Month: May 2015

27.4.15

– The physical resurrection of Jesus must be seen as literally true, but it’s significance may be more symbolic than we might like to believe.
It should be understood more as the divine vindication of Jesus’ person/mission/message (& therefore our salvation), than as the guarantee of our post-mortem survival!

– Suicide can be spiritual, psychological or social also… !

– The wicked – deceiving/flattering mouth, impudent/amoral heart & violent/abusive life – the damned!

– My qualifications for spiritual leadership are intellectual, relational & strategic, not religious, moral & political.

– The resurrected Christ is just the crucified Christ without the Cross!

– “A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn.” – Ovid

– “For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

28.4.15

– Movies:
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Culture as the attempt to remain human in the midst of brutal realities!

“Savages”
Are love & violence 2 sides of the same coin (human nature)?

Is violence a ‘necessary evil’?
Is someone who wants nothing to do with violence (as a sufferer or a doer) unfit for life on earth?

The pristine & brutal
The natural & wild
The pure & raw

– “They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!” – Jer. 31 (The Message)

– Remnant ~ core

– Daily Manna from Biblica

– Humanism –> humanitarianism

– The apathetic, the sick & the lost

– The divine restoration of Israel is good news for all the nations!

– Christ-unlike mission models

– Distinguish:
Destroying the power of death
&
Bypassing mortality

– Manaism

– Is it possible to be both positive about one’s own faith-tradition and fearlessly self-critical?

29.4.15

– Ombudsman

– Commodious

– Compulsions
Vs.
Imperatives

– I feel so full of energy today, after yesterday was spent almost wholly on sleep & movies (after the early morning swimming training)!

– “New domain expertise to address emerging issues”

– Eschatology/teleology without romanticism/utopianism – possible??

– If ancient Christian counter-cultural witness mainly focused on exclusive/absolute claims to truth, sexual morality, ritual idolatry, polytheism, etc., what should be the chief concerns of a contemporary Christian?
Confronting climate change, capitalism/consumerism, cultural imperialism, busyness, technology & holistic lifestyle, etc.

– Distinguish:
GOD’s enemies
&
My critics
&
Evildoers

– The clamor & stampede to gain the moral high ground, and therefore for the right to divine favour, for oneself & against one’s detractors!

30.4.15

– You say GOD is on your side and against me.
I say, don’t be so sure!

– You say I must be reformed and rehabilitated.
What will you do if I say you must let me live my life my way?!

– What if I don’t recant?
What will be my punishment, sir??

– What is it about me that you just cannot stand?
Either you let me be (wild), or you get destroyed in the attempt to tame me!

– Movies:
“Grizzly Man”
WOW! A parable, about who we are, not just about what we should (try) not (to) be…

1.5.15

– Readings:
“Hermeneutics of Religion” by Domenic Marbaniang

– Do your work well i.e. seriously, humbly & gladly

2.5.15

– Faith is the reason for Reason.
I guess Theology is the dialogue between faithful reason & reasonable faith…
“You’re my reason for reason.”
Does love come even before faith? After all, aren’t we persons (rather than just believers), first of all?

– Said Energizer
Oooh yeah!  😉

– Movies:
“Selma”
Civil rights movement leader + loving husband (with extramarital affairs) + devout Christian
Passionate conviction + strategic planning + spiritual discernment + team-work + raw courage

– I guess that many people who visited & served the sick, imprisoned & poor, because that is what Jesus would want them to do, would be shocked & disappointed when they get their final progress-report cards!

3.5.15

– “So many conflicts stem from people being at different stages of their faith journeys” – Evangelical Liberal (anonymous Christian blogger)

– Movies:
“Pravaah” (“Change/Flux” – Kannada)
A taste of poverty!
Is it possible to survive in this world without losing one’s humanity?? One must do whatever one can (along with others) to make this viable for more & more people…

4.5.15

– “The only real currency in life is free time.” – Measha Brueggergosman

– “Your life is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s dream” – Steve Jobs (my paraphrase)

– “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” – Dwight Eisenhower

– Am I tired?
Am I sick?
Am I lazy?
Am I depressed?
Am I bored?
Am I aimless?
Am I unemployed?

– I am an intellectual, but not an academic.

– My thoughts are my enemies. Deliver me from their tyranny, O LORD my God!

– Those who do evil (violence) without thinking twice are the godless.
Those who (are willing to) suffer for being ethical (just) are the godly.
Ultimately, the former will be left with regret & emptiness, & the latter will be found rejoicing in abundance!

– If what you consider knowledge is actually ignorance, then how great is your foolishness!