"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."- Isaiah 53:5
I was thinking of this passage this morning as I was wrapping tefillin. For those of you who aren't familiar with tefillin they look like this:
Hi. I'm Nathan. I am 13 but I have only gone through a bar mitzvah in a spiritual sense not the physical ceremony. The reason why is because I didn't know Hebrew very well when I turned 13. My father asked if I wanted to do my bar mitzvah ceremony when I was 13 or 14 and I chose to do it when I was 14 so I could learn Hebrew for one more year. The reason why I am writing this is because my father wants me to become more of an adult and share my thoughts with other people. This requires that I organize my thoughts more like an adult which helps me mature and grow out of childish ways. [I definitely look forward to more. -Ed/Dad]
During a men's study today an interesting analogy I have been using was further fleshed out by a friend of mine, Jon Coll. The analogy is one involving football and faith.
By coming to faith in Yeshua we have "joined His team" so to speak. We are each called to "play in the game" we are assigned. We are also called to play by the rules: to act honorably (Hebrew 13:18) and to stop sinning (1 Corinthians 15:34) . The basic rules that apply to every player are the "rules" found in Torah: the traditionally counted 613 commandments. Everyone has the same "out of bounds", the same rules regarding fouls, etc. Even though every person plays by the same rules the "Coach" gives each person individual assignments and tasks to carry out.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently delivered their "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" results online. A Fox News analysis of the report indicated that almost half of the 35,000+ Americans surveyed had "left the faith tradition of their upbringing" to either switch to a different denomination or completely different religion (including no religious affiliation at all).
Part of the change has been attributed to the very mobile and fluid nature of our society. Given that over 22 million Americans moved to a new home between March 1999 and March 2000 and over 8 million Americans moved to a new state in 2006 America is definitely mobile.
I get a news digest from CNN each morning and an interesting article recently came up about how people were getting ill with a rather unusual set of symptoms. It turns out the problem was caused by a fine mist of pig brain tissue these folks were inhaling as a result of working in a slaughter house. One of the women interviewed went from being able to walk to needing a wheelchair in 4 months.
After about 6 weeks I have finished a study regarding when Yeshua was crucified. The "Good Friday" idea doesn't match what we find in the pages of Scripture. I was surprised to find out what day Scripture tells us He was crucified. Here is the article.
On Monday Fox News reported that a large crane fell and killed several people. What is believed to be the last of the bodies were recovered today. The Associated Press reported an additional development today: a city inspector was charged with falsifying an inspection report related to the crane that collapsed.
Yes... thud. That was me. Sorry. It's 12:34 and I am BUSHED! I've been updating the site trying to get the Ultimate Tag Warrior installed for the blog only to find out it is not compatible with this version of WordPress.
DOH!
I just yawned and I think I inhaled a cat. Yes... I know... not kosher. Fortunately I think I just coughed up a hairball. Sorry... that was rather too graphic. I will endeavor not to blog while I am so tired.