Well, I had a chuckle this morning. As I was driving past one of those Protestant Mega-Churches on my way in to work this morning, I noticed what their billboard said:
Living A Biblical Lifestyle
... and that with times and dates for some sort of lecture series.
And I thought about it for a minute... hmmm... living a Biblical Livestyle...
You could get ARRESTED for living a Biblical Lifestyle!
Images of David with his hundreds of wives came to mind.
Or even some of the lesser Patriarchs with their many, many wives, concubines, etc.
I wonder what they are teaching in this seminar...
And it isn't just women. I believe you could find just about any lifestyle under the sun in the Bible.
Do we really want our children to live a Biblical lifestyle?
~ Cheers! ~fly-by Fly~
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Well, so I haven't had much to say lately. Basically that's because my brain is being slowly fried in a frying pan (like scrambled eggs) by several things:
* a more advanced C++ Class I'm taking at a local community college..
* spending too much time staying up late at night play AOE2
* still trying to get over a "cold" (sinus infection, cold, allergies?, the BLAH!) that I've had for nearly two months now...
Anyway, here is something interesting:
From the "Buddhist Quote for the Day" - something I get from "Belief Net" www.beliefnet.com.
I think that there is wisdom to be found all over this world. God's wisdom. Even the Buddhists' have some of it. (My apologies to the "conservative" Christian out there who thinks that all the rest of the world is filled with morons who have nothing "wise" to offer.)
Anyway, it's this:
Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves. The situation is comparable to our serving food to ourselves and to other people from the same bowl. Everyone ends up eating the same thing--we must examine carefully what we are dishing out.
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness"
I like that. It reminds me of what Jesus said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." But it also probes even deeper. It talks about attitude. There is one thing I have noticed, if you have a crummy attitude, it comes out in everything you do. If you have a superficial attitude, that likewise comes out in everything you do. If you have a negative attitude, that also comes out in everything you do. If you have an annoying attitude, you will annoy others. Some "positive people" are very annoying... because they shove it in your face all the time about how fancy-dancy-happy-go-luck-positive(ly-annoying) they are. So, I'm not promoting the head in the coulds Norman Vincent Peale thing here either.
What strikes me as a good attitude to have toward life?
I think I've been toying with the two concepts:
a) The jovial, but simple, percepton. That is: life is a great pleasure to live and I'm having a good time - you can tell by the smile in my face (but I won't be annoying you about it.) This is what I think you find in Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot".
b) The noble perception. Yes, the more I think about it... all the things as Christians that God has called us and created us to be are tied up with the simple concept of nobility. Nobility of soul. Nobility of purpose. Nobility of spirit.
Nobility of soul is the ability to face any situation and remain calm, to face any calamity and remain thankful to God. It is the ability to speak or think about anything, without being shaken. The Noble spirit is kind to others, does not think more highly of himself than he ought to, and yet at the same time is NOT a festering-open-wound of negativity. When you are sorry for your sins, you are simply sorry for them, you don't wallow in their mire.
Anyway, that's my thought for the day. Perhaps it is enough for a week, a month or a year. If I would like to "become" anything that I can clearly define, it is "to become Noble."
~Basil-Fly~
* a more advanced C++ Class I'm taking at a local community college..
* spending too much time staying up late at night play AOE2
* still trying to get over a "cold" (sinus infection, cold, allergies?, the BLAH!) that I've had for nearly two months now...
Anyway, here is something interesting:
From the "Buddhist Quote for the Day" - something I get from "Belief Net" www.beliefnet.com.
I think that there is wisdom to be found all over this world. God's wisdom. Even the Buddhists' have some of it. (My apologies to the "conservative" Christian out there who thinks that all the rest of the world is filled with morons who have nothing "wise" to offer.)
Anyway, it's this:
Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves. The situation is comparable to our serving food to ourselves and to other people from the same bowl. Everyone ends up eating the same thing--we must examine carefully what we are dishing out.
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness"
I like that. It reminds me of what Jesus said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." But it also probes even deeper. It talks about attitude. There is one thing I have noticed, if you have a crummy attitude, it comes out in everything you do. If you have a superficial attitude, that likewise comes out in everything you do. If you have a negative attitude, that also comes out in everything you do. If you have an annoying attitude, you will annoy others. Some "positive people" are very annoying... because they shove it in your face all the time about how fancy-dancy-happy-go-luck-positive(ly-annoying) they are. So, I'm not promoting the head in the coulds Norman Vincent Peale thing here either.
What strikes me as a good attitude to have toward life?
I think I've been toying with the two concepts:
a) The jovial, but simple, percepton. That is: life is a great pleasure to live and I'm having a good time - you can tell by the smile in my face (but I won't be annoying you about it.) This is what I think you find in Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot".
b) The noble perception. Yes, the more I think about it... all the things as Christians that God has called us and created us to be are tied up with the simple concept of nobility. Nobility of soul. Nobility of purpose. Nobility of spirit.
Nobility of soul is the ability to face any situation and remain calm, to face any calamity and remain thankful to God. It is the ability to speak or think about anything, without being shaken. The Noble spirit is kind to others, does not think more highly of himself than he ought to, and yet at the same time is NOT a festering-open-wound of negativity. When you are sorry for your sins, you are simply sorry for them, you don't wallow in their mire.
Anyway, that's my thought for the day. Perhaps it is enough for a week, a month or a year. If I would like to "become" anything that I can clearly define, it is "to become Noble."
~Basil-Fly~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)