Mindless Babble ...and now you know... the rest of the story.

This is found in the second “book” of the Qur’an, or Koran, named Al-Baqara [the cow].

These are three different translations of the same passage.

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YUSUFALI: Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
PICKTHAL: Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans - whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right - surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.
SHAKIR: Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.

War on the Christian world, eh?

One of the key points of my home congregation, the Hartville Church of Christ, was to hold services and behave as closely as possible to the first century church. This is a great goal for Christians.

Look at the examples we have from the early church. Paul, Peter, John, Thomas, and the multitude of brothers and sisters spread throughout the cities of early Asia. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he praises God for their faith. For they were “rich in every way in Him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge - just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you - so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1Cor 1:5-7] The Romans were also commended by Paul, as their faith was so great it was “proclaimed throughout the world.” [Rom 1:8] These are just two examples of exemplary groups of Christians in the first century [although the Corinthians DID have their share of troubles].

How many congregations are like this nowadays? How many congregations are so faithful that they’re renowned worldwide?

More often than not, unfortunately, I think most congregations are like the church in Laodicea as described in Revelation 3: neither cold nor hot.

The Bible tells us to Forgive and Forget.

It’s a little shady on exactly what that means, or how we actually go about doing this, but I have an idea on how we can work on it.

There’s obviously the famous verse in Matthew 18:21 and onward. Here, Peter is asking Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. Seven times? Seven times seven times? Jesus looks up at Peter and says not only seven times seven, but seventy times seven!

What Jesus is trying to explain to Peter is that in order to truly forgive someone, we have to completely forget what’s happened in the past. This is how God deals with our sins. He doesn’t just forgive, he forgets.

Now, this isn’t to say that  we should be careless. History is something to be learned from, and the old adage “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” has proven itself true time and again in many a situation.

However, we as Christians need to learn to Un-know, essentially, somebody’s past; to learn how not to hold a person’s past against them so we can focus on helping them in the present, and pointing them in the right direction for the future.

Much like Big Mike in The Blind Side, we close our eyes while the world is bad, protecting ourselves from harm, then, when the coast is clear, we count to three, and open our eyes. Then everything in the world is good, and it will all be okay.

Who’d have ever thought that the mindless would have so many ideas in his head? Coming up soon:

“Knowing how to Un-Know things”

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff”

Stay tuned! :D

There are many different kinds of ways to label a road in this country. Road, for example; and Street, Avenue or Boulevard, Circle, Parkway, Centre…

My favorite of these is easily the Avenue, specifically the Avenue of prayer.

Every time I go to God through Jesus, I feel the most amazing soaring feeling in my soul, like I’m truly speaking to God, rather than talking into empty space.

Do any of you get the same feeling?

It’s been my observation that there are few things remaining in this world that can truly impress. Music’s been pretty lousy nowadays [most forms of art, in fact], we’re not doing much more with Outer Space, and technology has kinda hit a standstill now that the touch screen has been invented.

However, one thing never fails to impress me.

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My girlfriend, Jen, is quite possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s gotten me closer than I’ve ever been to God [with the help of a certain Theatre major I know :D], she loves me unconditionally, and she always seems to know what to say when I need to say it. Honestly, I could go on for hours about everything I love about her.

So I think I will. :D

Things that I love about Jen:

Her eyes

Her hair

Her smile

Her laugh

Her love of things nerdy [including me :D]

The way she strokes my hand

The way she squeezes my arm

The way she cuddles so close to me

The way she cheers me up when I’m depressed

The way she tolerates me when I’m not

The way she looks at me when she thinks I’m not looking

The way she knows EXACTLY how to push my buttons [in every way possible ;)]

The way she’s never in the same mood twice

The way she craves my attention

The way she’s not afraid to be goofy

The way she accepts who I am, although I’m a lot to accept

There’s so much more I could say, but I think that’ll work for one post.

I love her so much; I hope we last forever.

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*EDIT: I hope you all saw the proper use of semicolon here. DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE ONE.