Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
Before my list, some questions:
Do you still want to see my list of 11 things most people don’t know about me? Read it all
My sister is an English-Spanish-English (or is it the other way around?) interpreter at Silverton Hospital.
I heard she was feeling ill on the job today. (OK, OK; I read it on Facebook, but that’s a mere technicality.)
A short while later, upon gazing out the window, I noticed again the lone yellow rose perched atop its bush.
On an impulse, I grabbed a piece of paper, an apple slice, a red marker, and… Read it all
I could have become +MarkRoth.
After scanning through the various TOS (“Terms of Service,” you know), I decided to go for it. Then I hesitated again when I saw this was free for now only and might cost me something later. But I kept on going.
Then Google required my cell phone number. Required! 😯 Read it all
In the course of writing material for the Teacher Guide for an eighth grade Bible course, I’ve come to a lesson titled “Evil Will Lose.” It’s based on portions of 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2.
While researching through some of my previous writing on those chapters, I came to this:
I’m talking about pleasure sources that may be amoral or even moral for the most part but have unrighteousness scattered through them.
I know, I know. Life is life, and life has loads of unrighteousness through it.
But why must my “entertainment” present it?
To be more interesting and realistic.
Fine. My concern stands.
This is a strike against many of contemporary Christian novels.
I wrote that almost eight years ago, but it’s pertinent enough that I’m encouraging you to read the entire piece — My Pleasure.
I still stand there. Or do I need to see something differently?
What do you think of including detailed evil in order to make something real-to-life?
Goody two-shoes? What does that mean?!
It must be something bad. Really, terribly bad. I’ve never heard anything positive about a goody two-shoes. I’ve never heard anyone aspire to being one. Obviously there’s no good in that kind of goody.
Goody two-shoes are mocked, derided, and scorned. They are held in contempt and as a standard of what not to be.
Why?
OK, after writing all that, I looked up the term and found these two helpful entries:
A prudish, self-righteous individual, a goody-goody. For example, Phyllis was a real goody two-shoes, tattling on her friends to the teacher. This expression alludes to the main character of a nursery tale, The History of Goody Two-Shoes (1765), who was so pleased when receiving a second shoe that she kept saying “Two shoes.” The goody in the story is short for goodwife but means “goody-goody” in the idiom.
Source: dictionary.com
That helps. I’ve even met people like that. And people I thought were like that, but I discovered later my own weakness propelled me to a huge leap onto a wrong, unjust conclusion. Andrée over at World magazine experienced something similar: Read it all
Since some friends have served in Bangladesh and one of them plans to return later this month, this story of forced conversions to Islam drew my attention:
A local government official in central Bangladesh has halted the construction of a church, forced Christians to worship at a mosque and threatened them with eviction from their village unless they renounce their faith.
[…]
“Their threats chilled me to the bone. That is why I pretended to accept Islam, but faith in Christ is the wellspring of my life. Now I am no longer a Muslim; I am a Christian.”
[…]
Eight Christians agreed to return to Islam since Sept. 14, under the chairman’s orders. The chairman and his associates had already beaten some of those Christians three years ago for accepting Christianity.
[…]
Local chairman Faruk told World Watch Monitor that some Christians had been acting against Islam, due to their incorrect interpretation of the Qur’an.
“The Imams and other elders of the society called them for rectification because of their aberrant behaviour. They were derailed, so we tried to put them on the right track,” he said.
“Eight people who had deviated came back to Islam. We are trying to bring back others. To change a religion, a person needs to swear his or her name, and should inform a local magistrate. If the magistrate permits, then he or she can change religion. But what they are doing is completely wrong.”
To read the full article I quote above, read Bangladeshi Christians told to close church, convert to Islam.
HT: persecution.org
Andrée Seu Peterson
Dreaming of worry-free chickens
