On a note: My Aunt Ceomi has leukemia. I'm closer to her than any of my extended family, and she's the one who brought me down to college, who was there when I graduated FC, and she's seen me through some hard junk. She's in Chicago getting chemo right now, but because of the nature of her leukemia, she may need a bone marrow transplant. If anyone is interested in helping by seeing if they can be a donor, or would just donate blood on her behalf, it's much appreciated. Prayers, too. It's kinda rough. I'm used to seeing her pretty regularly and haven't been up since early Fall and I miss her and my cousins a lot (Ben, too, of course, but that's different).
That was the biggest news to get the day after Christmas.
I started classes yesterday. I got to sit on the floor in Cultural Anthropology. Dr. B. reminds me of the Prof Robin Williams plays in Dead Poets Society. I think I want to try standing on the desk in class tomorrow to see what her reaction is. I don't think I'm that gutsy, though. But classes seem like they will be enjoyable. If my other two texts books would just show up already, I'd be okay.
And for your reading pleasure.
A section of a podcast I listen to transcribed for your own uplifting:
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"My mom did some sick stuff...partly because of that, largely because of that, I didn't grow up thinking I had unsurpassable worth; I didn't think I had worth at all. In fact, I internalized the message that I thought there was seriously something wrong with me; there's something defective about me; I'm a bad kid; I'm a bad machine; there's something just not working right with me. And uh, the only thing I'm really good at is getting authorities to be really mad at me.
...So that's how I got life, I mean, we do what we can to get life in this feeding frenzy of idols to get life however we can and the one thing I was good at was, in Catholic school was getting Mother Mary mad at me. No other kid could push her that far, but with ME, the funniest thing in the world was when you could get a nun to swear! Yes! Of course you get the skubalon beat out of you when that happens, but I was used to that, now I was just getting it from Mother Mary [instead of my mom].
So you get life from that, but see, when I came to Christ at the age of 17, I brought all that baggage with me. I really did want to serve God, and wanted to be saved and believed it was true, but I brought that baggage of screwed up thinking with me. And looking back on it, I didn't know so much at the time, but my picture of God in those early years looked a whole lot more like my mom than it did Jesus. God always had his fist clenched, it was cocked back, waiting for me to screw up. Because I always screw up. And you know what? I would eventually screw up. And he's just waiting to bloody my face because I screwed up one more time. And the early years of my Christian walk I went through this process of repenting, and getting re-saved and losing my salvation and God would beat me up and I'd go back and repent. And the Big Fist was the eternal one, cause then if I don't get it straightened out at the time time, I'm going to be eternally getting a bloody face. So that was my picture of God, that was my picture of me.
As time went on I gradually began to learn the truth about who God is and the truth about who I am. God was able to sear through and evaporate some of those lies that were filled in my head, and I came to learn gradually that God is not a God whose fist in clenched back ready to hit me, but rather, God is a God whose hands are on the cross, nailed on the cross for me.
God is not a God who wants to bloody my face, God is a God who allowed his own face to be bloodied on my behalf. I began to see that God is a beautiful God and that God pursues me and to see that I'm the prodigal son, and God runs down the hill to embrace me and when he sees me he doesn't make me grovel, he doesn't even let me talk, he just embraces me and then he throws a tremendous party for me. That's who I am that's who God is. He runs towards me!
I'm the lost sheep that he goes out looking for. In the middle of the night, it's my own fault I got lost, but he comes looking for me and finds me, just before the wolves devour me, brings me home, and instead of chastising me, throws a tremendous party. That's who the true God is and that's who I truly am.
I began to see that I am the child of the kind and that I have unsurpassable worth and that I am filled with his Spirit and I am the walking temple of God..."
-Greg Boyd, "Skubalon" Mars Hill Bible Church Podcast
I can not believe that Ceomi is your aunt.
I know her, just not well. I met her once I think. I know Robert (truthme) and also Jonas and Cori. (Cori is her sister).
I told Cori already when I first heard of Ceomi having Leukemia, that I would gladly give her my marrow. (and anything else she needed).
Cori told me that they would first be checking family mambers. I don't know when or if I'll hear from Cori again, I am not a close family friend.... But if there turns out to still be aneed for bone marrow.... count me in to have myself tested to see if I am a match.
My family is praying for her.
I know others are too.
I don't really KNOW any of them barely at all.
In fact Jonas is the only one I've ever even seen a picture of.
But Robert knows them, and Robert (truthme) is a very dear friend.
Robert is best friends with Jonas, So he knows Cori, Kathy, Becky, Cori's parents, Ceomi, and then Elaine and Laura that live in Chicago.. (probably the one that Ceomi was visiting).
Can you donate blood on someone's behalf from 3 hours away? I might be up near Chicago on Saturday. How can I find out about being a marrow donor, etc?
Horus- appx. 5550 BC - 3050 BC
Jesus- appx. 7-2 BC
Anyone ever raised the Horus vs. Jesus story to you? How Horus' story of being born of a virgin in Egypt, being killed, being raised in three days, all that jazz seems to match up with Jesus' biography.
The question is, where does that info come from. There are many skeptics who hear the story from somebody else or read it off the internet with no evidence except the say so of another skeptic. According to the 2nd cent BC version of the story from Plutarch, Horus was the son of Osiris. Osiris got murdered. Isis, his wife, collected the body parts and sang him back to life. Osiris become god of the underworld. It was hardly a glorious resurrection. I am not aware of any evidence that the resurrection happened on the third day. Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis. The section of my book is abbreviated that relates the story, so I don't know whether or not Horus is supposed to be born from Isis as a virgin or not, but many people I have spotted discussing it on the web say no way. So, the question is, where is your source for this biographical info? The concensus of the scholarly community in biblical studies, whether believers or not, is that the aposltes believed in Jesus as Lord because they believed they saw him risen from the dead. The belief that Jesus was risen from the dead came on that basis and was central immediately to the faith. The belief did not have time to evolve from piecing together ancient religious myths, etc. Critical scholars date the eyewitness report of Paul (what he "received") in 1 Cor 15:3-5 as dating to within two years of the crucifixion. It can hardly be denied that the apostles believed Jesus rose from the dead because they thought they saw him risen from the dead. As for parallels in other religions. I think that God made a special point to show Jesus as the fulfillment of the world's hopes for their gods, only truly accomplishing it in Jesus Christ. For which we have evidence.
I don't know where you're hearing this version of the story, but it does not correlate to anything I've ever heard regarding the Egyptian Osiris epic.
In the narratives I have read (and I have read many), the general gist is the same:
Osiris is ruler over Egypt; Isis is his wife. His brother Seth conspires to have him killed and chopped up into many pieces (or just sent off in a coffin). His wife collects all the pieces (or finds the coffin), magically revives him long enough to be impregnated, and goes off and bears Horus. Horus grows up and contends with Seth for his rightful place as the king of Egypt while Osiris his father becomes the god of the underworld.
The Egyptians saw this cycle repeating itself through their kings: the living king was considered Horus, the dead king Osiris.
There really is no comparison. Osiris never lives again as he lived before, while the Apostles claimed that Jesus lived again in His transformed body. It is a weak connection made by the "history of religion" school to minimize any claims of uniqueness of Christianity.
Thank to you both. I'll see if I can do some reading, but my knowledge was fairly limited so I figured I'd ask for any pool of knowledge from the masses (or what portion ever reads my blog. ha!)
Say, Chuck, William Lane Craig just responded to this question on his blog today. And he is a scholar in the know on this stuff. If you would like to check it out, you can find it here: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pag ename=q_and_a
I'd never heard of that connection--nice post, and good follow up. I'll have to remember that. Thanks for the birthday wishes, Charlei! How are you doing these days?
I love you, too, Charlei. Not just for the depth in your own words, but for the truly compassionate heart I see in you and your desire to bring God's healing love to those that are broken. And your wish to somehow share that vision with those around you. Thanks so much for that. Its always a boost to read the things you have to say.
Apparently Todd has sung Lucy in the sky with diamonds so much with her that she knows the whole first verse and chorus. It's not an easy song for a 2 year old to spit out, let me tell you.
I'm looking forward to the book. I'm sorry I missed you before we left. it was a crazy time of holiday stuff and sick kids. So far, the rest of us are healthy...
so i'm in the midst (and i think i may actually be Right in the actual literal middle) of reading Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell & Don Golden
...& so far it comes with my recommendation.
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not being in school and having time to read is something i take seriously.
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CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!!!
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The End....ok, not really.
OH! And, I found out that I Did pass Microecon. Barely, with a C, but I made it! Wooooohooooo!!
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Excerpt from the aforementioned book, which I am no longer in the midst of, I have completely finished.
"Imagine...having the pastor say to you, 'I just can't get my kids interested in Jesus. Do you have any suggestions?' ...
The students in this church, these are good kids. They are from families who just want to see their kids become good Christians. ...
Many of them own more than one pair of shoes.
There are even some among them who have eaten at least one meal every day of their lives.
So we are talking about a miniscule minority of kids in the world.
At the exit off the highway near their church is a Best Buy and a Chili's and a Circuit City and a McDonald's and a Wal-Mart and a Bed, Bath and Beyond, much like the other town in their state and in their country. The music they listen to is distributed by one of five major corporations, which also own the movie studios that create the movies they watch, which are also connected to the corporations that create the food they eat and the commercials they watch, which also have significant ties to the clothes they wear and the cell phones they own, and the ring tone on their cell phones, the one by the artist who is signed to the record label that is owned by the same company that owns the cell phone company and the advertising agency that announced the artist's new album, which is owned by the same company that owns the beverage company in whose advertisement the artist appeared, drinking the particular beverage, singing the song that is now a ring tone on the student's phones that they purchased at the mall across the street from the Olive Garden next door to the Home Depot on the other side of the Starbucks.
And so each week they gather to hear a talk from the pastor.
Their pastor tells them about...Jesus.
About the blood of the cross.
About many of the first Christians getting arrested.
About Jesus having dinner with prostitutes and tax collectors.
About people sharing their possessions.
About Jesus telling a man to sell everything.
About the uniqueness of their story in the larger story of redemption.
How do children of the empire understand the Savior who was killed by an empire? ...
How do kids who are surrounded by more abundance than in any other generation in the history of humanity take seriously a Messiah who said, 'I have been anointed to preach good news to the poor?' ...
They gather, they sing, they hear a talk from the pastor, and then they get back in the car with their parent and they go home; the garage door opens up, the car goes in, and the garage door goes down. ...
This is what Jesus had in mind?
And so the...pastor turns to you and says, again, 'I just can't get my students engaged with Jesus. Do you have any suggestions?'
What do you say?
How do you respond?
Your only hope, of course, would be to remind him...that there is blood on the doorposts of the universe...."
Yeah, I've got a few books by progressive thinkers that I'm trying to read and I don't remember which one is by Rob Bell: Irresistable Revolution, Blue Like Jazz, and Vevlit Elvis.
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a poster child for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like you Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
