Scripture

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Blessing, Cursing and the Irish

Anyone who knows an impressionistic bit about Irish/Celtic culture and history might readily think of various poetical Irish Blessings such as, “May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.” I was able to type the above from memory not because I necessarily...

Contrasts and Wise Counsel

I’ve been heavily in the Psalms and Proverbs this week. It began last weekend with a series of seemingly God-prompted thoughts and some snippets of a certain Psalm that entered my mind. Continuing in prayerful thoughts and contemplations, one Psalm seemed to lead into another that somehow came to my attention through various means. By Tuesday evening, I began listening on Audible to the entire collection of Psalms from the beginning, on into Proverbs. Then, starting it again. And again....

Wounds Yet Visible

I grow weary of noticing those with forms of pseudo-christianese-toxic-positivity “faith” misappropriate not only scriptures but otherwise generally true statements. Generally we know what we see, but often the nature of twisting things and true gaslighting can render us unable to tersely articulate what we just witnessed. We may ask ourselves what the goal is of someone who does such things. And that is likely both clear and cloudy–both obvious and hidden. Which only exasperates the confounding of such seemingly...

Repentance, Fifty Shades of Black and Fifty Shades of White

Repentance. It’s a loaded word, and one that seems particular in most ways to Judeo-Christian thought. A word that from various sermons I’ve heard over the years means along the lines of making a 180 degree turn. A word that is defined by the Oxford Dictionary in the following way: re·pent·ance noun the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse. “each person who turns to God in genuine repentance and faith will be saved” Similar: remorse-contrition-contriteness-penitence-sorrow-sorrowfulness-regret-ruefulness-remorsefulness-pangs of conscience-prickings of conscience-shame-guilt—self-reproach—self-condemnation-compunction-conversion-rue-sorriness...