Blindness
Sarah Boyette is a church member who has gotten into blogging. She really should write a book, but that is something she is considering and a dream of hers.
Each Tuesday Sarah is in the disciple of posting a top ten list of things she is thankful for -Thankful Tuesdays if you will.
Each week is great but this one was very interesting. Particularly the opening paragraph which reads:
"It's Tuesday again, which means it's time to list what I'm thankful for. What's great about doing this every week is that I start to be more concious of gratitude during the week. I'll be in the midst of doing something and think, "Man, I have got to put this on my list!""
What is profound about this statement is that the disciple of writing each Tuesday has had an impact on the way she "sees" the world. Each week she is on the look out or is able to see more easily the things she is thankful for. Each week, because she is immersed in the discipline, allows her eyes to see things she otherwise would miss.
This is an excellent example of being a follower of Christ and an example of hoe disciplines are critical to our spiritual growth.
When we follow Christ we being to see the world differently. However, that initial high of following Jesus fads over time without disciplines to keep us up to the pace of Christ. This is why we pray each day, read Scripture, worship, fast, meditate, participate in social justice, feed the hungry, etc. We do these things not only to make the world like the Kingdom of God but also to transform the way we see things.
When we see are immersed in the spiritual disciplines our vision is affected. We see things that connect to Jesus all the time. We become much more comfortable in talking about our faith with others. We become more at ease with discussing Christ and the message of Christ in social settings.
When we are involved in these disciplines our vision is affected.
Is it any wonder that Jesus heals many blind people in the Bible? Jesus teaches us to see differently.
So the invitation to non or nominally Christians is to have your vision affected and begin to see like Jesus. If you like the way Jesus sees, if you are interested in Jesus but not the Church, if you think Jesus had some great ideas, then I extend an invitation to you to practice the disciplines Jesus practiced.
And see how your vision is changed.
Each Tuesday Sarah is in the disciple of posting a top ten list of things she is thankful for -Thankful Tuesdays if you will.
Each week is great but this one was very interesting. Particularly the opening paragraph which reads:
"It's Tuesday again, which means it's time to list what I'm thankful for. What's great about doing this every week is that I start to be more concious of gratitude during the week. I'll be in the midst of doing something and think, "Man, I have got to put this on my list!""
What is profound about this statement is that the disciple of writing each Tuesday has had an impact on the way she "sees" the world. Each week she is on the look out or is able to see more easily the things she is thankful for. Each week, because she is immersed in the discipline, allows her eyes to see things she otherwise would miss.
This is an excellent example of being a follower of Christ and an example of hoe disciplines are critical to our spiritual growth.
When we follow Christ we being to see the world differently. However, that initial high of following Jesus fads over time without disciplines to keep us up to the pace of Christ. This is why we pray each day, read Scripture, worship, fast, meditate, participate in social justice, feed the hungry, etc. We do these things not only to make the world like the Kingdom of God but also to transform the way we see things.
When we see are immersed in the spiritual disciplines our vision is affected. We see things that connect to Jesus all the time. We become much more comfortable in talking about our faith with others. We become more at ease with discussing Christ and the message of Christ in social settings.
When we are involved in these disciplines our vision is affected.
Is it any wonder that Jesus heals many blind people in the Bible? Jesus teaches us to see differently.
So the invitation to non or nominally Christians is to have your vision affected and begin to see like Jesus. If you like the way Jesus sees, if you are interested in Jesus but not the Church, if you think Jesus had some great ideas, then I extend an invitation to you to practice the disciplines Jesus practiced.
And see how your vision is changed.
Hebrew to Greek to Latin to German to English - somethings are lost in translation
As you know the Bible has gone through a number of translations throughout time. A quick and dirty overview:
We have the Hebrew bible which was translated into Greek (known as the Septuagint because it took 70 scholars to make that translation).
The Vulgate is famous for being the first Bible in Latin (which they used the Septuagint to make that translation).
Martin Luther taught the Bible ought to be in the local vernacular thus had a German Bible created.
Perhaps the most famous Bible is the King James version (which I think this year marks the500 400 year birthday of that version).
Needless to say, I am willing to bet that much of the nuanced humor, cultural references, and subtle natures that are found and known in the Hebrew version of the Scriptures is lost on us who are reading the Hebrew - Greek - Latin - German - English version of Scriptures.
Many people have made the point before, but I came across this video and thought about what aspects of the Bible are we missing because we are multiple translations away from the source language?
For your viewing pleasure I present to you a joke told to the Dali Lama about the Dali Lama, of which the Dali Lama does not understand...
We have the Hebrew bible which was translated into Greek (known as the Septuagint because it took 70 scholars to make that translation).
The Vulgate is famous for being the first Bible in Latin (which they used the Septuagint to make that translation).
Martin Luther taught the Bible ought to be in the local vernacular thus had a German Bible created.
Perhaps the most famous Bible is the King James version (which I think this year marks the
Needless to say, I am willing to bet that much of the nuanced humor, cultural references, and subtle natures that are found and known in the Hebrew version of the Scriptures is lost on us who are reading the Hebrew - Greek - Latin - German - English version of Scriptures.
Many people have made the point before, but I came across this video and thought about what aspects of the Bible are we missing because we are multiple translations away from the source language?
For your viewing pleasure I present to you a joke told to the Dali Lama about the Dali Lama, of which the Dali Lama does not understand...
Dynamic view
If you are a reader of many blogs then you may come to find different sites to be poorly designed. This blog is one of those blogs.
If you have a desire to read a blog (even this one) in a more dynamic or interesting way, then you may want to try dynamic viewing. I use it when I am viewing photo heavy blogs and it generates a greater creativity.
Just a note, that you will need to have Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome or Safari. Many elements of these views will not work should you have an older browser.
If you have a browser that can handle dynamic views, then click the link below and see this blog in a more dynamic way.
http://www.jasonvalendy.net/view/sidebar
If the link does not work for you then here is a screen shot of the view so you get a sense of things:
If you have a desire to read a blog (even this one) in a more dynamic or interesting way, then you may want to try dynamic viewing. I use it when I am viewing photo heavy blogs and it generates a greater creativity.
Just a note, that you will need to have Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome or Safari. Many elements of these views will not work should you have an older browser.
If you have a browser that can handle dynamic views, then click the link below and see this blog in a more dynamic way.
http://www.jasonvalendy.net/view/sidebar
If the link does not work for you then here is a screen shot of the view so you get a sense of things:
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.