A Christian Blog on time

For a Christian time is gold. A Christian knows fully well that time cannot come back. Time therefore should be use wisely. This should be remembered by every Christian and even non-Christian for time is indeed gold.

Every Christian must religiously follow a schedule. A daily schedule that is created based on Christian life. Time for Christian prayer must be included in the schedule.

Every Christian must keep a well planned Weekly diary. All important appointment must be noted therein.

Christians must also keep note of their long term goals. They should be recorded on their ling-term diary planner.

To waste time is a sin. Not to do things that you have to do is a classic example of a Christian committing the sin of omission.

Time is indeed precious. Time is gold. We must make use the most of our time as Christians because when our own time runs out we can face our creator with pride and confidence that we had a good run, that we won the race and that we made it through the rain.

A good Christian practice to make use the most of their precious Christian times is to keep a nice looking Christian watch. A howard miller grandfather clock is highly recomended. When you like the clock that you look on to check the time, you can be sure of a good time ahead of your Christian times.

Annulment and Canonization: Political or Spiritual

Annulment is somewhat analogous with canonization. Both don’t change anything or make something new. They only confirm “what is”. They are therefore more political rather than spiritual.

Canonization and annulment are both costly. Without money they can hardly proceed.

It is a fact that the closer the local church to Vatican, the more saints it has, and the more money a couple has, the more likely that their marriage can be annulled.
Both are not 100 percent foolproof. There could be canonized saints who were not actually saints and annulled marriage which were actually valid.

Therefore both practices are more political rather than spiritual. They only matter on earth but not in heaven.

Buy Gold Coins

Remember the story of the wicked servant, he could have avoided all the troubles, all he needed to do was to buy gold coins.

The parable of the talent tells us a swtory of one of the servants who simply kept the money without investing it.

While the two other servants have been applauded and rewarded, the wicked servant was severely punished.

The end of the story seemed to give more weight to the importance of punishing the servant hence it gave us a picture of a punitive God, an angry and blood thirsty. This is not however what the story was all about.

The main point of the parable is the importance of growing, of development, or improving. Life is dynamic, we must always move, but not sideward or downward but always forward. Whatever talent God has given you, work hard to improve and develop it and make it your ticket to serving others.

The wicked servant sin wan not of doing something wrong but of not doing anything. One easy thing he could have done is simply invest the money buy buying gold coins. Gold are tangible, it always appreciate in value and therefore a very good form of investment.

Wedding in Cana

A wedding invitations for Jesus and Mary

. . . When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. [b]

7Jesus said to the servants “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

The wedding in Cana is an interesting story in the bible. The following is not a commentary but just a way of pointing out some peculiarities of this story.

To start with, the story can only be found in John and not in the other gospels, namely the gospel of Matthew, mark, and Luke.

This story is also considered as the first manifestation of the glory of God in Jesus for this is also considered as the first miracle performed by Jesus.

Another point of interest is that Jesus manner when dealing with Mary. Notice how he addressed her. He called her woman rather than mother. He then added why she was asking him to do such of his time has not yet come. What time could be Jesus referring to in this pericope.

And notice Mary’s reaction or non-reaction to Jesus manner of addressing her. So we may ask, is Jesus not being respectful and polite or was suck kind of demeanour is just common during Jesus time? Mary simply told the others to do whatever Jesus say. Here we may also wonder why Mary was taking all these troubles if they were merely some guests in this wedding.

And the main event in this story, the miracle of turning water into wine. While Jesus seem to be objecting to Mary’s request, and yet he proceeded to do the miracles.

Understanding the meaning of a passage in a bible can be aided by paying attention to some elements that appeared to be unusual and then use them as point of departures in the study.

A Christian blog on Jesus meaning to our life

Jesus is God who took on human nature. He is a God who became man. Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity.

All of the above are true of Jesus but a more significant question needs to be answered. What does Jesus have something to do with me? Indeed Jesus is God, but what difference it makes to each one of us? Will our life now be something else had Jesus did not come to dwell among us?

To answer these questions one must first examine the purpose of the incarnation, that is, God becoming a man like us. Perhaps John 10:10 is our best clue in which Jesus said, I came that you may have life and have it to the full.
How did Jesus manage to do such? First he taught us, second he cured our illness, and third, he drove out evil spirits. Knowledge of the principles of Christian living, being physically well and free from evil spirits will give a life being lived to the full.

But why did Jesus want us to live a life to the full? The answer to this question will bring us to understanding of Jesus mission. As Christians believe that Jesus is the fullness of God’s revelations. With Jesus, God spoke to us by his son whilst before him; God spoke to us by the prophets. By Jesus teaching, his healing ministry and exorcism, Jesus has revealed to us the Father, or how much God the Father loved us. Therefore the mission of Jesus is to show how much God loves us.
We can also notice that Jesus in doing his mission, or in other words in showing us God’s love, particularly by teaching, healing, and driving out demons, Jesus has been loyal to his ministry. He encountered oppositions and rejections which eventually resulted to his scandalous, undignified, brutal and embarrassing death and yet despite his knowledge that such things could happen to him, he never turned back. Despite all the risk, his ministry was business as usual. Hence he ended up in the cross. Actually that was not the end of the story. The culmination of Jesus life story is that he has risen from the dead.

So what is now the meaning of Jesus life to us? Well, by knowing Jesus, we came to know that God loved us and it is God’s desire that each one of us could have life and have it to the fullest. But Jesus, ordinary man as he is, had a life that was only temporal. The man Jesus is no longer with us in the same manner that he had been with the early Christians during his earthly life. Of course He is still present through the Holy Spirit, but not in blood in flesh anymore. It is therefore our responsibility, as Christians, or as ordinary individuals who came to know him, to share this knowledge to others who don’t know yet.

Like Jesus, we must show God’s love to others in our own unique capacity as ordinary individuals. By being a good teacher we share in his teaching ministry, by being an efficient and caring doctor or nurse we share in his healing ministry, by being compassionate counsellors we share in his exorcism ministry.
And in the course of us sharing in Jesus mission, there is always the possibility that others might reject and oppose us, if such things actually happen, we must carry on, and we must be loyal to our mission even if this could lead us to death, for God will never abandon us. Like Jesus we will overcome death.

Christian Websites

Is it okay for a Christian to be engaged in doing business online? Why not?

St. Paul says those who do not work, should not eat. Well, this does not meant to threaten anyone but only to encourage Christians to be more hard working and do their parts in their respective Christian communities.

The main obligation of a Christian who is engage in entrepreneurs is to be fair at all times. Just earn whatever is reasonable profit and not taking advantage of anyone. Always follow what his conscience direct him and adheres to any trading rules that govern him.

Internet is now the best place to sell anything. Christians like anyone else have Christian needs. Christian needs reading materials,prayer books, ritual paraphernalia, Christian garments and the like.

And who could best serve the material needs of Christians other than Christian traders themselves?

But just a simple words of caution to any Christian who wanted to join the Christian world of businessmen and women, make sure that you are doing things right. Among others, first thing that you must remember, always go for the best company that provide ecommerce web hosting services. How can other Christians find your store if you are not ecommercely visible?

And don’t forget a Christian who does business gives more priority to the service its provide rather than profit.

A Christian Blog on a Christian Church

Church in layman’s term is a place of worship. It is a building adorned with religious objects and symbols where people sharing the same faith gather to worship God.

In a deeper sense, church is a community. It is a group of people who are sharing the same faith and worshipping the same God.
In Christian sense it is a community, sharing the same faith and God and has been instituted by Christ.

Church in the Christian context should be the symbol of Christ. Thus If Christ is the symbol of God to humanity; therefore a Christian church should share in the same symbolism. In the same token, if Christ’s mission is to show the love of God to humanity, then a Christian Church must also share in the same mission.

In order for a Christian Church to be they symbol of Christ and to carry on Christ mission to the world, the following traits should be found in a Christian church: A church is people of God who is in the world, with world, for the world and against the world.

A Christian church must be in the world. Where else? If a church is to be Christ symbol, then she should be a symbol for others. If the church is not in the world, then what is the use of her symbolism? The church should not be serving itself alone but the world.

A Christian church must be with the world. A church must not only in the world but must also be playing an active role in the world. The church must not take its back on the world but rather she must go with the world. The world is constantly changing and growing, therefore the church, whilst preserving her essential elements must also adopt changes so that she can still be a good symbol and can still fulfil her mission to the world.

A church in the world, growing with the world, must also be serving the world. In doing service to others, a church realizes her symbolism and her mission. Christ taught, cured the sick, and exorcised evil spirit when he was still on earth in order to show people how God loves. In the same manner a church must also do concrete actions in order to continue what Christ have started. Such actions may take different forms, but as long as they show how God loves, then such church is indeed a true Christian church.

When the world is being led astray the church must bring her back to the right direction. Therefore, any activity in the world that is sinful and in contradiction to what Christian morality, a Christian church must explicitly denounce such action. Being in the world, with the world and for the world do not mean that a church must blindly goes with the world, but rather she must be actively taking part in leading the world to God.

Why did Judas betray Jesus

There is nothing said about the exact reason why Judas betrayed Jesus. Whilst there are some writings in the bible that implicitly say something about his intention, nevertheless it is only God and Judas knew the real reason behind.

There are some negative things said about him, among others are: he was a thief; that it is better for him to be thrown and drown into the sea; and that he was destined to do what he had done, or perhaps there are some more but let us always remember that the evangelists were writing something tailored made for their own intentions and for the different types of audience they were writing for.
Perhaps the best way to deduce what was Judas real intention is to examine deeper his personality.

First it is a fact that Judas was one of the twelve, meaning he belonged to the innermost circle of Jesus friends and apostles. In other words he passed the uphill requirements on how to become a true follower of Jesus. If you remember in the bible, following Jesus was not easy. You must be ready to go even if you do not know where you are exactly going, you must be ready to go while only equipped with the basic necessities; no extra tunic no extra sandals. You must be ready to go even if your parent is about to be buried. You must be ready to leave everything behind. All of these Judas had passed and very likely with flying colours.

Second, we must also consider the mind-set of the apostles when they decided to follow Jesus in the context of their belief and culture. The Jews then were waiting for a messiah, a liberator who will bring Israel’s freedom and dignity back to them. Therefore, like most of the disciples, Judas was also expecting that Jesus will eventually lead a revolution to expel the Romans out of their country.
Lastly, we now look at Judas action after his betrayal. Judas as we all know threw away the silver coins and committed suicide. Meaning, he was not happy of the outcome of what he did.

Based from the above, we can at least guesstimate Judas real intention. If Judas was a true apostle and if he was not happy in the end when he betrayed Jesus, we can therefore conclude that it was not his intention to harm Jesus. Monetary gain can also be eliminated as he threw all the silver coins away.

Considering now the second point, i.e. his expectation that Jesus will eventually liberate the Jews from the oppression of the Romans, it is very likely that Judas just wanted to create an event that will compel Jesus to make such liberation happen “here and now”. Indeed his betrayal eventually lead to the realization of Jesus mission, meaning Judas actually was successful in making Jesus “act now” with regards to liberation but the problem was Judas was expecting something else, hence he thought his action resulted in to catastrophic and tragic end. Had he waited for a little bit longer, perhaps he had understood how Jesus liberated not only the Jew but the entire world.

Judas action led to crucifixion and crucifixion gave way to resurrection and redemption. Thanks to Judas.

St. Judas Iscariot, pray for us.

Outdoor Chairs

Where nature is, God is. The best way to pray is to meet God in nature. In a sea shore, in front of a mountain, by the woods, on a mountain, even in a desert, you can find God there.

If it takes too much trouble going somewhere, your back garden maybe good enough. Just grab an outdoor chairs
chair position it right in front of say an apple tree or your vegetable garden, ideally in the early morning or dusk, just sit quietly and soon you will find yourself in the presence of the Lord God.

The sound of trees screeching, birds chirping, different insects humming, the cool wind whispers, they are the voices of nature, they are the voices of God.
Peace, quiet, tranquil; these are good ingredients for a prayerful atmosphere. Listen to your inner voice and you will hear God. God is just deep within your heart.

Praying is communion with God, praying is being with God. Of course, you can pray anytime and anywhere you wish to but praying in an ideal atmosphere will set you in a prayerful mood. You can be with a loved one anytime and anywhere but you can enjoy each other’s presence if you are somewhere special. And so with prayer.

Gold Coins

. . . or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.' In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

There is indeed a very good reason to celebrate in finding a lost gold coin. A gold coin is convertible to cash and to commodities. Saving gold coins is a good investing alternative. Gold values appreciate over time.
True indeed, gold tends to increase as time goes by so if you want to save your money now, why not buy gold coins rather than going for the more conventional bank saving account.

Investing on gold coins make your investment intact and safe. Unlike in the stock market where your investments are simply in forms of writing, investing in gold coins give you something physical thing that you can touch and keep. The stock market may break down anytime, savings account rate is very minimal but if you invest in gold coins, you can ensure of its continuous growth and you can literally have your hand on them whenever you want to.

In Gold we save, in God we trust.

A Christian Blog Commentary on Luke 14:25-33.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 14:25-33.

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.' Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Comments:

1. Did Jesus will really exhort to hate your loved ones? Very unlikely.
2. Carry his own cross – how come cross is mentioned here. This is way back before the crucifixion. Thus cross has no meaning yet in the context of Jesus teaching in the same way that cross is understood after his crucifixion.
3. The introductions, i.e. hating mother, father, brothers and sisters and carrying of the cross don’t have anything in common; there is no sense of being paralleled.
4. Again, the main part of the pericope: the importance of planning and feasibility study has nothing to do with the introductions. It has also no significant connection with the conclusion about renouncing one’s possessions as prerequisite in following Jesus

Conclusion:

This is a classic example in which the evangelist had cut and pasted materials from different sources and created one article. Taking a closer look on it is just looking at a floor construction which is made up of different construction materials and added at different time.

The theme however is obvious: How to become a disciple of Christ.

The following are necessary on how to become a true disciple of Christ: Do not be too attached to your family but you do not necessarily hate them; problems and obstacles may be encountered along the way in following Jesus but a true disciple must be tough, enduring and will not give up; following Jesus is not following blindly, being prepared is very important hence planning is necessary; apart from attachment to one’s loved ones, attachment to material things must also be avoided. In other words a disciple must be able to differentiate a need from a want.