Rendering Psalm 1:1-2

Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night.”

This foundational Psalm speaks of the same blessedness in all three of the aspects of life that are here symbolized by bodily postures: walking, standing, and sitting. “Walking” can be interpreted as one’s activity, “standing” as one’s identity, and “sitting” as one’s enjoyment. In all three dimensions of life, blessing never comes from sin but only from sanctity. All our days long we are being sanctified in all three bodily postures.

Sex-A-Dox

The interesting paradox between the war of sexual “liberty” vs. religious liberty, which includes liberty of conscience is that we (Christians) are fighting for their consciences as well as our own. And they are fighting against their own consciences as well as ours.

On Logic And Nominalism

Similar to “Newspeak”- Orwell’s 1984- the modern logic or the nominalism people employ in our time seeks to shrink language rather than expanding it. They discard the great Socratic question of the “what”, the essence. If we cease to say a thing, we soon cease to think it, for there will be no holding-places in our language for the thought.

We can not accept so readily that nominalism is the way forward and also believe that monkeys could have evolved by natural selection from nominalism. Truly illogical.

Nominalism (usually attributed to William of Ockham) is the doctrine that holds, interestingly, that universals are human constructs, merely names without any corresponding reality.

G. K. Chesterton refuted nominalism with his usual wit when he argued, “If [as the nominalist says] all chairs were quite different you could not call them ‘all chairs’?” -Orthodoxy

On the other hand, we ought to employ Aristotelian logic which begins with “the first act of the mind”, the act of understanding a universal, a nature, or an essence, such as the nature of “apple” or “man”. Therefore, we can know what man is (image bearers of the Triune God), what man isn’t (brutes), and any perversions of man (trans humanism, transgenderism, etc..).

Whether it can be demonstrated that God Exists?

Although there is no perfect knowledge of God, we can know that God exists by His effects. Those effects are not proportionate to God himself yet from every effect the existence of God can be demonstrated. We mustn’t think in our being able to demonstrate God exists from his effects that we can perfectly know God as He is in His essence.

This greatly refutes the idea that because God is not proportionate (God is infinite and His effects are finite, therefore there is no proportion) and it is wrongly assumed that a cause cannot be demonstrated by an effect not proportionate to it, which if believed, seems that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated.

The Apostle Paul says, “The invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” Romans 1:20

Things that are made in and of themselves demonstrate a maker. Intelligent things assume an intelligent designer. In fact, we are so smart we can undo ourselves, unlike the brutes.

Loving Thy Neighbor

The context of loving your neighbor as yourself is always proceeded by "and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30. To properly love our neighbor, we need to first love God, which implies knowing Him and knowing what He says. This flies in the face of an expressive emotive love one may or may not have for God or their neighbor.

An additional context harkens back to Leviticus 19:17-18 NIV

“‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite [brother] in your heart. Instead, rebuke [reproof] your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." My ESV bible renders rebuke as reason frankly with your brother, which is both a candid and tactful reproof of the wrongdoer.

This reproof is a prerequisite for loving your neighbor. It accomplishes two things: not only does it call the person in the wrong to repent, but it prevents the one that ought to be rebuking from storing up destructive hatred against that neighbor and so causing oneself to sin as well.

• "Better is open rebuke than hidden love." Pro 27:5;

• "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother..." Matt 18:15-18 (note: I've heard it argued that rebuke should be given once, and then we ought to move on, but this passage in Matthew indicates the opposite); and,

• "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted." Gal 6:1. Spiritual here in Galatians indicates those in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25) and how we ought to be reaching out to the believer who has been ensnared by sin while being careful not to fall into a general sin or the same sin as they have.

It is here the responsibility of those who have received Christ to restore a fallen brother and sister in Love while keeping the full context in mind: 1) don't hate your brother in your heart, 2) don't take vengeance, 3) don't bear a grudge, and 4) give strong reproof to your neighbor (Rom 13:9-10)- with everyone, but especially to those who are called brothers and sisters in Christ.

What’s The Essence Of Christianity?

The modern left will look to the sermon on the mount as a utopian social blueprint; something like Plato’s Republic or Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. They treat Christianity as mere ethics. The essence of Christianity is not the Sermon on the Mount, although there is a link between the two, or that Christianity is the essence in and of itself. The essence of Christianity is Christ.

When Christianity is proclaimed throughout the world, the proclamation is never “love thy neighbor as thy self” or “love your enemies”, but rather “Christ is Risen!” This isn’t simply an ideal, it’s a real event. Christianity isn’t ideal, it’s real, it’s the “good news”. Where the humanist response is always to “try”, God’s instruction to us is to trust Him.

Matthew 5-7 & Luke 6

God Reads Hearts While Man Reads Appearances

1 Samuel 16:7 KJV

"But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

The Lord alone can observe and rightfully judge a person's "Heart," that is, one's thoughts, emotions, and intents. On God's eternal scales, these matters outweigh all other aspects of a human's life. Yet, God's scales not only befuddle Samuel, but it is also perplexing to us now. We also see Jesse, David's father, passing poor judgment on David's value (David was the youngest and smallest in the family) and failing to parade David before Samuel. The smallness of stature does not indicate the grandness of the heart, to which only God can proclaim, "Anoint him; he is the one." David was a foreshadowing of the one true King, our Lord who bore the stature of a mere man, yet is entirely God the Son (the second person in the Trinity). The Pharisees only saw Jesus the man, a threat, and failed to see the Messiah, the lawgiver, the anointed one whose heart was found acceptable to God the Father. This understanding ought to affect how we pray daily; Lord, that we would not only appear to be clean but that you would cleanse our most inner being and transform us to have hearts like Christ.

The Question We Should Be Asking About Isreal and Palestine

I'm certainly no expert here, but the two phrases I've seen flying around the Twitter-verse lately are "Hitler was right" and "The Holocaust didn't happen." Simply astounding and spectacular if believed.

These claims have been made before but come voraciously after the recent attacks on Israel made by Hamas (nothing new here.) I don't have any desire to address those two obviously stupid statements; they, on their own standing, reveal the depravity of those who would utter such utterances. The thing I think is worth addressing is why so many are siding with Palestine over Isreal (Muslims over Jews).

[Note: I know in an ideal world you wouldn't have to take sides. I'm aware that not all Muslims condone the acts of terrorism, just like I'm aware that not all Jews are religious nuts- in fact, Israel is filled with more cultural Jews than religious Jews per Pew Research Center)

An important question we have to ask ourselves when it comes to these two groups is this: What does each group want, and what would they do if they had the unlimited power to achieve what they wanted? or put another way, what would they accomplish if they could accomplish anything?

Well, I think we know that answer. The Israelis would live in peace with their neighbors if they had neighbors who would live in peace with them. [Note: Again, Jewish extremism isn't as prevalent as you think if you think they would take more Palestinian land.]

Groups like Hamas, ISIS, and al-Qaeda want to impose their religious views on the rest of humanity and are willing to sacrifice their own women and children to achieve that end. They want to stifle every freedom that decent, educated, secular people care about.

This is not a trivial difference, yet the recent commentary would have you believe that it is the Israelis that are the true aggressors. No, they are merely responding to such aggression, and in that response, atrocities have occurred; So I'll make no excuses on their behalf. In short, this kind of confusion between the two puts us all in danger.

The incompatible religious attachments to a particular land have rendered it impossible for Muslims and Jews to come to terms like normal human beings and live in peace. I think if you look into this deeper, you'll find the onus is still on the side of Muslims here. Here is the finer point; even on their worst day, Israelis act with greater care and compassion and self-criticism than Muslim combatants have anywhere, ever. I was hoping you wouldn't believe me and want to read their charter for yourself here.

David French notes, "Hamas's grievance against Israel isn't Israel's actions, but instead Israel's very existence. And no, Israel's response to Hamas's attacks don't violate the laws of war." Read his article here.