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Five Stones


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Filed under: U2


1

All Because of You, I Am

Singleart

One week ago today, the doctor came in the office neither wearing a frown or a smile. That wasn't unusual but when you're waiting for him to tell you whether you will continue with a seventh round of chemotherapy or whether you're done, you start to fill in the blanks: is that a half-smile? Is he not smiling cause he has bad news?

Unless you've been there, it's a hard feeling to describe. A friend at work hit it on the head: with cancer, there's no in-between. It's either up or down.

For me, Sept 3 will be remembered as a great day - by God's mercy, my cancer is in complete remission. God made it happen. Yes, he can use chemotherapy, doctors and whatever but if you believe in God, then you know He controls life and death.

My wife showed me a verse last night from Deuteronomy 8 that reminded me of something I had thought about prior to visiting the doctor: We can easily think that Man is doing all the work and not God.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

I feel for my brothers and sisters who are still going through chemotherapy, battling that hell. The unnatural fatigue that zaps you of nearly all energy. The nausea for a week or more. The mouth sores. The funky taste and appetite. The heartburn. The rashes from low white blood count (so infections come easier - even small ones). I could go on.

My battle is not over. I have scans every three months to make sure the cancer is not back. In February, I'll start maintenance therapy to make sure it doesn't come back. (This is nothing compared to chemotherapy.)

But today, I celebrate one week of great news! I give God the credit. All Because of You, I Am.


0

New Yorker Article Hogwash on Gospel of Judas

Judas was a good guy? That's what Joan Acocella tries to point out from her analysis of the Gospel of Judas in the August 3, 2009, edition of The New Yorker. It's revisionist history at its best -- or maybe worst.

It's almost assumed by Acocella and others that this Gospel of Judas is simply fact. It is not. The canon of Scripture which became the New Testament exists as we have it today because of the very fact that these other writings were not reliable and false.

In the early centuries of The Way, which is what Christianity was first called, there were plenty of incorrect teachings being written. Many of the New Testament letters were written to correct those errors.

I suggest reading this great book on the early movement known as The Way, which became Christianity.

Acocella even admits the unreliability of the Coptic text of the Gospel of Judas:

"In fairness, no expert can tell us exactly what the Coptic said. That is not just because of the terrible condition of the codex; even when the words are there, they are often enigmatic."

But there is more manuscript evidence for the New Testament than any other literature of that time. See The Case for Christ, Josh McDowell's books, etc.

Acocella's conclusion stands on rather shaky ground. After her analysis, this is all she has to offer:

All this, I believe, is a reaction to the rise of fundamentalism—the idea, Christian and otherwise, that every word of a religion’s founding document should be taken literally. This is a childish notion ...

You are right, Acocella -- it would be childish to take the entire document literally. Some parts are to be taken literally, others not. You might read this book to understand how to read The Bible for all it's worth.

Then she says this:

Those books, to begin with, are so old that we barely understand what their authors meant.

Hogwash. I have no trouble understanding The Bible. I know what the authors meant. It's not that difficult. So if Shakespeare is old, do you automatically say you can't understand it. That's ridiculous.

Anyway, U2 does a great job of getting in Judas's head -- see video.


0

Always Pain Before a Child is Born

YAHWEH

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist no
Take this mouth
So quick to critisize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
His love is like a drop in the ocean
His love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it pray