May 31, 2013 – Proverbs 31

Two different types of proverbs here at the end.  One, a note to a son.  Second, a description of a good wife.  I think there are many that would be offended that this is written.  I don’t think it is offensive, but I am a man.  There is just this underlying angst towards this idea that a woman’s purpose (one of them) is to be a good wife and mother.  That is so offensive to the feminist that feels women should be out of the home and have everything the same as men.  This list is not bad.  Be strong, supportive, raise good children, help the poor, etc.  That is a great list for anyone to aim for.  I also think there are many that hate anything because it comes from the Bible.  No matter what it actually says, a person will disagree or fight it because of the source.  If it were written in something different, they wouldn’t have a problem with it.  The world is a messed up place some most of the time.

May 30, 2013 – Jeremiah 6

The word of God became scorn they will not have.  This phrase along with “They know not how to blush”, I think are very descriptive of the world we are living in today.  Sometimes it seems like all I talk about in these post are the dark world and the direction it is going, but it is hard not to see it when you see verses like this and realize that God knows that this is the way the world is going to be.  The world is always going to hear the words of God and brush them off and ignore them.  God knows that.  I am sure it makes Him sad and He doesn’t want it that way, but that is the point of free will.  God couldn’t make the world perfect, take that back, He did.  We don’t want it perfect.  We want it dirty and corrupt and we want sin and filth.  That is why we continue to push God away.  It is our nature to turn away from God and to the world.  That is why the world will always trample on God’s teachings and not blush about sin.  We are called to see that, know it, understand it, and turn away from the world and towards God and tell others to do the same, regardless of what they say or do to us when we do. 

May 29, 2013 – 2 Kings 21

Well, that didn’t take long.  As soon as we lose Hezakiah, his son is the worse ruler that we may have seen so far.  When you think about where Hezakiah ended, as I mentioned, he ended in a very selfish way, maybe it isn’t surprising.  You wonder how much influence he had in his sons life.  He was only 12 when his dad died, so maybe he didn’t have much influence and the influence he did have was the selfish king looking out for number 1.  It may also be that the 12 year old was guided leaders that didn’t have God in mind or maybe even didn’t like the way Hezikiah had ruled with God in mind and shaped this young king the way they wanted.  We see that this bad king influences his son to be the same.

You wonder where the prophet was and why he didn’t take this young 12 year old king under his wing and guide him through those first and very influential years.  Image the kingdom if they had a good king for 55 years following Hezikiah.

May 28, 2013 – Catechism 2401 – 2406

Have you ever thought of yourself as a “Steward of Providence”.  I think that basically means that everything we have, have had, will ever have, is a gift from God that we are supposed to use for the benefit of God’s work.  That means everything.  Money, job, gizmos, friends, talents, virginity, characteristics, everything.  Everything we have has been given to us by God and not for eternity, but on loan, while we are here on Earth, to use for His work.  How much would people change the way they live and use their gifts if they looked at it that way.  How much do I need to think about that more when I think about all that God has given me.

May 27, 2013 – Proverbs 28:21 - 29

God says show partiality or favoritism because people will do anything for a piece of bread.  I was trying to figure out what that really meant.  I think it means that unless you stand for something and have foundation that you really believe in, then you will just blow where the wind takes you and anyone can sell you on anything.  That is really the biggest problem with the world today and this belief that there is no truth and moral relativism.  It basically means that you have no partiality and you can be convinced of anything.  The reason that is important is because if a person becomes a leader and is convincing, you can be convinced to do anything.  Obviously the best example of this is Nazi Germany.  There are studies out there that show it isn’t too hard to make normal people do horrible things to strangers.  Imagine how easy that would be when the people you are convincing don’t really believe in any firm set of moral values.  It doesn’t me we are living in Nazi Germany, but it means is that the steps to there are maybe not that far and it could happen very quickly.

It is always hard to read that you must punish your children, but this seems to say that rebuke is for everyone and when you rebuke, in the long run the person will be thankful.  But 29:17 would make a very odd father’s day card.  Correct your son and he will bring you comfort and delight your soul.  It is something we hate to do but must do and it will bring us comfort and delight.  I wonder sometimes if I was “corrected” enough growing up.  It seems like, looking back, most the worse things I did, I got away with and the things that did me in trouble weren’t that bad and punishment not that harsh.  I just wonder.

May 26, 2013 – Jeremiah 5

I thought it was interesting that God talks about not going to the lowly but to those in power.  That seems counter to what we sometimes think.  Usually we look at the poor and lowly as the Godly and think that God is closer to them.  God is saying that isn’t how it started and maybe even now He does it now.  God does go to the powerful, but they ignore Him and won’t be changed.  These are the people that have been the most blessed and the most educated and should know the most about the world and be the most thankful about all that God has given them, but appear the most blinded from seeing God.  I wonder if there is a measureable tipping point as to when someone gets to a certain successful point and God loses His mojo.

It also talks about priest that teach whatever they wish.  That sounds a lot like the non-denominational communities I hear about.  It wasn’t so much that part that caught me, but why they continue and grow.  That is because the people would have it so.  That make sense and I have written about it before.  People go to these communities to be told that they are doing good.  If a preacher tells you your doing it wrong, you just move to another community where they say what you are doing if fine.  That is painting everyone with a pretty broad brush and it may not be that way all over, but when you have Christian groups teaching exactly the opposite when it comes to certain moralities, it probably isn’t hard to find a Christian community that will allow you to live the life you want.  Ask yourself if that is really to living a Christ like life or is it you defining a Christ like life into what you find acceptable. 

May 25, 2013 – 2 Kings 20

You just get done singing a guys praises and then we get this.  Even God was praising him in the fact that he answered his prayers and allowed him another 15 years.  Then he show all the treasure to complete strangers.  What do you think they are going to go home and tell their king.  “Nah, that Jerusalem isn’t worth the trouble”.  More like, you need to send everything you got because it is worth it.  Then, when he finds out his descendants are going to get exiled, his reaction is “Well, at least it won’t be me.  What this made me think is that living a Godly life is not something that is easy or something you can just stop.  It is not like you live 45 years as a very good and generous and holy person and that allows you to live the next 25 as ungodly and you want.  It is a constant thing that you must work at and strive for.  Seems like Hezikiah kind of slips here at the end.

May 24, 2013 – Catechism 2387 - 2400

Free unions or trial marriages have no commitment.  There just isn’t.  The couple is free to leave whenever they want.  Some would argue that there is a financial commitment.  Do you really want to base your argument on a relationship is that it is based on a commitment of finances?  That isn’t very convincing.  The sexual act is meant to be a renewal of the commitment made on your wedding day, a renewal of the fully, freely given commitment to the other.  Any sexual act outside of marriage is a lie because it does not have that commitment behind it.  

The sexual act done outside of marriage, or done between two of the same gender, or done with the use of contraception, all destroy the intrical meaning, the sacred meaning of the act, it cheapens it, degrades it, destroys the holiness of the act.

Catholics don’t want to strip us of the sexual act, it wants to give it back the glory that has been stripped away by the modern world.

May 23, 2013 – Proverbs 27:13 - 28:20

The eyes of men are never satisfied. When I first read this I was thinking about lust and the constant temptation that results from our sexual desires.  But when I applied it in a broader sense and against the backdrop of what happened yesterday with the Supreme Court, it made me wonder what the end game is for the groups that are pushing so many of these morality issues.  If gay marriage is allowed throughout the country, will these groups stop.  I don’t think so.  So what is the next step.  If birth control injections are given to all 12 year old girls, will they stop there.  No.  Next they will want to basically sterilize all children and then come up with some other drug that brings back fertility.  And when do they want abortions to be allowed.  Obviously many in the group want partial birth abortions, so the womb is not the limit that will stop them.  Will a 1 year old be safe.  The eyes of man are never satisfied.  We should keep that in mind as we continue to lose more and more moral ground in the country and stop to think about where the end is to all these roads. 

Men are tested by praise.  I think that is an interesting statement.  Many think we are challenged by or hardships and how we endure.  But we are also challenged when we are put up on a pedestal and how we handle that.  How many of our politicians ran for office with good strong morals and high aspirations on changing the world for the better.  How many of them fall to the praise and showing of gifts on them once they are elected.  Think about that when someone praises you and what it does to your psyche.  We are tested by praise.  Pray for humility in those circumstances. 

Haste to grow rich will not go unpunished. You wonder about those that have gained fame through reality shows and how happy they are now or if they wish they could take it all back.  Yet, I can’t lie and say I don’t think about having disposable income from doing nothing to earn it and how that would seem to make my life so much easier, even though I know it doesn’t work that way.

May 22, 2013 – Jeremiah 4

4 – I think it is always interesting when you see them talk about circumcision in the Old Testament and there is an obvious point made that it is about more than the physical act.  Here it talks about removing the foreskin of your heart.  It is obvious that God doesn’t just want an act of sacrifice but a change in your heart and a commitment to Him.  Yet, when Christianity started and as you read in Acts, circumcision as an act was something that divided and stopped Jews from bringing Gentiles into Christianity.  But if they looked in the Old Testament readings, they would see that it isn’t the physical act that was important to God, it was about something much more important.  St. Paul understood that, or by Grace, was given that insight, and was then sent to the Gentiles to convert them.

I think you could say that today there are many that are “wise in evil” and “know not how to do good”.  We almost take pride in doing wrong and praise those that can get away with it.  Yet, where is the praise for those that do right.  But, we are told by Christ that it is not for the world to see or we will not get the world’s praise for doing His work.  That praise and those rewards are being built up somewhere else.  I think that is why so many get frustrated with trying to promote a Godly way of life, because there really is no worldly benefit for doing it, yet we need to persist.  With the court setting down the decision it did yesterday, the praise for a Godly way of life is further and further from away, but it is building up, we just can’t see it and must rely on faith. 

May 21, 2013 – 2 Kings 19

If you wanted to name a kid after a great king of Israel, or Judah in this case, Hezekiah seems like it would be a great name.  I don’t know how popular it is in Jewish cultures, but I think it would be up there with David or at least one of the more popular names.  This is by far the best king we have seen in a very longs time.  Even some of the better kings we have seen didn’t actually change many of the wrongs that were being done, they just stopped doing so much wrong.

I think you have to remember that this is the army that sent Israel into exile and now it is at the gates of Jerusalem.  Then here is Hezekiah standing up against the massive army and totally relying on God and the people are following him. It is really a complete turn from many of the kings we have seen.  I would think that he is talked about more, but you really don’t hear about him at all. 

May 20, 2013 – Catechism 2380 - 2386

I think many misunderstand the Church’s teaching on divorce.  It is not something where a person needs to stay in a marriage that is abusive.  As it says, there are canon rules that apply to situations and talks about separation or even annulments if they fit certain criteria.  But that is not most cases.  Most cases are people who just want something different.  I have never thought the real problem in this country is divorce.  I believe the real problem is the ease of getting married and the lack of preparations for marriage.  People who should never have gotten married are likely to get a divorce.  If over 50% of marriages end in divorce, that doesn’t say anything about divorce, I think it says more about the marriages.  How low would that percentage be if it were harder to get married and there was more prep for couples looking into it.

The fact that we have so many people cohabitating before marriage leads to a continued lack in people seeing the importance of marriage itself.  Ask yourself, if you are living together before you get married, what does the actual marriage ceremony add to your relationship.  It really changes nothing in your day to day life, so people fail to see its importance, they fail to care about its prep, and continue to get in marriages that they are not ready for and the cycle continues.  Marriage should be taken more serious, not less, but with our recent court decision, that is not likely to happen in this country in any foreseeable future.  The further we push the idea of marriage away from what is natural and its intended purpose, the higher the divorce rate is going to get.    

May 19, 2013 – Proverbs 26:6 - 27:12

We are given the very lovely image of a dog eating his own vomit.  As odd as that might sound, or even unbelievable, I have actually seen a dog do this.  It is as disgusting as it sounds and I will never forget the image.  That made me think of the person that wrote these proverbs, and this one in particular.  They see something like that and must think to themselves, “This is an image I can use to describe something.”

26:19 looks at the times when you have done something that hurts another and try to escape culpability by saying, “I was only joking”.  What good does that do the person that was hurt.  Is that supposed to make them feel better?  And usually, even if it was said as a joke, there is a truth in there and not a flattering truth.  “You could stand to lose some weight, oh, I was only joking”.  Does anybody actually believe that heals anything or would they think it was okay if that is what someone said to them when they were insulted. 

27:5 talks about love that is hidden as being worse that open rebukes.  It makes you wonder about the people we do love but they will never know how much because we hide it or don’t tell them.  We may think that they already know how much I love them.  Is it worth the risk that they might not.  Is it so hard to let them know.

May 18, 2013 – Jeremiah 3

We get a preview here of what is coming in 2 Kings after Israel’s exile.  It also states that Israel was more just or less guilty than Judah.  I found that odd because Israel was exiled first and longer, so you would think that they were punished more because their sin was more.  You could say that Judah had the greater sin because they saw what happened to Israel and still did not change their ways (although we do know they changed their ways for at least a little while).  I am kind of excited about getting into the rest of 2 Kings and seeing exactly what Judah does or doesn’t do to finally earn exile.

May 17, 2013 – 2 Kings 18

I was wondering whether the king was acting better because he saw Israel being exiled or he was just a better king.  It looks like they weren’t exiled until well into his reign, so he must have just been a better king.  Maybe the exile of Israel was a motivating factor when it came to trusting in God during this scene when the attacker is at the gates. 

I also wonder if Judah would have been take into exile earlier if this king had not be a good king.  I don’t know how much longer they last before they are exiled, but this king appears to have staved off exile and who knows how long his influence buys them time.

May 16, 2013 – Catechism 2366 - 2379

Fecundity is the ability to reproduce.  I didn’t know that when I first read it, but it becomes pretty obvious as you go through the paragraphs.

2370 is a focus on the difference between artificial contraception and forms of NFP.  The basic difference is in the word “artificial”.  NFP is natural, using the natural cycles that God gave a woman.  Ask yourself what the purpose of giving a woman her cycle was for.  It allows for reproduction and it allows a time to be fertile or not.  God did not give woman their cycle so that they could be cranky and irritable for periods of time.  There is a very specific and natural reason.  Now, take God’s natural and specific reason, and think about all the ways that people try to upset or stop the natural system that God installed.  People wonder why Catholics are against contraceptives, but why are people for them.  They are not just “artificial” but basically contrary to nature.  They distort what God created.

And those are the hormonal contraceptives.  The barrier methods are basically a barrier to the fully and total gift that the marital act is supposed to be.

I think it is also interesting that the Church teaches about children not being a right, but a gift.  One of the most disturbing movies I have seen in a while was the Nanny Diaries, or something like that.  I know it is a movie and it cannot possibly be that bad in real life, but it probably is in places.  These parents had the kids, seemingly, because they thought they were supposed to, but couldn’t be bothered or care for these kids in the least.  They left them with the nanny and lived the lives they wanted to.  (Side note by the way.  Watch the ever popular Mary Poppins movie with this in mind and ask yourself if the mother learned anything in that movie.  I couldn’t stand that movie because the mom is nowhere to be seen and then comes in at the end and enjoys her changed husband, but did she change at all.  NO)

The paragraphs also touch on the different methods that people use to have babies that go outside the marital act and bring in doctors or third parties.  Many people would be upset that the Church would not allow any means to be allowed to have children, but that is because people have taken the sacredness of the marital act away.  When you believe that this act is holy and sacred and that a child should be brought into this world through that act, anything outside that should be wrong.  But, ask yourself how many of these “methods” would not be necessary if we hadn’t injected so many different things into our bodies to prevent pregnancy.  I don’t know if there is a correlation between the two, but logic would say if you pump chemicals in your body for 20-25 years to stop a pregnancy, your body will need some extra assistance to have one when you do want one.

May 15, 2013 – Proverbs 25 - 26:5

25:7 sounds a lot like the parable that Christ teaches about going to a banquet.  When you get there, you should sit as far away from the head of the table as you can.  That way, when the host sees you and invites you to a higher place of honor, everyone can see you being brought forward.  Wow to the one that sits up front and has to be asked to move backwards because someone comes that is more prestigious and is asked, publicly, to move to the back.  What I have always wondered about is the person that sits in the back, then is brought forward to fill a top spot for someone that didn’t show, then that person shows late and you are sent back again.

25:16 reminds me of snacks in our house or any holiday candy that I have ever had.  I am the type to eat it all right away.  If there are chips or snacks, I may not even be hungry, but I will snack on them.  If there is nothing in the house to snack on, I don’t miss them or crave them, but if they are there, they won’t be for long.  It is the same with candy.  Halloween or Easter candy would not be there for long.  My wife, evidently, would have Easter candy for months.  If I still had it by Wed. it was probably because I had too much one of the other days.

I was confused by 26:4-5.  What do you do with a fool and his folly?  One says to do nothing, or else you will join him.  One says to do something or else the fool will grow confident.

26:1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.  This made me think about the situation with Obama and the Notre Dame graduation.  It is probably disrespectful to call President Obama a fool, but it was like snow in summer for him to be honored at a Catholic University when he stands for so many things that go against Catholic teachings.

May 14, 2013 – Jeremiah 2

I thought it was interesting that God talks about the devotion of the youth that followed Him through the desert.  If I remember the story, Israel fought God tooth and nail throughout the wilderness not wanting to follow Him and wanting to go back to Egypt.  If I were hearing Jeremiah say this, I would be thinking, “What, we aren’t much worse than those than followed through the desert and wanted to leave and worshipped other gods”.  Maybe the main difference is the end result and that they did eventually follow God out of the desert. It was hard to get them there.  This version of Israel isn’t following at all.

I thought it was interesting that God talks about other nations being loyal to their gods.  That is a pretty hard slap in the mouth seeing as their gods are stone or wood and cannot actually do anything and God is God and did so much, but the loyal ones are loyal to wood and stone.  That makes me think two things.  First, how much humans need to believe in something beyond us.  Humans have always made gods that they could go to or blame for everything.  It is inherited in us that we must do this.  I have talked before about that and that we were made to fill that hole with God.  The second thought is why Israel is the only nation that isn’t loyal.  I think this is because it had the only real God that actually required them to do something and obey Him.  The wood and stone gods didn’t require much, so they were easy to be loyal to.  God requires a lot and Israel saw how easy it was to follow the others and jumped ship.

They turn away until they need help, and real help, because I think deep down they know that what they are going and praying to in the wood and stone gods can’t help them.  Deep down they know that only God can actually do something and assist them.  How sad it must be for God to see us only turn to Him when we are in need of Him and realize that those things we were relying on are not fulfilling our needs.

May 13, 2013 – 2 Kings 17

http://ldolphin.org/kings.html

The dates on the website don’t exactly mesh with what is in the scriptures.  It has Ahaz and Hoshea starting their reigns at the same time, but verse one says in the 12^th year of Ahaz Hoshea starts.  We also see the end of Israel and the beginning of their exile.  Basically, Assyria comes in and takes over and removes all the people to somewhere else.  I don’t really know much about life of the exile.  Not to my knowledge was it anything like a concentration camp of WWII.  In Tobit, the exile (and I think that is an exile story) they appear to be living normal lives, just not in their homeland.  I guess you don’t get much of a story from the common man exile.  I am sure it wasn’t the best circumstance, but for the everyday folks, it might not have been so bad.  Makes you wonder about something like that happening now.

May 12, 2013 – Catechism 2360 - 2365

With such an important topic, I won’t say much.  This article was recently in our bulletin and so I thought I would share the link.  What I took from the paragraphs, briefly, is this idea that the relationship between husband and wife goes so deeply.  That is why they say, two become one.  Marriage literally changes who you are, maybe not so much change as adds to who you are.

http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnwonline/2013/0609/cardinal.aspx

May 11, 2013 – Proverbs 24

Emulous - Seeking to emulate or imitate someone or something

24:10 – We have had some struggles lately about letting people know what our opinion is on what other people are choosing to do.  There are many that say “let them do what they want” or “let them make up their own mind”.  I would call that being indifferent.  But they are very opinionated about being indifferent.  Being indifferent has become something to defend, it has become a belief that people are passionate about.  It really makes no sense to me that indifference is something to stand for and I really don’t understand the argument that we should allow people to make their own decisions, their own mistakes, and it is none of our business.  That is not only indifference, it is a lack of love. 

30-34 – Laziness is something that I think I struggle with.  Maybe not sluggardness, but that is where it leads and it is a pretty slippery slope down towards that.  “a little sleep” the scriptures say will lead you down a path to something that will bog you down and keep you from God.  And it is not about keeping busy with anything, but you must make sure you are keeping busy filling your life with Godly things.  I don’t think God wants you to counter laziness with filling your life with sin. 

May 10, 2013 – Jeremiah 1

The beginning of this should be read before every TEC meeting and before talks that are given.  I know that many look to the reading in Timothy about not letting your age deter you, but I think this language is even more inspiring to a youth.

We see that Israel is looking to other gods for their aid.  God often talks about Israel’s infidelity.  I wrote recently that this could be about Israel seeking the assistance from other nations.  But there are many times when it is referring to Israel seeking the assistance of other gods.  Either way, the bigger point is that Israel did not rely on God and did not trust in His protection.  Whenever we do not trust in God we are cheating Him.  We may not think that it comes to infidelity, but what are you doing when you rely on something other than God.  Your obedience to Him is what holds your relationship together.  Without our obedience, we are disconnected.  We vow to follow Him and when we don’t, we are being unfaithful. 

May 9, 2013 – 2 Kings 16

Here we see the king reach out for help to another nation.  Many of the prophets talk about this type of action during the exile as a type of harlotry and how they didn’t trust in God, but sought the aid of human kingdoms.  I also thought it was interesting that the king, even though he wasn’t following the Lord, it appears he thought enough to keep the Temple going with its priest and ceremonies, he just didn’t seem to participate, or did so on his own private alter.  I wonder what type of percentage of people followed the king or followed God.  I got the impression that back then, people did whatever the king did, it really wasn’t a choice.  But here, it appears that it was a little looser than that.  It might actually be a very early example of religious freedom, although the king was choosing the wrong alter to go to.

May 8, 2013 – Catechism 2346 - 2359

The paragraphs talk about chastity.  I thought it was interesting that friendship is talked about in this group and topic.  If you know anything about NFP, then you may not be surprised that they are discussed in the same breathe.  It is one of the strongest arguments for NFP.  The program allows for and encourages the friendship of a husband and wife to grow during times of abstinence.  It allows them to show love in other ways other than physical.  This allows them to build a stronger relationship outside the physical desires they may have.  Obviously this growth does not occur in the relationship built around physical desire.  The relationship cannot grow beyond this during the pre-married state either if a couple is engaging in sexual activity.  It is never allowed to have the chance to see what the relationship can be without physical pleasure. 

I also wondered about whether artificial contraception turns the act of sex into an act of masturbation.  I have heard that description, especially in the instance in which a condom is used.  I also wonder the same about homosexual acts and how they are viewed.  

May 7, 2013 – Proverbs 23

23:4 – How much we need to hear this when we are struggling and thinking about our money issues.  I know I just wrote a post about the worries money brings to me personally and how I struggle with the balance of worry about that so because it is needed but not letting it control our thoughts and become too much.

23:31-35 – This could be a lesson to any young adult coming into the age of experimenting with alcohol and the warnings of what drinking can lead to.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine that hangovers have been around since we have had wine.  These proverbs are from almost 3000 years ago, and still, there is really no remedy people have come up with to combat the hangover.  It is an indulgence that God did not want humans to ever have a cure for, yet we still over indulge.

May 6, 2013 – Ezekiel 48

When I first read the description of the territory described, it sounded like a strip of land, and I thought it might be some link to the Gaza Strip.  That made me realize that I didn’t know much about the Gaza Strip even though you hear a lot about it in the news. I looked, and it has nothing to do with Ezekiel, but seems it was just a strip of land distinguished in the 40’s after the Israel-Egypt Armistice. 

There is also the name of a city, “Lord is Here”.  I wondered if they were talking about Jerusalem.  That made me wonder what Jerusalem does mean, if anything.  That actually doesn’t seem to be a question with a simple answer.  I found that it means everything from “foundation of the god Shalem” to “The city of peace”. 

May 5, 2013 – 2 Kings 15

I was a bit confused by the name used for the king of Israel.  15:13 they use Uzziah, but at 15:17 it is Azarich. Both names seem to be talking about the same king, or else the times really don’t add up.

This is a period of time where we have a lot of kings in a very short period.  Some don’t even last a full year, but only months. There appears to be a lot of turmoil in Samaria and Judah.

May 4, 2013 – Catechism 2331 – 2345

Men and women are different for reasons.  Any attempt to change this ignores the natural and most basic fundamental fact of humanity and is contrary to the plan that God has intended for us.  This is so fundamental and at the very basics of God’s teaching that it must be brought up again about all these different Christian theologies that have such varying beliefs about men and women.  It is just unbelievable that people can see a Christian group here that feels gay marriage is fine and another group that is against it and be ok with that and just say that the Holy Spirit is guiding them both.  NO, IT CANNOT BE THAT WAY.  God is Truth and Truth is not contradictory.  It makes no sense that God would confuse us with different beliefs, especially at such a fundamental level as the essential meaning of what it means and the differences in man and woman.

May 3, 2013 – Proverbs 21:29 – 22

22:2 – We all have common bonds as humans, but the world constantly struggles with putting certain people into classes.  We think that in the US this doesn’t happen, but is that really true.  I haven’t seen or read the Great Gatsby, but I have read that it is focused on this idea that there are classes and for someone to jump into one class from another is extremely difficult.  There is just an attitude that if you have money, you are better than people that don’t.  I don’t know how far this will go, but the gap between the richest and the rest is not shrinking but growing and the strategies of our government appear to be encouraging this.  The middle class is shrinking and being pushed more and more into the basement while those with money are the ones that are benefiting from the “recovery” we are experiencing.  There are classes in the US, whether we want to say it or not.  There is a group that has power, wants power, and will keep power as long as they can and there are those, most of us, that will be held down by any means necessary.  There are exceptions, sure, but not too many.  I think the most frightening fact of it all is not that classes exist but that so many Americans believe, because it is engrained in us, that they do not and we are all on an even playing field.  That is simply naïve. 

May 2, 2013 – Ezekiel 46 – 47

I love how the Temple has in and out doors in different areas.  It makes sense and allows for more fluid movement, but I wonder why more stores don’t do it because you force people to see more of the store.  Lowe’s and Menard’s do it, but I can’t think of any other place.  Other stores obviously have other ways to force people to spend more time in their stores.  Ever notice that if you want a gallon of milk or other beverage and you go to Wal-Mart or Mejier, you have to walk through the rest of the store because they have put it way in the back.  That is on purpose most people end up buying something else they never intended. 

We also see that Israel understood or at least recognized the importance of property rights.

May 1, 2013 – 2 Kings 14

I might not be remembering it correctly, but this seems like the first war between Israel and Judah since they were split.  After they divided there seemed to be some battles until they decided who the kings of each would be, but since then, they seem to actually team up more than fight.

We also see that Judah takes control of Jerusalem, but it doesn’t seem to last very long because just after that it appears that Jerusalem is back under Israel control.