My Notes on 1 Thessalonians

Please refer to the first post in this series for what this is about, and some details on formatting and the like. Alright, here’s the next post in the series: 1 Thessalonians!

1 Thess 1:1-10

• This letter is from Paul, Timothy, and Silas. Silas was Paul’s companion both when he met Timothy and when he preached to the Thessalonians (Acts 16:105, Acts 17:1-4). They were driven out rather quickly (Acts 17:5-9) so there will probably be a lot of basic theology.
• Paul, Silas, and Timothy constantly pray and talk to God about the Thessalonians and remember them for three things: faithfulness, loving acts, and continual expectation of Jesus’ return.
• Paul, Silas, and Timothy know that God chose the Thessalonians to be part of His family because the Holy Spirit accompanied their preaching with power. I think there’s too much ‘talking’ and not enough ‘doing’ today.
• That plus the way Paul, Silas, and Timothy lived proved the truth, so the Thessalonians believed despite the suffering, like Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Jesus.
• So the Thessalonians are talked about all over Greece and beyond. Their faithfulness, rejection of idols, servitude, and anticipation of Christ’s return are the topics of discussion.

2:1-16

• Philippi and Thessalonica were harsh places for the Gospel (Jews fought against Paul, Silas, and Timothy) and yet the churches that formed were good churches.
• God trusted Paul, Silas, and Timothy to deliver His message in His stead and to do so quickly and accurately, without alteration and selflessly.
• ! Paul, Silas, and Timothy are all apostles! (v7)
• Paul, Silas, and Timothy did their best to only give and not take from the Thessalonians, because they loved them.
• Paul, Silas, and Timothy call from memory their honorable and selfless living and acts. Why? I guess it’s to encourage the Thessalonians to live likewise. Oh, yeah, the answer is in v12.
• When Paul, Silas, and Timothy preached, God was speaking through them, and the Thessalonians correctly recognized that.
• Thessalonians were persecuted by their own (Greeks/Gentiles) just like the Jewish believers were persecuted by the Jews around them.
• Some Jews will be punished for hindering the spread of the Good News, God’s message of salvation. Don’t kill God’s messengers!

2:17-3:13

• Just like with the Philippians, Paul, Silas, and Timothy really wanted to return and visit again.
• Paul’s repeated attempts were thwarted by Satan (how?) because he wanted to deny Paul joy.
• Timothy was sent in Paul’s stead to strengthen, encourage, and instill hope and assurance in them.
• Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians had drifted away from God due to persecution despite their foreknowledge that it would come.
• Thus, Paul and Silas were very relieved to hear from Timothy that the Thessalonians were still strong in their faith and love for others. This actually comforts, strengthens, and encourages Paul and Silas!
• Paul and Silas have great joy because of and love for the Thessalonians and they still earnestly desire to see them, in part to shore up any gaps in their knowledge and understanding of God.
• Prayer for overflowing love, which results in strong, blameless, holy hearts, especially when Jesus comes back! v13 also makes me think of Jesus being judged in stead of those who belong to him.

4:1-12

• Thessalonians were already living in a way that pleased God, and yet they were encouraged by Paul, Silas, and Timothy to continue doing so, emphasizing its importance (and encouraging them).
• We are called to live quiet, honest, holy, not-nosy, honorable lives so that we will be respected by non-believers, and further, not dependent on others financially.
• Sexual sins in particular are singled out as sins to avoid.
• Anyone who refuses to live holy is rejecting God and His Holy Spirit. So we Christians should strive to be holy and avoid impurity.
• Thessalonians already excel in showing love to and for others, “all the Christians in all of Macedonia”, and yet Paul, Silas, and Timothy encourage them to love more.
• ♦ Love and holiness are two things we should always and continually seek more of.

4:13-18

• Footnote says the Thessalonians were concerned with what happens to believers after death and what would happen when Christ returns. Paul is addressing those concerns here so they will be filled with hope instead of sorrow. The same goes for us.
• Paul asserts this message is straight from God. He only does this a few times overall his letters, so take note.
• Those (Christians) who died already will rise first, before those who are alive meet Christ.
• Christ’s return will be very noticeable (noisy).
• Living and formerly-dead Christians will meet Christ together. From then on, we will be with Him forever.
• These words are meant to comfort and encourage us. Indeed, they do, because death is typically a final, impassable barrier, but here, God is saying that it will not be so. So just hold on and wait patiently; He’ll return.

5:1-11

• The “day of the Lord” could refer to a number of things, one being the Rapture (pre-Tribulation) and another being the final Judgment. Or maybe it could mean the Tribulation itself.
• There will be widespread prosperity, security, and peace…which will be shattered in an instant, suddenly and unexpectedly. War and crime are indeed declining, which is good, but it also means we must be on guard.
• v8 – another reference to spiritual armor, but this time, it’s faith and love, although the helmet is again salvation. [looks] Sure enough, this letter was written before Ephesians.
• Those of the dark and night will be enjoying themselves or asleep, and so will be caught unaware when the Lord comes.
• But we children of the light and day will be awake, sober, and ready.
• God has saved us through Jesus, so He will not pour out His wrath on us, but bring us to live with Him forever, regardless of whether we’ve alive or dead when he returns.
• Encourage and build up one another.

5:12-22

• Lots of little bits of advice here.
• Footnote for v12 says that those “leaders” are probably elders and deacons. I agree, although I would further add that “leaders” is not restricted to these two groups. In any case, honor them for their hard work and warnings against what is wrong. Give them love without restraint for they are doing God’s work.
• Warning for the lazy, encouragement for the timid, tenderness for the weak, and patience for everyone. Modulate the response/action based on the problem.
• Do not repay evil with evil, but do good to and for everyone. Echoes Jesus ‘turn the other cheek’.
• Live peaceably, always be joyful, keep praying, and always be thankful. This is how God wants us Christians to be.
• We are to be open and critical. Open to the Holy Spirit doing something we didn’t expect, but also intent on believing and accepting what is true and right.
• Avoid evil. Period.

5:23-28

• What we see of God in the Old Testament has lead many to see Him as a god of war, yet here He is called the God of peace. Perhaps this represents a fundamental shift in the way God interacts with humanity now that Jesus has come and died for us. Yet I feel like God is saying that He has always been the same. So something else changed.
• Blessing of complete holiness in actions and total blamelessness in being.
• v24 – quiet, but firm and strong assurance. God will keep us blameless and holy until Jesus’ return.
• ! Grace is to mercy as holy is to blameless! Granted an undeserved positive and relieved of a deserved negative.
• v25-28 – request for prayer, encouragement of love, command to share, and blessing of grace.

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Major themes I see:

• There’s a lot of stuff about how Christians should live, but it’s more in the sense of “this is good; keep doing it!” than it is “this is how you should live”.
• The Second Coming, clearly. We are to eagerly anticipate the Lord’s return and Paul relates to us some details of what will happen, both before and during.
• Christians are called to love more and seek holiness.

My Notes on Philippians

Again, please refer to the first post in this series for what this is about, and some details on formatting and the like. Alright, here’s the fifth post in the series: Philippians!

Phil 1:1-11

• Co-written by Paul and Timothy, like many(?) of Paul’s letters. Timothy was very much involved in Paul’s evangelistic mission.
• Blessing of grace (favor) and peace (calm).
• Paul is very happy and pleased with the Philippians, filled with joy, because they spread the Gospel, the Good News, starting right after they heard it.
• God started His work in them and won’t finish until Jesus comes again.
• Paul has a special place in his heart for the Philippians for they too were evangelists and defenders of the Truth.
• Paul prays for growth in love for each other and for growth in knowledge and understanding, which leads to living “pure and blameless lives” until Christ’s return. Peter says much the same thing in 2 Peter 1!
• Salvation/Jesus produces fruit in us – good works!
• Good fruits from salvation glorify God because He is responsible for said salvation, so it’s a positive return on interest.

1:12-19

• Paul’s imprisonment still benefited the spread of the Good News because all the soldiers in the guard know and many Christians were emboldened to go out and share the Gospel.
• Some preach with bad motives; jealousy and rivalry (presumably regarding Paul himself); selfish ambition; insincerely.
• ? Intending to make Paul’s chains more painful to him? What are they mad at him about?
• Others preach with pure motives: their love for Paul and his position as defender of the Good News.
• In either case, the Good News is being preached, so Paul rejoices. The spread of the Gospel is good, regardless of underlying motives.
• Paul also continues to rejoice because as the saints pray and the Holy Spirit works, he will be delivered. Either by being set free or by execution, as noted in the footnote.

1:20-26

• Paul trusts that he will be delivered because he expects and hopes that nothing he does is shameful, that everything he does honors Christ, and that he is always bold for Christ.
• Paul was torn between living and dying, but ultimately made the choice to live, which was better for others (and Christ). This is a truly self-less decision. I pray that I too would be so selfless.
• Paul is set on this, so he will continue to live so he can help the Philippians (and others) grow in their faith and experience the joy that comes from it.
• ? Not sure what v26 means. Why would the Philippians have even more reason to boast about what Christ has done for Paul when he returns?

1:27-30

• Paul wants the Philippians to live honorably, as citizens of Heaven, regardless of what happens to him so he can be assured that they will continue to fight for the Good News in his absence.
• We need not be intimidated by our enemies because our God is greater and He has the final say; ultimately destroying them and saving us.
• v29 – it is a privilege to suffer for Christ! If more Christians lived this way, how different would the world be? Oh wait, most Christians in places like China and the Middle East already do.
• Comradeship in the fight for Christ. Also, Paul points out that they’ve seen him fighting and suffering and that he’s still in the thick of things. Encouragement via solidarity?

2:1-4

• Paul’s questions in v1 seem almost rhetorical. They should be ‘duh’ questions, answered with ‘Of course!’, but that’s not guaranteed.
• The effect is that if we are encouraged by belonging to Christ and comforted by his love, and we fellowship in the Spirit with tender and sympathetic hearts, then we should agree with one another, love one another, and work together with one heart and purpose (that is, be united as a Church).
• v3 and 4 – encouragement/commandment to connect to others instead of being greedy, proud, and isolated.
• I remember being inspired by v4 when I read it months ago, and making more-deliberate attempts to know other people better.

2:5-11

• We should have the same attitude as Jesus: humility, self-sacrificial love, and servanthood.
• Jesus had every right to act as God, but he did the opposite, putting it all aside and becoming a human. Then he went even further by dying on the cross like a criminal.
• Because Jesus humbled himself so, God raised him to the pinnacle of glory and honor and authority. Which in turn glorifies the Father.
• In the end, everyone will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Better to do so sooner rather than later (John 21:20).
• ♦ He who descended to the lowest of depths was raised to the greatest of heights. To be exalted, one must be humbled first. Which is ‘backwards’ to us, but perfectly sensible to God.

2:12-18

• Paul wants the Philippians to be very careful and deliberate in living as Christians ought to, especially without him there to remind them. Part of this is obeying God “with deep reverence and fear”.
• ♦ We have the desire to obey God and the power to do so because God gives them to us.
• Subtle expression of the Trinity here? Desire from the Son and power from the Holy Spirit?
• v14-15 – live good lives so no one can really slander you and to glorify Christ. A common theme across books/letters. Shine with light in a dark world.
• At first blush, Paul seems selfish because he wants the Philippians to remain committed to Christ for his benefit. But considering the work he’s done and the suffering he’s gone through, his desire is quite reasonable. He wants to know his work wasn’t in vain.
• Regardless of what will happen, Paul rejoices and wants the Philippians to rejoice too. Why? Because of the Good News.

2:19-24

• Paul is very grateful to have the service of Timothy, who does much work in his stead.
• ? I am a bit confused by the use of “all the others” at the beginning of v21, especially because Paul commends Epaphroditus for serving Christ (esp. v30). Perhaps this is slight hyperbole?
• Paul expects that he will be released from prison and is looking forward to visiting the Philippians. I don’t recall Paul being so eager to visit the Ephesians or Colossians. He sends Epaphroditus and Timothy first, though, because he loves them.

2:25-30

• Epaphroditus was another great servant to Paul and helped him with his work. He was willing to stay with Paul as long as needed or wanted, even though he greatly desired to return home to his church, and even to the point of death. Just to serve Paul as a representative and in stead of the Philippian church. Such a man certainly deserves the praise he gets in v25.
• Honor these people. Those who selflessly give their lives in service of Christ.
• Paul sees Epaphroditus’ survival as being merciful to him too and part of why he sends Epaphroditus is so he doesn’t have to worry about his health. Also because he knows the Philippian church will be glad to see him.

3:1-11

• Joy in all circumstances, we ought to have.
• What is “this” in v1? Footnote suggests what Paul is about to say, not what he has just said. But anyway, clearly Paul sees the following as highly worth repeating.
• Human effort is worth nothing when it comes to salvation. It is only our dependence on what Jesus did for us that saves us.
• Paul ‘boasts’ of his excellence in Jewish (human) effort, as a pure full-blooded Jew that was a Pharisee and so followed the Law most strictly. No fault was found in him and he displayed his zeal by harshly persecuting Christians. He was as good a Jew as he could be.
• Yet he considers it all worthless garbage compared to knowing Christ and receiving his priceless gift. Human effort is nothing; faith is all.
• So Paul suffers with Christ and will die too, but he has hope and expects he will be resurrected too, just like Christ was.

3:12-4:1

• A couple days ago, I had the realization that God doesn’t look to the past very much, but instead looks to the future. v12-14 pretty much confirms this. Look forward, not back.
• v15-16: obey the truth we already know and be open to correction.
• v17 – footnote says that Paul doesn’t mean for us to copy him, but rather use him as an example, inspiration.
• v18-21 contrasts nominal Christians and true Christians, citizens of Earth and citizens of Heaven, those who don’t look ahead and those who do.
• ♦ One day we will be transformed physically like we already were spiritually.
• Paul really does like the Philippians, and he encourages them to stay committed to Christ.

4:2-9

• Paul wants Euodia and Syntych to finish arguing because they are Christians and should be focusing more on unity and reaching the lost, like they have been doing. He enlists the help of “loyal Syzygus”, or his “true teammate”, in helping them resolve their dispute.
• Paul is fairly insistent on being joyful. Huh.
• Just like we ought to tell our loved ones and family that we love them to avoid ‘last words regret’, so we should avoid ‘last action’ regret (the Lord could come at any time) by being kind and considerate always.
• Keep calm and always pray. Tell God what you need and want and thank Him for everything. The result: wonderful, supernatural, protective peace.
• ♦ Parting shot: think about good things. We should live and think like citizens of Heaven, which we are.
• Paul again offers himself as an example, like he did in 3:17.

4:10-23

• Another reason Paul really likes the Philippians and is grateful for them: they sent him financial aid while he was traveling. The Philippian church accurately recognized the importance of Paul’s mission and sent him money to make sure he could continue doing it.
• v17 sets Paul apart from televangelists – “I’m not saying this so you’ll send me more money, but to tell you that you will be rewarded.”
• Paul learned to be content in all circumstances, but is still grateful for the help, and tells them that the same God who took care of him will take care of them from His endless riches.
• Immediately after saying this, he praises God.
• ‘Say hi for us’, says Paul and all the Christians with him, including those who work for Caesar! The Good News has spread all over the place and throughout all of society.
• Ends with invoking Jesus’ grace for us.

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Okay, now for major themes…

• Paul really likes the Philippians and had nothing bad to say about them.
• Spreading and fighting for the Good News, the Gospel, is incredibly important.
• When it comes to how we should live, use Paul as inspiration and emulate Christ.
• Being citizens of Heaven means, among other things, having good thoughts, living good lives, building good relationships with one another, and developing a relationship with Jesus.
• Work we do under our own power or for our own benefit is worthless. Only God’s work and our work for God are worth anything.
• God works in us, through us, and with us to produce good fruit for Him.

Okay, that’s all for now. Next time: 1 Thessalonians!

My Notes on 1 Peter

As before, please refer to the first post in this series for what this is about, and some details on formatting and the like. Alright, here’s the fourth post in the series: 1 Peter!

1 Peter 1:1-2

• Peter too states his apostolic position, like Paul.
• Written to Jewish Christians; “God’s chosen people” and Peter calls them “foreigners” in Gentile lands.
• The Trinity shows up in v2. Chosen by God (the Father), made holy by the Spirit, and cleansed by Jesus’ blood. Hence, obey Jesus.
• Prayer for more blessings and peace.
• “Made holy by the Spirit” – Jewish Christians are not saved by following the law, but because of Jesus and His Spirit. Important.

1:3-12

• God has a glorious treasure, a “priceless inheritance”, waiting for us at the end. In the meantime, God protects those of us who trust in Him.
• Until then, we will have to endure many trials, which purify our faith like fire purifies gold. The dross floats to the surface and is burned off. My guess is that 100% pure faith is complete alignment with God, complete submission, total obedience, fully trusting, etc.
• Our faith is more precious to God than “mere gold”. This implies that God will be more careful, yes, but I also feel it means He will be more thorough, with higher expectations.
• Strong faith at the end leads to being rewarded with praise, glory, and honor when Jesus comes back. From whom? God, I think.
• We love and trust even though we’ve never seen Jesus, thus we are filled with great joy. Why? The Holy Spirit evokes those feelings in us.
• Reward for trusting Jesus: salvation!
• Old Testament prophets prophesied about this very salvation, and they didn’t completely understand it and wanted to know more. They were told it would happen many years hence.
• Peter says we are now in that age that they prophesied of! This Good News has been preached to us by those filled with “the power of the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven”. Which is so exciting even the angels are watching, glued to the TV screen.

1:13-25

• Because of our guaranteed salvation, the wealth in store for us in Heaven, and the general coolness of God’s unfolding plan, “think clearly and exercise self-control”. Next half implies that the main is that God has blessed us through Jesus Christ.
• Obey God like children their father. We were forgiven for doing evil because we didn’t really know or understand what we were doing. But now we are called to be holy like God. Implication that falling away is permanent? To deliberately choose evil after knowing good would mean spitting in the face of God, rejecting all that He, Jesus, and the Spirit have done.
• Not only Paul, but Peter too says that God has no favorites. He further says that we will be judged or rewarded based on what we do. This seems to be independent of salvation. Huh.
• So live in reverent fear of God both because He is the final Judge and because He paid an incredibly high ransom for us: the death of His son.
• Trust in God because of Christ. Faith and hope in God because He resurrected Christ and glorified him.
• Christ has cleansed us of our sin, so we can love one another sincerely and fully, so we should. Because we have been born again.
• The new life we have is not earthly, finite, terminal, like the life we get from our parents. Rather it is heavenly, infinite, eternal because we get it from the “eternal, living word of God” – Jesus! Also, the “word of the Lord [that] will last forever” is the Gospel! Preached to us all. God’s Word and God’s word are both eternal, and so is the life we get from them.

2:1-3

• Because we are born again, we should act like it and not just pretend to be good.. So we should not be malicious, deceitful, hypocritical, jealous, or backstabbers. These are all ‘crimes’ of relationship.
• Peter tells us to crave “pure spiritual milk” like babies crave their mother’s milk. That is, repeatedly and often, and intensely. Why? So we can grow into the fullness of our salvation.
• ♦ When we’re born again, we’re spiritual babies! Then as we spend time with God and learn more about Him and from Him, we grow and mature spiritually. I wonder if there are ‘stages of development’ too?
• Peter also tells us not to be satisfied with merely a taste, but that because we’ve had that taste, we should, even must, crave more of it: God’s kindness. We can’t just have a taste and stop there; there’s so much more to have!

2:4-10

• Christ is the living cornerstone of God’s Temple, which is made of many living stones: us! He was rejected by the people, the builders a.k.a. the Jews, but he is now the centerpiece, the part that everything else relies on for support and stability. He is precious to God and those who believe in him – Jesus.
• We Christians are all holy priests in God’s Temple (the Church), offering pleasing spiritual sacrifices, which are pleasing because of Christ.
• We Christians are a chosen people. Chosen so we can show others the goodness of God, who called us out of darkness into light. Reminiscent of God calling the Jews out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Pretty sure that’s on purpose.
• Those who reject Christ, refuse to listen to God’s word, or obey Him stumble over Christ. What does that mean? I’m not quite sure, but in any case, they will “meet the fate that [God has] planned for them”. We Christians, on the other hand, receive His mercy and are saved. This is a reference to Isaiah 8:14 – those who reject God will be inconvenienced by Him.

2:11-12

• I feel like Peter is speaking to all Christians here. We are citizens of Heaven, so we are foreigners here on Earth. So we ought to live like it, to represent our country faithfully.
• Peter warns us to avoid evil desires because “they fight against [our] very souls.” But desires don’t fight? Perhaps Peter is talking about demons, or more likely, the flesh. So we have a dual citizenship – the sinful, evil flesh of Earth and the holy, good spirit of Heaven. These are mutually antagonistic and we must side with one or the other.
• Peter tells us to live in such a way that even when unbelievers accuse us, they still see the good we do, which will(?) lead to them believing in and honoring God at the final Judgement.

2:13-17

• Accept all authority for the Lord’s sake. That is, for the benefit of God. The only thing that benefits God is the spread of the Good News leading more people to Him. So God wants us to obey the king and his appointed officials (within reason – Acts 5:29) so that the Gospel has a better chance of spreading; we Christians put the Lord’s work and His priorities above our own.
• God wants our good lives to shame those who accuse us and speak out against us.
• We are not slaves but free. But we are not free to do evil, for we are God’s slaves. Eh?
• ♦ A slave of God is freer than anyone in the world.
• Again, told to show respect to everyone, even the king (Nero at the time, well known for being a brutal tyrant). Probably for the same reason – for God’s sake: spreading and promoting the Gospel.

2:18-25

• Slaves also charged to accept authority. Not just when their masters are kind and reasonable, but when they’re harsh too.
• God is pleased when we suffer patiently if said suffering is unfair and unjust. We follow Christ’s example in such cases. Not sure what Peter means by “for the sake of your conscience”.
• Leave retribution to God, for He alone is the true, fair Judge.
• Peter ends with talking about the spiritual life and freedom we now have. Because of Christ’s undeserved and unjust suffering.
• We Christians are called to suffer for God. Now that’s a hard thing to hear. But it’s all for God.

3:1-7

• “In the same way,” that is, like Christians ought to obey civil authority and slaves ought to obey their masters, wives should obey their husbands. Note that this does not mean 100% total obedience; civil disobedience is sometimes the right choice (Acts 5:29).
• Wives should submit even to ungodly husbands, who will be won over by their wives’ godly behavior rather than convinced by words.
• Women shouldn’t worry about outward beauty, but instead focus on inner beauty, for that is precious to God. The source? A gentle and quiet spirit.
• Holy women trust God, accept their husband’s authority, and do what is right without fear of their husband’s reaction. Abusive husbands – women have a right to keep themselves safe and an obligation to keep their children safe.
• “In the same way,” husbands are to honor their wives. That is, totally, without reservation.
• Husbands must be understanding of their wives.
• Women are weaker than men physically and financially (wage gap). So husbands should use their greater strength and income to protect and support their wives (and children).
• Women, however, are men’s equal in God, His gift of new life (i.e. salvation). Treat her as such.
• Heavy responsibility laid upon husbands: treat your wife right or God will ignore your prayers. God very strongly believes, in fact, commands us to treat our wives right and with honor, not lord it over them or abuse our authority.
• ♦ Authority is bestowed for the benefit of the subjects, not the master. God Himself too.

3:8-12

• We Christians should be “of one mind” (that is, united in purpose), sympathetic towards one another, tender hearted, loving, and humble.
• v9 is reminiscent of Jesus’ “turn the other cheek”. This sort of sentiment is often found in other religions and famous quotes. If everyone responded to evil with good, the world would be a better place. Even if no one else does though, I will do my best to do so because Christ calls me to.
• Scripture reference says basically the same thing.
• v12 – God listens to and watches over the righteous but sets Himself against those who do evil.
• v11 reminds me of “so far as it depends on you, do your best to live at peace with everyone.” We Christians should never be instigators of war and strife.

3:13-22

• Ideally, no one will want to hurt us for doing good, but if it does happen, then we will be rewarded by God for suffering for doing good.
• v14b-15a: keep calm and worship Christ.
• Be ready to explain why we have hope as Christians in the midst of suffering. This is why the Church actually benefits from persecution – non-Christians see and learn that Christians have a hope, a reason to persevere, that is not of this world. Also because God likes doing things opposite of the way we do things.
• In addition to doing good and living a good life, explain yourself gently and respectfully, and keep a clear conscience. Then you can’t be rightfully accused.
• Christ died to absolve all sins over all time: the sins of everyone past, present, and future. He did this so he could bring us home to God.
• The world was cleansed of sin in the Flood, just like baptism cleanses us and lets us come before God in purity, with a clean conscience.
• None of the interpretations of “preached to the spirits in prison” in the footnote are really satisfying to me. I think it could mean that Christ preached to those who died before or in the Flood to give them a chance at salvation. However, the wording suggests he preached to those that were alive while Noah was building his boat, hence died in the Flood. Also, what about the time between the Flood (Noah) and the Law (Moses)?
• Christ is now in Heaven, seated in honor and supreme authority. Everyone and everything bows to him.

4:1-11

• Christ, our example and Lord, suffered physically, so we should be ready and willing to suffer also. That means we’ve had enough of our past, evil lifestyle, and want to do the will of God.
• Everyone will be judged by God, including those that speak out against us.
• Does “those who have died” mean those who died after hearing about Jesus, or all of the dead? If the latter, then perhaps the answer to ‘What about those who never heard of Jesus?’ is simply: ‘Jesus preached to them after they died.’, like is implied in 3:19. So why is it important to evangelize in this life? Feels like a variety of reasons, but they center on a conversion in life being more ‘valuable’ than one after death.
• The End is soon, so be disciplined and earnest in praying, do your best to love one another deeply, and be cheerfully hospitable to those in need.
• Use your spiritual gifts the best you can; draw on God’s bottomless well so that He is glorified, through Jesus.

4:12-19

• Be glad to suffer with Christ, and the reward will be to share in His glory in the end.
• Suffering is only honorable (and rewardable) if it is for doing good.
• God’s children must be judged first. Why? Hmm, footnote says that v17-18 aren’t talking about the final judgement, but rather, discipline. That makes sense – you discipline your own children first and then the children of others (i.e. Satan) may be disciplined. If even we have to be disciplined, how much worse will it be for those that don’t try to do good?
• If we are suffering for God, we should keep doing what is right and trust that the One who made us will never let us down or abandon us.
• Not entirely sure what v14 means. The Old Testament prophets had the Spirit come upon them, but then it left. The Holy Spirit we have today never leaves. Perhaps what is meant is that It’s presence will manifest.

5:1-14

• Peter is identifying himself with the elders, basically saying ‘I’m one of you guys too.’ He then makes his appeal from this position of empathy and comradeship.
• This appeal: care for the people God entrusted to you; willingly and without resentment; out of servitude, not as a master; and lead them in doing good. Then the head Shepherd over all (Jesus) will reward you with never-ending glory and honor.
• Younger men are commanded to accept their elder’s authority (as they are part of the flock, not a shepherd/elder) and to be humble. Entrust everything to God and He’ll take care of you.
• The Devil is opportunistic. Be ever on guard. Remember that others are going through the same ordeals. Unity and vigilance.
• v10 reminds me of metal refinement. Temporary hardship and ordeal for a much better outcome.
• ‘Silas’ sounds familiar. Ah, he was with Paul and was mentioned in Acts (18-21).
• Purpose of letter: encouragement and assurance. Specifically, that God is graceful to us no matter what happens to us personally.
• Peter went to Rome, apparently.
• !? Mark was Peter’s son? Biologically? I had no idea such a relationship existed.
• Ending: love one another and peace for all in Christ.

Alright, now for the broad themes I see.

• We are foreigners here on Earth, truly citizens of Heaven, yet we still have to actively fight against our previous citizenship, our flesh with its evil thoughts and desires.
• We are called to suffering for God, and we will be rewarded handsomely for it in the end.
• We should live in a way that demonstrates our Heavenly citizenship by living good, honorable lives, and always be ready to explain why we do so even in the midst of adversity and suffering.
• Jews and Gentiles are now together God’s chosen people.
• Submit to authority for the sake of God, His Good News and its spread.
• Authority is given by God for the benefit of the governed. Special emphasis on husbands loving their wives completely and honorably.
• Keep your eyes on the End, the final Judgement.

Alright, that’s all for now! Next time, Philippians!

My Notes on Colossians

Again, please refer to the first post in this series for what this is about, and some details on formatting and the like. Alright, here’s the third post in the series: Colossians!

Col 1:1-2

• Letter is from Paul and Timothy.
• Beginning is quite similar to Ephesians. A couple minor differences.
• Colossians mentioned as faithful, like the Ephesians and unlike the Corinthians, who were called to holiness instead of being mentioned as such. Also, 1 Corinthians has Sosthenes included like Timothy is included here.
• All three letters invoke/bless with God’s grace and peace.
• Map note says that Paul had never been to Colosse. True, it’s not mentioned in Acts. One of the few letters written to a church he didn’t visit? In any case, something to keep in mind.

1:8-14

• Similar greeting as in Ephesians – thanking them for being such good Christ-followers.
• They love others because they’re looking forward to the joys of Heaven…which they’ve done ever since they heard the Gospel. This same Gospel that transformed their lives is transforming lives everywhere.
• Epaphras is the connection. Footnote suggests that Epaphras converted in Ephesus and then took the Gospel back to his hometown: Colosse. No wonder the church there was similar. 😛 
• Complete understanding of purpose and spiritual wisdom leads to honoring and pleasing God, continually doing good and kind things for others, and knowing God better and better.
• God’s strength leads to endurance and patience.
• God enabled us to share His inheritance among His people, who live in the light. Why? Because He rescued us from darkness’ ruler and placed us under Jesus. He paid for our freedom with His blood and forgave us completely.

1:15-23

• v15-17: Jesus is the personification of God, he was not created, he is Lord over creation, through him all things were created (Jesus is the same as the Word, and God spoke the world into being!), he made all physical and spiritual things, everything was created through him and for him, he existed before everything else, and he sustains the existence of everything. Twice, Paul says that Christ existed first and that all things were made through him. Very clear statement of divinity.
• Christ is first in everything, including rising from the dead and being first among God’s children, the Church. He’s #1.
• All of God lived in Christ – expression of unity – and He reconciled everything to Himself through Jesus by his blood and sacrifice. We were His enemies because of our evil thoughts and actions, but by the Cross, God has made us His friends. Jesus died as a human, one of us.
• Christ’s death (and resurrection) brought us into God’s very presence, holy and blameless without a fault as we stand before Him.
• We must continue to believe these truths and stick to them without forgetting how we felt when we first believed the Gospel.
• v23b – Paul reasserts his claim of authority, presumably so the Colossians would take him and his words seriously. It’s his job to proclaim the Good News along with many others everywhere.

1:24-29

• Paul suffers for the Church’s sake, just as Christ did. His God-given responsibility: preach the whole Gospel to Gentiles.
• The “message” here is apparently the core of the Gospel because Paul speaks of preaching it in all its fullness, and it was kept secret until Christ came.
• Kept secret, but now revealed to Christians because God wanted everyone (Gentiles) to know the riches He has in store for them.
• ♦ The secret: Christ lives in us, and this is our assurance that we will share in His glory. What saves us is Christ’s presence in us; faith and good works are derivative!
• Because of this, Paul and Timothy tell everyone about Christ everywhere they go. They warn them and teach them (two halves, -/+) with their God-given wisdom so God’s holy people can be completely mature in their relationship with Christ. Again, it’s all about the relationship.

2:1-5

• Paul points out again his suffering. This could be seen as a kind of combination of bragging and whining, but I think it’s just Paul saying that he loves them very much. He does immediately say that he wants the Church to be encouraged and knit together with strong ties of love.
• Paul says to be completely confident because they totally understand God’s secret plan: Christ himself. He, Christ, is the source of all wisdom and knowledge.
• Beware of deceptive and persuasive arguments, and use this fact to resist/counter them. The good counters to Swedenborgianism that I’ve gotten have been from Jesus. Good arguments can’t stand up to the Truth.
• Paul gladly commends the Colossians for living right (and for their strong faith in Jesus Christ). Thus fair, Colossians has been about right thinking, guarding against deception, a way to be lead astray.
• ♦ Need right beliefs and right acts.

2:6-23

• Wow, a lot of footnotes. Dense teaching.
• Accepting Christ leads to living in obedience to him. Let him be the ultimate well, the primary source of life and goodness.
• So be on guard against and reject merely human thinking – “empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense” – because at best it is human and quite often it’s from evil. Either way, it’s not from Christ.
• Coming to Christ is spiritual circumcision – cutting away the sinful nature, the veil around the heart.
• Buried with Christ in baptism and raised to life with him because we “trusted the mighty power of God”. Faith gives us life!
• The record of our sins was destroyed when it was nailed to the cross. We cannot be condemned!
• v16-23 emphasizes life in Christ, death and evil in the world, and the condition of the heart matters more than “wisdom”.

3:1-17

• v1-17 is basically Paul saying “You are now citizens of Heaven, so live like it!”.
• v10, 11 – Learning more about Christ leads to continual renewals of our heavenly nature. This holds true for everyone who gets a new nature from Christ. Again, all are equal in the eyes of God, because “Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”
• As we are Christians, we should be merciful, kind, humble, gentle, patient, forgiving, loving, and thankful. Also, let Christ’s peace reign in our hearts.
• Christ’s words in our hearts leads to wisdom. Use them to teach and counsel. It’s important to listen to Jesus for what to say.
• Worship God in singing with thankful hearts.
• Act as though we were representatives of Jesus – because we are! – and always give thanks to God our Father.

3:18-4:1

• Instructions for wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters are similar to those in Eph 5:21-6:9, though condensed.
• Seems to me like wives, children, and slaves get ‘positive’ instructions (do this) whereas husbands, fathers, and masters get explicit or implicit ‘negative’ instructions (don’t do this). Putting everyone in their proper place.
• ♦! Equality with order. The Trinity too! God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all equal, yet the Spirit submits to the Son who submits to the Father. As the Trinity is, so we should be.
• v23 (and 22) – work for God.

4:2-6

• Encouragement to pray often, alert and thoughtful.
• Paul doesn’t ask for prayer to be released from jail, but he asks that people would pray that he keeps doing the thing that put him in jail! That is, preaching Christ to the Gentiles.
• Priorities: live wisely, use opportunities, talk with grace and effectively with the right answer for everyone. Why? To reach people for Christ. Building relationships with non-Christians and being a good representative of Jesus is very important. We are to reach out and go to the world.

4:7-18

• Ending with greetings, encouragement, honoring, and instructing.
• Tychicus and Onesimus: faithful and much-loved brothers, sent to the Colossians for communication and encouragement.
• Aristarchus (also in prison), Mark, and Jesus a.k.a. Justus (name change?) are the only fellow Jews working with Paul. They were a comfort to Paul likely because it means he’s not the only Jew reaching out to the Gentiles.
• Epaphras, a Colossian, prays much for them and Christians in Laodicea and Heirapolis.
• “Doctor Luke”! Is this how we know he was a physician?
• Colosse and Laodicea are so close that letters for one are meant for the other too.
• Archippus reminded of his responsibility and encouraged to do the Lord’s work.
• Interesting send-off. Not sure what to say about it. Ah, Paul is saying ‘remember my love for you’.

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Now to pick out the major themes that I see…

• Knowing and understanding God and Jesus, and having a relationship with them, leads to all sorts of good things.
• We Christians are citizens of Heaven, so we should live like it. Shine light with everything we do and think. Share the Good News with everyone.
• Be on guard against anything sourced from humans; at best it is flawed/insufficient and at worst it is evil. True knowledge, understanding, and wisdom is from Jesus.

The second one is especially prominent. It’s basically what the whole letter is all about.

My Notes on 1 Timothy

Refer to the first post in this series for what this is about, and some details on formatting and the like. Without further ado, here’s the second post in the series: 1 Timothy!

1 Tim 1:1-11

• Footnote says that Timothy was with the Ephesian church at the time. Huh, God had me stay with the Ephesians. Also, that means this letter was written just after Ephesians. Watch for any continued themes.
• v2 – prayer for grace, mercy, and peace.
• Paul left Timothy in Ephesus for the purpose of blocking or suppressing wrong doctrine. This must be quite important.
• Myths, spiritual pedigrees, arguments are all useless or destructive. Promoting disunity, in fact.
• Goal: live a life of faith in God. Also, be filled with the kind of love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith. Pure, clean, unhindered by misgivings, hopeful, expectant of God acting, etc…
• Some teachers missed this point: that it’s about the heart – and foolishly argued over matters of the mind.
• Law of Moses is good when used as God intended, which was not for good people, but those who commit all manner of sin. Included is false doctrine.
• ? Why did Paul pick these sins in particular? Rebels, ungodly, defilers, murderers, sexually immoral people, homosexuals, slave traders, liars, oath breakers, false teachers. Only thing I can think of is relationships, but that kinda covers all sins too. I don’t know, then.

1:12-17

• Section is all about how Paul was the worst sinner but Jesus still saved him, in large part so He could show other great sinners that there is still hope for them. He is incredibly patient and willing to take them back if they turn away from their sin.
• God had mercy on Paul because he persecuted the church out of ignorance and unbelief. Are all sins this way, or is there something worse? My feeling is that yes, there are “worse” sins. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit comes to mind. Willfully and knowingly crediting God’s acts to someone or something else. The “unforgivable sin”.
• Ends with praise to God. Do other religions have this? A man calling himself the worst sinner and praising his savior?
• Truth: Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the worst. Another subtle expression of equality before God?

1:18-20

• Paul is presumably giving instruction based on what others have said in prophecy. Purpose: increase Timothy’s confidence to help him “fight well in the Lord’s battles”. Not our battles, but His. My porn addiction: my battle or His? What I decide will affect how I fight. I choose to believe that God is fighting against my sinful nature and demons, so I will join Him in the battle, instead of the other way around. Now I can’t lose.
• Advice: cling tightly to faith in Christ – very important – and keep a clear conscience.
• Hymenaeus and Alexander violated their conscience on purpose. That is, they chose to do what they knew was wrong. As a result, their faith was shipwrecked. The rocks were their sinful acts, and their faith was dashed to pieces. Presumably irreparably.
• They blasphemed God and hence were turned over to Satan. Temporarily or permanently? My gut says the latter, unfortunately.

2:1-15

• Priority: pray for all people. For rulers and those in authority too, so we can live in peace, quietness, godliness, and dignity. This is pleasing to God because He wants everyone to be saved, even the kings.
• Only one God and only one Mediator/reconciler: Jesus, who gave His life so all could be free.
• Paul says that he was chosen as a preacher and apostle to the Gentiles to teach them about truth and faith…and he says this is absolutely true. Very strong statement. Why? I guess some doubted his authority on these matters.
• Men should worship expressively and without anger or controversy.
• Women should be modest and not pretty themselves up because their attractiveness should not be because of their looks, but because of their heart.
• Paul again says women should be quiet in church, and gives the reasoning that it was Eve who was deceived and that lead to sin. But it was Adam’s fault. He wasn’t deceived. Re-expression of man’s headship over women? Also, Paul places responsibility on men to teach the right thing, which Adam failed at. Perhaps Paul’s prohibition against women teachers was, like slavery, slated to be removed in due time. Why not recognize homosexuality likewise? Paul does not say that women teachers won’t inherit the Kingdom of God or anything similar, like he does regarding homosexuals.
• Paul says women will be saved through child bearing/being mothers (and by living in faith, love, holiness, and modesty [again]). Does this mean women who abort are doubly doomed? Not only are they taking a life, they are refusing their God-given role as creators and nurturers of life. Sure, there are exceptions, but not millions of them. Something to ponder. (Also, this is probably part of why Catholics breed like crazy. :P)

3:1-13

• Elders and deacons must have impeccable lifestyles. They are representatives of the Church and they are examples for those in the Church. They must have respect beforehand so they aren’t respected just for their position and they must have integrity beforehand to be sure they’ll have it afterwards.
• Wives are held to the same standard. They [the elder and his wife] are a pair. Disrespect for the wife could mean disrespect for the man, and also suggests the man is not holding her accountable to God’s standards. A wife without integrity may adversely influence her husband. The same applies to women leaders (and husbands, if they have one).
• An elder leads the church, a deacon serves.
• An elder’s test is their ability to manage their household. If he can’t do that, he can’t be trusted to manage God’s church. A deacon’s test is other lesser responsibilities in the church to test their character and ability.

3:14-16

• Paul didn’t always know when he was going wherever, despite being in a close relationship with God. God wants us to be dependent on Him. Paul was truly God’s slave.
• Letter written as instruction on right conduct. God’s church is the pillar and support of truth. Huh, I would’ve expected that to be God. Ah, the church is representative of God and the church is how God reaches out to the world and tells them the truth.
• Which is in v16. God became man in Jesus Christ, and he was shown to be righteous, sinless, blameless, by the Holy Spirit. He was with the angels and announced, sent to the world (angelic choir at his birth!). Some in the world put their faith and trust in him. He went back to Heaven, his home and our home.
• God became human, he was sinless, he was divine, he was announced to the world, and some chose to believe. Paul calls this “the great mystery of our faith”.

4:1-5

• Some seemingly-Christian teachings are in fact from demons. Very important to scrutinize teachings and teachers.
• Some teachers are hypocrites and liars, pretending to be religious but their consciences are dead. Meaning they have acted against what they knew to be right often enough that they no longer know right from wrong.
• v3-5 don’t seem to apply today. They did back in Paul’s time, and footnote suggests interpreting this as insistence on following strict rules to be ensured of salvation. This is what Jesus died to get rid of. Be wary of such teachings – they are cancer. Timothy was sent to stop these cancers from spreading and to excise them from the body, a.k.a. the Church (specifically the Ephesian church).

4:6-16

• I could take much of this passage personally. “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young.” Timothy was young, maybe about my age or a little older.
• Paul says it is an important truth that spiritual exercise is very important because it rewards us in this life and the next.
• v11 – insistence on teaching the right stuff and making sure everyone learns them.
• Be an example to all believers in teaching, life, love, faith, and purity.
• Focus: reading the Scriptures, encouraging, teaching. This is a shepherd/pastor’s job.
• Timothy is told to not neglect the spiritual gifts given to him through prophecy – not explicitly stated, though mentioned in 1:18 – and to devote his life and energies to his tasks. Mainly ensuring the right things are taught. If lies and falsehoods creep in, they can be used as footholds by the Enemy.
• Last words: responsibility placed on Timothy for the flock.

5:1-25

• v1-2: treat others in the church as if they were family – with respect.
• Widows should be taken care of by their children or grandchildren, but if she has no one to care for her, the church should do so.
• The widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead; they should spend much time seeking God.
• The church should be sure that a widow will devote her time to God before they agree to support her.
• v8: very strong statement: those who don’t care for their relatives – especially in their own house – are worse than unbelievers.
• v13: Paul’s prejudice? Perhaps an accurate stereotype for the time.
• v16 – why Christian women specifically? Ah, this means that the widowed mother-in-law should be cared for too. Again, goal is for the church to care for widows who have no other option.
• Elders should be paid well for their good work. A problem churches have today? (Bivocational pastors are more and more common these days.)
• Public figures should be rebuked publicly for sins, because they, as representatives, have more responsibility to exemplify right living.
• Timothy commanded to not show favoritism (maintains equality), to be patient in appointing elders, and to keep himself holy and pure.
• v24-25: some sins are seen now, others are revealed later. Likewise, some good acts are seen now, others are revealed later. No one can judge perfectly other than God.

6:1-10

• Christian slaves should respect their masters so that God is glorified before men. And if the master is Christian, that’s more of a reason to work respectfully.
• Paul asserts that the truths he has said are the right ones, and that false teachers who dispute them are conceited, ignorant, looking for arguments, trouble-makers, corrupt-minded, liars, and pretenders that use religion merely to get rich. Strong words.
• True religion (i.e. a relationship with God) with contentment is great wealth. We were born with nothing and we will keep nothing past death, so it is pointless to accumulate possessions beyond what we need.
• Greed is the start of a dark road that leads to destruction.
• ? Is the love of money the root of every kind of evil or many kinds of evil?
• Some have left the faith (“wandered”) because of greed. Did they lose their salvation? Maybe?

6:11-31

• Because we belong to God, avoid greed and other evils and follow what is right and good; pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. These four attributes aren’t included automatically in a godly life? Ah, perhaps godly is equivalent to holiness. That makes sense.
• Fight for the truth and hold on to the reward: the eternal life God has given. Obey His commands with purity so you cannot be faulted by the world (e.g. choose holiness!).
• “King of kings” and “Lord of lords” here refers to God the Father, not Jesus as is typical in (American/evangelical) Christian culture (I think?).
• Presumably “he” in v16 means God the Father.
• v17-19 advocates philanthropy, which is becoming more and more popular, spearheaded by Bill Gates. Good guy.
• Who does v20-21 apply to? Are Swedenborgians included? Am I included? Probably applies to people who say they really know what the Bible says or what Jesus or Paul really meant.

Some thoughts on the book as a whole:

• A lot of instructions here, which makes sense since it is a letter of instruction to Timothy.
• Most of it focuses on believing the right stuff and living properly, as a Christian should.
• God really cares about widows. God was angry at Israel in Isaiah in part because they didn’t take care of the widows.
• Some bits are encouraging and/or commanding one to have a relationship with God.

My Notes on Ephesians

A couple months ago, I started taking notes while I was studying the Bible, mostly to aid memory retention of the core concepts. In the meantime, I wrote a few blog posts on other topics, and I feel like I can finally get around to sharing what I learned from my studies. Here is the first in the series: Ephesians!

A few notes:

• The book I studied before Ephesians was 1 Corinthians, hence you will see a few references to the Corinthians.
• I’ve decided to just share my notes with minimal editing. Hence you will see not only restatements of certain passages and insights (! for sudden and ♦ for profound), but also questions and even doubts (?).
• My Bible’s translation is the 1996 version of the New Living Translation, so all quotes are from that specific translation and version, and the scripture sections are how they appear in my Bible (except for cases where one section had only two verses or so, so it was easier to just lump it with another section).
• I’ve added a little content that wasn’t in my notes and italicized it.

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Eph 1:1-14

• Paul called the Ephesians holy and faithful, whereas he called the Corinthians to holiness.
• We belong to Christ. This makes me think of a slave belonging to their master, because a child does not belong to their father (or mother) and a couples’ bodies belong to each other, not them themselves. But instead of the negative connotation of slavery, Paul evokes the positivity of belonging.
• Paul immediately then talks about how God had planned to adopt us into His family from the very beginning, and then right after that mentions belonging to Jesus again.
• ! Jesus is where we were meant to be. We belong in the arms of our father or mother or spouse, etc, or we belong at home. Even though Jesus is a person, we are meant to be in him, from the very beginning. This has so many threads to other verses in the Bible.
• God is very generous with His kindness.
• v14 – we are slaves, purchased by Jesus’ blood (v7)…but we are willing slaves.
• The gift of the Holy Spirit marks the chosen/believers. Throughout Acts, the gift of tongues came with the Holy Spirit. Why did that change? Was it supposed to? We do have other signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence. We also don’t emphasize the Holy Spirit’s role, and maybe we should when leading someone to Jesus.
• Other verses affirm Jesus’ position and authority as Master (Lord) and that we are children of God (hence we are siblings to Jesus). Interesting duality.

1:15-23

• Ephesians have strong faith and love for Christians everywhere, and Paul is quite happy about this.
• Spiritual wisdom and understanding leads to growth in knowledge of God.
• Paul prays that the Ephesians’ hearts would be flooded with light so they can understand the wonderful future God has promised to them. Why “flooded with light”? What does he mean?
• The “mighty power” that resurrected Jesus established Jesus as the supreme authority over all, and this was done for the benefit of the Church, which is also His body.
• ! We were meant from the beginning to be in Jesus, so we were also meant to be in the Church, the community of believers. We belong in the Church.

2:1-10

• Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Why “of the air”?
• v1-3 – Inheritantly, born evil, we all are. Actually, “born with an evil nature“. Yet most modern Christians – including me – believe in an ‘age of accountability’. Related and/or because of ‘did not know the law therefore did not sin’ (Romans 5:13)?
• We were saved because of God’s abundance of love and mercy.
• Christ’s death and resurrection leads to ours.
• We are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ because we are one with Him.
• ? Why would God care so much about having examples (us) of His incredible wealth of favor and kindness?
• Salvation is not a reward, but a gift, so we can’t boast about it or take credit for it. Apparently, this is an issue. Ah-ha, v10: “we are God’s masterpiece”. It’s all His work.
• Another mention of God’s from-the-beginning plan. This is the fourth time, the first three in Eph 1:1-14. This is a thing.

2:11-18

• Gentiles were originally not God’s people; those were the Jews. Hence they missed out on God’s favor and promises.
• Circumcision affected only the Jews’ bodies and not their hearts. Reminds me of Peter’s exhortation at the council in Jerusalem that Gentiles would not be burdened with the requirement of circumcision. A change in heart is more important than a change in body.
• Christ’s death ended the Jewish system of law, thereby uniting Jews and Gentiles into one group. Now both groups get all the benefits of God.
• The whole Trinity in v18. Father: goal, Holy Spirit: medium, Christ: source? More like Christ opened the door. To all peoples.
• ♦ The door is open, the way is paved, and the destination is in sight. Will you take the first step? And keep walking?

2:19-22

• Gentiles no longer strangers and foreigners, but citizenry and family. Reversal.
• Foundations are apostles and prophets. Those who are personally called to reach the lost and those who speak what God has told them. The apostles add to the church and the prophets strengthen the church. That’s why they’re the foundation of God’s house, the church. A holy temple for the Lord, wherein His Spirit lives (connects to other verses).

3:1-13

• Wording of v1 seems odd. Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ before he preached to the Gentiles, right? Ah, wait, I’m thinking of being a slave to God, not a prisoner. Wording could’ve been a bit better, but I understand now. Newer NLT version still says “prisoner of Jesus Christ”.
• God’s secret plan: to unite Jews and Gentiles into one people, all with equal standing before God.
• This secret plan was not revealed to previous generations, though presumably the plan that the Messiah would die for all was apparent (if you know where to look). Why the difference? Ah, it’s because God reached out to His chosen people, the Jews, first. That Jews and Gentiles would be united wasn’t in the picture yet. Why? [shrugs]
• Paul, the self-proclaimed “least-deserving” Christian, was chosen to reveal this wondrous secret plan of God’s to the Gentiles. God doesn’t give a hoot about what we deserve and He’s perfectly fine with using the lowliest for the highest purposes.
• v10 – “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”. Footnote says angels or demons. Got intended to display His wisdom to them by uniting the Jews and Gentiles. Why is this important? There’s more going on here…
• Several more references to “from the beginning”… A theme, it seems.
• Ephesians shouldn’t despair over Paul’s suffering because he has a good end (v12) but should be encouraged and feel honored because Paul is suffering for them, which shows that he cares about them a lot.

3:14-21

• A lotta superlatives here. Paul is trying to convey how awesome God and His love is.
• v17 Christ enters our hearts at conversion, but there’s still room for Him to be at home.
• Both ‘metaphors’ in v17 speak of an ongoing deepening relationship with God. Conversion is only the first step.
• Christ’s love: experienceable but incomprehensible. Heart is more important than mind.
• Experience of Christ’s love leads to being filled with God’s life and power.
• God’s power in us is infinitely more capable than we could ever expect. We have no idea how much He is doing through us.
• Reference to eternity without using the word? Need to look at Greek. … Greek is “aión aión” – “forever and ever”.

4:1-16

• Lead a life worthy of having been called by God. Humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, loving, unity in the Spirit, peace.
• v1 clarifies Eph 3:1.
• Ephesians have already been praised and thanked for their holiness, strong faith (twice), and their love for all Christians everywhere. They don’t seem to have issues with proper conduct like the Corinthians. So why is Paul begging the Ephesians to live a life worthy of their calling? Hmm, perhaps the Corinthians needed more basic instructions, whereas the Ephesians are getting more general instructions. A peak ahead seems to support this.
• v4-6: unity. v7: diversity.
• Jesus gave us the apostles (specially called), prophets (speak for God), evangelists (reach the lost), pastors (shepherd the flock), and teachers (explain and tell truths). … Which one am I? Don’t know yet. (I got the sense that I’m ‘in reserve, being prepared’.)
• Responsibility of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers is to enable Christians to do God’s work – God’s not doing everything Himself, but is involving us – and build up the Church (Christ’s body) until we are so united in faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we are practically indistinguishable from Christ. The highest goal.
• v14 “Then” refers to what? After reaching full unity? v15 seems to counter that. Maybe it means ‘because we are going towards this goal…’? We are God’s, so we will not base our beliefs on those of others, but God’s truth as an expression of our love for Him.
• In so doing, the Church grows to emulate Christ, its head, and He fits the parts together perfectly. Each part’s special work helps the other parts grow.
• Goal: the Church should be healthy (aligned with God and clear of disease [rampant sin]), growing (adding people and building up knowledge and love for God), and full of love (expressing God to others).

4:17-32

• v17 what is “this” that was said “with the Lord’s authority”? Footnote suggests v17-24, which makes sense because v25 starts with “So” and continues into application.
• ! v25-32 are about avoiding disunity in the Church, counterpart to the first half of ch 4! (Prompted by footnote for v25 – “lying…disrupts unity”.) Ephesians apparently had an issue with unity – living together right – whereas Corinthians had an issue with living right.
• Ungodly are: hopelessly confused, close-minded, dark-minded, far from (life of) God because of closed minds and hard hearts, uncaring about true morality, accepting (eagerly) of immorality, and full of “all kinds of impurity and greed”.
• Christians are to reject this. Old evil nature and way of life are “rotten through and through”, full of lust (‘I want that’) and deception (‘I’ll trick others to get what I want’). Age of accountability only exists because one cannot truly choose between God and self until their brain develops enough. Paul is speaking to adults, however.
• Must have a spiritual renewal – fresh start – of thoughts and attitudes. Display a new nature because we are new people, created in God’s likeness: righteous, holy, true. We are these things; we just need to express them.
• v25-27 Don’t lie or hold a grudge. (These create cracks.)
• v28-29 Don’t steal, cuss, or verbally abuse others. Instead, use your hands for honest work and use good, helpful, encouraging words. (Don’t widen cracks; mend them and build one another up.)
• v30 Live in a way that’s pleasing to God because He said we are His, guaranteeing we will be saved.
• Discard red/spikey/hurtful acts. Utilize blue/soft/helpful acts. Forgive each other like God forgave us (v31-32). Reject disunity, embrace unity.

5:1-14

• v8-9 are key verses. Our hearts were dark, now they’re light, and we should show it! Goodness, righteousness, truth. Almost the same as in 4:24 – goodness replaced holy.
• Follow God’s example like children (ought to) follow their (good) father’s example.
• Living a life filled with love for others is following the example of Christ.
• Sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes are all signs of a dark heart. Avoid!
• Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins for they too will draw the anger of God upon them. Applicable to many Christians? I think so.
• Paul does not give a laundry list of what pleases God, but says “try to find out”, thereby prompting and encouraging a relationship with God.
• It’s part of our job to shine our light and expose evil and how evil it really is. Have to love people regardless, right? Hmm.

5:15-20

• Live with wisdom.
• Good works don’t save us, but we should still do as much good as we can. Not randomly, but after trying to figure out what God wants.
• v16 – prohibition against drunkenness. Why? Ruins your life. Alternative? “Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.” Continues theme of rejecting darkness and brokenness and choosing holiness, light, and wholesomeness.
• Result of Holy Spirit indwelling? Singing spiritual songs a.k.a. worship.
• ♦ Holy Spirit in us moves us to join Him in glorifying and honoring the Father and Son.
• Same basis for v20. Giving thanks for everything to the Father in the name of the Son.
• Holy Spirit indwelling leads to virtuous cycle of honoring the Trinity and being honored and blessed for it. Forces of Evil try to prevent, interrupt, and stop this.

5:21-33

• I think the greater charge is laid upon the man. Wives submitting to husbands was and is essentially the norm, but telling husbands to love their wives as much as themselves, even to the point of self-sacrifice, is radical. The ur-example here is Christ loving and dying for the Church. Likewise in the other way; the Church submits to Christ, so too should wives submit to their husbands. Thus, husbands have a heavy responsibility to be as Christ-like as they can in order to truly honor and love their wives (and God).
• v29 “No one hates his own body” – arguably, some do. Cutting, bulimia, etc. seem to be expressions of self-hate. However, these (likely) are disorders, and may have been unrecognized or even non-existent in 0-100 AD. Normally, a man does not hate their body, so this advice is good nonetheless.
• Union of man and woman in marriage is “a great mystery”, and yet Christ and the Church are united likewise. Argument against homosexuality here?

6:1-4

• Children should obey their parents because they belong to the Lord. Being Christian means living a life of honoring others. This displays Christ, who is in us.
• ? “Honor your father and mother” is the first to end with a promise? Seems like that should be “Have no other gods/idols before me” or it’s the only such command.
• Honoring father and mother leads to a long life, full of blessing. Could this be seen in a demographic longitudinal study?
• Again, a great responsibility laid upon men; specifically fathers. Discipline and instruct your child in a way that God approves. I wonder why mothers aren’t mentioned. Maybe they’re already doing just fine?
• ♦ Honor one another is and was the theme.

6:5-9

• Theme of honoring one another continues.
• Slaves should serve their masters like they serve Christ because this exemplifies Christ’s transformation. If Christian slaves had to be set free, many would ‘convert’ to be free. By remaining loyal, they were saying that being Christian is worth even slavery. Plus, they could share the Gospel (Good News) too. I wonder how many masters converted because of their slaves.
• Serve others as though you were serving God. This pleases Him and again exemplifies Christ.
• Masters charged with a hefty responsibility: treat their slaves right; they have the same Master (Christ/God) and He doesn’t play favorites. This feels like a veiled threat.
• ♦ This actually says that slaves and masters are equal before God. He hates it when someone puts another down, hence the extra responsibility on husbands, fathers, and masters.

6:10-20

• Ah, yes, the famous Armor of God passage.
• Paul ends with reminding us of God’s power in us.
• Put on all of God’s armor. Leave nothing unprotected.
• Our main Enemies are spiritual, not material.
• “Use every piece” – emphasis again on all.
• • belt: truth; support
  • body armor: righteousness; defense
  • shoes: peace of Gospel; mobility
  • shield: faith; defense
  • helmet: salvation; defense
  • sword: Spirit; offense
• We do not attack; God does. We side with God in battles, not the other way around.
• v18 – unceasing, God-seeking, persistent prayer for others.
• Paul asks for prayer for boldness in the face of trial. The conviction that God’s will > man’s will and the courage to act on it. I pray for the same.

6:21-24

• Paul is sending Tychicus to the Ephesians for two main purposes: to tell them how Paul and the other believers(?) are doing and to encourage them. Encouragement is important.
• Ends with prayer for peace and “love with faith”. Not sure what that means.
• Grace for those “who love Jesus with an undying love. If our love for Him grows cold, does that mean we lose God’s grace? I feel like the answer is ‘yes’.
• Paul ends with encouragement, prayer, and blessing. Good example to follow.

---

Looking back over these, I see a few major themes:

• From the beginning, we were meant to be with God and have a relationship with Him.
• Unity and (spiritual) equality among all peoples, especially in the Church.
• We should live in a way that expresses our new nature in Christ, not our old, sinful one.
• Honor one another.

That’s all for Ephesians! Next time, 1 Timothy!

An Evaluation of Prophetic Claims

Previously, I mentioned that Pastor Darren – the lead pastor of the church I go to – had made many claims, of which I only related a few. In this post, I will list them all and evaluate them on how likely or plausible they are. Fact-checking, in a sense.

Concerning factual claims, I will use the following system:

 True  – verified.
 Mixed  – true and false elements.
 False  – refuted.
 Unclear  – the truthiness of this is difficult to determine objectively.

Concerning prophetic claims, I will use the following system:

 Likely  – anyone can see that this will probably happen.
 Plausible  – this could possibly happen, but it’s not expected.
 Unlikely  – this would be a very unusual or even impossible occurrence.
 Unclear  – the likelihood of this is difficult to determine objectively.

Factual Claims

• There were/will be 6 blood moons between April 2014 and September 2015.  Mixed   Unclear 

  The term blood moon usually refers to a total lunar eclipse, when the moon seems to be blood red. However, there are only four total lunar eclipses between April 2014 and September 2015, known as a tetrad. (Wikipedia link if you want to read up on this more.) So where and when are/were the other two blood moons?

  As it turns out, one of those happened June 30, 2015 and was visible only in the United States. I found an article on Cowger Nation about it, and apparently the full moon was turned blood red because there was so much smoke in the air from huge forest fires in western Canada. I have not been able to find anything about a sixth, unexpected blood moon.

  (Note: the linked article says it happened immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage. Whether that’s true depends on whether you consider three days later to be “immediately after”, and besides, as I’ve said before, God would not punish the nation merely for legalizing gay marriage, but for being accepting of and promoting a plethora of sins, like abortion.)

• The blood moons this year fall on Jewish feasts, a rare and historically significant occurrence for the Jews.  True   Mixed 

  This is true in the sense that it is indeed rare for a tetrad of lunar eclipses to fall exclusively on Jewish feasts (Passover and Sukkot) despite the fact that the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. This is the only place I found that actually showed all eight such instances since 1 AD: A Trumpet for My People – Steve Fletcher.

  Whether they are significant is largely up to the reader. The blog post above is clearly in support and here’s one in criticism: Bible Prophecy Talk. Personally, I agree with the latter that past tetrads did not always herald significant events in Jewish history.

• 2015 is a Shemitah year, part of a Biblical cycle of 7.  True 

  The spelling varies – I have seen “Shemitah”, “Shemittah”, and “Shmita” – but in any case, it is the seventh year, the Sabbath year, where the Israelites were to leave their land fallow while they lived off of their harvest from the previous year. This current one goes from September 25, 2014 to September 13, 2015, as said on Chabad.org. Wikipedia has a list of Biblical references.

• The Shemitah year starts on 29 elul, which falls on the Feast of Trumpets, September 13.  Mixed 

  The Shemitah year ends on 29 Elul, which is indeed September 13, 2015 (proof). However, the Jews don’t count years of Jubilee, which is the year after 7 cycles of 7 (i.e. the 50th year). If we consider 1967 to be a Jubilee year, the year Israel reclaimed Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, then that would indeed make next year a Shemitah year. So whether this statement is true or not depends on who you ask! Besides that, the “Feast of Trumpets” is Rosh Hashana (proof), which does start at sundown on September 13, 2015 because that is when 1 Tishri starts, the first day of the next (Hebrew) month.

• The “Star of Bethlehem” has formed for the first time in 2,000 years.  True  (probably)

  Here, the “Star of Bethlehem” refers to a conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and Regulus. It formed once in 2 BC (Wikipedia) and once in 2015 AD (EarthSky, CosmoQuest forum thread). I asked on the Astronomy Stack Exchange whether this conjunction has happened in the 2016 years in between.

• Most of our food supply in the United States comes from the Midwest or California.  True  (essentially)

  It’s hard to conclusively say that this is true or false because the United States produces so much food of several different kinds – enough to be self-sufficient in many crops – so it was hard to find any authoritative statements like this in my research. I did, however, find this website, USDA NASS CropScape, that has lots of data. In particular, the initial map looks like this:

  

  You can clearly see there is clustering of farmland in California and along the Mississippi River. In any case, a large portion of our food supply certainly comes from those two areas, and that’s why I’ve decided to say that this statement is essentially true.

• There is an economic collapse every 7 years.  Mixed 

  I found one blog post that provides evidence for this: The Economic Collapse: The Seven Year Cycle Of Economic Crashes That Everyone Is Talking About. Another one that is explicitly neutral, merely providing information: readtheticker.com blog. Finally, the Wikipedia page on the subject: business cycle.

  Even Googling for pages or posts that specifically debunked or criticized this idea did not turn up much more than more posts advocating it. Hence, I suspect this is something where you will find evidence for your position either way.

• Perry Stone, on June 28, 2015, stated the quote below.  True 

  These are the days of Lot, and the end result when the “people of Sodom” become violent against believers, will be the destruction of entire cities by: fire, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, droughts and other forms of judgement, as the “BREACH” in the COVENANT has occurred. I would not be surprised to see something shocking within 90 days – as we move toward the Shmitta cycle this fall.

  This is an excerpt from a Facebook post on June 28, 2015, made by the Perry Stone Ministries Facebook page.

  Personally, seeing the context, this seems less significant to me. Kinda just looks like a pastor ranting about the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized gay marriage. I don’t see much of significance that seems to be original to him.

• David Wilkerson prophesied in 1973 an economic collapse starting with a European/North African/Eastern nation defaulting on its debt and Mexico defaulting two weeks later.  True  (mostly)

  The full quote is:

  It’s about to happen – very soon, one nation, and I’m speaking prophetically – if I’ve ever heard anything from God in my life, I heard it. Very soon a European or North African or Eastern nation is going to default on its international loan and when that happens, within two weeks, Mexico is going to default. Here’s what is going to happen: about two weeks after the first country goes bankrupt, (we’re going to survive that, because most of that money of the first country is owed to European banks – German, Swiss and French banks) but a second country is going to go down, probably Argentina or Brazil, and we’ll kind of live that down and say: “Well, maybe it’s not going to hurt,” but two weeks after the first country goes down, Mexico’s going to default on $100 billion. When the banks open the next day at 9 in the morning, $15 billion an hour is going to be withdrawn from our American banks – they’re going to be running our banks – the Arabs – all the Latin American countries, they’re going to be running our banks – and before the day is over, the USA is going to have to declare a “bank holiday.”

  Yes, this was said by David Wilkerson, and the source seems to be this page on the website of Unleavened Bread Ministries. However, this is from a sermon given in 1994 (source: All News Pipeline). David Wilkerson did write and publish a book in 1974 named The Vision that contains prophecies like this that he (purportedly) received in April of 1973. This post on the blog of David Patterson Ministries has sort of summarized it in the form of excerpts.

• David Wilkerson also prophesied that a smaller nation in Europe would fall, bringing down Germany, then in two weeks Mexico defaults and a few days later the US economy collapses.  True  (probably)

  I found a site where a person claims that David Wilkerson said in a recorded audio message that Germany will fall first: Z3 News. Given that I don’t have an exact quote and I don’t have the capability or desire to search through all of David Wilkerson’s material, I’ll just conclude that this is probably true.

  Also, in the course of my research, I found many articles and blog posts in support of and criticizing David Wilkerson and/or his prophecies of economic collapse and general doom and mayhem. I have linked to a few of them below as I found them relatively objective and/or well-referenced.

  In support:

  • Absolute Truth and Prophecy (blog post)

  In criticism:

  • Christianity Today (magazine article)
  • Interdisciplinary Bible Research Institution (a paper by Robert C. Newton)

Prophetic Claims

• There will be an earthquake on the San Andreas fault with a magnitude of 8.9 or higher.  Plausible   Unlikely 

  Here’s the latest forecast (published March 2015) from some of the best earthquake scientists: USGS: UCERF3: A New Earthquake Forecast for California’s Complex Fault System. Here’s a quote of the bit that I found most relevant (from the middle of page 4).

  Results are…expressed in terms of the likelihood of experiencing one or more earthquakes in the next 30 years, the duration of a typical home mortgage, and these values also take fault readiness into consideration (how long it has been since the most recent event). As in UCERF2, the likelihood for magnitude 6.7 and larger earthquakes somewhere in the entire region remains near certainty (greater than 99 percent). The likelihood is 7 percent for magnitude 8 and greater…One particularly ready fault is the Southern San Andreas, which contributes to its continued status of being the most likely to host a large earthquake. Specifically, it has a 19 percent chance of having one or more events larger than magnitude 6.7 in the next 30 years near Mojave, Calif.

  It is very much plausible that there will be a strong earthquake in the relatively near future. What is quite unlikely is that its magnitude will be greater than 8.9. As earthquake expert Thomas Jordan noted (Smithsonian magazine article about the San Andreas movie), a magnitude 8.3 earthquake is about as big as it can get.

• There will be an earthquake on the New Madrid fault in the Mississippi valley, strong enough to ruin cities.  Unlikely 

  The best prediction/forecast I found on this was that if all three segments of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) ruptured simultaneously, that would probably produce an earthquake with about magnitude 7.7, and that it would be very damaging for cities (Wikipedia). I also found this report (USGS: Independent Expert Panel on New Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquake Hazards) which says “The time intervals between the three paleoearthquake clusters have an average of about 500 years with considerable uncertainty.” The last major earthquake cluster was in 1811-1812, so it’ll be quite a while yet before we can expect to have another major earthquake.

• These earthquakes will occur close together in time, with the San Andreas fault snapping first.  Extremely unlikely 

  In this case, “close together in time” means something on the order of days, weeks, or months. I don’t really know how the chance of this could possibly be calculated. The two faults are widely separated, so earthquakes are essentially independent events. With a very small chance for the first and an extremely small chance for the second, plus them being close in time, that means that this is effectively impossible. It would be such an unlikely event that no one could reasonably predict this except by supernatural (or magical, or alien) means.

• The San Andreas fault will send the Dow Jones into a tail spin, and the financial impact of the second will be worse.  Likely  (assuming the earthquakes happen)

  As noted on Wikipedia:

  In a report filed in November 2008, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in “the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States,”

  This SF-info web page about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire says that “The economic impact has been compared with the more recent Hurricane Katrina.” A similarly strong earthquake that ruins Los Angeles will definitely have a huge, negative impact on the market and the economy, including the Dow Jones.

• These earthquakes will devastate our food supply.  Likely  (assuming the earthquakes happen)

  As pointed out above, much of the United States’ food supply comes from California and the Mississippi River valley, so earthquakes in these areas would destroy crops and especially infrastructure, like warehouses and processing plants.

• The Golden Gate Bridge will swing violently before cracking.  Likely  (assuming the magnitude 8.9 earthquake happens)

  There is in fact a retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge that should be done within the next few years, as detailed here: Overview of Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit Construction Project. Here is one paragraph from that web page:

  Immediately following the Loma Prieta quake, the GGBHTD engaged a team of consultants to conduct a vulnerability study. The conclusion of the study was that under a Richter magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquake with an epicenter near the Bridge, it would experience severe damage that could close this important transportation link for an extended period. If a Richter magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake centered near the Bridge, there would be a substantial risk of impending collapse of the San Francisco and Marin Approach Viaducts and the Fort Point Arch, and extensive damage to the remaining Bridge structures, including the Main Suspension Bridge. It must be noted, that as of July 2008 with the completion of the second phase of construction, the seismic retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge is far enough along that the Bridge no longer faces the potential for collapse and until the entire retrofit is completed, the risk of significant damage to the Main Suspension Bridge remains.

  Even an 8.0 magnitude earthquake is not expected to pose serious risk for the collapse of the bridge. However, the Richter magnitude scale is logarithmic, meaning that the magnitude 8.9 earthquake predicted above would be almost ten times more powerful than an magnitude 8.0 earthquake. None of the recorded earthquakes in San Francisco ever reached a magnitude of 8.0, and no earthquake since the great earthquake in 1906 that destroyed the city (magnitude 7.7) has ever reached that level of power (source). A magnitude 8.9 earthquake would be far beyond anything that San Francisco has ever experienced. I think the Golden Gate Bridge would indeed be very likely to collapse if hit by such a powerful earthquake.

• Los Angeles in flames, Memphis ruined, New Orleans fully flooded, St. Louis devastated but not leveled.  Likely   Plausible  (assuming the earthquakes happen)

  As noted on Wikipedia, Memphis and St. Louis would be heavily damaged by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Los Angeles is situated very close to the section of the San Andreas fault that is most likely to trigger with a large earthquake, as noted above, and fires are a frequent secondary hazard of earthquakes.

  Finally, New Orleans is protected from flooding by its levees, which were critically damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2006. A Live Science article from 2010 suggests that the levees have been in very good shape since they were completed in 2011, designed to withstand 100-year storms (i.e. storms as bad or worse than Katrina). Hence, whether New Orleans will be flooded depends on whether the New Madrid fault earthquake breaks them, hence the plausible marker.

• The Pacific Ocean will flood inwards through a crack in the Earth’s crust and transform the Mojave Desert into a saltwater sea.  Extremely unlikely  (assuming the 8.9 earthquake happens)

  I found a map on shakyground.org that both shows the fault lines in California and enough natural color to easily see where the Mojave Desert is. The information about fracking wells is not directly relevant here.

  

  Here is a more detailed map, hosted on strangesounds.org. It looks to me like it would be exceedingly unlikely that an earthquake would break up the Earth’s crust enough to allow water to flow from the Pacific Ocean into the Mojave Desert, even though it looks like that may be technically possible and the Mojave Desert is indeed below sea level. I did, however, find this intriguing hypothesis on Argosy that there is an underground river system which looks like it could very well contribute to this event happening.

• Landslide next to an unidentified city at the tip of a bend in a river (outside the curve).  Likely   Unclear  (assuming the earthquakes happen)

  Landslides are a frequent secondary hazard of earthquakes, so that part is likely. The uncertainty comes from the non-identification of the city. The impression I got during the sermon was that Pastor Darren identified the previous cities by seeing their skyline in his mind and then looking it up afterwards. At the time of the sermon, he had not been able to find this city.

• In September, a European/North African/Eastern nation/a smaller nation in Europe will default on its international loans.  Likely 

  At this point, Greece has already defaulted (source), though it doesn’t look like the global economy is collapsing just yet. In this section on Wikipedia, there is this statement at the very end:

  On July 13, after 17 hours of negotiations, Eurozone leaders reached a provisional agreement on a third bailout programme to save Greece from bankruptcy. But a final deal needs further negotiations, and requires ratification in several national parliaments.

  It looks like Greece is still trying to come up with a solution, so the real fall may yet to be come. One possibility is that Greece might leave the Eurozone, also known as “Grexit”, but as noted here on Wikipedia, such a decision could have global and severe consequences.

  Disclaimer: I don’t follow economics particularly closely, so I am not an expert.

• Mexico will default two weeks later.  Unclear 

  I Googled quite a bit but couldn’t find very much on how stable or unstable Mexico’s financial situation is. I did try looking at how much debt is owed to who, but got pretty confused and gave up.

• 15 billion dollars per hour will be withdrawn from US banks by Arab and Latin American countries, forcing the government to declare a “bank holiday”.  Unclear 

  I don’t even really know how to research this. There is such a thing as a bank holiday, a colloquial term in the United Kingdom and a few other European countries for a public holiday, when banks close. This term isn’t used very often in the United States though.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. Personally, I think the most outlandish claims here are the two very powerful earthquakes happening close together and the Mojave Desert flooding and becoming a saltwater sea. If these happen, realize that means a pastor of a small church just made a prediction more accurate than the best science has to offer. If these prophecies never happen, then oh well. This blog post will join the ranks of many failed predictions and I will be very cautious in the future about advocating any supposed prophecies. I refuse to believe that I cannot be wrong.

On one hand, I hope many of these prophecies don’t happen because there will be so much damage, injury, and death. On the other hand, that would mean convincing evidence for God’s existence, and hopefully, many people would choose to turn to Him and put their faith and hope in Him. I for one look forward to seeing the Church grow with the inclusion of Spirit-filled Jesus-followers and purified in preparation for Christ’s glorious return!

A Prophetic Word of Warning and Encouragement

A few weeks ago, the pastor at the church I currently go to – Pastor Darren – gave a prophetic sermon. In it, he made several claims, which I intend to research and publish my findings in a later blog post. However, there are two major and crucial claims that I want to share sooner rather than later.

• Greece’s economy will collapse and then Mexico will default on its debts a week later. Very soon after, the United States banking system will be put under severe strain as South American and Middle Eastern countries withdraw their money from US banks. This will happen sometime in September or October.
• There will be two major earthquakes almost back-to-back. The first will happen in the San Andreas fault with a magnitude of 8.9 or higher. The second will happen, perhaps about a week later, in the New Madrid fault in the Mississippi river valley. This will devastate our food supply as most of our food is produced in California and the Mississippi river valley.

Now, I am quite well aware that very likely, the great majority of my friends/readers will not believe me. That’s entirely your choice. However, I would rather risk being wrong and taking a hit to my reputation than risk being right but having done nothing to warn others. If I’m wrong, my loss; if I’m right, your loss, and I would rather it be my loss than your loss, if that makes sense. I believe that these predictions will happen as described, and I encourage any others of like mind to join me in preparation for the coming calamity.

As part of his closing, Pastor Darren recommended that we store three months of food and water in our home. I have decided to take this literally and plan for 90 days with no external source of food and no guaranteed clean water. In both cases regarding food and water, I have overestimated how much each person will need, and took it one step further by assuming an extra person in the household. There’s a saying that when collecting firewood for the night, collect as much as you think you need, then triple the size of the pile. I will be applying the same principle when it comes to stocking up on food and water: store more than you need.

Caveats: the prices I put here are generally for my local area: Louisville, KY. Prices will vary, of course. Also, I did not exhaustively consider every possibility, so please do your own research and brainstorming as well. Please feel free to look for what experienced “preppers” have written; they’ve done this a lot longer than I have. This is essentially the bare minimum, a starting point.

Assumptions:

• 90 days
• 4 person household
• 1 gallon of water per day per person (slightly over average)
• 2,000 kCal (food calories) per day per person (average)

Water

I considered several options for water: bottled water, 1 gallon jugs of water, tap water, filtration, boiling, and melting snow. I looked at cost, effort, and purity as the three main aspects of each method under consideration.

• Bottled water:
  Bottled water is the most expensive at about five dollars per gallon ($5/gal). It, however, is effectively guaranteed to be pure. (It can be argued that it’s not necessarily any purer than tap water, but when it comes to surviving a lack of fresh water, minute differences in purity don’t really matter.)
• Gallon jugs:
  Prices tended to average $1/gal, so this is significantly cheaper than bottled water. Some places sell empty jugs and these can be filled up at home for even less cost.
• Tap water:
  This is essentially the cheapest option of all in that the only cost is the water bill, if that. However, the possibility that it is contaminated must be considered. An earthquake powerful enough to ruin buildings may very well do damage that compromises the purity of tap water.
• Filtration:
  This is the next cheapest. I picked a pack of three Pur water filters on Amazon and figured that it’s about $0.15/gal. This is the core of my recommended water stocking strategy. Other methods of filtering water can be researched and used, but activated carbon filters (like faucet filters) are the best at removing the most harmful material, including pathogens.
• Boiling:
  Boiling will suffice to kill the vast majority of bacteria and viruses. However, you do lose water this way as it violently evaporates off the surface of the water. If you want to collect that, you have to buy materials and build an apparatus that collects the steam and allows it to condense. This is not advised for a few reasons. One is that this method is not particularly energy efficient as it takes a significant amount of electricity to heat up the stove sufficiently to boil water, and it will take time. Also, if there are any heavy metals in the (presumably) tap water, or any other toxic particulates, they will stay in the pot. Thus, to purify all of the water will require a long time to boil and collect the steam. In addition to the energy cost, there is also the cost of procuring the materials and building the contraption well enough to capture all of the steam and condense it.
  

• Rain water:
  Free water aside from the cost of the materials needed to collect it, such as a tarp and rain barrels. Also, as rain drops form around particulates, there is a chance that rainwater could be slightly contaminated even if no other contaminants get into the barrel, depending on what is in the air. (Acid rain is an example.)

• Melting:
  As I expect this calamity to happen just before winter time, a possibility is gathering and melting snow. The main issue is that snow is surprisingly voluminous. To get one inch of water, it takes about 10 inches of snow. Also, as with rain, snowflakes form around particulates, so they may be contaminated depending on atmospheric conditions.

The core of the solution I recommend is filtration. Tap water, ground water, well water, rain, snow, and other sources of water can by and large be filtered to produce fairly pure water. These sources of water (other than tap water) can also be used to provide water for other applications such as washing dishes, taking a sponge bath, and flushing toilets and washing things.

9 filters that filter 40 gallons apiece are sufficient to provide a family of four with pure water for 90 days (360 gallons total). On top of that, I recommend an additional 60-75 jugs of water and 8 to 4 32-bottle packs of bottled water. These provide enough water for an extra person for the whole 90 days (90 gallons), and they are a source of portable, contained, and guaranteed-fresh water. This would cost about 200-300 dollars, depending on how much bottled water is bought and how much the tap water costs due to usage of the utility.

Food

I went to the local Kroger (the grocery store in these areas) and gathered data on 63 food items, specifically cost, weight, calories, and expiration date. I put the data in this Google Spreadsheet: Food data. I picked generic products and the largest boxes/cans/packages to try and get the best cost efficiency, so not only will prices vary from place to place, but choices like package size and generic/brand choice will vary. Still, I think the relative cost and caloric density will be roughly the same, so that spreadsheet should be a valuable tool nonetheless simply because it can help with deciding what to focus on.

The first six columns are self-explanatory. Caloric density is a measure of how many calories are packed into each ounce. The first three are purely fats and oils, and the next six food items have a lot of fats and/or oils in them. Calorie cost can be used to determine the cheapest way to get the most calories, regardless of how fluffy or dense it is. Cost efficiency measures how many calories per ounce you get per dollar, so it basically measures how much bang you get for your buck. Shelf life is the number of days between July 19, 2015 (when I recorded the data) and the stated expiration date. Now, it’s not as precise because some items had only a month and year, so I recorded just the month and year for every item except ones with short shelf lives. Thus, I somewhat-arbitrarily set the expiration date to be the 30th of the month (28th for February). As you can see, most items have shelf lives well beyond 3 months, and the ones that don’t, like bread and meat, can be frozen to extend their shelf life.

There are three sheets in that Spreadsheet, sorted by caloric density, calorie cost, and cost efficiency, respectively. Feel free to copy the data into your own spreadsheet and change the numbers to match what your local store has, and perhaps add more items. Side note: coffee and dill pickles have no calories, and I didn’t collect data on candy, soda, or cake, to name a few. These are probably not the best foods to have in a famine. I also didn’t collect data on drinks in general, fruits and vegetables (because of their short shelf life), or frozen foods, and it is important to consider the fact that power may go out for extended periods of time, so refrigeration may not be reliable. Finally, seeds are very dense in calories, rating at or above the level of nuts, but I did not see or seek out any during my trip through the grocery store. Seeds like sunflower seeds or flax seeds are potentially good choices. (Storing seeds to plant in the spring may also be a wise choice.)

Due to the complexity of the choices available for food, I do not have much of a recommendation beyond my favorite meal: peanut butter and crackers. It’s worth noting that peanut butter is high in caloric density and crackers are very cost efficient. However, the data is there for you to consider, and though I have the idea of building an online tool to help with budgeting calories and cost, it will take time to implement.

I would like to emphasize that I only recorded the number of calories for each food item. I intentionally ignored other aspects of nutrition, like the relative amounts of carbs, fats, proteins, and vitamins. Take general nutrition into account when making your choices. Vegetable shortening (like Crisco) may be extremely calorie dense, but eating nothing but Crisco (or oil for that matter) will kill you, and will be a very unpleasant experience anyway. I wouldn’t suggest striving to have a really healthy spread of foods because starvation is more of a problem than malnutrition (and I don’t expect we’ll have years of poor supply like places in Africa and elsewhere, where chronic malnutrition is a problem), and because it would be quite costly to have the full variety. For instance, if you bought nothing but long grain white rice at $5 per 160-oz bag, it would still cost $225 dollars to store enough to feed four people for 90 days. (About $280 if you include enough for an extra person.)

Good foods to focus on for storage would be rice, beans, nuts (and nut-based products), seeds, pasta, and maybe grain-based products (i.e. bread or crackers). Beyond that, decide what you want to focus on and whether you want to shoot for spending the least, storing the least, having variety, or a balance of the above.

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Aside from practical considerations, how should we respond?

I have heard that a saying that Christians in China have is “We need just enough persecution to keep our faith real.” Let’s face it: we American Christians have had it easy. The coming years won’t be so easy. The trend of people leaving the church will continue, and likely accelerate. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and could even be a good thing because it means that people who only say they’re Christian but really aren’t will give up the pretense. Personally, I look forward to the days when most Christians actually live out their faith even in the face of persecution. Makes the Story a lot more interesting and satisfying.

Dark times are coming, but that means more opportunities to shine brightly with the love of Christ. When hungry, naked, hurt, homeless, and sick people fill the streets, there are that many more people to feed, clothe, heal, welcome in, and care for. In the final judgement in Matthew 25:31-46, the righteous people (sheep) are separated from the unrighteous (goats) by whether they respected and honored others that were disadvantaged. If and when these things do happen, many people will have their world shaken (literally and figuratively). Our job as the Church, God’s people, is to lead them to the only unshakable rock, God Himself, and to love them just as He would.

These times of trouble will be good incentive for us to draw closer to God and to put our trust in Him. We can trust that He will be faithful and that He will take care of us. As trials increase, He will give us strength, courage, endurance, and patience to get through them. I expect to see a greater outpouring of His favor and goodness, including an increase in miracles. We are drawing nearer to the final battles – perhaps we are already involved – between Good and Evil. So pray. Pray often. Stand in God, and you will be unmoved by the world.

We are a fragmented Church, but now is the time to unite and stand together. Let us put aside theological differences and reach out for the Lost, care for them, and let Jesus shine. Jesus told us to love God and love our neighbor. Let this be the banner we unite under. God is the Lord of us all, and He will guide and direct us according to His infinite wisdom.

Above all, we are drawing closer to the end of this age and to Jesus’ glorious return…and I can’t wait to see that!

My Thoughts on Homosexuality

Yeah, I know, there’s a bunch of these out there. But if you’re reading this, there’s a chance that you know me, and there’s a further chance that you’re interested in what I think, so, here you go!

I think that a great deal of the hubbub over the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized homosexual marriage in all 50 states is because most people conflate two different kinds of marriage: civil and religious. Civil marriage (in the United States) carries with it a lot of rights and benefits conferred by the government, like filing taxes together and making medical decisions for the (presumably incapacitated) spouse. Up until recently, homosexuals were broadly blocked from these rights and benefits primarily for religious reasons. A fundamental principle of our government is that it does not make laws that promote one religion over another, and this prohibition on homosexual marriage was one of those.

“But,” you might argue, “Christianity is a good religion! Our God is real, and He created marriage to be between a man and a woman!” Well, I agree with you. I do believe the God that we Christians follow is the one and only true God. However, realize that Muslims can say the same thing. There is no good secular reason to favor one religion over another, and mixtures of government and religion have caused or lead to atrocities more often than not. That said, churches should absolutely be allowed to refuse to marry a homosexual couple. That should be at the very least a fundamentally defensive religious exemption. They do not harm the would-be couple; they are protecting themselves. Judges and magistrates, on the other hand, are employees of a fundamentally (ostensibly) secular entity, so I would argue that they should not be allowed to deny marriage licenses to homosexual couples for religious reasons.

Again, let me emphasize this: the Supreme Court redefined civil marriage. People are still completely free to hold to their own beliefs of what is and isn’t a valid marriage. Even within Christianity, not all marriages between straight Christians will be recognized as valid by Catholics. That’s religious marriage. That has not been redefined. Well, some churches/denominations have, but that wasn’t the Supreme Court’s doing.

An alternative others and I have suggested in the past was to rename marriage and call it a civil union. However, I know of two good counterarguments to that. A couple years ago, in response to me suggesting that we call them civil unions, a gay friend of mine said something along the lines of “Well, you get to call it marriage. Why don’t we?” Also, a fellow Christianity.StackExchange member, Bruce Alderman, also wrote a blog post on this subject and within it he said:

And the reality is, we already have a number of theological words that have a different meaning in a secular context, and we have no trouble discerning the difference between the two uses.

He gives two examples, justification and redemption, and furthermore, this is why translating religious phrases is an entirely different beast, which I’ve encountered multiple times while signing along to worship songs. So I say to those homosexual friends of mine: congratulations, and I’m happy for you. Enjoy your freedom to marry and enjoy its privileges.

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I’m about to ruin that good feeling. I still think homosexuality is a sin. The favorite verse to bat around for this is Leviticus 18:22 (NLT):

Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

Leviticus 20:13 is also mentioned on occasion. Pro-homosexuality people typically counter with the argument that Christians are picking and choosing which laws are convenient, and many if not most then conclude that there is no sound Biblical argument against homosexuality.

Well, as it turns out, homosexuality is also condemned in the New Testament. A few verses are 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10, and Romans 1:26-27. The first and third are quoted below.

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
~1 Cor 6:9

26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
~Rom 1:26-27

So, uh, yeah, homosexuality is pretty clearly condemned in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant, lying, or trying to twist the words to mean something else. If God sends disasters on our nation, it won’t be for legalizing gay marriage. It’ll be for accepting and promoting homosexuality and a whole host of other sins. Legalizing gay marriage is not the worst thing we’ve done.

As an aside, an argument I’ve also seen is that Jesus didn’t even say anything about homosexuality. Well, we don’t know that for sure because as John said, Jesus did many other things that weren’t written down. Maybe He did say something about homosexuality. Also, there are certainly some clear sins that Jesus did not talk about either, and it is fallacious to think that just because He didn’t say it was wrong doesn’t mean that He doesn’t think it’s wrong. For instance, polygamy isn’t actually condemned in the Bible, but the Church has forbidden it anyway ever since its early days, and there are good secular reasons as well.

But why is homosexuality a sin? Well, the technically sufficient answer is “because God said so”. But that’s not a satisfactory answer for many (including me), and besides, God (thankfully) usually has good reasons for forbidding this or that thing. I do not claim to speak for God; what follows is my thinking.

When Jesus spoke against divorce in Matthew 19:1-12, He reaffirms that “in the beginning, God made them [Adam and Eve] male and female” and that divorce, the breaking of a marriage, “was not what God had originally intended”. In Ephesians 5:21-33, Paul charges husbands and wives to love each other to the utmost and compares them to Christ and the Church, respectively. There seems to be a great deal of emphasis on creating and maintaining a good relationship between man and wife in marriage.

God created Adam and Eve in His image. Men and women display some characteristics of God that are not found in the other, not to the same extent. A man is strong, protective, and takes on the responsibilities that come with being the head of the household. A woman is kind, nurturing, and she lights up the home with her love and beauty. That’s not to say that a man can’t be kind and nurturing, or that a woman can’t be strong and protective. Men can and should be kind, and as most people know, mothers can be fiercely protective of their children when threatened. Rather, these qualities that I’ve listed and others are expressed more easily or more often by one or the other.

The ideal marriage is one where God is the focal point and the man and woman do their very best to love and honor one another, complementing each other so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Great Romance is a beautiful and amazing three-way dance among three people who love each other. Incidentally, I just described the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all strive to outdo each other in love and honor, and they created us to take part in that and to mirror it.

I confess that I don’t play my part as well as I should. Sometimes, my future wife has to be very patient and gracious with me because of my faults. But she also works with God to help me and to heal me, and for that I am so very thankful that God saw fit to bring us together. We dance imperfectly, but our dance is…good.

A homosexual couple, however, is…lopsided. Imbalanced. There is a gap, so one or the other, or both, have to play roles that they were not meant to play. Their dance is not whole; their relationship is fundamentally incomplete. It’s like a broken record that can’t be fixed because half of it is missing, and trying to use the other half to complete it results in bad, malformed songs. In addition, they and many heterosexual relationships are intrinsically flawed because God is not their centerpiece.

I’m sure many of my friends don’t think so highly of me for saying that. Maybe what I say next will help with that.

Earlier, I mentioned three verses in the New Testament that condemn homosexuality and quoted the first and third. Let me now quote the first and second, but with more context (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:8-11) and I’ll quote a passage that follows the third (Romans 1:28-32).

9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
~1 Cor 6:9-10

8 We know that the law is good when used correctly. 9 For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. 10 The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders,[a] liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching 11 that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.
~1 Tim 1:8-11

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
~Rom 1:28-32

EVERY sin is detestable to God. Homosexuality is no better or worse than any other. Let me take it a bit further.

I have lied and deceived, I have broken my promises, I have been greedy, I have been prideful and arrogant, I have disobeyed my parents, I have been angry, which Jesus says is equivalent to murder, and I often have lust in my heart, which Jesus says is equivalent to adultery.

I am every bit as deserving of the fires of Hell as any homosexual or any other sinner.

Paul says in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned and ALL have fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are “good enough” (video link). Every single one of us was a sinner and detestable to God. Filthy and slimy. Yet, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Just so we could be with Him, despite our sin and rebellion against Him.

Jesus didn’t stone the woman caught in adultery, as the Law demanded. He also told her “Go and sin no more.” Jesus healed a crippled man, and then told him “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Jesus called out the Samaritan woman at the well for being an adulteress, but because He showed her love, she went and told the whole town about Him.

In every situation, Jesus demonstrated love first. We Christians have been commanded to love our neighbor, and to let God handle the punishment. Who is our neighbor? Jesus thinks that’s everyone, especially the poor and downtrod, and even the people we think are disgusting.

If we show respect and love to sinners of other breeds, including liars, gossipers, and gluttons to name a few, we need to show respect and love to homosexuals too. My highest goal is to emulate Christ and do what He says, and He says “love your neighbor”.

So I shall.

An open letter to my future son about porn and masturbation

Note: this is a very personal topic for me. I wrote this mainly for these reasons: to help others and to let them know they’re not the only ones. If you have any advice for me, please keep it to yourself. If I want your advice, I will ask you.

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My son,

As I write this, I am a month away from turning 23 years old and about a year or so away from marrying my beautiful, wonderful fiancée. She is as close to the mythical “the One” as I can hope to get, basically. Yet, I still struggle with porn, sexual images, and masturbation.

First, I think it is important to note that many people think that this is okay and perfectly normal. Well, it’s not. It’s quite natural to be drawn to sexual images and to please oneself. This does not mean it is good.¹ It may be normal, but we don’t need to accept that. We can be different.

Let me also tell you that it is not okay to beat yourself up about it. Giving in and gratifying yourself is sin; you’re not honoring your body and spirit. Giving up because you feel like you can’t win is also wrong; you have the power of God’s Spirit. Beating yourself up for losing all the time is wrong too; you are disrespecting yourself and lowering your standards.

So what should a man do?² Well, if you are on a battlefield, and you find yourself surrounded by enemies, all bent on killing you, what do you do? Do you just give up because there’s no way to defeat them all? No! You rush forward and do your best to fight through. Note the paradox here: your only chance at living is to be willing to die. If you find yourself struggling with porn, you can’t just sit back and do nothing. You can’t just accept it; the problem will only get worse. I know. I know from experience.

My struggles began small, as they are wont to do. Around the time I hit puberty, I happened to discover all by myself that I could please myself and what happened when I did so, and I started taking a liking to images like the painting of Venus of Urbino, which I saw in, of all places, a digital encyclopedia. I gradually transitioned to masturbating in bed at night, usually with a female friend in mind. (That was before I knew just how…not cool that is. Creepy, even.) I also started looking up sexual images online, and my parents caught me within a few months, I think. They punished me by taking away my computer privileges for a month, which I obeyed. I got better at hiding my actions thereafter, however.

Then I went to a residential high school in my junior and senior years, and with a computer of my own plus plenty of free time by myself, you can probably guess what happened. There was a period of nine months in beginning in my junior year and ending in senior year where I did not fall (meaning orgasm/ejaculate) even once (though I did masturbate occasionally; I just didn’t finish). That was an anomaly though, and the following two month period of abstinence after some weeks of struggle ended up being the best I’ve done since then. Not to mention, said abstinence from porn was helped by a strong interest in a particular female. My experience has been that being interested in a girl did usually help with resisting temptation, but the effect never lasted for long. As it happens, senior year of high school was also the year that I learned just how common this issue is among guys, even Christians.

There are eight people I know personally where I also know whether they masturbate/look at porn (or had often done so in the past). Six are Christian guys. Two of whom were surprised to learn that I struggled too. You see, I was seen as very much a strong Christian. No obvious vices of any kind. Surely I never got involved with something as clearly sinful as porn. Those two guys learned that they were not the only ones, and that even a strong Christian could struggle too. On the first occasion, I learned that too. It is not hard to find scientific studies that report that a great majority of teenage males masturbate. Masturbation, and porn-watching too, is extremely common, even among Christians.

Masturbation and porn is quite a sensitive topic within Christian circles, and sad to say, I think much of our reluctance to bring up the issue is the fear of judgement and condemnation. Well. On this subject, I can guarantee you that if you want to talk about it, my ears are wide open, and you will not be judged at all.³ I know the struggle. I have experienced it first-hand. If I am a hypocrite by condemning you even the tiniest for your struggles, may God punish me severely.

Oh, I almost forgot to say that being tempted is not sinning. Jesus was tempted, but He did not sin. In today’s world, there are myriads upon myriads of sexual images and themes everywhere. I expect that it will only get worse in the coming years. You can see these, and be tempted, but if you do not give into the temptation of lusting after the pretty, sexy women, then you do not sin.

Also, I do want to mention that porn and sexual images are, well, pretty fake most of the time. It’s all done for show. This realization and the realization that I truly desire genuine beauty and intimacy have really helped me in my struggle because hard-core porn became much less attractive. It’s like eating potato chips when you could have something much more filling and satisfying. Yes, sometimes we’re so hungry and impatient we just gotta have the chips, but hey, we’re human. This is part of life. We all make mistakes sometimes.

Hmm. This letter thus far has meandered somewhat. As I draw to a close, I’d like to summarize the main points so far.

1. Giving in, giving up, and beating yourself up are not acceptable courses of action.
2. You are not alone. You are not the only one dealing with these issues.
3. I am ready and willing to listen.
4. Temptation is not sin.

Now…I’m going to end on a positive note. There is hope. I am currently reading a book called Free to Live by John Eldredge, which is about “the utter relief of holiness”. I find it is helpful to me in my journey to overcoming my addiction once and for all. Remember, Jesus Christ has won the war. In Him we are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17) We are no longer alive…rather, it is Christ who lives in us. (Gal 2:20) Sin no longer has control over us because we are freed by grace. (Rom 6:14) It is totally possible to be free from this addiction, and I can’t wait until that day that I break its hold on me forever.

Some days I wish it was easy to just throw it off. Just be done with it forever. Well, easier said than done. That said, please be encouraged that you are not alone, there is hope, and that I, at least, am willing to help, even if only to listen.

~Lee

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¹ 1 Cor 6:12 and 1 Cor 10:23

Also, there are multiple scientific studies that show that watching porn, especially frequently, has a harmful effect on the brain and mind. Watching more porn tends to correlate with enjoying sex less.

² I am quite aware that some women too have these struggles. I am not a woman. I wrote this largely from and because of my own experience as a male, so I will restrict myself to writing to and for males.

³ If you are female, I would actually rather encourage you to talk to a female you trust.