I reply to every comment. I leave my reply under the same post where you left your comment. I almost never “RYC” back at your site. I normally post my replies just before putting up my next new post.
This is my book. Get Your Copy Today. Ask James is a bible study in Q&A format. It is perfect for individual or small group studies. This book covers a multitude of topics from joy to anger, death to salvation, faith to doubt, temptation to religion, and many more. Learn to ask hard questions and how to find satisfying answers.
Parables Hos 12:10 I
spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the
prophets gave parables. In the context of the text this verse, like the one
before it, reads as God explaining His identity. He lays out His divine
attributes of omnipotent leadership. We also see clearly spelled out a certain
hierarchy. God speaks, but notice that He speaks to the prophets. He not only
speaks, but also gives them visions. Parables, however, are not for the
prophets. Parables are for the people. The prophets are merely the routes
through which God speaks to the people. There must be some significance to the
idea that God speaks directly to His prophets, but give parables to the people.
A parable is a story that draws a parallel to illustrate some important point.
Jesus normally spoke to groups of people in parables (Mt 13:34-35). As he
neared the end of his ministry, Jesus spoke plainly to his disciples without
parables (Jn 16:25-33). He referred to them as friends (Jn 15:15). It seems
then that the closer one is to God, the clearer and more personal the
communication with Him will be. Before Christ, the Lord spoke through anointed
prophets and priests. Since Pentecost the promise to bestow the Holy Spirit on
all believers has been fulfilled. Now the Holy Spirit speaks directly to our
hearts without need for a priestly intercessor. Certainly there are many gifts
of the Spirit and each has this one or that one, including prophecy, but all
believers are called to membership in Christ’s royal priesthood (1 Pe 2:9).
Under this new covenant the Holy Spirit dwells within and communicates directly
with and through the hearts of believers (Ez 36:26-27). Like the prophets of
old and the Apostles before us, we too have direct access to the God of the
Universe, Maker of the heavens and the earth, and Lord of us all.
Schedule I realize I've been intermittent here lately. That isn't going to improve much for a while. The kitchen remodel is kicking into high gear. Monday the floor guy starts. We're putting hard wood in the kitchen and office (dining room). Additional cabinets get delivered on Monday. I'll be taking Monday off. I'm training a new employee next week at work, so I'll be busy here and thus still not on xanga much. Tonight is a music concert and tomorrow I have my first book signing.
Video Game Music We surprised our son with tickets to go see the Louisville Orchestra doing video game music tonight. You'd think he'd flip out excited. He freaked, but not in a good way. How on earth do you please a 16 year old, anyway? The tickets are paid for. He's going anyway. We're going tonight. He's gonna have a good time or else. My older son is studying to be a music composer and guess what he wants to compose. That's right: video game music. Go figure.
Live At the Roxy Since I don't do video game music, here's Branden McCreary performing his father's remix of Dylan's classic All Along the Watchtower, live at the Roxy in May of this year...
Quotable Quotes
"The Greeks study to comprehend; the Hebrews study to revere." - Abraham Joshua Heschel
"Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future." - Dr. William Bennett
"Hurt doesn't have to be healed quickly to be healed eternally." — Lance Ponder
"You got something to live for now. Not just die for." — Karl Agathon "Uniformity of faith does not equal uniformity of thought." — me "Love enhances obedience; it does not displace it." — Leigh Ann "No matter how much tinting I use, the walls of my house are still glass." — me "Buddha said, 'My teachings point the way to the attainment of the truth.' Muhammad said, 'The truth has been revealed to me.' Jesus said, 'I am the truth.'" - Tina "How do you make holy water? You boil the hell out of it." - Brad
"My level of stupidity does not change God's level of grace" - Michael Garrett
"How could God create something from nothing, yet I can create only nothing from something!" - Poet Rose
"God answers everyone's prayers." - Leoben, a Cylon
“The vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.” – Werner von Braun.
This is my book. Get Your Copy Today. Ask James is a bible study in Q&A format. It is perfect for individual or small group studies. This book covers a multitude of topics from joy to anger, death to salvation, faith to doubt, temptation to religion, and many more. Learn to ask hard questions and how to find satisfying answers.
