I just read an interesting blog post:
http://scientopia.org/blogs/thusspakezuska/2011/07/26/hunger-relief-vs-poverty-relief-i-vote-for-more-of-both/#more-1471
The things I hear about food in America scares me. It's not just the US though. I recently watched Jamie's School Dinners and couldn't believe what I was watching. There's a serious food problem happening in our society, and I think Australia is going pretty well, but is probably also going downhill. The stats are alarming (read that blog post). There are places in America where there aren't supermarkets, let alone fresh food?! Kids can't name basic fruit and veg by sight?! What's going on?
I recently heard that my high school closed down the food technology faculty. You no longer do cooking in years 7 and 8. We should be cooking at school from kindergarten on. And gardening! Is all that calculus actually useful? I eat food at least three times a day.
Completely incoherent, unstructured post. Sorry about that.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Romans 9
I haven't posted here for ages. This blog became, as they say, a statistic. The relevant statistic is that the vast majority of blogs are abandoned in the first year. Not surprising I suppose.
Last night we read Romans 9 in Bible Study. It's such a straight-forward chapter in some respects, that I'm surprised people have so much trouble with it. Why can't we just read it and accept what it says?
Something that strikes me is that Paul anticipates the counter arguments - "You'll say to me 'how can God find fault, for who can resist his will?'". Hey, that's exactly what I was thinking!
We can't resist God's will, and God's will encompasses minute details about our lives, including our salvation. That's that.
Philip Jensen - I don't know if he coined the expression, I've now heard it outside of Sydney circles - says that salvation is "100% God, and 100% us". I used to like this, because we have to be careful in some ways.
But I think these days I disagree. Not only is 100+100=200, but I just don't think it's true. We have no cause for boasting. God, in order to glorify himself, according to his great mercy, sovereignly implants a repentant spirit in us, without which we would never seek him, and with which we necessarily will.
So my actions, from the day I was born to the day I will die, were predetermined by God before the foundation of the world. Any lesser view detracts from the omni-everything of God. I am clay, or a sheep, or whatever else is unable to do anything but that which it/he is enslaved to or was intended for.
How can we get anything else from Romans 9?
Last night we read Romans 9 in Bible Study. It's such a straight-forward chapter in some respects, that I'm surprised people have so much trouble with it. Why can't we just read it and accept what it says?
Something that strikes me is that Paul anticipates the counter arguments - "You'll say to me 'how can God find fault, for who can resist his will?'". Hey, that's exactly what I was thinking!
We can't resist God's will, and God's will encompasses minute details about our lives, including our salvation. That's that.
Philip Jensen - I don't know if he coined the expression, I've now heard it outside of Sydney circles - says that salvation is "100% God, and 100% us". I used to like this, because we have to be careful in some ways.
But I think these days I disagree. Not only is 100+100=200, but I just don't think it's true. We have no cause for boasting. God, in order to glorify himself, according to his great mercy, sovereignly implants a repentant spirit in us, without which we would never seek him, and with which we necessarily will.
So my actions, from the day I was born to the day I will die, were predetermined by God before the foundation of the world. Any lesser view detracts from the omni-everything of God. I am clay, or a sheep, or whatever else is unable to do anything but that which it/he is enslaved to or was intended for.
How can we get anything else from Romans 9?
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