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?

Ted Haggard scandal

Please pray for the tens of thousands of Christians around the world
whose lives have been influenced by Pastor Ted Haggard and New Life Church
in Colorado Springs. Pray that they will not get disillusioned and backslide.
Pray that their faith will remain fresh and that they will not be disciples of men,
but disciples of Jesus. Pray that the gay marriage ban vote will not fail because of the
scandal.

I read today:
"I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
(Acts 2:25)



This has been the biggest shock of my life. If I consider myself a charismatic, it is because
of Pastor Ted's influence. We were not members of New Life (later I wished I had been), but
visited often.

One of his principles in his sermons and books which I have tried to live by has been, "Live
your life as if there are no secrets".

In fact, when I had an offer from Sprint, in the New Life parking lot on Easter Sunday 2001,
we felt the Holy Spirit telling us to move here - even though I didn't want to.

It is ironic but the basic idea for the software I wrote and have been unsuccessfully trying
to build a business around (http://juwo.com), came to me when I would listen to Pastor Ted's and Ravi Zacharias' sermons on the internet while we were looking for a church in 2001.

thanks,
Anil Philip

What is the purpose of life?

May 2006

Here is the Purpose Of Life - which I realised by myself over the past two years (since 2005):

1. Seek God (Jesus) continually.
2. Tell others about him - not just by speaking, but living and behaving the same way that he would.
3. Keep your vessel clean. If you keep your vessel clean, God will use you.
4. If God uses you, your life is not a failure.
   

The above seems simple or silly, but it has taken my entire life to find out this truth.

Need more explanation?

1. Seek God (Jesus) continually.

"As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you" (Psalm 42)

"you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13)

Seeking is Actively Searching.

This will keep our hearts fresh and young even when we are disillusioned by:

• God

Many times, we, as people, get angry with God when we see tragedies in our lives, in the news, or people we know. Why could not an All Powerful God prevent or fix it? For me, it is hard when I look back at my life and see things I could have done which would have made my circumstances or even myself a much better person - why didn't God nudge me toward or open my eyes to those choices?

• Christians

When men and women of God fall, we get disillusioned because we did not know that they were in sin. If they can be like this, then why should I bother? Or maybe I can also have some 'fun'...
When Christians or even our church misunderstands us, our hurt can make us bitter and angry.

• Circumstances

Why do I have such a hard life? Why do people who are not God's children, have an easier life? So many of them have happy, healthy, prosperous lives.They have more money, I.Q., talent, health, good looks, children, families.

*****

Since our God is a living God, Seeking is two-way. When we seek God He will commune with us, on His terms. When we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate it for us, a sentence or phrase will leap out at us, off the page. That is God speaking to us. When we pray to God and our spirit is yearning without words or even sound (not tongues which I believe is probably different) then I believe that we are communing with God.

"No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest" (Jeremiah 31:34)

What God shows to you will be a main dish for you, but a side dish for others. Similarly, what God shows another person will be (to use American terms) meat to him, but trimmings for you. For example, my understanding of the purpose of life was 'meat' to me, but may be obvious and trivial to another person. This will keep you from chasing after gurus. (Note: I am not referring to learning doctrine from a teacher which is necessary).

2. Tell others about him - not just by speaking, but living and behaving the same way that he would.

Jesus' last command: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15)"you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem... and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)

3. Keep your vessel clean. If you keep your vessel clean, God will use you.

Since God is the Creator, He will use everyone from Pharaoh in Egypt in 5K BC., to Saddam Hussein in 2003 AD. to meet His purposes. In the book of Exodus in the Bible, we read that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites out of Egypt as God commanded. So God said, "I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!" (Exodus 14). So God will use us, whether we voluntarily wish to be used or involuntarily - even when we refuse to be used. Important point: the blessing will come to us only when we are voluntarily used.

When we pick up a vessel to use, we first ensure it is clean - if it is dirty, we clean it.If it cannot be cleaned, we discard it.

"Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these [things], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work". (2 Timothy 2:21)

I have been realizing that our thoughts are the starting points of strongholds of sin. As it progresses, the same thoughts can hide strongholds of sin. It is difficult to recognize a pattern of sinful thought, but easier to label sinful behavior. By the time it is visible, it has a strong root, been growing,burying, entangling itself and difficult to dig out. A stronghold has a strong hold!

4. If God uses you, your life is not a failure.

Men everywhere, define their lives by achievement. No one wants their life to have been a waste of breath. At the end of my life, I want to be able to say, it was good that I was born. I do not wish to be a failure.

Growing up in India, I remember that my father hoarded 'how to be successful' books. Life was hard. Life in the middle class was marked by competition and survival. Every issue of the Reader's Digest was read, word for word because of the large number of American self-help articles it contained. We stopped reading the Bible as it was replaced by the Readers' Digest. If I have learned one thing, it is that God will overthrow our idols. Needless to say, we became failures. So then, what is achievement? People often define it as money, creating a legacy, inventing something,becoming a leader, establishing a dynasty.

I disagree.

I say: You are achieving if you are voluntarily being used by God.

In the Bible (Luke 2:25) Simeon (and also Anna) was used by God for a specific purpose for perhaps only 10 minutes out of a probable lifetime of 80+ years. He dedicated the baby Jesus in the temple. Even though he had a short period of 'use', it was preceded by a lifetime of preparation, a long period of waiting, but his achievement has lasted through history.

The Flatface Musings - Java has harmed Unix but helped Windows win

Java has harmed Unix but helped Windows win

(November 2004)

There is an unusual reason why I believe that Unix is losing and Windows will win the battle - the Java programming language. I woke up this morning in Masterji’s cube and had a revelation. I realized that I no longer see the ubiquitous black xterm windows on most software developers' desktop screens.

For decades, it used to be that a programmer would do a remote login from his desktop PC to a Unix system for his daily work - to code, test and deploy his application. At first, the Windows PC was used only to connect to the mother-ship, the Unix box. On the Unix box, there were also programs for email, word processing, and surfing the internet. Then gradually with an improved suite of applications from Microsoft, the PC began to take over. But Unix was still indispensable.

No longer. Java was designed to be portable, to work the same on Unix, Windows and Other. So one can simply code and test now on his desktop using the version of Java for Windows! Unix is reserved only for deployment in production but with the larger population seated on Windows, I believe it is only a matter of time before Windows also takes this space. The crack has imperceptibly grown into a chasm. Heavyweight products like web servers, application servers hitherto in the Unix domain are now released for Windows. The code should work exactly the same on the Unix box as it did on the programmer's Windows desktop, and this is effectively guaranteed by the makers of Java.

The irony of this is can make one laugh loud in amazement - Java was birthed at and owned by Sun Microsystems, whose battle horse is Solaris, the high end flavor of Unix!

Indeed, the Sun is slowly setting because it believes its Solaris workstations are losing ground to Windows and Linux. It does not realize it is slowly being killed off by what it gave birth to, with much labor and pain.

Java encompasses a panoply of software technologies, from databases to distributed computing and web servers, from cell phones to transactional systems and more. This means that these technologies are now brought to the desktop, where Java will also run.
Indeed during Masterji’s college days in the late 80's as a Computer Science student, he says, “I never even once switched on a Windows PC. All of our work was done in Unix. DOS/Windows was a laughably primitive system. Now it is sobering, and a watershed moment for me to realise that I have not logged in to work on a Unix system for over two years, except to push code for deployment to production. This weekend, I shall delete the Linux partition on my aging dual-boot desktop at home - I do all my programming in Java in the Windows environment now”.

What can halt this slide? The answer is obvious and simple. Sun has enormous leverage over its creation and so can simply stop releasing the version of Java that will run on Windows. IBM, HP and Sun must simultaneously push the Linux desktop to the consumer. This must be done as a sudden shock and not gradually. Programmers will rush out to install Linux/Unix on their PCs in order to continue working. More applications will run on Linux/Unix. The balance will then shift away from Microsoft and open up competition. This will once more bring diversity back to the world of software.

Copyright Anil Philip 2004, 2005

my favorite Christian singer - Bob Dylan

I found this album after listening to 3rd Day's "Offerings" album which played "Saved".

I havent listened to the other songs yet - just bought Slow Train Coming, but feel compelled to review...

The lyrics of Saved alone contain as much theology as the great hymns of old - every line is profound and taken from the Bible. (I wish I could have had my Grandpa listen to this - but maybe someday in heaven, we shall all gather round to listen to Dylan himself play). Better than most modern christian music, in poetry or theology.

Bob shoulda been a hymnwriter.

Looking at just the first three lines of the first verse (using a quick search online concordance):

I was blinded by the devil,
Born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead,
As I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.


line 1: I was blinded by the devil,

[2 Corinthians 4:4
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ..."]

[John 12:40."He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn-and I would heal them." ]

line 2: Born already ruined,

[Job 15:14. "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?]

line 3: Stone-cold dead

[Psalm 51:5. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.]
[Ephesians 2:1. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,...]
[Colossians 2:13. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[a] God made you[b] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,...]


So on to the rest of the joyous song!......

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

By His truth I can be upright,
By His strength I do endure,
By His power I've been lifted,
In His love I am secure.
He bought me with a price,
Freed me from the pit,
Full of emptiness and wrath
And the fire that burns in it.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

Nobody to rescue me,
Nobody would dare,
I was going down for the last time,
But by His mercy I've been spared.
Not by works,
But by faith in Him who called,
For so long I've been hindered,
For so long I've been stalled.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad, I'm so glad,
So glad, I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.