Source: Biblical Scripture; Patch To Social Ills

Source: Biblical Scripture; Patch To Social Ills

By Will Myers

Most biblical scripture has vast implications and when we apply the scriptures to everyday life we usually apply only a segmented part of the vast generality of any scripture. It’s like a time restraint from God protecting us from a social ill.

All scripture works to make people believe in whom God has sent. The Old Testament has the Son of God concealed while the New Testament reveals Jesus, Son of God. Jesus came to patch our relationship with God for all times.

Biblical scripture with understanding comes alive. There is an angel for each scripture doing the will of God Who gives the assignment.

Time is a measurement of change. We coordinate our activities by a standard linear time scale. God works many times. Humans have learned to manipulate things in a material sense such as medicine for healing; this has a time of itself. Inspiration from God can have many times, the changing and accelerating of matters.

Who is Jesus in the scriptures? I like to start with Isaiah 28:16; “ This is what the Almighty Lord says:I am going to lay a rock in Zion, a rock that has been tested, a precious cornerstone, a solid foundation. Whoever believes in him will not worry.” Zion means in old Hebrew “in the essence of things.” This means also that God has placed His Righteousness in all things giving a perfect order to all that exist; this is the nature and power of God. This allowed humans to develop science and many other disciplines. The stone that God laid in the essence of things is the righteousness of Christ Jesus allowing humans to learn of God’s provisions. 

The birth of the Son of God, Jesus, is the coming of God’s Righteousness Who gives perfect order Who brought salvation to us through His atonement between man and God. In John 6:29; “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” The work of God began at creation; God created the world by and through His Son; the wholeness of all biblical scripture.

Now that we know the completion of the scriptures, we can believe that each scripture is like our schoolmaster teaching us to believe in whom God has sent Who is the wholeness of God’s law. To believe in Christ Jesus is to receive healing to all social ills.

God being in one eternal moment knowing all things can speak to every thought in one’s mind at once. This is why One who has been born again knows God. There is God’s times and there is man’s time. The knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God comes from God above impressing it on every thought in one’s mind; every dimension of one’s mind (Uspace).

Source: All Is Impinging On Each Mind

By Will Myers

^” That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past;” (Ecclesiastes 3:15) is quite a brain twister, but as one learns the nature of God more and more until the mystery is revealed the answer becomes apparent.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth and all that is on the earth before man manifested on earth. In other words, God just set the stage (playpin) for His children to come. God created all in the beginning and the chronological events were also created at the same time as things to come. God calls those things that aren’t as if they are because what God thinks shall come to pass; therefore, when God says a thing it exists at that time due to His profound powers. 

Whatever God does or says is true always. Humans at this time are imposing on God and God’s truths are  imposing on humans. Before a human could articulate  words for an event it already existed and our minds are receiving the potential of the “All Creation.” Therefore, we can perceive anything in the spirit of Jesus Who is the Son of God and our reconnection to “All Creation.” So, what is now has already happened. What is to come has already been.

Jesus as the Son of God is our future King of God’s Kingdom to come. The works of God is to make people believe on whom He has sent. We can do the works of God and work on our faith in Jesus, and work to make people believe in the Son, Jesus. We receive power from God when we do such things. 

Ecclesiastes 3:15 as stated above lets us know that we can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We can be in contact with God Who knows everything in one eternal moment. All of the creation is impinging on our minds. Comprehending the scriptures in the bible sets a potential field that through many summations lead to whom God has sent Who is His Son, Jesus. For each moment of our life, we can receive from God’s perfect Righteousness. Our past is available to build upon and our future is also available in the Spirit of Jesus, The Spirit Of Truth (Uspace) established in the world at creation. 

Source: Do We Derive Pleasure from Sports Violence?

The problem of football is football. Which is to say, it [NFL football] is consciously merchandising violence.

— George Will, Fox News Sunday, September 21, 2014

I have been an avid sports fan from the age of nine. Prior to that my interest was presidential politics—I was the only fourth grader in my class who could name all of the candidates running for the presidency in 1968. But once a childhood friend introduced me to athletics everything else took second place. Sports became my religion.

If I wasn’t playing, I was watching televised games or collecting cards or discussing statistics. To my parents’ regret, school studies didn’t derail my passion for sports. I relished the competition and physicality offered in sports.

As an adult, sports are no longer a religion for me; nevertheless, I remain a genuine fan, happy to watch a good game and discuss a team’s potential with friends. (The Dodgers and the Lakers are particular favorites.) I have even enjoyed practicing the martial arts with a church friend who is a seventh-degree black belt. During these sessions I experienced a rush when I delivered or received a hit.

I say all this to demonstrate that, while most people see me as a quiet, reflective, and easygoing person, the physical activity that comes with contact sports is just as thrilling for me as it is for many others. Engaging in contact sports and watching such contact in sporting events on television tends to appeal to my inner tribal instinct.

But this raises a difficult question: Is it appropriate for people, Christians in particular, to derive pleasure from watching or participating in sports violence, especially when such forceful contact results in injury?

NFL football has drawn criticism for the growing amount of medical evidence that NFL players are seriously prone to post-career brain illnesses. For example, CBS’s Face the Nation program reported on September 21, 2014, that the “NFL says 28 percent of players develop debilitating brain conditions.”

Growing up I was a passionate Dallas Cowboys football fan; so I was distressed to hear recently that Cowboys’ Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett has been diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease caused by repetitive brain trauma. The 2015 movieConcussion takes on this challenging problem that the NFL is now wrestling with.

Should this type of information cause us to reevaluate the reasons we enjoy sports so much?

The Concerns with Football

I’ll admit that my own bout with a life-threatening brain illness has sharpened my sensitivity to such reports. Let me start by acknowledging that there are many good things connected to American football. This sport has helped many young men grow in strength, maturity, and responsibility. Working hard and together as a team toward a common goal pays dividends for life. Football has also made it possible for many players to receive a college education. I also acknowledge that the NFL is seriously seeking to improve players’ protective equipment, for example, developing new helmets that can limit injuries to the brain.

And yet, to engage in voluntary sports that could damage the brain is highly risky. As I know from personal experience, when the brain is not working properly, either through disease or injury, a person’s whole life is thrown into turmoil. While it is not the goal of football to hurt players, it is nevertheless a game of overwhelming force. Concussions, the root cause of brain injuries reported among retired players, are a common occurrence. Sadly, the incredibly destructive effects of concussions are often not genuinely felt or discovered until years later. So, are football fans receiving pleasure and excitement from watching a game that involves future permanent mental impairment for an increasing number of players?

Some fans may say that they enjoy football for the amazing athletic ability of the players, not for the physical contact. It is indeed impressive to see a 6-foot-5-inch, 350-pound lineman sprint a 40-yard dash. But imagine how it feels to be in that player’s path. A full-force collision with a man who possesses such bulk, strength, and speed can lead to serious injury. It seems the tremendous athletic ability of these world-class athletes increases the risk. And although much of this article (as well as the public discussion) has focused on American football (arguably the most popular sport in America at this time), this critique rightfully extends to other sports that involve intense levels of physical contact, such as boxing, mixed martial arts, hockey, and rugby.

Having expressed these concerns, I’m back to considering how they should impact Christian sports fans like myself and how they should influence our enjoyment of the game.

Should Christians Enjoy Sports Violence?

It is not my intention to tell Christians what sports they should or shouldn’t watch. I think decisions like that are matters of individual conscience before God in the spirit of Romans 14. In fact, as with many of the issues that fall under the Romans 14 category, there may not be one right answer concerning sports violence. And I certainly don’t want to make people feel unnecessary guilt for enjoying what is often a helpful distraction from the stresses of life. Rather, I simply would like to encourage Christians to ask themselves honestly whether it is possible that they are deriving pleasure from violence in sports.

This question is not a new one. Ancient Christians discussed whether it was ever morally acceptable to attend the gladiator matches in Rome. In an article entitled “Murderous Games: Gladiatorial Contests in Ancient Rome,” author Keith Hopkins notes,

St Augustine in his Confessions tells the story of a Christian who was reluctantly forced along to the amphitheatre by a party of friends; at first, he kept his eyes shut, but when he heard the crowd roar, he opened them, and became converted by the sight of blood into an eager devotee of gladiatorial shows.¹

Now, I don’t think football or any other modern sport should be equated with the gladiator matches of ancient Rome in which, on some occasions, contestants were killed. But the story relayed in Augustine’s Confessions does illustrate that athletic violence can have an appeal, even for Christian believers. So if you, like me, are a sports fan and you plan to watch the Super Bowl this coming Sunday, I’d encourage you to begin by asking yourself what you enjoy most about the game. What is it specifically about the game that gives you pleasure? Where does the excitement come from? What gives you a rush? Would you enjoy the sport just as much if the game were less physical?

For me personally, I have begun asking such questions of myself and the answers have led to some adjustments in my sports-watching habits. I hope this article will encourage further critical thinking about such important topics among my fellow sports-loving believers.
Resources
Listen to my RTB colleagues and I discuss this topic, particularly as it relates to football, on thisStraight Thinking episode: “Christians Deriving Pleasure from Watching Violent Sports.”
Endnotes

1. Keith Hopkins, “Murderous Games: Gladiatorial Contests in Ancient Rome,” History Today 33 (June 1983). If you’d like to read the story Hopkins mentions for yourself, see Augustine,Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961), bk. 6, 8, p. 121–23.

Source: God’s Secret Formula; His Perfect Righteousness

Source: God’s Secret Formula; His Perfect Righteousness

Source: Personal Relationship; A Recipe For Life