Tag: disillusion
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Living Simply in Abundance (24)
I've suggested that we need to get in touch with the forces within us that distort our sense of need and be intentional in our financial management. Beyond this, I want to suggest that we must also become disillusioned. Isn't it interesting that the word "disillusion" has a negative connotation? After all, if we are…
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Isaiah’s Undoing
Isaiah 6:1-8 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and…
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An Evangelism Apologetics Fusion (3)
About three months ago, I posted the following definitions: Delusion – a false or mistaken belief or idea about something. psychology – a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of psychiatric disorder. Illusion – something that deceives the senses or mind, for example, by appearing to…
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Strong Medicine
The Ten Commandments' first three or four commandments (depending on how you number them) addressed our relationship with God. The remaining commandments deal with our relationships with each other. Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your…
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One God
Several weeks ago, I wrote about viewing Scripture as a six-act play. Act 1 was the creation of the heavens and earth and the placement of Adam and Eve in Eden. Act 2 was the rebellion of humanity against God. Act 3 began with Abraham's call and the Israelites' birth. It continues up to the…
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Laying the Moral Foundation
The Israelites experienced God's miraculous deliverance from bondage in Egypt. God deconstructed the illusion of power and permanence of the Egyptian Empire. God had called out a people that would give witness to God in the world. At Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses and gave him the foundational moral and ethical framework for the…
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What is the Difference?
Author Dick Keyes once wrote, "In seeking to become like God, we have become less than human." The biblical story says we were created to be in a relationship with God. When humankind rebelled, we lost our orientation, and we lost our immortality. There was nothing left to give order and meaning to our existence.…
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Reprise: Genesis 12-50 and Illusions
I have been writing about "illusion" for the last six weeks within the context of the book of Genesis. I have more Bible study to share later, though maybe not as in-depth as I have been doing with Genesis. Having reached the end of the book, I thought I would suggest some of the themes…
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Joseph
My illusion posts have carried through the first thirty-five chapters of Genesis. The remaining Genesis chapters tell the story of Joseph. It is a very rich and multi-layered story. I will not probe this story, but I want to make two observations. The story's scheming, deception, and mind games are ….. well …. of biblical…
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Jacob Returns
Gen 35:1-7 NRSV 1 God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau." 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are…