A Great Line from a Great Song (2)

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him . . . ”

I reckon most of us would first think to say, “blessed is the man whose sin is never discovered.”  But that’s not what is said here.  In fact, it’s really the opposite:   you cannot have blessing or forgiveness apart from awful discovery.

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The Big Short

“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-
witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the
simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if
he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of
doubt, what is laid before him.”
— Leo Tolstoy

This quote appears at the beginning of the book “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis. In the book, Lewis tells the story of the recent mortgage crisis largely through the eyes of a few of the few people who saw it coming.  The Tolstoy quote addresses the overwhelming majority of people in the financial world who, usually due to their greed and/or arrogance, couldn’t or wouldn’t see what was about to happen. The story is both fascinating and frightening. It’s not frightening just because of the economic implications, but because the patterns of pride and greed aren’t confined to Wall Street. It is the reality of each of our hearts that we must wrestle with every day.

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the tragic side of our celebrations and entertainment

when you watch the soccer games in coming days do not forget to pray for the dignity of women and children to be restored and for the hearts of perpetrators and pedophiles to be changed. an odd thing to come to mind during soccer high times? not if you understand the reality of human trafficking. the fact is that more women and children than usual are being trafficked into south africa to capitalize on the many tourists who will be at the world cup. you will see some of the soccer games and when you do, please pray. MORE MERCY! 

you can see a story on it HERE that highlights the reality of the growth of the dark industry during seasons like the world cup.  i saw the story and thought i would link it. pretty amazing. very tragic.

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Duh-lusional

Filed under “sin” not because tats are sinful, but because this illustrates the potent impact of sin on all human faculties…

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Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

[[[keep the guesses coming on the previous post!]]

That’s the title of a great book on sin by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.  There’s a short summary of this book in PDF form, 22 pages or so.

Loads of things to reflect on in this pdf.  But here’s one interesting, provocative thought (not one of his best BTW, lots more that is more clear-cut):

a corrupted person turns God’s gifts away from their intended purpose. She perverts these gifts. For example, she might use her excellent mind and first-class education not to extend the reach of God’s kingdom, but just to get rich. She wants to get rich not in order to support terrific projects in the world, but just to move up the social ladder. We ordinarily think of a prostitute as someone who rents her body. But a person can also rent her mind for a high hourly rate, and she perverts it if she rents it because she wants to feel superior to the people who bag her groceries and park her car.

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