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Another Monday, Another Week of School, Another Friday to Look Forward to...

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dennis
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Post  Roh Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:10 pm

Another loooooooooong week ahead! But it's okay, because this weekend's going to be great and we're all gonna have an amazing time on Friday night.

I had class from 9-12 this morning (= death), and I have class later on from 6-9 (re-death). So here I am, stuck at the library, taking a break by doing devos, and trying to learn a lot out of it, which I DID:

Some famous verses here:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
The set of verses that come before and after these verses are kind of scary. They pretty much say, "If you don't believe in me, you will burn in hell." So outright, so straight-forward, and so blunt. I think the message was so strong that Jesus HAD to say it as means of a parable. It makes sense, doesn't it? But on the brighter side, Jesus guarantees that he will be on our side to the fullest if we remain in him. Here are some evidence: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you."; and, "Great love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Jesus is man of integrity, and for his friends, he does everything. This last verse is from a song, but I can't remember the title. I thought about this too, and I question myself and see if I could ACTUALLY lay down my life for my friends. I don't know, because it always depends on the situation and in most cases, I may not. That's not to say that I'm a bad friend or have no balls, but realistically speaking, the extent to how difficult it is to lay down your life for anyone is extremely complicated. People don't realize that Jesus laying down his life wasn't just a man dying, but it was GOD dying for us. How humble, how powerful, how glorious. It amazes me to think that he would even do that for us and show us how much he loves, through most people's biggest fear - death. Not just normal death, but fearful, painful, anticipated execution.

Let's be the ones that bare fruit and spread the seed everywhere we go.
I realize that it's really important to be "nice" and all "Christian" everywhere you go. Sure, we're all nice to each other in the praise team and do good things at church. But it's important that we practice all of this outside of church as well. Personally, I get bothered easily by people who are against some of my standards, namely concerning etiquette. I can't stand rude people and people that just don't care about others. So when people don't hold doors or do other such things that bother me, I sometimes blurt out rude comments or give them a look (some of you can testify to this). But I'm really trying to fix this, for people could be all different and taught in different ways. Trying to be more understanding.

Anyway, hope you had a great day and I'll talk to you guys soon!

Check the Weekly Song List tonight.


Roh
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Post  dennis Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:11 pm

Random fact: Did you know that an infant of four months can tell when you speak in one language and switch to another one? Apparently, they can.

I must say, the tree metaphor is quite nice. In verse 3, Jesus says, "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Relying on God and trusting in His power are two ideas that I had by the end of reading the passage. When we accept Christ, sometimes, we think that that's good enough for us to live as Christians. However, in order to grow as Christians and "bear fruit", we have to remain in God by doing devotions, praising Him, and praying. From this, God will stretch us and teach us to do His will. Even as we go through struggles, trusting in God's power to do amazing things will help us to find peace.

Also, from John 15, I learned that Jesus knows that spreading the gospel is a difficult thing to do. I'm always struggling with evangelizing because I'm afraid of being rejected (like people saying "Uhh no" and giving me the death glare). Before reading the book of John, I had thought that Jesus faced only little bumps while he spread God's word. However, I think we can all testify to the fact that telling the Jews about God was not an easy task for Jesus either. I mean, people stoned him often times. In verse 18, Jesus says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."

Even though all of the Jews rejected Jesus for his teachings AND his miracles, he never gave up. Instead, he kept telling people of God with the hope of impacting some people to accept Christ. In the end, Jesus did turn many people from non-believers to believers. I hope that, soon enough, I will have the courage and the willingness to spread God's word to other people, even if it means I have to step out of my bubble.

ciao
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Post  JacobPk Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:11 pm

I'm dropping my grade 12 law course. i hate it Shocked
anyway, i'm pretty much excited for friday aha.

I like this tree, vine thingy. In verse 2, i didn't know what prune meant, but i found out that it meant to be clean. God always is working in us and will strengthen us in every aspect to become more like him and get rid of what's sinful in his eyes. However, i really like verse 4, the word REMAIN is really powerful isn't it? IF we do this one simple thing, God will return the favour. IT says that no fruit can be beared without the vine. I think we need to be constantly reminded that it is God who does everything and not US. When we praise, worship and lead, we should try not to think highly of ourselves but more toward God. Of course it is our human nature to feel like I DID THAT or I DID THIS, but we should always be reminded that God did it. WIthout God, we are nothing, empty and never satisfied with anything. With God, we are never thirsty, lonely, scared of anything and feel like we can go against the world. I heard this phrase once, and i never forgot it. " We are in this world, but we aren't part of it" and i think this is what God is trying to say as long as we remain faithful to him.

Fryday
aha cheers

CHeers!
JacobPk
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Post  hannahlee Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:19 pm

I see a little silhouetto of a man, scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango? THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING. VERY VERY FRIGHTENING ME. Galileo! Galileo!

Anyways. Now that that's out of the system...

John 15

I quite enjoyed this passage..just lines here and there, that made me go, "Ahh.." So I suppose I'll just run those through.

v.2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
In the footnotes of my bible, it says that the Greek for prunes also means cleans, which I thought was also a neat way to look at it. This verse reminded me that not only was God the one who created each and every one of us, but He tends on us like a consistent work in progress. We're constantly changing, evolving at His will as He sees fit, as the circumstances in our lives and we change, and I just thought that was pretty cool to consider. And the branches that do bear fruit could be comparative to the special gifts/talents and convictions that He's sowed in each of us, with the hopes that we'll be as fruitful as we can in this world, in His name.

v.9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love."
The whole "just as I have.." part stood out to me, because it's like Jesus, the Son of God, allows us to parallel ourselves to his relationship with his Father. I just thought that was pretty awesome..I mean, it's pretty honouring to read that He allows and encourages us to establish a similar relationship with him.

v.18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."
'Nobody said that Christianity was going to be easy.' It's something that Sam says on the occasion and something that often comes back to me. I like the phrase because it's so honest. This verse instinctively gave me the shivers, but then became a bit of an encouragement for myself and where I stand in this world with my faith. It's true that living as people of faith, especially in a world like today, is certainly not an easy thing to do. Obviously the judgment that the disciples must have faced compared to my conjuring up the courage to share God's word with a friend seem so stark in contrast, but I won't pretend that that fact makes it any easier to do, sometimes. But this verse reminds me of the pains that Jesus had to endure first and it's humbling. Once again, there's nothing that we face that our Jesus doesn't understand, because He took the weight of the world on his shoulders. This verse was especially great for me today as I'm getting into the meaty part of my Becoming Fully Human course. Our theme for the semester's existentialism - essentially, our personal reasons for being. And while I know how I feel, with a classroom of predominantly lost souls jaded with the idea of "organized religion" or what have you, I anticipate it being an uncomfortable and difficult run at times. BUT, this passage gives me a bit more gusto and I like it for it.

Well, hope you guys have sweet sweet choosdays.

Hannah
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Post  Isaac Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:02 am

grumble grumble... to much homework. I have to read world religion homework that i missed (cause i skipped class Evil or Very Mad ). Now its biting me in the ass.... So im taking a break from reading other religions and relaxing in my own religion.

John 15:
The vine and the branch is a very common metaphor. Jesus uses "I am" a lot and it is significant because in the old testament God refers to himself as the great "I am" (Exodus 3:14).
Jesus makes it very easy for us to realize his importance in our lives (as he is the main vine) and how he handles the non believers ( or the spoiled vines). He also talks about the servant- master relations ship which is very important to understand. He also calls us his "friends" which is awesome cause hes a cool guy to know :p. What gets complicated is when he says "i have chosen you, you have not chosen me". I talked to Sam about this a while back and although it does say directly he has chosen us it may not refer to us being chrisitan. It may refer to him choosing us as a teacher/ something important because the context it is in (hes talking to his disciples).
I like how he directly says at the end "This is my command: love each other". He wants us to have "long lasting fruit" and love each other. It is quite direct and i like how he said it.
As christians when we are in a difficult situation (when it comes to our faith vs the world) he was hated first (as it says). To me that is very important in my walk with God, as many of my friends dont "hate" me for my belief but definately dont understand me. Also he makes a good point that people who do not believe do not have an excuse anymore because he came and showed everyone but still to this day many dont believe so now they have no excuse. Also this ties into the Revelations thing where there are some "things" that have to be "completed" before Jesus comes back. Such as madd crazzzy natural disasters and everyone had a chance to believe in Jesus. This makes it hard for people in the middle of no where (such as the jungle) or places where they dont even know how to communicate but that is one of the reasons why some missionaries are going to remote places i think...
grumble grumble... we write so much now eh? almost to much to read.... But i must finish reading all of yours! Very Happy
Anyway have a good week guys! my eye balls are about to fall out... i still have math homework to finish... Sad
-Eyesack
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Post  Isaac Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:04 am

hmm hannah i know how you feel. Im taking world religions and Christianity is often the subject of the class. Many people see it as a religion and not a "relationship". Also ignorant people see the Bible as a staple of rules in a 30300303 page book but in reality it is a epic tale of the worlds being and travels of many great people which happen to out line what it is to have a great walk with God. Very Happy
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Post  Michael Ha Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:14 am

Hey~
Devo 15 (September 15, 2008)
John -Chapter 15- that's a lot of 15s!

I love the analogy of God/Jesus being the vine, and us being little branches which could only (polar) bear fruits by being a part of the vine.
I believe this is very true, there's nothing that could go wrong if you just listen to what Jesus has to say: be nice, don't kill people, don't steal or lie because you'll get into deep #$%, and just don't do bad things. Also, just by believing in someone who DIED for us makes me feel like I want to love this person back and follow what He has sacrificed Himself for.
However, I don't know if I can give up my life for others.. and I actually have a very legitimate answer for this.
I heard that if you sacrifice your life for a person that you go to heaven... sweet, the person gets to live, and I get to chill at heaven; awesome! That's what I first thought...
however when I thought harder I realized how many lives I would affect through dying. Let's say I died for a family member: my mom.
The situation is something like: speeding car, mom on the road, and me pushing her out of the way majestically and then getting crushed to bits.
First of all, my mom would feel terrible that I had to die in her place... Not only that, but I am her son, and therefore, she would feel an even greater loss; like a double-whammy loss. Then, all my other relatives, family members, friends, and all some other people would feel the loss too, and (hopefully) be very sad. My mom would also live her life feeling guilty that I had to die because of her, and she might not even recover from the shock.
So this is where my theory of me not dying for a person comes in...
The living bears the sorrow of the ones who died, therefore:
I think I'd rather bear all the sorrow in the world, than have others feel the sorrow.
I think I can take it... I don't want others to take it, so I will wholeheartedly take all of it.
Ya... So I don't think I could give my life up for another person... for a reason something like that.
Kk, that's it!
G'night all!
Michael Ha
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Post  Isaac Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:34 am

hmmm mike dont underestimate the impact of a lost friend/ family member. Its easy to say that you would "take the sorrow" but until it impacts your life like your mother dying (in ur scenario) its different. Also i dont know where u got the auto passs into heaven because u died for someone else. I think its the other way around... if u commit suicide.
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Post  Michael Ha Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:43 am

Isn't the ultimate form of love giving your life away so that someone gets to live? In Constantine, Keanu Reeves does this in the end and is about to go to heaven (while flashing the middle finga at devil's face) when the devil let's him live + cures his lung cancer because he's angry that Keanu owned him.
Anyways... Ya.. you could argue that if you die for someone thinking you'd get into heaven it's a form of suicide/exploitation and you would definitely go to hell for that.
But in the circumstance when one will actually die for someone, that usually isn't the case.
Since death to most people is certainly unknown (not that I don't believe in the after life of heaven/hell, but there are people that are still skeptical about it, but believe it somewhat) they would be afraid to throw their life on the line for another... That IS why people are afraid of death right? They don't know what's going to happen after they die... If you KNEW you'd go to heaven after you died, and live eternally in happiness, wouldn't you be like, "Bring it on~~ yeee" ?
And I am not underestimating the impact of a lost family member, like I said above, my mom could be traumatized or smth knowing I died for her, and this could of course, go vice versa had she died for me... The point is I'd rather be the one that's getting traumatized..
In the case where I decide I wouldn't die in place of a FRIEND, you could argue that my friend's family would be really sad as a result, and that it would be unfair for them... But I would also be sad... Then, if I died for my friend... My family would be sad, and my friend would also be sad... I said I'd bear all the sorrow, so I'll bear the sorrow of losing my friend, instead of my friend bearing the sorrow of losing me.
It's not out of selfishness... Also, if the friend or whoever that would die is NOT a Christian or IS an atheist.. I'll definitely make the exception... Letting that person die knowing he/she would burn for eternity when you could've saved them or at least prolonged it... I wouldn't be able to live with that kinda guilt...
Michael Ha
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