beggin' you to join with me in wanting less that others might have more; that's the only way it'll work: if we get enough people to agree.)

           i know the rationalizations we employ to justify newer and/or bigger and/or better. And hey, i've lived without a washer and dryer maybe more than i've lived with 'em. And they're nice things to have. But they're reflections of idols, toys of materialism and conspicuous consumption that Jesus and God find quite repulsive I assure you. At least when twenty-four thousand (24,000) people (PEOPLE!) die every day of hunger-related causes I don't think any rational person can deny the reality.  (2021 note:  i think i should have said those people die of hunger; the number of hunger-related deaths i believe to be much higher.

March 21, 2001  ***************************

. . . . . My Companion Bible opened this morning to Isaiah 56: "Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed." I opened my Quickverse there and i had written this note on that verse:

"Important stuff. See Matthew 23:23 et al. Jesus was obviously declaring this verse when He said "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." When the righteousness of God is collectively sought, even if it is the form of lots of people in the grip of ordinary mind in border-line panic mode (realizing that the love and light of the universe seeks all people and desires that all people turn to it _and_ that Spirit of Love considers the have- have-not status quo nothing but abomination) seeking to escape the day of vengeance, when that righteousness is sought out in word and deed, then God's salvation (the kingdom of heaven, the end of time, the end of matter, no more mind, only spirit) truly is near. "

. . . . . Matthew 23:23 ("Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.") has this computer note by me: "People who observe the doctrine of men don't pay attention to the truths of God. (also see Job 29:14 and note) (note on Psalms 41:1 focuses on not being covetous by sharing)"

. . . . . Though I don't mention it in that note, of critical importance is the fact that people who observe the doctrine of men are often people of integrity and good reputation. (That God is not a respecter of persons is a fact that has no special significance to them i guess; certainly the truth about that fact appears to be unrecognized by them.) You know, people who try to obey God and simply aren't cognizant of the fact that they are sold out to ordinary mind. And yeah, that's carnal mind. And everybody who's spent any time on this site is down with the "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" verse. And Paul's echoing Jesus' manifold warnings about strong delusions.

. . . . . The implications, i realize, are quite profound. One of the things I'm saying is that teenage rebellion can be a sign not just of independent thought but of perceptions that are much closer to the heart of God than, say, the perceptions of those teenagers who are not rebellious because they are so conformed to the world (albeit the world of organized religion which likes to think it is not in conformity to the world of "sin"; see my entry for March 26, just below). I also realize that's just the tip of that particular iceberg.

March 26, 2001  ****************************

. . . . . A preacher yesterday was being real big on the difference between sinners and saints. He said that when members of his congregation asked Jesus into their heart they were changed. They became saints! They still sinned, sure (he said), but they were different from sinners. They were different not because they didn't sin but because they were going to heaven when they died while the poor sinners who didn't invite Jesus into their life were doomed to eternity in hell. I mean, get real, people! (Yeah, it happens, and i think i've written rather extensively on this site about the Sudden School of Zen, and the sentient being [beings capable of thought like stand in jeopardy kind of generally] test of salvation.) Didn't Jesus say in red letters if you sin you are a slave to sin?

. . . . . Not completely off the subject, i just thought recently of the time in '97( if memory serves me well) within a day or two of the dark news of Mother Teresa's death, when i went out to a BooksAMillion and there was a cardtable set up inside the door with a card for people to sign, maybe to be sent to her Calcutta headquarters. Anyway, I got down on a knee and picked up a pen and her life of sacrifice like flashed before my eyes (really) and my life of abundance crashed into my consciousness and I just didn't feel worthy to breath the same air as her and I like flipped the pen away and maybe left the store. . .

. . . . . And yeah, I realize that people who consider themselves saints also (at least while they're considering their sainthood) generally don't consider themselves worthy of the honor. (Which is the correct attitude.) But they also don't consider Jesus saying "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" to be about them. They are told (and at least like to believe) that this refers to a different judgment from the one where Jesus is going to separate the sheep from the goats. That's the only way their saint-and-(despite-being-a)sinner dichotomy works. (see the study of judgment on this site for more on this bit of man's doctrine)

. . . . . Here's a little truth: I told a neighbor not too long ago not to worry about knocking on my door. "I'm not doing anything important over there," I said. Then I added something about hoping it wasn't important. It was a true insight into me. That's the way I think. That's the way I am. In slow moments I realize that I could be like another of the cornerstones in the wall of humanity. (And yeah, believe me, it scares me too.) Power over the elements? Not at all important if I can't save souls. But mostly I like to think I've done everything I'm supposed to do. (The rest is up to you. I mean us. [Does it get scarier and scarier? Focus on God, the spirit of love, the light which will overcome the darkness. Pray without ceasing. It gets easier.])

. . . . . Anyway, if the change I was discussing (from sinner to saint, from ordinary mind to transformed being) is not a turning away from carnal mind then it's not what God is looking for, and by our nature we are carnal (look at eating and sleeping and drinking and other desires of the flesh) and turning away from it is a lot of hard work. And just take my word for it, it's a lot of work that will not be done if you don't have faith in a God of mercy and judgement. (That's to kind of cover the "faith not works" sentence that Paul wrote and (some) men have made so very much of these days.) You can't serve God and money is enough for us to actually call it impossible. And yes, with God all things are possible which is why I am advocating we all, yes, humanity collectively, see that we all get a good meal and then be still and pray for our return to heaven, yes return, 'cause we are fallen angels, okay?

April 14, 2001  ******************************

. . . . . Just saw the end of Baking With Julia Child episode 303, where Julia took a bite of this tart with fresh peaches sauteed in something with some kind of whipped topping and sliced almonds and confectioners sugar (Julia said something like the lady "took this as far as it could be taken") and she took a bite and looked at the lady and looked and kind of laughed and looked and finally said "a dessert to cry for" (said it twice i think) and looked at the lady and they both kind of laughed and I said "exactly".

. . . . . When Jesus said that the religious people of His day paid tithe of "mint and cummin" He was saying they paid tithes (and that was the people who were looked up to by everybody remember; lots of people give less than ten percent) and ignored the more important matters of justice and judgment. All we like sheep have gone astray and Jesus commanded us to feed His sheep. Sure He wants us to be spiritual role models say, but just as surely He doesn't want people to be physically hungry. Too much of His emphasis was on the spirit of not being covetous, too many of the incidents in the Gospels deal with the physical act of feeding people. The Sermon on the Mount, in fact, is an outline of why we should give all our possessions away and follow this man named Jesus (not Emmanuel). What we see today is people paying tithes of luxuries (though our rich people are way way beyond petty herbs; they consider it a sacrifice very acceptable to the Lord I'm sure to downgrade their main vacation from ten grand to five [because they certainly can't downgrade their retirement accounts] while people starve) and certainly paying lip service (lots of people don't tithe remember) to God while their hearts are far from Him and they don't even know it.

. . . . . It reminded me of the time the (would-be) preacher and his wife came over to eat dinner with me and my (now ex-)wife and I said (right before we served dessert) that generally speaking God must surely view our eating dessert as sin, given how many hungry people there are in the world. (I think I wrote of this incident in el journal.) He hated me saying that, but didn't have to go far to get there I think it safe to say; I'm a little different you know.

. . . . . Anyway (back to Julia), I said 'neither of those ladies or anybody you talked to would pick a serving of that dessert over a hungry person getting a plate of staple food', but collectively that is exactly what we do: claiming ours (and bowing down to the gods/idols of common sense and status quo) and saying how sorry we are that things are the way they are. Know what I mean? (It might be just desserts, huh? Like when Jesus told the man in Luke 16 "remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil(/worthless) things: but now (in eternity) he is comforted, and thou art tormented." (Here is a bit about that rich man.) Not merely desserts to cry for, but [because people die of hungry while we wallow in excess] desserts to die for. And we deserve it. In other words, just desserts.)

April 15, 2001  ***************************************

. . . . . Just saw a (would-be) preacher say something about "trusting Jesus for your eternal salvation" and it hit me that maybe I haven't been real clear about something: for one thing, when Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life" that wasn't prophecy, that was here-and-then (though I don't doubt He'll judge us all); another thing: it's true that Jesus was calling people to leave it all behind (well, sell everything and give the money away to the poor) and follow Him, that was what i've called His primary vision, and it's also true that I've said doing this now is not His plan. Well, I'm about to re-think all that; I'm coming to believe that maybe we are back again at a place where God wants us to agree to change our priorities, to repent, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

. . . . . Jeff Clark just preached a(nother) great sermon (except he said something about Jesus being without sin and maybe even implied that it's important) and talked about the service-people flying into Washington yesterday and talked about the joy of a father greeting his son and that's the joy God has when we turn to him (Jeff had tears rolling down his cheeks) and it reminded me a one of my out-of-body experiences...I wasn't knock-knock-knocking at heaven's door, I was flying through it. And it was like very humbling because it's all so simple__nothing matters because there is no matter, ya know?, and we're all the same, really, all equal menwomen you could say 'cause there're no bodies in heaven, and God is everybody (and a no body too) and everybody (truly alive) is God.

. . . . . I understood all that in the twinkling of an eye, I mean I was really flying, not drugs at all, just love unfeigned, and maybe there was a reason why I stopped that day. Maybe I had seen all I was supposed to see, gone as far as I was supposed to go. (Oh yeah, of course that's right, i mean, our goal is to discover we're where we're supposed to be.) I've often wondered what stopped me, if I could have gone on, and maybe more often wondered what my body would do if my spirit were united (i believe re-united ya know) with God in a sudden zen experience. (See Ecclesiastes 8:8 ["There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit"] and consider Lao Tsu's "Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, Can you avoid separation?") Neither here nor there.

. . . . . Just like the question of whether Jesus was without sin or not. Just like the question the guy in Florida and charles stanley mentioned yesterday and today as being so pivotal, the question of Jesus' bodily resurrection. (Looking at people not knowing Him so often so shortly after He disappeared from the tomb just doesn't compute with a bodily resurrection to me. Many if not most of those appearances seem to be spiritual, ghostly appearances. But it's also not very important to me.)

April 16, 2001  ******************************

. . . . . Taffy dollar just made me sick, preaching on John 10:10 ("that they might have life, and that they have it more abundantly"), saying God wants us to live lives of excess, yes, that's the word she used, excess, I couldn't believe it, saying to the congregation she hopes people don't get mad at her and her husband for living in a big house and having more than two cars and she went on and on, feeding these people just what they wanted to hear. And I swear she referenced 1 Timothy 2 for backup (her mistake or mine?), which says in verses 9 and 10 "that women adorn themselves . . . not with broided (like styled) hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array (like fine clothes) . . . but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." Never have heard that preached in a sermon.

. . . . . And what, by the way, what about the twenty-four thousand (24,000) people (human beings) who will die today according to http://www.thehungersite.com?  (2014 note:  now it's http://thehungersite.greatergood.com and they've taken the stat down; also, if you like it on Facebook they send ads every day) Tammy (or is it Taffy?) and most Khristians say "Let them eat dessert." (See entry of April 14.) Tammy and most Khristians say "The money I give to God's Real Church trickles down and supports missionaries who live abroad and try to give those people the really important spiritual food Jesus talks about and trickles down some more and sometimes some of it goes for beans and rice for people who are really hungry you know." Am I coming across as sarcastic? Does anybody besides me (I don't think the commentaries concur), does anybody else believe Jesus was being sarcastic when He said in Luke 16( we were just on that chapter [different parable] huh?):9 "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon(money) of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Or "Make friends with money, so when you die you can go to money heaven."

. . . . . How about some more big picture, but from a slightly different angle? I wanted to mention when it was happening that the fierce anger evidenced in the streets of Cincinnati the last few days almost certainly is the merest tip of an iceburg of oppressed people. One fact I caught regarding that situation was that unemployment among Cincinnati blacks is around forty percent (40%). The extended family of such urban jungles no longer is the factor it has been in the past, resulting in more people living (or trying to live) closer to the edge. Thank God for welfare reform huh? A quick look at the past: remember when ameriKa lifted its lamp beside the golden door, to the tired, poor, huddled masses of the world? Then, when there were enough hungry people in the kountry to do the scut work, our system very smartly slammed the door. Now, when chicken processing plants (for example) have huge problems keeping their lines manned (because oppressed people basically without options like those rioting in Cincy within range of the plants have been hired and fired and rehired and refired) we see those processing plants in Arkansas and Tennessee and Alabama and Mississippi (i think all are included, at least in the general situation) advertising on the radio in ameriKan towns along the Rio Grand for Mexican workers with green cards (that don't even have to be very good forgeries ya know because nobody checks too close) because, don't forget, there are basically no ameriKans who will do the work.

. . . . . The key to the present big picture is no different from the past: society is a perfect statistical bell curve, with just as many people living lean as fat, the six percent who control fifty percent of the wealth juxtaposed against six percent who have nothing! and maybe the top twenty-five percent living the hugely excessive lifestyle tami and cref dollar and so many others who profess to be Christians (and don't have an idea!) extoll and praise and thank God for while the bottom twenty-five percent live a hand-to-mouth (read oppressed existence) which gets more and more difficult (while that top twenty-five percent check twice a year to see how much their net worth has increased [and hey, when these folks net worth goes down it doesn't matter as far as their lifestyle goes]) because the status quo basically seems to adhere to the dictum that the rich get richer and though we have more rich in ameriKa it seems to be at the expense of the bottom end of the curve. The world is getting smaller. Bob Dylan might have written prophetically in his Academy Award-winning song this year: "If the Bible is right, the world will explode." And I'll mention here, in this big picture segment, that the matter of angels in the form of humankind must at least be considered. (see a study of angels on this website for more on this)

. . . . . Another aside: back to televangelists: cref and taf dollar can't claim that I hate them; it's the all-too-pervasive sin of covetousness (albeit unconscious) that I hate. On the other hand, as I've moaned about often enough on this site, I can claim with a great degree of authority that people hate me, as opposed to my sins (which I really work on all the time, most often maybe by trying to do nothing). John 15:18-19 says "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Despised and rejected and, yes, hated. That's me. Found a dead cat in my pitiful little flower bed this morning. In the last three years I had a mechanic wreck a transmission, another group of mechanics destroy my rack-and-pinion gizmo, a computer repair place ravaged a computer I left them, a retail store clique virtually destroy a brand new computer I bought (though I went national and got my money back), my water pipes have been trashed several times, nails in tires, my trailer space rent went from $75 to $112 a month, the list goes on and on. (Why stay where i ain't wanted, you ask? See here for a little on that.)

. . . . . Went to the grocery store early Sunday morning, and asked this woman who was dressed up if she would like to get in front of me in the cash register line. "I don't have anywhere to go," I told her, and thought of how much I would like to go to church and how the woman would probably say "Oh you should come to my church, we'd love to have you" and it would have been true except I would have been/would be welcome if I would change and the change required of me basically would be to bow down to the status quo. Actually my breaking down and weeping because of my lostness might be an effective entry into said status quo. Because I guess you realize, I'm pretty famous (or infamous). And hey, this has happened at three churches since '86: I never really expressed my views, I guess people knew them, and at two of those churches my (now ex-)wife made me go out and start the car and come pick her up in case there was a bomb wired into it. She never said a word, but it's no lie. And that's with me almost not talking in church or public.

. . . . . Kind of reminds me of the lady who said she was from Chicago and down-and-out who wanted to do chores for me and my (now ex-)wife. Maybe '95 or '96. She said to me privately "Give me a scripture" and I immediately said "This too shall pass", not really paraphrasing Jesus about heaven and earth shall pass away underst, just mostly thinking this would pass. I came in to lunch and my wife said something about a trumpet and for some reason I said "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare to do battle?"( see 1 Corinthians 14:8) I figured she decided to give me another chance at a scripture you know, and told my ex-wife to say what she did. But for as long as I can remember I seem to have failed (sometimes purposely i think i've mentioned) to meet expectations, failed to pass tests, done stuff that turns people away from me.  (What i consider my big tests, mostly centering on Him, i have somehow passed, though not through my own efforts i think it safe to say.

. . . . . Since I mentioned John 10:10 elsewhere on this site, I looked again in the appendix and read that zoe (life) "involves resurrection life and eternal life; and hence, as such, is the 'gift of God'." Eternity is the gift, not excess; it is an abundance of spiritual fruit, not physical. Tammy says that inviting Jesus into our heart gives us an advantage, and that the life of excess merely is taking advantage of our advantage. (i hope that was a fair summary tam.)

. . . . . Well, no, no, no. The advantage is a belief in God, which should lead to a fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. (I don't dispute that we are in a dispensation of grace, I merely maintain that we have not fulfilled our part of God's covenant with us, and that said fulfillment is a requirement of our being able to accept the gift; we are still in the grip of the devil of ordinary mind as much as the spirit of a heart which worships God first and loves all other living beings as itself as a corollary. We gain a personal advantage as we use that belief/fear/wisdom in trying to be constantly obedient to God, a living God who wishes for all to be saved, and who says that the second most important thing in the universe, second only to loving Him with all of our heart and mind and soul strength (yeah, that one's easy, loving God so much that love of children is on the hate side of the love/hate continuum) is to love everybody else in the world as much as we love ourselves. Go figure.

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