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Revelife Christian Blog

Saturday, 14 July 2012

Book Review: The Reformation by Patrick Collinson

By Nic Don at Theopolitical

This is a difficult book to review, and the brevity and paucity of my comments ought to be significant in themselves. The Reformation by Patrick Collinson is an informative and enjoyable read. It is like sitting next to a brilliant professor talking about his subject at a dinner party: you may not get the full context but you’ll get a lot of great anecdotes, a highlight reel of the course, but nothing that would be useful on an exam.

Collinson is clearly an academic, clearly a scholar and clearly at home in the material. But the resultant book isn’t academic or scholarly, and doesn’t leave the reader with the impression of having been at home in the era. It is a glance, nothing more, at the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. It is enough to say, “That must have been a very interesting time. Someone could write a very interesting book about that.”
There Will Be Pain in Childbearing -- and Hope

By Sharon at She Worships

Until very recently, I have always read Genesis 3:16 in a very specific way. This is the famous (or infamous) verse in which God declares the consequences of Eve’s sin in the Garden. In it He states,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.”

To me, this verse has always meant one thing and one thing alone: labor pains. Fortunately, God also allowed for the invention of the epidural. Problem solved!

Right? More Here...
Answering a Call

Lately I have been pulling away from my more Christian-oriented posts and this has paralleled with what's really been going on in my life spiritually. See, I've been fighting with the Lord over something; something that He's asking me (or telling me, really) to do and I just plain and simply don't want to do it.

Be silent. Be still.

As simple as it may sounds it is not so for me and He knows it but it doesn't change the fact that this is what He's calling me to do.

Since moving here my heart has been centered around everything that I feel I lost, the friends and family I left behind. I see the blessing in it, though. I see that moving away has enabled me to break away from the things that I never had the guts to before. I see that it has helped me draw closer to Him and to my husband and my children. Really it has given us a whole new life. Before this my husband had lost his job three weeks before my scheduled C-Section. We almost lost everything but then a man gave us the opportunity of a life-time while asking for nothing in return but that we make the most of it. Well, me sitting here whining about how I feel is not making the most of it. More Here...

Friday, 13 July 2012

Friday the 13th: Thoughts on Superstition

Today is Friday the 13th, and the fear of this day runs deep. If you've checked Facebook at all today, you probably saw friends and family posting about it. It was even a trending topic on Twitter.

So why does the day really cause us so much concern? Certainly it isn't the horror film franchise that uses it as its namesake, and chances are fairly good that nothing bad has happened to you on a Friday the 13th -- yet. But the British Medical Journal published in 1993 that the likelihood that you will be hospitalized on Friday the 13th increases by 52%. There's even a name for the fear of Friday the 13th: Paraskevidekatriaphobia.

The superstition surrounding Friday the 13th really seems to be the combination of Friday and the number 13. Thirteen is seen as unlucky by all sorts of people. On a cruise I took last spring, I noticed that there wasn't a 13th floor to the cruise ship, due in part to nautical superstition that the 13th floor would be unlucky. The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission certainly didn't keep people from believing thirteen was a number to avoid. Even in the Christian tradition, the number thirteen pops up at the Last Supper: all of the good disciples and Jesus makes twelve, but add Judas, the betrayer, and you get thirteen. More Here...
That Was My Life

Music was a huge part of my life, and still is. However, I don't do the things I used to do. I'm also grateful that I chose not to continue living the way I was living.

I used to DJ at night clubs, parties and weddings. It was something I did to help make ends meet while I was in college. I was ok at it, as I know there were a of people more talented in that field.

My point is I saw the world week in and week out and heard the same stories from different people. I realized that what I wanted for my life was far more than what partying ever could provide. The night clubs and the parties were where people escaped reality -- and in a few instances met reality.

I had to take responsibility for myself, and come to a point of decision. So, I chose to walk away from doing DJ'ing, even doing radio, because I wanted to figure out who I am and who I needed to be. More Here...
Divine Mercy: It's Easier to Want it for Yourself than for Others

It is easy to talk about the mercy of God, but difficult to understand the depth of the mystery that we are dealing with. The human understanding of justice has to do with righting of wrongs, bringing the scales back into balance, which of course is impossible. For justice and revenge are first cousins, often accompanying each other on the road, trying to right wrongs. Most humans have a strong sense of justice when it is applied to wrong doers, a natural desire that flows from wrongs committed against oneself or others.
Mercy for many is something unknown and when experienced can be life changing. Like water in the desert, mercy can bring life and healing to many human situations, but it can be difficult to apply and in some instances impossible, for our human emotions can take over allowing the application of mercy impossible. So in the end cycles are often fed, growing strong and healthy, feeding on the pain and anger of those seeking justice, but in the end, is only another word for revenge. It is a serious human dilemma with severe consequences that seem to be growing, if what we see on the news is any indication. More Here...

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Violence As A Last Resort

By T.G. Blankenship at The Gethsemane Blog

Most people don't desire to be violent. Most people do not plan on being violent. Most people dislike and try to avoid violence. In my experience, most people say "I'm not a violent person, but I'll use it as a last resort if I have to."

I used to say the same thing. I want to address the misconception that those of us who leave violence as a last resort don't value violence highly. I also want to explain why I think this philosophy is misleading to the people who hold it, making them victims of their own philosophies (usually taught to them by the communities that raised and currently nurture them). Perhaps a lot of this is a reflection of who I've been but from what I have encountered I believe this may be true of a great many other people as well.

Anytime we say we'll use violence "...if I have to" we make the assumption that we have a deep need for violence. This is ultimately untrue. Such a perspective holds within it a false view of reality. For we do not truly need violence or else we would cease to progress or exist without it. That is, if violence were eliminated, we would go along with it into all that which is not. Unlike oxygen, this is not the case.* When looking at the problem with greater honesty we must admit that such a statement is only made under the knowledge that violence already exists in this world and is often a great problem. Even scripture makes this fact clear (Genesis 6:11-13, Proverbs 16:29). Let us then continue under this premise.
More Here...
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Feel free to send us anything in these categories or on any other subject that you find interesting. It is the breadth and depth of subject matter we feature here on Revelife that makes our community unique.

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Sometimes I'm my Own Worst Enemy

I go through times of inner shattering, when everything seems to go in too many directions at once. I feel tired, angry and have trouble praying or focusing on scripture.

I know much of it because of my sleep cycle. I have always been a light sleeper and even as a young child and teenager, could never sleep in on weekends. So I know that exhaustion is what causes a great deal of this.

It is how I tend to handle it that makes it worse. I try to escape the inner turmoil by seeking something other than waiting on the Lord to deal with it. I know from experience that when I wait on the Lord, just set, look at a scripture verse, or perhaps a an Icon I have in my room, brings the inner shattering and turmoil to rest, or to a point where it is no longer a temptation I feel a compulsion to get away from. Yet I still persist in not sitting before the Lord at times. More Here...

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Unhappy Christians

Are you living for God? I know the title of this message sounds like it's accusing you, but honestly this is a self-examination post. The reason why many of us feel empty or feel like we're not living life to the fullest or something is "missing" is because we don't put God first.

Yes, we may say we're Christians or believers but is God really first? Proverbs 19:23 states "The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble." Fearing the Lord has many benefits; not only does it keep you from falling into sin, it gives you hope and a purpose. Proverbs 22:4 also says "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life." God said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments, and The Bible also states that His commandments are not grievous.

I believe the more we follow God and God's ways the happier we will become. For example in Psalms 34:10 it says "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." So people who seek the Lord they won't want any good thing whether that be cars, more money or even a better relationship. They will rest content in the Lord. More Here...