But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere’. (3:17)
James was one of those writers who wrote to the entire Christian Church – one of the “catholic” writers. His intent then was to teach what the Good News was about. That’s different from Paul, who wrote to specific churches. Paul was helping people to try to practise what the Good News taught.
Category / Studies
My progress in my studies
hinterland: Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day
Word of the Day – hinterland http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2016/10/13 at Dictionary.com
This is an interesting word in that it has sort of different meanings to each person. It brings up the memories of childhood; some pleasant and maybe some not so pleasant.
It reminds me of a word I used to hear very often – boondocks. There is even a song about the boondocks. Seems like that song was yesterday but it was many years ago. This word comes from the name of a town in the Philippines – Bontoc. There is more than one town in the Philippines with that name. Now how did Bontoc become boondocks?
The reason has to do with the US military in the Philippines. Bontoc is usually a small town in the province (the area most Filipinos associate with rural, agricultural places). When a person from the US would talk about something far away, he or she would refer to Bontoc. As in most languages, time got involved and the “mishearing” of the word made it boondocks and in the US it came to mean a place far away out in the hills or in a rural and agricultural area.
Isaiah 26:3-5
I added 2 more verses because they add an interesting “twist” on what Isaiah wrote. In the Orthodox Study Bible which I have through Kindle (both Orthodox Study Bible and Kindle protected names), I have learned that what Isaiah said in these verses is much what Mary says in the Magnificat (Lk 1:52).
This happens more than once – that is, a prophet writes something and there is a connection in the New or Christian Testament or part of the Bible.
I have learned, and I suppose it is nothing new to many, is that the two parts of the Bible are “connected”. The Hebrew, or Old, Testament or Bible, tells us stories of how people were told how to act and what to do, but they never seemed to keep it going. And, how God, even with all the problems people caused, still kept giving them hope and moving along. God continued to teach the people lessons. That would fix things for a while and then off they would go, doing their own thing. All of the prophets kept telling the people that they better start shaping up or there was going to be a big price to pay.
The people didn’t listen. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Only now, we haven’t had some other country to take over and take all the citizens captive and keep them locked up and decimate their city. I wonder if that would help?
Or, have we? We see countries attacking each other or revolutions happening and many other countries helping one side or the other. The wars just continue and there will be no peace until people start listening or reading or both. What can we do?
We need to find peace within ourselves and with others. People are always going to be different or think differently; that doesn’t make them bad. People are evil when they begin forcing others to act the way they want them to act. Trying to convince people is not evil. But, if they don’t listen, there is nothing a person can do but pray for them and wish them well. But, another thing we must do is make sure what we are advocating is going to help everyone. Seek advice; pray much; the Spirit will help.
Thank you for reading. May you be blessed always.
Studying What I Am Passionate About
I read that I should write a blog about my most passionate subject. That is difficult for me because many passion is Philosophy and Theology. These are two subjects which usually have lots of opinions and, if not presented very well, can seem quite boring. So as not to get into too controversial items which could causes many negative comments and angry remarks, I’ll tell you that mostly what will be here were my ruminating about what progress I am making to learn more.
I shall be studying Orthodox Christian Philosophy and Theology and Bible study. I hope to share things I learn and from whom I learned them. That is the current day teachers who have either spoke about what they learned. Of course,I shall necessarily be reading the Fathers both ante- and post- Nicene.
Thank you for reading.
Bishop Gregory's Thoughts 