George cut the lemon into halves. He squeezed the juice from each half into his water container. Then he cut the squeezed halves into quarters and ate them.
Distracted by the harmony of clouds and ocean during the morning’s sunrise, he almost forgot. He thanked God for lemons, even the most bitter ones. He thanked God for the one he received today.
Denise offers the word “juice” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. Eugenia offers the word “harmony” to be used in this week’s Weekly Prompt.
Of men aged 18 to 49, 67 percent say pornography is morally acceptable. And of all Americans who say religion is not very important, more than two-thirds (76 percent) find pornography morally acceptable.
But I want to argue that the sexual revolution is not actually about expanding the bounds of sexual behavior. It’s about fundamentally challenging the notion that there is such a thing as wrong or right sexual behavior. It’s about blowing apart the whole notion of sexual morality.
Paul wrote in Romans 1:28 that God gives the disobedient over to a depraved mind. He wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 that God sends a strong delusion so the disobedient will believe the lie.
What lie might that be? Perhaps the lie is that there is nothing morally right or wrong with our sexual behavior nor how we deal with the consequences of it such as abortion or divorce. That means we don’t think we have to repent. That suggests that we don’t believe that there is any God to Whom we owe repentance. And all of that makes us forget about the “pursuit of holiness” that Jerry Bridges rightly pointed out is not an option.
The lie confuses us about repentance, God and holiness. The lie affects our beliefs and our beliefs affect our behavior.
If you don’t behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave.
Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, quoted by revivedwriter
I am grateful to Michael Wilson for the link to the statistics source on moral attitudes towards pornography. I am grateful to Jim Lee and Mandy Sweigart-Quinn for calling my attention to Carl R. Trueman and Jerry Bridges. I am grateful to Jenna at revivedwriter for the quote from Fulton Sheen.
Weekly Bible Reading:John and Acts Commentaries: David Pawson, John, Part 6, Acts, Part 7, Unlocking the Bible Bible Project, John 1-12, John 13-21, Acts 1-12, Acts 13-28 Weekly Torah Readings 13 Shevat, 5782, Beshalach: ParashatExodus 13:17-17:16; HaftaratJudges 4:4-5:3
With little deeds I wrote my book. May viewers not be led astray. The cluttered moments blew away when upside down the world was shook and what was left is what I took. I reasoned rightly I should read the words I knew I ought to heed. “You’re much too late,” the devil said, “Tomorrow morning you’ll be dead.” This final chapter’s all I need.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “read” to be used in a C-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge.
In the dining car of the express train to hell Ryan motioned for the waiter. When the waiter arrived he complained about the quality of the food saying, “Any decent chef would know how to prepare steak and don’t forget I’m riding your train first class.”
Sitting across the aisle from Ryan was a woman who escalated her protest of his butchery of sentient life forms as soon as she heard him order the steak special. Pointing to her with his thumb Ryan asked the waiter, “And could you, please, do something about that?”
The waiter apologized saying he would personally scold the chef, however, he regretted that he could not do anything about Ryan’s fellow passenger since she also held a first class ticket. Not wanting to further alarm the woman the waiter bent down and whispered an assurance in Ryan’s ear that shortly after reaching their destination he would never see her again.
Denise offers the prompt word “express” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
His promises He’s come to keep. Deception’s seen through flashy art as idols fall and drift apart. Where demons dug delusions deep the truth’s now clear. The liars weep. Here comes the morning freshly made as night departs and star lights fade. It’s now we fully understand. We are the bride. We take His hand. Our ransom long ago was paid.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “art” to be used in a B-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge.
The half-life of carbon-14 is under 6,000 years. No carbon-14 should be detectable in fossils claimed to be over 100,000 years old. But that is what has been found. Carbon-14 has been found in both dinosaur soft tissue and also in diamonds claimed to be many millions of years old.
Ian Juby shows how the presence of carbon-14 undermines the reliability of dating methods in the video below.
Weekly Bible Reading:Luke and John Commentaries: David Pawson, Luke, Part 4, John, Part 5Unlocking the Bible Bible Project, Luke 1-9, Luke 10-24, John 1-12, John 13-21 Weekly Torah Readings 6 Shevat, 5782, Bo: ParashatExodus 10:1-13:16; HaftaratJeremiah 46:13-46:28
Beatriz’ sister told her that she could get her six-year-old son healed from his stomach pains that often left him wincing and crying for a mere $70. The bill from the hospital had already reached thousands of dollars with no hope that her son would ever get better.
Beatriz had no doubt that what her sister offered would work since she knew many who were healed through those means. However, she also knew there would be hidden costs living under the charm of a deceitful lullaby.
Within two months her son breathed his last and was buried in the church cemetery attended by friends who had prayed for them seemingly without success. However, right up to her own death forty years later Beatriz was grateful for those prayers which gave her the strength to reject her sister’s screaming, blaming and hell-bound insistence that she exchange her and her son’s souls for temporary relief.
Dale offers the prompt “show us your Christmas” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. I am posting some photos of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean on Christmas morning.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 