3 John is a small book near the back of the bible.
It is so small, in fact, that no one ever bothered to chop it up into chapters.
Contained within its 14 verses is a message of encouragement to a man, Gaius, who John was proud of for being so hospitable to christian travelers.
He also warns about another guy, Diotrephes, who made himself a church leader and goes about his job haughtily; he likes to run the show.
But was i was reading it last night, one verse stood out to me.
I looked all over for a commentary on it, but i didn't find a single one.
so i'm going to make my own.
3 John 1:11 states: "Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God."
Now, sure, this statement seems pretty logical.
Don't do bad things, do good things instead.
But here is where, when i read a single sentence, i sat up and had to think for a while:
"Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God."
Think about the elegant simplicity of that message.
We are surrounded by a world that is entrenched in evil and evildoings.
And in the midst of that, John tells us that anyone who has 'seen' God is incapable of doing evil.
Perhaps not physically incapable, but unwilling enough to make it to that point.
He's saying that God is so good, anyone who still does evil hasn't seen what he can do; his love; his devotion; his grace.
This is a tremendously encouraging idea.
It implies that all we need to do is be a light to people, to show them what God's love can really do, and anyone who truly understands it will want to have nothing to do with how they used to live their life.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
On The Second Time I Saw Batman: Dark Night
Last weekend i saw batman again with some people.
After i saw it the first time, i wrote a blog about how Bruce Wayne uses his money for a useful purpose.
After seeing it a second time, i focused more on a couple of ideals presented by Christopher Nolan.
One thing that i've always tried to incorporate into my life is what the Joker lives by: that everyone always has a plan, and we're always happy when things go the way we expect them to. But that's boring and old.
He said to "introduce a little anarchy", but that's quite overkill, thank you very much.
I rather like removing myself from the box people put me in and showing them that i didn't fit in the first place.
And i've always liked not having a plan.
-------
One other thing that was said by Alfred i think was that the city of Gotham needed "more than a hero".
They didn't need someone who would follow the rules of "right" and "wrong".
They needed someone who would put an end to their problems for good, even if it meant doing things in a way that was frowned upon and that made him a Vigilante.
Paul wrote to Timothy once about how people would act in the "last days":
"They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." [2 timothy 3:6-7]
That pretty well describes the situation in Gotham.
It also describes the situation in modern society.
And, coincidentally, the last part, "Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth", also pertains to the attitude of Jewish leaders in Jesus' time.
They constantly wanted knowledge. They debated on a scholarly level.
But when Jesus came around, they were oblivious to what was standing before them.
In Romans 10, Paul says:
"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Chris is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Paul said that Christ was "the end of the law".
He voided the Jewish law; made it obsolete.
And the religious leaders didn't realize this.
See, Jesus was way over their heads.
They were completely unprepared for what he was bringing.
He didn't play by the religious rules.
Just like how Gotham wasn't ready for Batman- he didn't play by the rules either.
Coincidentally, the only real opponent Batman has is the Joker-
A man who's entire existence is based off of anarchy and destruction.
Much like someone else we all know.
My point here is simple:
Batman and Jesus were both unrestrained by the law of the time.
They didn't play by the rules because they had a purpose far, far above them.
And most people of the time didn't recognize this.
After i saw it the first time, i wrote a blog about how Bruce Wayne uses his money for a useful purpose.
After seeing it a second time, i focused more on a couple of ideals presented by Christopher Nolan.
One thing that i've always tried to incorporate into my life is what the Joker lives by: that everyone always has a plan, and we're always happy when things go the way we expect them to. But that's boring and old.
He said to "introduce a little anarchy", but that's quite overkill, thank you very much.
I rather like removing myself from the box people put me in and showing them that i didn't fit in the first place.
And i've always liked not having a plan.
-------
One other thing that was said by Alfred i think was that the city of Gotham needed "more than a hero".
They didn't need someone who would follow the rules of "right" and "wrong".
They needed someone who would put an end to their problems for good, even if it meant doing things in a way that was frowned upon and that made him a Vigilante.
Paul wrote to Timothy once about how people would act in the "last days":
"They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." [2 timothy 3:6-7]
That pretty well describes the situation in Gotham.
It also describes the situation in modern society.
And, coincidentally, the last part, "Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth", also pertains to the attitude of Jewish leaders in Jesus' time.
They constantly wanted knowledge. They debated on a scholarly level.
But when Jesus came around, they were oblivious to what was standing before them.
In Romans 10, Paul says:
"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Chris is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Paul said that Christ was "the end of the law".
He voided the Jewish law; made it obsolete.
And the religious leaders didn't realize this.
See, Jesus was way over their heads.
They were completely unprepared for what he was bringing.
He didn't play by the religious rules.
Just like how Gotham wasn't ready for Batman- he didn't play by the rules either.
Coincidentally, the only real opponent Batman has is the Joker-
A man who's entire existence is based off of anarchy and destruction.
Much like someone else we all know.
My point here is simple:
Batman and Jesus were both unrestrained by the law of the time.
They didn't play by the rules because they had a purpose far, far above them.
And most people of the time didn't recognize this.
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