The Bible

Let’s Argue… Or Not

 

ArgueWithThemEnough

In case you don’t know, this doesn’t work. Arguing won’t change someone’s mind. And you probably don’t want to find that out the hard way. Arguments, especially about religion, tend to only create conflict and hard feelings. And face it. If everyone is like me, no amount of arguing will change their minds. And if you prove that you’re right? People will avoid admitting that they’re wrong if they can.

If someone is wrong about something biblical, and it’s something dangerous, you should confront them about it gently and avoid an argument if you can. Remember to do this out of love, not so-called “superiority”.

And, just for laughs…

 

MentallyDisturbed

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A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer

Dear friends, I must apologize profusely for the lack of Superhero Sunday posts. Frankly, I ran out of material and ideas. And then… it hit me. Like a bag of flour. 😀 And so I present to you, the Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer. (Also known as Agent Coulson Beats Up Two Robbers With A Bag of Flour)

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/93003808″>Marvel One-Shot – A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer Sub Thai By Agent K – CGT</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user27348955″>ComicsGuideThailand</a&gt; on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Now why did I choose to post this video? Well, not only does it have some awesome quotes (“Tell them those Tae Bo tapes really paid off.”) and a very interesting bag of flour (Did you know that “Steranko” is actually the last name of a guy who used to do drawings for Marvel? It’s actually not a brand of flour. Imagine that. And is that even flour? I don’t remember convenience stores carrying that…) but it also has a good message.

After all, Agent Coulson doesn’t say his name once in the entire video. Go ahead, watch it again. In fact, if you don’t know Marvel very well, you may have had no idea who that was!

My point? The Bible says in Matthew 6:1, “‘Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.'” We shouldn’t do our good deeds to be seen by others.

As far as I know, Coulson never tells anyone about this. (The title shows that it happens during one of the Thor movies, neither of which I’ve watched. *gasp* So I might be wrong about that.) But as Christians, we’re not supposed to flaunt our good deeds for others to see. We’re supposed to keep them secret, for only God to know.

So become a secret agent for God, and do your good works to be seen by him, not others!

Jesus Wept

Jesus wept.

-John 11:35

This verse is a pretty well-known verse. It’s the shortest verse in the Bible (although you can correct me if I’m wrong). But most people don’t really think about everything that this verse really says.

Yes, I know this verse is only two words long. Yes, I know that it just says that Jesus, well… wept. But you know what it also says?

(1) Jesus was human. Crying is something you can’t do unless your human. I’ve personally never seen anything other than a human cry. But you can correct me on that, too.

(2) Jesus had emotions. Jesus was sad. Hey, one of his friends had just died, and some of his other friends, who were also Lazarus’s sisters, were crying, too. Jesus wasn’t some stone-faced, stoic statue. He was real, human, and felt things just like we do.

(3) It’s okay to be sad. When people die, it’s natural for us to be sad. We shouldn’t take that too far, though. After all, if they’re Christians, they’ll be in a much better place with Jesus.

I hope these points have helped you to see what you can see when you look closer at verses and think about them. I pray that you’ll learn something from this and learn to do this with other verses.

Challenge: Study a verse in depth like this and come up with three points about it that aren’t necessarily obvious.

Hulk Smash – Part Three

In the clip in the last Hulk Smash post, you may notice something interesting. At first, Thor tries to speak gently to Hulk. “We’re not your enemies, Banner. Try to think.”

Now, although this doesn’t work very well with the Hulk, the Bible tells us that it can work with *cough cough* um, more normal people.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1

Being gentle, kind, and understanding with those who are angry is one of the best ways to deal with anger. The worst thing you can do is get angry back at them or say something to provoke them. Kindness and love. The anger antidotes. I can’t guarantee that they will always work for everyone, but it’s the best way. If it doesn’t work, hit them with your awesome hammer pray for them. Prayer works.

Those Stories

What types of Scripture do you learn best from? Proverbs? Psalms? Paul’s Letters? The stories? I definitely learn best from the stories.

For me, stories are just easier to interpret. I’ve spent so much time in literature classes learning about finding themes in stories and analyzing them that it comes natural to me now. Being a writer is probably part of it, too.

And there are so many stories in the Bible, too. Not just the ones everyone knows, like Adam and Eve, or Daniel and the Lion’s Den, or Noah’s Ark, or David and Goliath. Stories like Jephthah’s (horrible) Vow and Obadiah (Elijah’s sidekick). Jephthah made a vow that turned out so horribly that the result could have made a movie about him rated R (possibly) and Obadiah saved a hundred of God’s prophets. Some of these little known stories are really cool, and we can learn a lot from them. (Like not to make vows that you might not want to keep, Jephthah!!!!!!!!! Seriously, as my youth leader said, what did he think was going to come out of the door first, his pet goat??????)

So, enough ranting. I have no idea where I was going with this. So…

Which category teaches you the most, or is the easiest for you to learn from?

And…

What’s your favorite (or most remembered) little-known Bible story?

The Sign of Jonah – Superhero Sunday

Nope. This isn’t going to be a Sherlock Holmes The Sign of the Four (or Three, for you BBC fans). Sorry.

Tony Stark: JARVIS, have you heard the tale of Jonah?

Jarvis: I wouldn’t consider him a role model.

[Iron Man flies through a Leviathan]

-The Avengers

Have you heard of the sign of Jonah? In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”

Jesus was predicting his death and resurrection, and relating it back to Jonah. He was telling the Pharisees that this would be the sign that he would give them. (Matthew 12:38-39)

Jesus predicted his death and his resurrection. Don’t harden your heart like the Pharisees did. Believe.

Keep Your Mouth Shut

Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut,
and you will stay out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

Man, was Solomon wise or what?

Anyway, this is definitely very good advice. Watch what you say. Words can speak so much about a person’s character, and the words you say can reveal who you truly are.

So keep your mouth shut.