Rotherham's translation has stayed in print over the years because of the wealth of information it presents. John R Kohlenberger III says in his preface to the 1994 printing, "The Emphasized Bible is one of the most innovative and thoroughly researched translations ever done by a single individual. Its presentation of emphases and grammatical features of the original languages still reward careful study."
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Mayor Todd Gloria on Friday opened a safe sleeping area for homeless individuals near Balboa Park that has capacity for 400 tents.
The site on a city parking lot near the Naval Medical Center can accommodate up to 800 people at two to a tent. Other amenities and services include meals, restrooms, showers, laundry, storage trailers, case management, basic needs assistance and resource referrals.
“Building on the success of our first safe sleeping site, the O Lot is an opportunity for many more people who’ve become homeless to work on getting back on their feet in a safe, sanitary environment,” said Gloria.
“Men inhale their beliefs from the atmosphere which happens to surround them. This is true in every department of thought, e.g., politics, art, religion. Were Christians asked to-day for the reasons of their belief the many (should they answer truly) could only reply, “We inhaled it.” They did not reach it by thorough, independent, untrammeled investigation.” - E. NISBET Rock Island , Ill. , June 17th, 1876
Life after death, a situation in which honest and friendly workers in all the various occupations of men before death will be provided with larger powers and opportunities to work on the unfinished universe of God, and in which the persistently dishonest and unfriendly will necessarily experience growing weakness, idleness, and consequent pain. Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927)
I realized on this trip (the trip to NC in October 2006) that ecstatic is not the way we ought to describe speaking or praying in tongues. Ecstatic has implications of emotionalism. In my experience I have come to see as non-emotional and non-ecstatic the praying and speaking in tongues. The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet and therefore what comes out of us is subject to us. The expressions we use to describe our experiences disclose our view of God, the world, sin and the devil. The new creation man is responsible to build with nonperishable materials like gold, silver and precious stone. Our position in eternity will be established by how we build on the One Foundation. Why is it that in the unredeemed (unregenerate) man we speak freely of his psychic life and ability but once he is regenerate there is no talk. I don’t believe that man is any less psychic after the new birth.
私たちは出会い、神を賛美し、終わりのない命の力で御父に一時間ほど奉仕しました。I met The Trumpetist from Madera yesterday, he was fishing along a California river, a river flowing from over 800 inches [20.32 meters] of snow-pack. That river is the Merced River in the central valley of California USA, and if it were a country it would be the 5th largest economy in the whole world. We met, we praised God and ministered to the Father in the power of an endless life for an hour or so and then I continued on my way home from Sonora CA back home to San Diego; a 9 hour drive. Please pray with me that The Tumpetist will be invited to play for a Golden State Warriors game once, twice or three times. (I have permission to use this likeness so I do not have to blur the image)
“Love”
by Kanoko Okamoto | translated by Eric Margolis
Until I met him, I never thought I would meet someone who strained me so much, who ground me to the bone. Upon reflection, I much prefer my unfussy everyday life, anxiously awaiting my 3:00 tea. While you might often think about the various phases of the human lifespan, from marriage to child-rearing to preparing for old age, you never wilfully decide to grow old. Thread slid easily through the eye of my sewing needle. The smooth lines of the tatami mat slid comfortably under my bare feet. I placed the yellow chrysanthemums I bought into the vase.
When I did meet that man, I had a hunch about him. I found myself foolishly wondering if today really was no more than today, and whether I myself was really no more than the person I was. Reflecting on that feeling made me feel all the more foolish. The contradictory impulses that ran through my breast flickered like late night neon. Restless advertisements, Ail-All Pills, Jintan. In the midst of it, something inside me said that I would see him again.
When I left the house, I dragged with me all the heaviness and intensity an encounter with him entailed. He came into my view, unexpectedly simple, pale. He brought to mind a soaked light blue color, just like pear tree flowers, the kind of color I knew I would not be able to ignore.
Carrying himself with great posture, he sat down on a chair. He drew his knee to his chest and placed some kind of musical instrument atop the knee. Then he began to play. At first, I could barely hear it. My mother had asked me to deliver his kimono, so I placed it on the desk by his side as he acknowledged me with his eyes. He then gestured for me to take a seat across from him, and resumed playing the instrument. He never spoke. But his gentle gaze shot out from his narrowed eyes, hitting the area around my heart as he played. At that moment, I began to suffer in the most peculiar way.
A river coursed within him, one that I was compelled to flow into. I began to chase after the flow. He seemed to be suddenly armored in a skin of faux-leather, coated in enamel that crackles when flicked. It was as if I was searching for an entrance into my own soul via his body. I was running around brimming with bitter, pained thunderbolts, sizzling needles pinpricking me where the electricity discharged all over. My confused soul moved me to face his lips, his forehead, and tempted me to go rushing straight at them. My soul continually slipped, fell, and wept, like cicadas in the depths of a night thrust away by bright lamps.
I withstood my suffering for some time, pressing my hands together and muttering some incomprehensible entreaty. Meanwhile, he retained his good posture, continued to cast his soft gaze from his narrowed eyes. He continued to play the music of an instrument I could hardly hear. I felt the fangs of my heart aim in his direction. To tear him apart.
When I came to my senses, it felt like I had successfully plunged into his stream, melted into his waters. I could no longer see the river. Had my body become the river? I swelled with some kind of vital power. I could go bursting into any valley I chose. A bright valley brimming with fragrance. I surpassed the hardships of marriage and aging.
If any other man were to touch me, I would crumble into smoldering ashes. Part of me yearned to tell all the men in the world. And yet that man—he continued as he was, playing his quiet music. Now I was gazing at him from within him, like an onlooker inside the Great Buddha. For the first time, I could hear the music clearly. It was a playful tune, like tumbling rapids. Returning back to my own body felt almost impossible. I would have to cross vast seas and mountains of loneliness.
To me, this miraculous person—a regular customer of my mother’s cheap sewing, a junior employee at a confectionery who walked around town selling biscuits—must have had riches far beyond his monthly salary.
by Kanoko Okamoto | translated by Eric Margolis
Kanoko Okamoto (1889-1939) was an acclaimed Buddhist scholar, feminist writer, and avant-garde poet in the 1910s, 20s, and 30s. She wrote lavish romantic poetry and essays that explored motherhood and sexuality.
Okamoto was best-known, and often criticized, for her over-the-top romantic sensibilities. This florid essay on falling in love is well representative of Okamoto’s voice. It is a far cry from the cynical, ironic, and disassociated representations of romance that are prevalent in 21st-century literature, and understandably so: her transcendental approach to love truly belongs to another era. But is there something we can take back from this work about the value of romanticism and passion?
“Love” was published in a posthumous collection of Okamoto’s work.
THE REFORMED PASTOR: A PATTERN FOR PERSONAL GROWTH AND MINISTRY
By Richard Baxter (1615 ~ 1691)
Abridged and Edited by James M. Houston
Introduction by Dr. Richard C. Halverson Chaplain, United States Senate
Part 1 – Chapter 2
The Characteristics of the pastor and our fellowship with other pastors
· Purity of motive
· Diligence and hard work
· Prudence and efficiency
· Certainty about basic doctrines
· Plain and clear teaching
· Dependence upon God and docility before others
· Humility
· A balance between severity and gentleness
· A zealous and affectionate spirit
· Reverence
· A caring love for people
· Patience
These twelve qualities that we have described are required of pastors as individuals. But it is also necessary for us to be united as fellow laborers in the work of the Lord. We need to seek the social virtues of unity and peace of the churches that we oversee. We need to be concerned for the well being of the whole work of God. We need to strengthen the common cause that we all serve, as well as the welfare of particular members of our flock. That is, we need to have a wider vision for the further enlargement of the Kingdom of Christ.
As ministers we need, therefore, to hurt when the Church is wounded. Instead of being leaders of schisms, we should lead in the initiatives that prevent divisions and that seek healing. Day and night we should be devoted to finding ways to close any breaches that may develop. We must not only talk about church unity, but actually seek it and serve in its cause. We should not only look for peace, but we should follow after its pursuits when it flees from us.
We need to keep close to the ancient simplicity of the original Christian faith, and build our foundation on its original unity. We must abhor the arrogance of those who harass and tear apart the Church of God under the pretense of correcting errors and holding to “the Truth.” The sufficiency of Scripture, of course, must be upheld; but do not let others add anything to it.
We must learn clearly the distinction-between certainties and uncertainties, between fundamental issues and speculative theories of explanation. Then we can clearly distinguish the fundamentals of the faith from those that are merely private opinions. The peace of the Church depends on the former, not upon the latter.
We need, therefore, a sound proof of historical theology to see the ways in which the Church has struggled to maintain the truth. We also need to know the writings of the early fathers so that we may benefit from their clearer teachings and explanations. But none of these is in itself the basic rule of our faith or of our love in God.
We must also avoid the confusion of those who make no differences between verbal slips of the tongue and fundamental heresies. How tragic it is that there are those who tear their brothers apart as heretics before they have made any effort to understand them.
We must learn to understand the basic reasons for controversies, and then reduce them to the point where we see the differences between genuine differences instead of just seeing the prejudices. Then we will refrain from making the differences worse than they really are. Instead of quarreling with our brethren, let us rather cooperate together against our real and common adversaries.
That is why it is important for ministers to associate and to enjoy friendships, as well as to cultivate correspondence. Let us therefore meet constantly to serve this aim of unity. Then we shall find that smaller differences of viewpoint will not interfere with our fellowship together.
We must do as much of the work of the Lord in unity and harmony as it is possible to do. [Such was the practice of Synods among the Puritans] not to rule over one another, and to make laws, but to avoid misunderstandings, and to consult for mutual edification. To maintain love and communion together is what the word of God has commanded us to do.
If only all the ministers of the Gospel had been men of peace and of a catholic rather than a factious spirit, the Church of Christ would not have been in the situation of division that it is now in. The notions of brethren and the Calvinists abroad, as well as the differing denominations here at home, would not have been plotting the subversion of each other. Their ongoing bitterness to each other only strengthens the common enemy. But it hinders the building up and well being of the Church which it should now be experiencing.
END
