Theology? You Kidding?

A rephrase and the most complete writing of my theological pursuits so far.

Why study theology? Won't it turn you into eccentric strayed weirdo? Well, short answer ..

🎀 I believe everything else in relatively manageable, but the world, life experiences, they're anything but easy. God has formed me to be that sensitive so that I'm urged to ask, articulate and share my takes on the purpose of life, the meaning of existence. I don't settle in religious formality, not questioning is not faith, it's ignorance. I love God's wisdom & the Church so much that I want to be a part of the movement of The Spirit Who constantly making The Word to not only be translated as authority, but also relevance. (The short version).. 😅

The long version ..

🎀 Through about 40 yrs alive, I've experiences things that the "prosperity theology" (dominantly present in my previous charismatic context) would relate to as turmoil to be subdued, that sharing burdens & struggles too much would mean weakness, a lack of faith .. these experiences have shaken me like a fish made aware of water because previous familiarity with water have made it unnoticeable. "Prosperity" became more incompatible, it simply can't answer (and would reflexively dismissed) the facts of God as The One Who reveals but Who is also a Mystery.

🎀 Still related to the incompatibility of my previous convictions, I've experienced tragedies myself, the "decline" circa and beyond 40, issues with health, struggles in keeping it together mentally after my mother's passing. During the birth of our 3rd child, I almost lost my wife. I've also been involved in a prayer fellowship which believes in miracle, healing and breakthroughs, but at the same time has also been flooded with prayer requests for those with suicidal thoughts, traumas, covid, tumors, cancers.  Some have left us to be with the Lord. That raised a question, especially because the previous teaching we received that true Christian belief views body, MIND, and spirit as unity, thus asking and try to reason faith, and experiences in relation with faith is not at all .. wrong. Are we "defeated" and of lesser faith when we fail or people we pray for does? What's the relevance of grace or salvation in this? What is the purpose of suffering? Is the faith of God's presence in "dark" side of humanity is simply a "getaway" or rationalizing our grieves? Is there a reason to believe (and purpose in believing in) God, when He's "hiding" behind happenings which in our version won't be at all the prayer answer we're hoping for? What's the point of faith & praying if we can't convince God to "change His verdicts"? Do we even relate at all to Him or vise versa?

🎀 From point no.2 it's clear for me to pursue the science of faith reasoning .. theology. Existence isn't a thing to be taken lightly. Faith isn't just to be swallowed without questioning. 

🎀 Encounters in either one or two directional manner (like this Live FB from Theovlogy  yesterday titles "The Non Clergy Theology Fan") have awaken me to the fact & irony that many Churches, ministers, and seminaries have been dismissing those searching God through reasoning and burning issues just to cover their insecurities and thus have been wielding their authority the wrong way.

🎀 Minding previous point, I can't settle being a part of "laymen" or ordinary churchgoer, those who prefer processed spiritual food, the "practical" as they say, and later blaming or judging the same scholars as being "eccentric", "swayed from the faith", etc for presenting deeply thought, reflected and prayed for .. ideas. For those of you outside my circle of faith, yes, the grassroots can be so lost in thinking that those who think more deeply are those thinking incorrectly. 😅

🎀 While I also acknowledge that all humans are doing theology in their limited and "nearer to interests" scopes, it's my longing and people alike to serve. Serving as bridge, as ministers, reflection of Christ to the people, and representing the people's anguish, hopes, joys, etc to the Father.

1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

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I Know Jesus .. Sort Of

A paradox of knowing The Way, Truth and Life but can still misunderstand and misinterpret Him, and how the best interpretation is the challenging to the existing.

This resonated with the minister & linguist side of me .. ❤️🎆📖

To understand God as a mystery is something powerful in refraining us from being binary discriminative towards those who don't share our creeds.

To understand that the early Church was almost totally Jews doesn't simply means we (mostly "gentiles") should (with less wisdom & less considering the relevance with the New Covenant) be promoting "all things Jewish" as divine. I believe many of you readers have such peaceful minds and hearts to not consider this as an anti-Semitic statement. Instead, understanding that fact, also with the stories in The Book of Acts, reminded me constantly of how they're being brought out (and beyond) of their context & paradigms by רוח קדוש The Spirit into something more perfect & eternal.

Being a Hebrew learner myself I'm constantly working & praying to balance my admiration of God's Word in ancient manuscripts & original tongue with the mystical, Spirit illuminated reading of it.

This way, I was in constant caution not to worship my understanding of the texts instead of The God of the Bible. Why? Come to think of it, even the apostles (all Jews) we're surprised many times* and were made aware that while their experience with the risen Messiah was TRUE, their understanding of what He has in mind is NOT always the same case, they are open for expansion, thus in The Spirit they're continually being pushed to get used to "different".

*Especially started when Jesus provocatively asked whether they understood "that it's been said about His death and resurrection on the third day" while there's actually no plain word per word writing of that in the Tanakh, Jesus didn't make things up, He was referring to the illuminated reading.

*Then Jesus commanded them to go outside Jerusalem and disciple the nations, totally contrary to the centralistic view of God's presence in geographical Jerusalem temple.

*Then, the story of Cornelius. Turn out salvation and gift of the Spirit are for all tribes & tongues, Israelites by flesh is no longer an exclusive, privileged people of God and heirs of Abrahamaic covenant.

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Jehovah Jireh (Our God Who Foresees and Provides)

The word means so much more than we think!

Ever heard of "Jehovah Jireh"? (And its "prosperity exegesis"? 😅). Well, this ain't that.
I should really learn to take it easy the more though, everytime I want to do "lectio divina", the brain just went ballistic. 😂🙏

When יהוה God wants to give descendants to אברהם Abraham, God took him out to רוֹאֶה* see the stars! *Look at the words in pic. When he passed through שְׁכֶם Sichem, when later his grandson עיכוב Jacob saw God's glory in a dream, God promised they will inherit the land. This realization of God's habit of showing people what He would later give them, and Latin motto "Veni Vidi Vici" struck me like thunderbolts of amazement as I pealed through the story in Genesis 22:14 (story of Isaac replaced by God with a ram to be sacrificed by Abraham) which originally shared by a dear friend, Sir Dong Mapanao in our prayer fellowship group ..

So Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be seen and provided.”
Genesis 22:14 AMP

בראשית 22:14 (WLC)
וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם שֵׁם־הַמָּקֹום הַהוּא יְהוָה ׀ יִרְאֶה* אֲשֶׁר יֵאָמֵר הַיֹּום בְּהַר יְהוָה יֵרָאֶה*׃

(VaIqra Avraham Shem HaMaqom HaHu Yahvah (Adonai) Yireh* Asher YeAmer HaYom B'Har Yahvah Yera'e*)

Personally, this is a groundbreaking revelation & clarification, all the more reason to rejoice in the God of our salvation. Through revelation our faith is sure, and should it need reasoning, the grounds are solid!

Gen 22:14 has 2 forms of יראה all at once in the verse, the one that spelled as Yireh יִרְאֶה in "Jehovah Jireh" means "he will see", thus "God will see" (perhaps "see" also means "obtain for provision", thus provide)

It's amazing that this word clearly implies The Triune persons of God's one essence (Trinity). As if He picked/look for a replacement and this only be possible if our One God is at the same time multi-personal.

The next יראה is יֵרָאֶה "Yera'eh", in the last phrase, meaning "it will be visible", in the KJV "it shall be seen", in the full phrase ".. in the mountain of the LORD, it shall be seen", whenever the textual critic points to The Messiah, the realms often overlap. The physical mountain for Abraham was also a metaphor of the real mountain of יהוה The LORD , His presence. He looked for the replacement to atone for our sin in nowhere else but inside His own presence, The Son left this mountain to be with us and died in our place (Phillipians 2).

Even without mentioning הברית החדשה the New Testament, it's still there in the Jewish original text (Tanakh), indications and hints that from acts of God is the past which confirm the Trinity.

This promise of המשיח The Messiah, passed down to the postexilic era, when the promised Land was once again occupied and the people oppressed never ceased to echo. It's as soft as that still small voice heard by Moses. It's as gentle as The Messiah was saying, "Those who have ears let them hear", but it's that same nagging beckoning that haunted Nicodemus, leaving him unsatisfied until he met The Son, passing on to us an account which gave us John 3:16. 

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life."(John 3:16 AMP)

Let us welcome this now seen and provided Lamb of God in our hearts and lives. ❤️🙏✨🕊️

#learnhebrew #biblicalhebrew #theologian

Were You Expecting an Ox?

How the tensions and application issues of scriptural texts underline the importance of inclusive, ecumenical communal efforts to approach sanctifying interpretations.

The rereading of some lesson materials revealed new colors post discussion of several books (especially the one wondering, "Why Jephthah had to make such vow? Could there be anything else coming out his house? Was he expecting an ox? 😅📖), and this previously had caused pained chuckle and mild migraine for me, having read previously that he vowed after "The Spirit of the LORD was upon (him)" (Judges 11:29).🤫

It's amazing how Christians today skip the digesting & critisizing of ancient tribal narratives, written far after the actual event (most likely a flashback made in "godly" period of Israel's monarchy) to serve a purpose of making certain (theological) points 🕎. Nowadays, with half eyes opened, we often embrace the reading as is, as a "manual book" on how they understand the works of The Spirit, how they should approach God & people.💬

"And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom WE gave no such commandment: ...

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, AND TO US, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.."

Acts 15:23-24, 28 (KJV)

While I won't make this time a widened discussion on historical apostolic authority, my point is:

It's better to have the Spirit-inspired take on current burning issues rather than maintaining interpretations that's seemingly spiritual but hold little regards for mercy, grace, justice, life, and salvation. It's better to humbly repentant later for being too emotional, inclusive, or progressive, than to approach the texts with the same rigidity ⛔ which disabled the scribes & priests to acknowledge the Messiah when they actually had the privilege to see Him face to face.

These are times when people including the Church is tempted toward polarization, the "progressive" are mocked, as well as the "universalists" and the "conservatives", everywhere you turn theological "stray bullets" are to be expected and cautioned. Many have forgotten that our privilege being citizen of the Kingdom is purposed for "good" works prepared by God Himself. Are we zealously attacking opposing camps without considering that wisdom belongs to God? 

To be Spirit-filled believers in ישוע Jesus is to be faithful disciples of the Word📖🕊️✝️ (orthodoxy) who are open for "progressiveness" (ortho-patos) so that the dicotomy of spiritual & secular living is dedicated toward elimination (ortho-praxis). Sooner or later one would come to the realization than any other motives for exegesis fall secondary to the sincere drive for christlikeness and sanctification.

I therefore won't deny the drive in this typical season of my life to challenge the interpretive lens that are hegemonic, discriminative, and oppresive. The lens once stuck with a hot glue to my eyelids. So let's continue the reality checks.

Whenever we're faced with endless claims and searches of that "one true church" in the criticism of all others we should remember the lessons of biblical figures. Gideon, later known as Jarubaal, won miraculously but later strayed and succumbed to narcism, his descendants were involved in bitter deadly quarrels. Samson was showing God's presence in military victories, later was overthrown by his own lusts. The best of the major judges was (I believe) Barack, decided wisely by letting a woman of God, the prophetess and judge דבורה Deborah to take charge (and literally charging the oppresive darkness), if you observe, so many female godly characters ended up in better manner than their male colleges. (another consideration to rethink ministerial equality?😉) 

And should we revisit Solomon? A great name many scholars believed to most likely be mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 6:29 due to his older years' repentance after a lifelong of compromising and apostasy. Solomon was probably the greatest human figure viewed by religious eyes, but the spiritual eyes would respond with a resounding "amen" to Jesus who says that the eccentric "nobody" whose life ended "tragically" too soon, John the Baptist is in fact the greatest person ever being born.

None of us can claim "spiritual security" from joining any congregation, having Pastor so and so as a mentor, having certain theological liniency, etc, the list can go on forever. At the end of the day, in Revelation 4, the twenty-four elders will be throwing their crowns and worship before the throne of the only One who saves, ישועתה ליהוה "Salvation belongs to the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). We then find comfort and refuge in Christ alone and in that perpetual note, share the joy of salvation and the journey, the sanctifying interpretations (and applications) as co-heirs, siblings in The Kingdom, sons and daughters of The Most High.

How Threatening Can Loaves of Bread Be?

How Hebrew Text in Exodus Story Revealed How Christians Should View Spiritual Struggles (And How The Whole Thing Blew My Mind!)

I accidentally found a "nerdy roadsign" which got me meditating on how strongly Jesus Christ was hinted as Israel's (and ultimately humanity's) long prophecied hero and deliverer, a true, everlasting Messiah. All these from seeing the Hebrew word "shall fight" in the Old Testament which turn out shares the same "root" with "bread" both in the old and new testament, the "shadow" and the "fulfillment" of our salvation story. From what could (or not) be a divine design or semantic relevance, I was moved time and again to reflect on Christ, the broken bread from heaven, and to rethink my understanding of the word "warfare", "victory", "conquer", when it comes to the context and premises of redemptive works of Christ, St. Paul's mention of "ministry of reconciliation", and God's Kingdom.

 

Now, to begin the full elaboration, I'm the last person on Earth you'd go to for supporting "weird" theories. What I'll be sharing in the following are simply things encounter "as is", so should they sound like "number mysticism", secret codes, or anything, I have no intention nor pre-meditation of doing such. At some degree however, this incidental nature, in my opinion has just irresistibly added to the appeal of the facts, even to those not really believe in certain theological approach, or even those refusing the accountability and authority of The Bible.

And  as a disclaimer, this is not an academically proven and solid linguistic analysis of Hebrew, I'm also a novice learner of the language, also a provisionally admitted new graduate student of theology by the time this is blogged. I was simply pricked out of sleepiness by this finding coupled with my limited perspective of Hebrew "root" which generally share close meaning/ideas across words formed from the same root (click here to find out more about "root" words, especially in the section "Hebrew Grammar").

Ok, here it goes. During an online prayer fellowship we were meditating and discussing "The Dividing of The Red Sea" in Exodus ch.14. As we're sharing observations and applications from the passage, I came across Exodus 14:14 (See? I know, I didn't even realize they're "twin numbers" until I had finished formulating & sharing my findings), and as I read the Hebrew version of the verse (I often have my Bible app with both KJV and Hebrew Wesminster-Leningrad Codex version open in parallel view), it appeared exactly as the following ..

Because I was told that scratching your heads is bad for your scalps, let me present my "five loaves and two fishes".

I'll only introduce few Hebrew words which are relevant to the discussion. Let's begin with what's in the text.

As you can find in the highlighted passages, the word "shall fight" used in the WLC version is יִלָחֵם "Yilachem".  Enter this exact word in Hebrew language app/website and you'll find that it stemmed out of the same root as לֶחֶם "Lechem" (bread). Being a good Sunday schools attendee back then, my mind immediately rushed to Jesus Christ, the Messiah (prophesied deliverer from God), born in בתלחם Betlehem ("House of Bread"), proclaiming Himself as "the bread from heaven", The giver of eternal life, The One, whose coming would nullify the works of darkness and bringing God's Kingdom into restoration amongst humanity.

Many believers would rethink how they do, approach and think about spiritual warfare once they know that the Hebrew word for "bread" & "fight" share the same root (ל-ח-ם), thus tied to the same or proximate main idea. It's quite a surprise. Who would've though that "bread" which associate with eating, a very peaceful activity, would be tied to an intimidating idea of fighting?

The word ילחם "yelachem" was found in #exodus1414 in which מֹשֶׁה Moses was calming the Israelites when they're pitted between מצרים Egyptian troops and the #redsea just before #יהוה  God divided it. 

We believe that many parts of the #exodusstory was setting the stage & foreshadowing the culmination of #newtestament #salvation #story .. Israel to the redeemed, physical to spiritual, Moses to #ישוע Jesus, Red Sea to #baptism and spiritual #regeneration and #rebirth , and now, only through linguistic finding we can see that Jesus, born in #בתלחם Betlehem #thehouseofbread #לחם The #breadoflife #breadofheaven , broken for us, is truly showing & becoming the kind of #hero #deliverer #משיח the #messiah promised from #בארשית the very beginning.

He's coming and finally His death and #resurrection is the kind of ילחם "yelachem" (will/prophesied fight) heaven is putting toward all the dark enemies of truth & justice. He was the bread broken to free us, once hostages to sin, blinded by darkness, by סטן the accuser who from day one has enticed us to excel into exile, to exalt the understanding against the eternal Father of light.

This sacrificial love shown by our שר שלום Prince of Peace whose return we're anticipating is a no bargain and lesson for us redefine these word when we speak and live them: spiritual, warfare, victory, conquer, glory, all to bow before the cry of a meek baby in an unlikely throne, the manger. The Kingdom has come. Get used to different.

(Combined from post, not a final edit yet..  To be continued ...)

A Twisted Worship?

A repositioning of worship paradigm from the reading of Mary's "Magnificat".

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”  

And Mary said,  “My soul magnifies the Lord,   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

(Luke 1:39‭-‬47 ESV)

This might not sound biblical.. nor medical. The upside down Kingdom mandates a chiropracticed worship. And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior." (Luk 1:47)

       How many times being mostly evangelical as we are, claiming obedience to the authority of the Word, being a pentecostal-charismatic as we are, claiming openness to movements of God's Spirit, yet we haven't seemed to get our worship expressions straight?

And by "straight", I mean to follow the manner of the Kingdom that Jesus was bringing which is the exact opposite to views of the world.

     Our beloved mother Mary has given us this (written) Spirit-inspired legacy of "the soul that's proclaiming" and 'the spirit that rejoices".

     Sadly, many Christians today need chiropractic treatments in the way we respond to the Good News and ministry. Many of us got it turned around, the spirit is told to minister (while it's left hungry and away from Jesus, the Savior), while we're trying to pursue the next spiritual sensation or mere understanding, we tell our soul to hold on to salvation, thus the faith gets tossed around & badly beaten. That's why there's something "fishy" about the overrated expression "I'll be there/ministering in the spirit", while the underlying motive is reluctancy to delve in exhausting human dynamics.

     I believe that when we can be sure we're approaching God the right way, that's the time we allow our soul to dominate what it can never grasp, a favour & salvation from God that are receivable (in the right sense of) by faith alone. I believe faith to be and should be simple: pray, read the Word, believe, then in that belief .. we tell the soul to move, to train, to allow strains, to work on problems and pains, to sing like never before even when our strengths are failing, to fight for what's right, to demonstrate mercy, to glorify and magnify our Lord.

     We can learn from the opening of Mary's "Magnificat" today to rejoice in/with our Spirit and taking part of God's redeeming & loving works to renew creation with our soul, as mentioned in the שְׁמַע Shema (Deut 6:4-6), "our soul, and our strength". May the words of our mouth & the thought (meditation) of our hearts be pleasing to Him, our rock and redeemer (Psalm 19:14). 

#lectionary #lectiodivina

Living a Dream? (How God's People Wisely Position Their Dreams)

I'm well aware that many are confusing God's calling with their own desire, I'm not excluded from the struggle myself. And being a student of the very science and art of scriptural interpretation, I have no intent nor desire to mix and mess things up.

That's why it may come as a surprise at the first glance that I'm passionately quoting this (seemingly self-gratifying teaching), so allow me to continue with a note: I strongly believe we dreamers don't simply hallucinate. We believe that special people as well as God who sends them into our lives, they can see that the "dreams" are actually thoughts, emotions, and conversations that are heavenly. Dreamers are oftentimes geniuses who are misunderstood by their families and hometowns. So, don't quit, pray & work your way up, put God and His values, love & forgiveness first and foremost, especially to those He put in opposition to us during the climb.

Quoting ..

"A life of faith.. of a 'dream' is often one lived at great risk.. often asked to decide on loyalties, passion, on concrete action.. Would he (Joseph) waste his passion on his desire? Would he save the Egyptians & his brothers who had so unjustly treated him? .. The underlying question is .. the tension of fractured family & lives. How can they witness to the world is they can't live together? .. The tension is resolved by the faith affirmation of Joseph, who credits God with being interested in their deliverence.. Perhaps the real 'blessings' is not so much the prosperity .. instead the affirmation the narrator makes about Joseph when he was in prison, 'The Lord was with Joseph..'.. will covenant people remain faithful to God's dream?"

Dr. Steven Fettke, "His Story", pg.37

Pictures by pixabay.com

Let's See If You Can

Let's See If You Can

My Accidental Immersion and Discovery on The Issue of God, Trial, and Temptation.

Illustration of an outstretched arm (image by pixabay.com)

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Luke 11:9 ESV

I decided to quote to you from Luke's Gospel, the one that leave no room for partial understanding of what the ultimate gift from The Father is.

While we may ask for any earthly provision, The Holy Spirit is the least expected and ultimately encouraging gift of all. Who would expect that God will give himself, totally? The third person of the Triune God is revealed, the only Person left to be revealed is revealing the wholeness of God, making the ascended Christ ever available for us, through many colors & expressions of worship, through the reading of The Word, through The Communion, ever available, revealing The Father, empowering the journey back to the fullness of salvation, what gift can be more rewarding? And this lengthy "litany" of amazement is how I best describe what was previously a "learn and share" session turned revelation. But to have a clear picture, there's going to be some language lesson as this story progresses, so bear with me.

It all began as I was sharing my Hebrew  discoveries with a socmed based collective learning group I helped to establish. I was sharing about the word "Kan" כָּאן (here) because our Pastor was trying to check if everyone's present in the church chat group, so I was searching and found the expression אָנִי כָּאן "Ani Kan" (I'm here/present). 

I soon found a more "biblical" expression, rather than saying "Ani Kan" אָנִי כָּאן, people in the Old Testament used an expression "Hineni" הִנֵנִי (Behold, it's me) as they were found in Isaiah 6:8 and Psalm 121:4. However, as I came across the third reference for "Hineni", I began to notice things I'm about to show you in the following detail.

Genesis 22:1 (KJV)  And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

בראשית 22:1 (WLC)  וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת־אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי׃

Vaihi achar hadvarim ha'ēle vahaElohim *nisah* (try) eth Avraham vaYomer elaiu Avraham vaYomer *hineni*

I'm fully aware that the Hebrew reading is overwhelming for most of us, so let me shorten the report. Observe the last word (both English & Hebrew version) that I mark bold, yes, they are "Hineni" (Here I am/Behold, it is I), now observe the other bold words, there are the word "tempt" and a Hebrew word "Nisa/Neesah" נִסָּה. 

This was when things get more interesting, I was drawn to that lingering, "half understood", nagging sense you'll get whenever a preacher or skeptic is asking or testing you, "Do you think God is tempting humans?" And you might here this in an accusing tone, that God is no better than the devil, setting a trap, waiting for us to fail and fall.

And just to have an inhale pause, no, I don't have "easy" answers to that, but I'm going to give my best shot, still with a limited, novice, "humbly open for correction" theological & linguistic perspective and horizon.

Back to the findings. I failed to find modern Hebrew expression to fully comprehend what נִסָּה means, but I found come example with other word with the same נסה (nun-samech-hei) root*, and the word is "Naseh" which conveys several meaning including testing, and what drew my attention was that it can also be translated as "Let's see if you can ..."

Here's an example of the usage of "Naseh" נסה in modern coloquial Hebrew.

נסה למצוא מקור חום.

Naseh limtso'a maqor chom.

(Let's see if you can pickup the heat signature).

Should that also be the meaning of "Neesah" נִסָּה, then clearly, accusing God capable of finding fault in a situation we perceive as "trial" of our faith would seem out of context. God (who's all knowing, even regarding the future & outcomes of things) was somehow in His "present-ness" looking to see IF we can, not IF we can't. To approach this philosophically, "if" is only relevant to the present because the future is still unknown, so it's a human context interacting with a "present tense facade" of God.

This "present facade", physical/mortal universe bridging, relatable & naturally sensed personality of God, is what's been believed by many scholars as the epiphany (God's "Son" appearance in the Old Testament), "Angel of God", "Metatron" in Judaism prose/Talmudic related fables, and finally .. Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

I personally believe it's not the case that God can tempt a person to sin or that it shows how God was also helpless to "secure" the best outcome of trials, but the trials themselves are a human specific condition where the requirements of God (which is always holy, righteous and perfect) would constantly clashing with our fallen fear, insecurities and egoistic desires. This totally in line with what St. James wrote ..

James 1:13-14 (KJV)  Let no man say when he is tempted , I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

But finally, as always, God's the best when it comes to making happy endings. Even in the tragic & ironic story of Cain & Abel, we can see in Genesis 4:6-7 that God was instilling His hope that Cain might prevail against evil. Many of us knew Cain failed, and the first murder and the first sin ever committed by a man to a fellow man is recorded in the Bible, all in the context of offering and worship. But still, in the thread of salvation promised mentioned earlier in Genesis 3, God placed a protective mark on Cain thus showing time and again His desire that as good prevails over evil, His mercy will always have the final say, not His wrath.

Now that we've understood God's holiness, His legitimacy in making this fallen world's dynamics into a trial of our faith in Him, and that our own sinfulness which sparks temptations, what do all these benefit us?

There are no doubts that while we can handle most of the trials by supplies of faith on what He's done for us in the past, we would face special defining trials, much like many godly people mentioned in the Bible. It is in these times when the storm of ordeals, hardships, even tragedies would beat us black and blue so bad that in our eyes God's barely recognizable, in the hardest unthinkable trials, we'd have the ground and courage to believe in His heart.

Being a daily depression survivor myself, I can share this with utmost empathy to some of you who might still be struggling in making sense of God's existence and love in the complexity of problems or pain your in as you read this blog. I get it, it's hard to think otherwise when the reasons for spiritual distancing and apathy seems real, feels right, and makes more sense. I can simply appeal that you'd consider these findings, knowing that I came to this through research rather than just selling or repeating the same "feel good, self help Gospel" you've might've heard before.

Through these readings and propositions, I hope to not just ministering to you readers, but also making a credible note which I can benefit from in my "rainy days". I believe God is constantly showing His supremacy right in the midst of our metaphorical "watery chaos" as His Spirit is beckoning us with spiritual "curve balls" by which we can move from the point of confusion and sense of fatalism into seeing His purpose.  Just like a mechanic trying to see if things will work, like a teacher, or a parent trying to see if a child can sum up into something more then the previous less ideal state, God has our best interest in mind. We can work out ways through the twisting and turnings of life and at the same time being at rest, knowing that to us, things yet unknown is expected to turn out good, the puzzle will fit in place, He is seeing to it that we CAN. God has formed a team and He's letting us know that we and Him are on the same side.

Romans 8:31-39 (KJV)  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have I Misread God?

(This blog is not yet done .. patience :D)

Have I Misread God? 

(A reading through the story of Hagar & Leah, and a critic on Biblical Interpretation on God's Favour and Despising)

Now when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren. 

Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him a son].” 

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon (God hears). 

She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me [as a companion], for I have given him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. 

Again she conceived and gave birth to a [fourth] son, and she said, “Now I will praise the Lord .” So she named him Judah; then [for a time] she stopped bearing [children].

Genesis 29:31‭-‬35 AMP

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” 

But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.  

But the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. 

And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit humbly to her authority.” 

Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 

The Angel of the Lord continued, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears), Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).  

Yes, I'm both acknowledging the account of verse 12, and also skipping it because there's already too many discussion & commentary on the personality of Ishmael. Knowing that we all inherit hostility in our sinful earthly nature, that's not where we're going this time.

Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” 

Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Genesis 16:5‭-‬11‭, ‬13‭-‬14 AMP

If you're familiar with the name "El Roi", some of you might be surprised that it's uttered by Hagar. Nothing less an ice breaker, this is the very first passage throughout our familiarly canonized Bible in which the word "Angel of the Lord" is mentioned.

Psalms 51:17 (KJV)  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Will Learning Theology (Or Simply Anything Else) Erode Your Faith?

 

The moment we're sure to understand is whether at your most wise & educated or in the most ignorant & less informed state, while in the climb towards wisdom you'd feel so insecure and venerable, I have pastor friends, one is a doctor of ministry, the other just obtained his PhD, they share this "imposter syndrome" notion of inadequacy which IMHO is a good thing that allows humility, a heart posture which allows more learning, understanding and wisdom.

But I don't see that illusion of mastery as to legitimize ignorance in the name of faith. That would be masking laziness, prejudices, all those dark features of chaos, the things God himself has in fact been subduing & shining upon.

The fact that almost none of us are left without invested talents, room to grow, people to meet, demands to exercise love, justice, and truth, all these in themselves display this divine paradox: denying the chance to change is the refusal of μετάνοια repentance and the denial of God's grace.

Yes, to be a believer is to embrace paradoxes. As with the recent social justice heated (and many times polarizing) discussions, the privileged v marginal, I was also reminded that human interactions are anything but simple, as we acknowledge casualties, we should avoid the naivety of dichotomizing. Evil is cosmopolitan as grace is omnipresent & immutable. 

The scholarly studies & analysis indicates that Jesus, of all people, might as well be closer to camps of the Pharisees rather than the Sadducees or any other Judaism sects of His time in terms of His unorthodox & creative hermeneutics (in which I believe coexisted in realtime parallel to His divine  omniscience and the presence of רוח קדוש The Spirit).

This in a fair maesure therefore, suggests learning will & should land you back to faith, to marvel and love of our God. Is it the same faith of the limited, the less privileged, the meek & simple? Definitely! But once you're called, you must answer, you must push forward, you must arrive back in faith as a person who's doing his part, as a person finishing the race, therefore we won't be taking God's grace for granted, but rather, in The Spirit, doing what you know of the Word, making manifesto of your worship, making it tangible, evident, appealing.

To close, parallelizing paradox & pharisaic natures, along with the fact that Nicodemus & Paul was (and in a way had still been) Pharisees, the fact that only few "camels" passed the eye of the needle, into seeing the fullest revelation of יהוה God in the person of ישוע Christ, we then come to understand that while "nature & nurture" can be tempered with, you cannot force faith the same way as you can never fathom God's grace for the most unlikely and unworthy. For God all things are possible, and in that knowledge we have the ground of confidence that He'll finish His good works in us as we do our parts.

Obed Edom, a Story of Our Efforts and God's Mercy

I've been hosting a Hebrew Collective Learning group online. I throw random trivia every now and then to hopefully making the learning casual and more close to home. These are some points I shared about working and how it (should) inspire Christians and also hopefully all to be better, knowing what "better" means.

I started by sharing the reason behind my recent latency in greeting the members in the chatter, despite of home chores (being a super dad), studies and exhortation preps and church service Ad design, 

מוּסִיקָה

Moosiqā (Music) 🎹

אָנִי אוֹבֶד/אובדת עָל מוּסִיקָה

Ani ovēd (masc.)/ovedeth (fem.) āl moosiqā

I'm working on music/ I do music work.

Now, there's a biblical character with a name similar to "ovēd", it lack the letter "ו" Vav, but still sound the same, most probably of the same root..

2 Samuel 6:10-12 (NKJV)

So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.

Now it was told King David, saying, "The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness.

שמואל ב 6:10-12 (WLC)

  וְלֹא־אָבָה דָוִד לְהָסִיר אֵלָיו אֶת־אֲרֹון יְהוָה עַל־עִיר דָּוִד וַיַּטֵּהוּ דָוִד בֵּית עֹבֵד־אֱדֹום הַגִּתִּי׃

וַיֵּשֶׁב אֲרֹון יְהוָה בֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם הַגִּתִּי שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים וַיְבָרֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת־ עֹבֵד אֱדֹם וְאֶת־כָּל־בֵּיתֹו׃ וַיֻּגַּד לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד לֵאמֹר בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־בֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם* וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לֹו בַּעֲבוּר אֲרֹון הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֵּלֶךְ דָּוִד וַיַּעַל אֶת־אֲרֹון הָאֱלֹהִים מִבֵּית עֹבֵד אֱדֹם עִיר דָּוִד בְּשִׂמְחָה׃

Someone told me once that if something or someone is mentioned 3 times or more in a row, then the writer probably meant to show us something important.

So, even if we won't be assuming the "mystical" side of it, it's always good to have closer look ..

Ovēd עֹבֵד (meaning "servant") is taken from the root עבד Abād, now again what's amazing of the uniformity of ideas within an ancient, less hybrid language such as Hebrew can be seen here .. the same root עבד would give birth to words like ..

Ovēd עובד (working; v.)

Avodā עבודה (work/job; worship; n.)

L'Āvōd לעבוד (to work; v./pa'al)

Ēdōm אֱדֹם (red, the red one, referred to Esau as in Gen 23:30; 32:3; 36:1, symbolizing worldliness, human effort) shares the same root אדמ with 

Ādām אָדָם (Adam, first human, mankind)

Ādom אָדֹם (the color red)

Ādāmāh אָדָמָה (ground, dust of the earth, red soil or clay)

The commentaries (should you're interested to dive deeper, but swimming is also ok 👍😁👍) are found here ..

Bible Study Tools Dictionary on Obēd Edom

and here ..

Abarim Publications on The Meaning of The Name: Obed Edom

Let's continue.. 

While scholars assumed that Obēd Ēdōm was "whitewashed" to become a korahite/levite in the books of Samuel & Chronicles (again, circulated studies shows these books are serving as ancient narrative of how Israel came to be as a nation; so, not propaganda free 😁), the deeper meditation of the text would reveal something deeper and spiritually profound. 

Obēd Ēdōm ultimately symbolizes us, strangers, gentiles, people (once) outside of Israel's covenant who are once "servant of ourselves" but later visited by God (symbolized as The Ark of The Covenant). This is further clarified by King David's reaction after hearing that God blessed Obēd Ēdōm, meaning he knew that God had shown favour and His grace so much as to bless a gentile and not killing him as He did with Uzzah (v.1-9) in previous part of the story.

This is to me personally is one of those sporadic story of grace, hidden in plain sight, similar to those of Ruth and Rahab (both Gentiles, but "adopted" to the covenant), and later revealed in Jesus Christ.

What gives true blessings to our עבד אדום worldly works is nothing more than God's grace. 

The mandatory demand for holiness /righteousness (displayed previously through the death of Uzzah for improperly handling the Ark) is not a way of obtaining either grace or blessings, righteousness is a proper response to God's holiness.

No one can get God to be merciful.. instead He has chosen to be (how wonderful)..

Therefore I believe to be righteous is a one package deal in repentence, our attitude of acknowledging that we're from time to time still doing things (ovēd) in a way that's worldly (Ēdōm), even in service to others or "ministry".

This act of continuous realigning to God's will is what ultimately sanctify us..

But does sanctification relates to blessings? I believe so, however the posture of the heart that desires blessings first and relationship with God second.. this is our constant problem which need repenting.

Different faith traditions have different approaches in expressing repentance, but I believe the same spirit & yearning should belong to us all alike, not so much in the yearning of restored entitlement or belongings, but to the restoration of relationships, us with God, us with others.

The Bible have shown time and again how God is hurt by our doubts. Even Malachi 3:10 was the expression of God being satirical and "forcibly" transactional, responding to Israel's reluctance of giving what's needed for the service in God's temple. This "woe" to the Israelites, we actually share it. Most of us are no better when it comes to expressing love to God in acts of service or giving, worse, as New Testament people, we know from stories I've mentioned before, that He's the kind of God who is so merciful and inclusively embracing as to do this ..

Romans 9:25-26 (NKJV)  As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved."

"And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God."

Therefore the main concern in repentence is ..

Luke 12:23 (NKJV)  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

Let's work and serve in the spirit of restored relationship between us and God, made possible through the life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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From brother Felix's thumb 😅♥️

Greetings beloved readers!

Friends, you are created for God's delight as much as He's delighted to shower you with love, to restore you into His intended fullness of life, to reveal Himself to you through His Son, Jesus Christ, to pour out His heart to you and as much people whose lives you're allowed to touch.  This is OUR ministry of peace & reconciliation. 

How to support OUR ministry?

This ministry is grounded in the longing to be an authentic integral witness of God's salvation in a way that blesses & empower people to be better in what they're destined & called to do, to be a better professionals, business owners, family member, and member of their communities and even their nation.  

Therefore we don't collect financial donations but rather asking you to support causes and ventures we believe could bring increasing opportunity to resonate His messages through what we daily do best as roles mentioned above.  

How can I support OUR ministry?

Visit or/and share these following links ..

Someone you know or even yourself might be blessed, inspired, or unnoticeably passing blessings to certain needs..

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