Dear Greg;
<<Don, Donald, Donny, DLL, or what?>> I do not mind any of those. It is funny that you ask because generally people who love me have called me Donny. I am a junior and it differentiates me from my dad. It has carried over to our congregation as my best friends call me Donny. I have never asked them to and I take it as a sign of love from them and God the Father.
It is interesting to me that if you trace the missionary journeys of the apostle Paul you will be tracing the spread of freedom and Western civilization. I believe that the Judeo / Christian ethic is superior to any other developed in history so far. If you read the founding fathers, read the inscriptions on Washington and the quotations from many State Constitutions it is obvious that our great nation was founded on these ideas which originated with Yeshua.
It is ironic that many women find fault with him because he also originated respect for and rights of women. Most other cultures treat women poorly compared to the freedom in the West. I believe that our culture is superior only to the extent that we continue to act as he would have us act. Our nation is sliding away from him and I believe this is having a dangerous effect on US.
Allow me to digress for a moment. You shared that you have been reading the book of Luke. What did you think of this passage which I find fascinating.
Luke 4 (16-30)
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum. I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian." All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
There are many radical ideas contained in this passage which is why the people wanted to kill him. I do not want to lead you in this but would be interested in what you think of this story. Shall we look at the character of Yeshua that this scripture portrays? What would your reaction be if you were present?
In Yeshua's love for you - DLL |
