Monthly Archives: February 2012

Jesus heals on request (Matthew 8: 1-4)

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Bible Summary:

Jesus comes down the hill and a man with dreaded skin disease kneels before him and asks him to heal him. Jesus touches and heals him. He tells the man not to tell anyone, but to visit the priest to prove the cure and offer the sacrifice Moses ordered.

My Thoughts:

Follow the rules: Jesus had just told the crowd during the Sermon on the Mount not to draw attention to themselves, so he repeats this to the man by asking him not to tell anyone he had healed him. Instead, he tells the man to follow the rules of Moses and visit the priest to prove he is clean so he can become a member of the community again.

Even though Jesus could do great miracles, he still followed the laws. You can make dramatic change by “showing” others instead of “telling” them what to do.

Green tea keeps elderly spry

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A Japanese study shows that drinking five cups of green tea each day can keep people over 65-years-old more agile. These same people were a third less likely to develop disabilities than those who drank less than one cup a day. I wonder if it is due to the green tea, the extra hydration or more exercise going to the bathroom so often? I am speaking from experience since I like green tea. Learn more in the Green tea drinkers show less disability with age: study story at Reuters.

 

Build your life solid like rock (Matthew 7: 24-29)

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Bible Summary:

Jesus tells the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount that anyone who hears and obeys his words is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock instead of sand. The rain pours, rivers flood, and wind blows hard against the house on the rock, but it does not fall. Jesus finishes the sermon and everyone is amazed at how he taught with authority, not like the teachers of Law.

My Thoughts:

Solid Foundation: Like a house, every life needs a solid foundation. Jesus provides that foundation in the Sermon on the Mount:

  • The Beatitudes
  • Be a good role model for all to see
  • Obey the Ten Commandments
  • Anger is a bad as murder
  • Marriage is sacred and adultery starts with a look at another woman
  • Keep your promises
  • Love your enemy instead of seeking revenge
  • Do charity anonymously
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • Do not show off
  • Focus on riches in heaven instead of on earth
  • Live for today; life is too short to worry
  • Do not judge others before yourself
  • Ask and receive, seek and find, knock and the door will open
  • Make good choices even though they are very difficult
  • Be cautious about false prophets who may swindle your money

Be on guard for false prophets (Matthew 7: 15-23)

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Bible Summary:

Jesus tells the crowd during the Sermon on the Mount to be on guard for false prophets who look like sheep, but are wolves on the inside. You will know them by what they do. Healthy trees grow good fruit, but poor trees make bad fruit, so they are cut down and thrown into the fire. Only those who do what God wants will enter the Kingdom of heaven. When Judgment Day comes, many will say they spoke God’s message and performed miracles, but Jesus will say “I never knew you wicked people.”

My Thoughts:

False Prophets: Jesus warns us about false prophets, charlatans interested in swindling money and other valuables from you. They are very slick individuals that could sell you land on the moon. No, you cannot buy land on the moon – at least not yet. Today, some evangelists live in multi-million dollar homes paid for from heavily “encouraged” tithing by their church members. Jesus said we would know false prophets by what they do and he repeatedly spoke against accumulating wealth, so you decide.

God’s list of do nots (Leviticus 19)

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Bible Summary:

God tells Moses to have people be holy, respect their mothers, fathers, and older people, and the Sabbath. He then gives them a list of nots:

  • Do not abandon God and worship idols.
  • During harvest, do not cut the grain at the edge of the field nor go back to cut the heads of grain that were left.
  • Do not go back through your vineyard to gather missed grapes; leave them for the poor.
  • Do not lie, cheat, or steal.
  • Do not make a promise in God’s name, if you do not intend to keep it.
  • Do not take advantage of anyone or rob him.
  • Do not hold back wages of someone you hired, not even for one night.
  • Do not curse a deaf man or put something in front of a blind man to make him stumble.
  • Do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich in legal cases.
  • Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him.
  • Do not hold a grudge against anyone, settle your differences so you will not commit a sin because of him, but love your neighbor as you love yourself.
  • Do not crossbreed domestic animals.
  • Do not plant two kinds of seeds in the same field.
  • Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.
  • Do not eat the fruit from a newly planted tree for the first three years, offer all the fruit to God in the fourth year, and then eat the fruit every year after.
  • Do not eat meat with blood still in it or after the second day after the offering.
  • Do not practice any kind of magic.
  • Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head, trim your beard, tattoo yourself, or cut gashes in you body to mourn for the dead.
  • Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes.
  • Do not go for advice from people who consult the spirits of the dead.
  • Do not mistreat foreigners. Treat them as you would a fellow Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves.
  • Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity.

My Thoughts:

Is genetic experimentation bad?: I think Moses covered about everything in this list. The command to not cross-breed animals or plants was surprising. We have been cross breeding since Gregor Mendel created hybrid pea starting in 1856 (learn more about Gregor Mendel at Wikipedia).  But, it puts into question how far genetic experimentation should go? In the future you might choose your child’s looks – gender, eye color, hair, and build. Sure sounds like Hitler’s master race. I think God was cautioning against messing with nature and interestingly, coming from the Bible, natural selection.

Positive repackaging by Jesus: The “love your neighbor as you love yourself” in Leviticus was surprising. It sure sounds like Jesus, just without all the “nots”. Maybe he just repackaged the best ideas of the Old Testament with a positive spin? If so, good for us.

Groundhog Day

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Movie Summary:

I watched Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, again today. It has become an annual event to remind me what Jesus taught about the narrow gate. The story is about a self-centered TV weatherman named Phil Conners who gets stuck reliving Groundhog Day over and over again.

The first day Phil is his normal egocentric self, treating everyone poorly. The next day he is in shock to learn he is reliving the same day, February 2. He tries to get help from his producer, Rita, a doctor and a psychiatrist, but to no avail since he wakes up to repeat the same day again.

Phil then realizes there are no consequences in his life, since no one but he remembers what happens during each repeated day, so he goes on a spree of gluttony, stealing, and seducing women. After all the “fun” is done, he sets his eyes on conquering Rita for himself. During several repeated days he learns all about her, but ends up being repeatedly slapped when he tries to seduce her.

Phil sinks into a deep depression when he realizes he cannot have Rita and he tries to commit suicide several ways but continues to reawaken to repeat the same day. He then tells Rita he is “a god” and proves it to her by describing what is going to happen before it happens and all her cherished memories he learned on previous days. She wonders and sticks with him for the rest of the day. Phil starts to show his feelings and realizes he is a jerk who does not deserve Rita since she is nice and kind to others.

Phil starts to do many random acts of kindness and begins learning new skills like playing piano and ice sculpting. Later, he takes an old homeless man to the hospital who dies to Phil’s dismay. In the next repeat day, Phil tries various ways to save the old man, but fails. He gives the eulogy on the next day.

Phil wakes up the following morning all chipper and ramps up his efforts of helping others. Everyone in town loves him and they put him up for the bachelor auction at the banquet that evening, where Rita wins him. Phil realizes he is happy no matter what happens tomorrow. Rita stays with Phil, they wake up together on February 3 breaking the cycle, and Phil asks if there is anything he can do for her.

My Thoughts:

Phil is given a chance to relive his life until he gets it right. It takes years (to him) but eventually he learns to be interested in others, to listen to their wants and dreams, to be kind, to not despair when things are not going as you would like, to love others, to be happy, to help others, to live for today and that you can do anything in life if you set your mind to it. Do not take years like Phil; make a vow to be happy today!

This movie reminds me of Jesus and the narrow gate passage because it shows someone headed down the wrong path in life and even when he gets a chance to correct it, he takes the easy way out by trying to live a life of no consequences. In the end, the movie shows the only way is through the narrow gate of hard work by being kind and helping and loving others.