Leapers All

 

I once heard an educated Bible theologian say that to understand the Bible, we must either believe that Jesus was God or that he was only a crazy deluded man.  This was probably the excuse he used for not dealing with the contradictions in the Bible.  Does the reader have to take one or the other of these extreme mindsets?  Is there no middle ground?

Sure, there is a lot to talk about between the two polar extremes, the question is, will we?  For sure, the Church trained and financially supported Biblical theologian could not even hint for a second that Jesus was slightly less than God.  The heretic label would have devastating consequences within the hierarchy of the Church, both to one’s career and income.  He or she would achieve, in an instant, leaper status to be shunned.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA.

     

   

Eternity

Why have you and your Facebook friends taken such offense at my words, Suzanne?  I thought that we were at least acquaintances.  Heaven as a reward is one of those biblical words that has been corrupted by the Christian religion.  When Jesus used the word heaven he did not mean to agree with your heaven and hell scenario.  Yes, he also used the word hell but, in most instances, he was playing mind games with the hell raisers.  There were hell raisers then as there are hell raisers now.

This is why I prefer to us the word eternity which foretells of a positive or good or redemptive future for all of humanity.  Case in point, let us return to our prior discussion of Matthew 10, 32 & 33.  According to the text, those who “acknowledge” Jesus and those who are disowned by Jesus are all before the Father in eternity.  No where is it said that those who are disowned are to be sent to hell, that is an assumption that you are making. 

Who can say for sure?  Maybe, eternity is like a building with many floors and we will have the opportunity to move on upward to full understanding.  Having something to work on in eternity should be a positive, right?  If you think life can get boring at times here on earth, just wait. 

For now, let us be open to a myriad of possibilities.

Respectfully,

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

 

 

Pain

If I were a preacher, which I am not, what message would I share on Father’s Day 2023?  I would begin by sharing about my earthly father, that seems reasonable.  There’s the rub.  We all lived in the same house, sat together at the same dinner table but we three boys, were never a part of or a reflection of the adult world of my parents.  That world was the church.  We were just the kids.  If asked, my parents would say, we love our children but that love, if it existed, was not expressed or shared.  Nothing about life and family was ever shared.  I grew up believing that was normal, not understanding what I was missing.  Normal, it is not.

Which is worse, never knowing your birth parents or living in the same house and never knowing your birth parents?  Go figure!  Because this question is so intimately involved with my story, I would choose the latter but there is pain enough in life to go all around.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA    

 

Father

It will be Father’s Day on Sunday, June 18. On this day we celebrate our fathers but are we not celebrating our understanding of the ideal father?  As wonderful as our fathers may or may not have been, no earthly father matches our ideal, that need or desire for the ideal father, is a part of which binds all of humanity together on this day.  Are we not thankful, therefore, that there really is an ideal father?  That father is our eternal Father God.

When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray to the eternal Father God, Jesus began his illustrative prayer with the address, “Our Father, which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-13).  Some would prefer an address such as “My Father, which art in heaven”.  Did Jesus understand himself as a special emissary, co-equal with the ideal Father God or was he praying as one of the believing spiritual children of God?  An argument could be made either way, but in his lifetime, as recorded in the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus never claimed to be God. The later, theologized Gospel of John, however, disagrees.  

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

 

Sorry

 Sorry blog, I’ve been distracted.  There is nothing more satisfying than being inspired to write something that pleases me, no matter what it does for anyone else.  I am selfish that way.  Then again, there are times when the whatever over the next hill, a dream or a wish fulfilment, captures my attention and I forget or intentionally avoid practicing my calling.  I am the loser. 

Dreams are not evil; they just need to be kept in balance.

Forgive me.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA