The Keener Way

  Yeah, I know. Its been a hot second since I posted. Life has been a bit intense lately, with not a lot of breathing space. Anyway, it is time to continue the study on Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount, where He teaches His disciples, "this is what it looks like to be one of my disciples. This is the way I want you to live." And we are now in the section of his sermon where He addresses the taking of oaths. Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:33-37 BSB  See, the thing is, when someone takes an oath, this kind of insinuates that you can't...

    Okay, so it is February now, and the Gregorian New Year's Day is a ways behind us. Though according to the lunar calendar of Jewish Torah, the first day of Nissan is on March 30 this year. And according to the Persian Hijri calendar, one of the most mathematically accurate solar calendars of all times, the new year is on the vernal equinox, which will fall on March 20 this year. Which means that, either way, I still have a month and a half till the new year begins, because I like poking holes in Rome. Plus Persia had better mathematicians. But I will still refer to Gregorian dating for public communication for the sake of communication, even though it is less accurate.  Anyway... In 2024, I set 'Sanctuary' as my word of the year. In original etemology, this is defined as a sacred or holy place. Over time, the word became broadened to any place of refuge. So how did the year go for me in light of this? The year started with a trip to Louisiana in January, where I spent...

  It has been a hot minute since I've read the book of 1 John. But when the sermon at my church sent me there today, I realized I've been needing it this past week. The book really isn't that long. Five very short chapters. Yet there is so much packed inside! For a brief overview: Chapter 1 -The purpose of this letter is to make your joy complete. -If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with the Lord. -If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive. Chapter 2 -Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. -If we keep the commandments of Jesus, we can be sure we have come to know Him. -If you hate your brother, you still walk in darkness. -Whoever loves his brother remains in the light. -The world, fleshly desires, the pride of life, the lust of our eyes... These things are passing away. Do not love them. -Those who departed from the faith were not in it to begin with, and are antichrists. -We have received an anointing from Christ, which teaches us all things. Chapter 3 -When Chr...

  Merry Christmas everyone! Although I generally don't make it a secret that I consider the birth of Christ to most likely be mid autumn, some time between September/October, the vast majority of people insist on observing it smack-dab in the middle of winter. Whereby, at least for the moment, my December postings take on a more Christmas-y tone.  Today, I'd like to explore a topic that was inspired my my very wonderful oldest brother. After I re-shared my last year's posts on Christmas carols, he approached me with an article on how western culture has appropriated the nativity story and taken things out of their middle eastern cultural contexts. One of the things this article suggested was that Yeshua was born in a stone feed trough in a guest room, rather than a wooden manger in a barn, a concept of renaissance Europe. In truth, it is possible that English has misinterpreted the idea of 'no room at the inn'. The Greek word is 'kataluma', which can be take...

  Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 Happy are them lamenting, because they paraklēthēsontai Literal Greek to English  Here we have Yeshua's second teaching from His Sermon on the Mount. His second lesson about "you have already become my disciple, you've already repented, already committed to learning my way of life, so here is how I live" But wait! Because they paraklēthēsontai? What kind of a word is that? Well, it is Greek. But wasn't I doing a Greek to English text analysis? Yes. So why did I leave a Greek word there? Well, most Bibles render this as "they will be comforted". But this big, complex word contains so much more than that. There is no English equivalent. So let's look at the root, parakaleo. Para : very close-beside, in the presence of, alongside, very near This denotes a nearness and closeness that is often lost to translation. Think about parallel lines.The two 'L's in parallel are para L...

  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:3, BSB Divinely favored those who are impoverished to the breath, that belonging to them is the dominion of the sky realm Literal word-by-word Greek to English paraphrase These are the first recorded word's of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. But what odd words to begin a sermon with! But let's step a couple verses further back and introduce this series, shall we? See, when Yeshua saw the crowds coming, he climbed partway up a mountain. And when He sat down, His disciples came to him and He taught them. This sermon was not evangelical in nature. There was no "believe in me, repent and be baptized" and while there is no doubt the crowd followed Him, the "He taught them" is grammatically attached to His disciples. This sermon was not "this is how you become my disciple". It was a sermon about "you have already become my disciple, you've already repented, already...

   If it wasn't obvious from the fact I have a whole blog page dedicated to the former USMC backpack system, I love military surplus stuff. And when it gets cold enough that a hoodie is no longer sufficient, I can be found sporting some combination of the US Army's seven layer extreme cold weather system. How is this relevant to the topic today? Well, the jackets in this system have places to put Velcro patches. I love Velcro patches. I especially love patches that have funny, sarcastic, or witty remarks on them. So I always wear a couple on each jacket. So one Sunday this past winter, I showed up at church with a patch that said "Don't grow up, it's a trap". Which immediately caught the attention of one of my friends from my young adult group. (Yes, I'm calling you out on this. Yes, I know you are going to read this. Yes, you know who you are. :p ) I had it pointed out to me that Paul says, "when I was a child, I thought like a child...but when I was...

  This past Lord's Day, my church did a overview study on the book of John. (Lord's Day is my name of choice for Sunday because I generally dislike using a calendar based on Roman mythology, but I especially hate using it for the day Yahweh overcame the grave) The purpose of the sermon was to present a broad overview of John's message. Our creator came to us in the flesh, this is the explanation of eternal life, and Jesus is the promised Messiah. But in the course of communicating this message, the sermon touched on two verses that got me down a completely different mind track. John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”  John 15:12-33 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  The word Jesus is usin...

  You know, the Bible is oddly full of "what ifs". Verses that pose the idea of "what if the Lord fails me?" Think of Daniel's three friends who were thrown into a furnace. "Even if our God does not save us from your fire, we will still serve him." Think of Job. He was convinced that God was doing unjust evils to him. He was questioning how God could be so cruel as to torture a righteous man. And he still said, "even if he kills me, I will serve him." Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, " Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle-- even then, I will be happy with the Lord . I will truly find joy in God, who saves me." 1 Peter 3:14, " Even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened." Psalm 23, known and loved by so ma...

    Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. From KJV. I had someone give me the thought this morning that this may not mean what most of us think it means. On the surface, it looks like "There is a specific way to raise your kids that guarantees they will stick to those ways all their lives". Except then parents all over the world bemoan their misfortunes as they watch their kids stray from their upbringings. "We trained them as trained as we knew how to. How was it not enough?" Here's the thing. I don't think that's what Solomon meant. The individual who spoke to me this morning suggested that Proverbs 22:6 is saying "Train a child according to his inclinations/personality/interests and when he is old he will still be doing these things with excellent success." Which is entirely valid. Maybe you want your child to be good at math and become a rocket scientist. But maybe they have no inclination...

  Hey, it's me again. I know, I know... Kinda overdue for a blog post. It's been like a month and a half. I guess I've been biding my time cuz I was waiting for inspiration to strike on what to write about. Then a very close sister of mine randomly suggested the parable of the prodigal son. The idea was very random. But as I thought on it, the idea grew on me. So here we go. The parable begins in Luke 15:11, and we've all heard it. A rich man has two sons. The younger demands his share of the inheritance, he goes to a far off place, and he wastes his money. Reduced to working a job feeding pigs, the son is so hungry that he starts craving the food that the pigs are eating. So he decides to go home and become a servant to his father, deciding that he is ill-suited to be a son. But what he finds is that his father has been waiting for him. The father welcomes the son and throws a feast. Now the older brother enters the story, upset that his selfish, wasteful brother is ge...

  Happy January 1, 2024! One of my friends and sister in the Lord asked me the other day, "What were the highlights of this past year?" I have no short answers. This last year has been insane. At the start of the year, I felt like my word for the year was 'Selah', which we can't prove with 100% certainty, but we think it means "praise the Lord" How did the year line up? Well... January: I traveled solo all the way to Florida, I experienced the ocean for the first time in over a decade, and for the first time completely of my own free will. I found myself in a sticky situation where my actions caused some hurt to a very good friend, but that led to a long late-night discussion where we really opened up a lot more with each other and agreed to talk things out whenever one of us managed to hurt the other. February: I got a part time job at a gun shop. My maternal grandma died, the last living grandparent I had. When I watched my mom and uncles closing her c...