knowing You through suffering
02.10.06

i've just got home, and it's bedtime, but i figured what the heck i'll just add a little bloggage to my routine for the day. i am sick. my nose reminds me of that episode of rocko's modern life where rocko gets horribly sick and turns off his runny nose by twisting his ears like faucets. yup, it's that grody for me. and i'm not violently ill, just feeling all of that head junk that comes with being sick. i was able to work, but i made sure to tell my boss to let me work alone, and not make me do any of that customer service stuff.

ugh, my eyes are puffed up, my nose is raw and runny, my sneezes make my whole neck and shoulders ache like a mother. i'm so sick of being sick!

something to cheer me up from my cold/allergy/sinus nightmare: i'm finally getting to see jen more these days! work has relaxed a lot and eased back on hours, so now i get an extra day or 2 per week to hang out, study, whatever. it's my prerogative, i'll do what i wanna do! lol i'm a dork. this weekend, i must work on my first paper for psychological profiling. i am reporting on a serial killer of my choice, describing their profile, their m.o., everything about them. i am getting into the mind of the serial killer. scary. i love it. what makes this project even more fun is that i get to be with my sweetheart while i'm researching, so that gives me a nice 2-for-1 deal there.

had 3 tests this week, and even with being sick and not finding much time to study i aced those suckers. methinks there will be many a paper going on the fridge this semester, as it's going to be a good semester, at least once i get off of this creeping crud episode.

deep thought time, with david oleksa, and yes it's a long one:
today i've been thinking about something i read yesterday afternoon. see, i'm a sucker for john piper, and i get these pleasant little sermonettes every other day from desiringgod.org. well, he's been drawing this contrast between Christianity and islam in the wake of 9/11, and even more recently the international outcry of the muslim community over a few danish cartoons. piper's thought on this draws from the machismo honor concept of islam's muhammad versus the path of humility and suffering taken by Jesus.

if Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. this was his saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. already in the psalms the path of mockery was promised: "all who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads" (psalm 22:7). "He was despised and rejected by men... as one from whom men hide their faces... and we esteemed him not" (isaiah 53:3).

that's not all. muslims teach that Christ was never crucified, or else they could not esteem Him as a predecessor to muhammad who must be respected. their concept of Jesus is twisted, and a muslim will argue with a Christian that he (the muslim) holds higher respect for Christ because such a wise man would not allow his dignity and honor to be brought so low, crushed beneath the agony of a cross. wrong. wrong. wrong.

piper continues:
that's the most basic difference between Christ and muhammad and between a muslim and a follower of Christ. for Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. and for a true follower of Christ enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. "blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (matthew 5:11). during His life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (john 8:41), a drunkard (matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (matthew 26:65), a devil (matthew 10:25); and He promised His followers the same: "if they have called the master of the house beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household" (matthew 10:25).

the caricature and mockery of Christ has continued to this day. martin scorsese portrayed Jesus in the last temptation of Christ as wracked with doubt and beset with sexual lust. andres serrano was funded by the national endowment for the arts to portray Jesus on a cross sunk in a bottle of urine. the da vinci code portrays Jesus as a mere mortal who married and fathered children.

how should his followers respond? on the one hand, we are grieved and angered. on the other hand, we identify with Christ, and embrace His suffering, and rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel. if Christ did His work by being insulted, we must do ours likewise.

when muhammad was portrayed in twelve cartoons in the danish newspaper jyllands-posten, the uproar across the muslim world was intense and sometimes violent. flags were burned, embassies were torched, and at least one Christian church was stoned. the cartoonists went into hiding in fear for their lives, like salman rushdie before them. what does this mean?

it means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. it means that this religion is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. it means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. and it means that His followers must be willing to "share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (philippians 3:10).

that's potent stuff. potent indeed.

on a brighter note, today marks the 10th anniversary of a computer beating a world chess champion in his own game for the first time. next thing you know, robots will be attacking old people and stealing their medicine.


check it out - 01.20.07
vapor - 11.15.06
can't complain - 11.10.06
turn the page - 11.09.06
who invented the word "me-maw"? - 09.28.06

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