thought - on churches merging

It is easier and more commonplace for companies and corporations to merge together - but it is rare for churches to do so.

Every few blocks in America, you can see a church building. Why so many? Did God call all of them to start churches? I dont think so. When He does, it is usually among unreached peoples.

These churches on every block are usually branch offices of a head office, that compete with other head offices.

Is it clashing egos and flesh that prevent more mergers especially when doctrines are similar?
Here is a juwo on when our church merged with another.
http://juwo.com/nodepad/demos/thoughts/churches_merging.html

thought - On why the Ark was captured

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the ark which contained the presence of God was captured in battle by the Philistines. Why did God allow the symbol of His presence to be captured? They were manipulating God like an idol.
God Himself engineered the showdown between Himself and the Philistine god Dagon to show He was no idol. Here are some thoughts on how we manipulate God for our prosperity.
It is in a juwo (presently on Windows only), click here for the juwo.
The entire story can be read here in the online Bible.

Beautiful Kerala

tranquility



Outside the 450-year old Jewish synagogue in Cochin, Kerala. The ruler had it build outside his palace and extended his protection to the Jews.




"the fields of India are ripe for harvest" - Rita. paddy fields of Kerala

On Internet chat rooms

Loneliness envelops each of us
typing tapping on the keyboard
hoping to connect across the aether
hoping to trade sleep for snuggling
to a fantasy

Courtship

These two figures look like a woman shyly hiding behind her ladies' fan while a prince in his plumage is trying to woo her.

(I took this photo recently in March 2007. Winter had ended with one final snowstorm. We made two snowmen. Then it warmed up and they started their usual melt. However, then due to the unusual weather patterns we have seen this year, a hard freeze followed).

the kingdom of heaven is here

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world".
First, there was only one light, Him.

After that, a few lives were transformed. They touched other lives with the good news of Jesus and they too, were transformed.

The gospel continued to spread and transform lives - as it spreads even today.

"until it worked all through the dough."
Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

Question: Is my life transformed? I dont know.

Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the others? (or Recruit the Power of the Holy Spirit)

Dont be afraid nor embarrassed to recruit the Holy Spirit's power;
We dont need to use sleight of hand to prove Jesus is alive and real.

"because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

On a newsgroup (news.YCombinator), the following thread:


rms 4 days ago
As an intellectual person, I find blind faith in Christianity outright offensive. It doesn't make any sense to base your world view on the mythology of a Bronze Age people.
Honestly, I'm glad that you have the right to spread the good word on your website. But it's so rare I get to interact with a real, live Christian that I delight in the opportunity. Maybe we can both gain something.
So let's talk. Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the others?
reply
*

juwo 4 days ago
why do you believe that 2+2=4 and not 2+2=5 ?
reply [I was sleepy and replied without much thought]

rms 4 days ago
Because I count two things, and two more things and see that there are four objects. I can observe with my own eyes that mathematics works. You can't ever see God, you have to take on faith that a book written almost 2000 years ago is absolute fact.
So why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the other gods?
reply
*
juwo 4 days ago
You obviously pride yourself on being an intellectual, yet you havent even scratched the surface. Think deeper.
The answer lies in the answer to my question.
reply

rms 4 days ago
Fine. Mathematics is generally based on so-called "non-logical axioms" -- non proven statements that we accept based on what a person such as yourself would call faith.
Still, I believe in mathematics because it works. Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all others?
reply [the Holy Spirit brought rms to recognise by himself, the role that faith plays in Mathematics]
*
juwo 3 days ago
You're getting the point - that we trust Mathematics even though it involves faith, because there is plenty of correlation to the 'real' world.
Similarly, Jesus is a real person, not an emotional crutch. An absolute truth, not a relative choice. Like 2+2=4 and not 2+2=5.
How do I prove it? Simple. Ask Jesus himself to show that he is real, to you. However when you ask, you cannot have an attitude - otherwise he will ignore you.
"you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart" [God] (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%20:%2013;&version=31)
He himself, will checkmate you.

jey
Neither introspection nor emotional experiences reveal truths about external reality. Emotional experiences carried out in the meat computer mounted on top of your torso do not provide any supporting evidence for the existence of Jesus.
reply
*
juwo
Far from it. I am not talking about "introspection nor emotional experiences". If Jesus is real, then he will show that he is real, to you, if you ask without an attitude.
It will not always be in the same way.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%209:1-6,%207-20&version=31;

[perhaps someday soon, both rms and jey will have that encounter]

Do we have compassion for the poor?

Do we have compassion for the poor?

I saw this link in the YC newsgroup; it is the text of a speech by Apple's Steve Jobs.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

I did not know he was adopted:

My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

A few days ago, he was listed in Forbes as one of the world's richest men.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.

I couldn't help thinking that if a Christian family had shown him kindness and hospitality when he was poor and hungry - instead of the Hindu temple, I wonder what could have been?

There is no proof that the Bible is true. However...

There is no proof that the Bible is true. However...

(October 2005)

Gopal and I were classmates and friends in high school; I had lost touch with him 17 years ago and could not locate him until a few days ago. He is now a successful international businessman. At one time he said he believed in Jesus (usually very difficult for a high caste Hindu brahmin to be saved). Some years later when I met him again, he said those beliefs were childish (at which point I too, had stopped believing). I sent him the following email. He is quite intellectual. I pray that God will draw him near.

Gopal:

... Your earlier question on what I believe in now. I assume you are talking personal faith. The answer is - definitely not in purposeful divinity! That seems to be your cup of tea now?

Anil:

Hello Gopal,

You asked about whether belief was my 'cup of tea'. In college I was an agnostic but after several years of wandering around, I have come to realize that the Bible is true. There is noway to 'prove' that it is true (no matter what some may claim).

There are no proofs but simply indications to show that it is true. It is like a jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing; we do not have those pieces but looking at the rest of the parts that do fit, we feel good about it that it is actually a designed and complete puzzle and that someday in eternity (heaven), the rest of the pieces will be given to us to prove that our faith was valid.

Why do I assert that it is not possible here on earth to get this proof? The Bible itself says that "We walk by faith, not by sight". It also says that "Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that He (God) exists and rewards those who earnestly seek him. So God himself requires faith as a prerequisite; if there was a proof all laid out, then perhaps all scientists would become Christians by using some logic theorem which they had discovered or formulated, because I think most are sincere seekers.

But God will not accept us through the pathway of our tools that make us proud - our Mathematics, our Logic and our Mind - He wants us to come humbly by the pathway of Faith in His son Jesus who died for us. Which is why the Bible again says that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise (or'intelligent'). I am not saying that we should not be thinking, but that to approach God, only faith in Jesus will reach Him. Only Jesus could say of himself, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me".

Unlike what Catholics and several religons believe, Jesus is the Only pathway to God. If you are interested in seeing some of the logical and scientific indications (again, not proofs) why what I believe is true, here are some good websites.

Ravi Zacharias:

http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p=JT

Hugh Ross: http://www.reasons.org/http://www.reasons.org/resources/hotline.shtml

-Anil
P.S. Another indicator that the Bible is true is a person's transformed life when he becomes a follower of Jesus.

Proof that the Early Church never tithed

Proof that the Early Church never tithed

I believe that the Holy Spirit showed me this:

The Temple was standing simultaneously while the church existed during its first 37 years. The church began in 33 AD, and the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

If the early church tithed, they would have brought crops and cattle to the priests of the Temple, not to the elders of their church.

They would have brought these to sustain the very people who crucified Jesus, to those who stoned Stephen. Isnt that ridiculous?

But the final blow is - if they so tithed, would they have been Jews, or Christians?