Friday July 30, 2004

Hear the word of the LORD , you Israelites,
because the LORD has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
 There is only cursing,  lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
 Because of this the land mourns, 
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.

 “But let no man bring a charge,
let no man accuse another,
for your people are like those
who bring charges against a priest.
 You stumble day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother-
 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
 The more the priests increased,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged  their  Glory for something disgraceful.
 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.
 And it will be: Like people, like priests.
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.

 “They will eat but not have enough;
they will engage in prostitution but not increase,
because they have deserted the LORD
to give themselves  to prostitution,
to old wine and new,
which take away the understanding  of my people.
They consult a wooden idol
and are answered by a stick of wood.
A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;
they are unfaithful to their God.
 They sacrifice on the mountaintops
and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar and terebinth,
where the shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution
and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

 “I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes-
a people without understanding will come to ruin!

 “Though you commit adultery, O Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.

“Do not go to Gilgal;
do not go up to Beth Aven. 
And do not swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
 The Israelites are stubborn,
like a stubborn heifer.
How then can the LORD pasture them
like lambs in a meadow?
 Ephraim is joined to idols;
leave him alone!
 Even when their drinks are gone,
they continue their prostitution;
their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
 A whirlwind will sweep them away,
and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

— Hosea 4:1-19 (NIV)–

==Ranting. God-style==

God needs you to know. There’s a problem, it’s called sin. And you know what? we all have this. The easiest way to see sin, it to see it’s effects. First it takes away…

We lose faith. Do you know what it means to lose hope? If you do, then you know how it is to lose faith. Today is the only thing that matters. Tomorrow is just a faint idea… barely worth a moment’s thought. Do you remember the promises of the past? Do you know what it is that you hope for? Does a bad day tear you apart? Or are deeply rooted in something unchanging and good? Something that tells us there is more than just a pot of gold beyond the rain and the rainbows of your life? What happened to our dreams? Will they ever be fulfilled or is it going to ever be a dream deferred, a path never taken?

We confuse love with lust, admiration, and everything else in between. Who knows love? One person says, “I love you.”, and they mean that you inspire them to be a better person and they appreciate it… for now anyhow. Another person says, “I love you.”, and it means I want to get into your pants and then ditch you as soon as the relationship seems to be getting harder. Or maybe Somebody set you on the right track? Maybe when you say, I love you, you mean all those good things that God talks about. About being patient with them. Wanting the best for them, even when it does you no benefit. Sacrificing time and energy, that says, yes, you are important too. Focusing not on yourself, but on serving others. Where else can you find a reason to love wholeheartedly and without reservation? Love is in the two most important commandments. Gnaw on that a bit. I’d like to hear what you think.

We fail to acknowledge God. For those who just don’t believe that God exists, well, this portion of the bible agrees with you. For people who think that there is a God, but he’s just some distant faint deity who has better things to do than care about your life. It probably applies to you as well. God designed us with a purpose in mind, when we do things we are not designed for, we run into sin. Think about trying to open a can with a spoon instead of a can-opener. God would be the designer of the spoon and until we acknowledge God for who he is, we (the spoon) will do things our own way (can-opener-wannabe) until we start doing things God’s way (scoop food). People who say they are christian, but live their lives as if no one can see into their hearts and minds. (Yes, I am a hypocrite too.) God’s love us and wants the best for us. This is what God’s been trying to tell us all this time, through Jesus, through the people around us. But there must be some sort of response from us. That response to God… that is acknowledging Him. Acknowledging That Someone knows better than us. That Someone is in control. That there is a method to this madness called life… and His name is God.

Then it bears fruit in us… it gives us cursing and lying tongues, deceptive and selfish thoughts. Finally, it brings us to pain, and this pain isn’t limited to just our selves, but spreads to affect those around us. We break relationships thinking that our ways are better. Blood flows and it becomes a normal thing. When we live our lives this way, who cares about the death of another person, even if His name is Jesus? We even fail in our original job, caretaker of animals and this world. How can we take care of something else when we cannot take care of ourselves? Extinction of animals is sad sight. But what about the souls of darkness that have never known light?

Dad, I don’t understand the next part. When you’re ready, we’ll do that part, ok? One of my pals is having a job interview, what do you think? is it a good position? I feel like I’ve been really hypocritical lately. No passion, no heart for you. Where’s the love? Complete lack of vision and dreams of something better. What’s going on in this mess of a heart, Lord? Search my heart and cleanse me, cuz something seems stuffed up and dead… like a stagnant pool of death. Maybe it’s just me. Thanks for listening. I pray these things in the name of My Lord-Shepherd, Jesus. Amen.

=-=-=-=- Randomness -=-=-=-=

Cool Optical Illusion

My claim to Otaku-dom.