Carol's Blog

Jesus of Nazareth, also called Christ, was a real person, fully human. But He also, pre-incarnate, existed eternally with God the Father (described in Part 1). Jesus was (is) uniquely the Son of God, born of a virgin, conceived by miraculous means ( God can circumvent natural laws, remember). The best way to know Jesus and to know about His life and ministry is to prayerfully (with an open mind) read the New Testament. I prefer a more modern translation, such as the New International Version, as I find King James requires translation from that period's English to something we understand. Not all Christians agree with me there. I'll deal with that later perhaps.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in fullfillment of Old Testament prophecy regarding Messiah. He was raised in a town called Nazareth in Galilee, raised in the Jewish faith, by Jewish parents. Christians should most emphatically not be anti-Semitic, considering our Lord and Savior is a Jew. But I digress.

Jesus preached to huge crowds, and performed many miracles. He was crucified to pay the price for the sins of all mankind.The Jewish religious leaders had Him arrested and handed Him over to the Romans. The Romans crucified Him. But He gave up His life willingly to cover all our sins.We are all responsible for the death of Jesus ("All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" ). Jesus was wrapped in linen cloth and laid in a rich man's new tomb. On the third day he rose from the dead (resurrection) and appeared to His disciples. After spending forty days with them, He ascended in a cloud to Heaven, where He lives forever, praying to the Father on our behalf. Some day He will return to earth and et up His kingdom.

There is a God, creator of all things seen and unseen. He is infinite, existing outside our space and time. He is all powerful, the laws of physics don't apply when He chooses to step in. God loves humanity, all of us, and is active in our lives, for our good, although He does allow illness, pain and suffering for reasons we will not always understand in this life. (And will it really matter why when we're standing in His presence in the next?)

God is sovereign, the ultimate ruler of the universe. He does what he pleases. But He is a God of order who created an orderly universe. God's orderly creation was corrupted when man decided to sin, and we see death, decay, entropy, because of it. God is still holding things together until, in His time, He brings into being a New Heaven and a New Earth, and this present creation will be destroyed.

God is loving. He is Love itself. He does not want people to die in their sin and go to Hell for all eternity. So He made a way for us to escape the power of our sinful nature. But, for reasons I don't fully understand, He gives us the free will to accept or reject His love and free gift of salvation. So we choose our eternal fate. We should not question why He allows some people to go to Destruction. We should, in all humility, wonder why He saw some of us worth saving. I ask that question frequently. God paid a very high price for a fairly useless servant.

I got as far as scribbling several pages of my "what I believe" series in a notebook. I haven't made the time to type it up. (You never find the time. You have to make the time. And I'm a dreadfull typist). Honest, I'll get to it soon.

We adopted a cat, as you can see from the accompanying picture. Her name is Pooka. I didn't name her. The family of my son's friend named her. She is a Main Coon Cat, about a year and a half old. Her family is leaving the country and can't take her. So she is with us now, planning on forever, but who knows the future.

Well, Happy New Year everyone. I can't seem to figure out how to set my counter to zero. As of today my page has been visited 333 times. That's an interesting number. Still nobody ever leaves me a comment or starts a discussion. I could really say what I think and feel (two different things definitey. I make my worst mistakes when driven by my emotions). Nobody is ever going to flame me, no matter what I do. Because if anybody reads my blog, they don't care much.

I spent New Years Eve with some very good friends who believe that life as we know it ends on Inauguration Day. President Barrack Obama either is the Anti-Christ or will open the way for him (her, it?). All Christians will be gone in seven years if not sooner, either raptured (a la the Left Behind series by La Haye and Jenkins) or martyred. I pray it is not so. If these weren't good friends, usually stable and intelligent, I'd call them kooks. But they aren't. Even they hope and pray they're wrong. Now more than ever, we need to pray for our government, for Truth to prevail, for our elected officials to be given wisdom. Not that I know all truth. I just pray they will head in the right direction. And God uses even the bad times for our good. So there.

I am also begining to write down what I believe and need to share. I think, as I type it up, I may post it as a series of blogs, and link to the forum I'm most active on. I really would like my internet buddies to be saved and go to heaven. That's my best chance of ever meeting people who live oceans away from me. And I really want anyone I care about to be saved. How can I say I care about someone, and let them go to Hell when they die. Hence, for my own strength, a very long meditation on what I believe, try to make it coherent, then let other people know about it.

Christmas was okay. I got too busy preparing the feast to get to church on Christmas Eve. But I'm at peace with the idea that cooking is ministry and is therefore an act of worship, in a way. Even if it is only ministry to my immediate family.

I'm sad today, had a bit of....well, not a fight....I don't know what, yesterday. I expressed emotions, not thoughts, hurt my husband's feelings when he was already down. Of course, he hurt me in return, but I started it, I deserve it. And I got to see how selfish, self-centered, weak and cowardly I really am. And that's what hurts the most. I like to think I'm a fairly nice person, and I'm no better than the rest of the human race.

I'm thinking of resetting my counter on January first. I need to see if anybody is visiting me. I feel like I'm shouting in an empty building and nobody hears me. If I threatened to commit suicide, nobody would stop me.