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~ Rejecting the gods of our culture since 1998.

cultural atheist

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Haiku – volume 8

19 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Observations

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haiku, poems

Ode to Bio 208

Lullaby class time,
Heavy eyes, breath slow, drooling,
Snap! What’s the question?

Missionary Position

Pews stay warm from use,
Love and Truth told us to go!
Be missionary.

Break Down

Just try to fit in,
Crushing burden, breaking down,
Stop! Show up be seen.

Life Guard

Standing at your side,
Ideas, options, denied,
Helpless to life guard.

From Nothing 

15 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Inspiration, Spirituality

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Creation, David, God, Heart

This is from a person I follow called “Hebrew for Christians.” It’s so powerful I just want to quote it and let it percolate. 

“When King David cried out, lev tahor bera-li, Elohim: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10), he did not use the Hebrew word yatzar (יָצַר), which means to “fashion” or “form” something from preexisting material, but he instead used the word bara (בָּרָא), a verb exclusively used to refer to God’s creation of the cosmos (Gen. 1:1). David understood that no amount of reformation of his character would be enough, and instead appealed to that very power of God that created the worlds yesh me’ayin (יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן), “out of nothing.” Such was the nature of the remedy required…”

The Dark – not a haiku

12 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Uncategorized

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Silently in creeps the dark.
A soft snow fall in the heart,
Things that matter are so easily forgotten,
Just wait five minutes,
Silently in creeps the dark.
Familiar but unwelcome guest,
Makes itself at home,
Like it owns the place,
Who does the wounded healer call?
Who does the wounded healer call?
Silently in creeps the dark.

Fight Back

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Observations, Spirituality

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depression, diet, exercise, Faith, prayer, sad, swimming, triathlon

I struggle with depression. It usually comes in on Tuesdays and stays until Thursdays. I became aware of it back in 2012 and at that time it was suggested I was clinically depressed and should consider medication. I decided instead to make some life changes. Now, it’s not so bad; my dark days are less frequent and not as severe.

Each person’s situation is different but there are some things we can do to fight back when depression comes knocking on our door. Here’s is what I’ve learned from my journey. (This is not a substitute for medical assistance if you need it!)

Get active: this can be hard to do at first but if you can get moving it’s easier to stay moving. I went back to the gym, started cycling, then swimming, and now running. Now my wife and I are doing triathlons. The bonus is, I dropped 40 pounds and I have much more energy. With that said, you don’t need to do anything extreme – start walking for 20-30 minutes each day.

Get a routine: depression makes our days mush together so it’s good to establish a routine. To that end, take a class, exercise at the same time and on the same days, arrange a regular and ongoing meet or call with a good friend. Another really important routine is gratitude. Daily reflecting and being mindful of what you are grateful for changes our focus off ourselves.

Get plants: you can go get a plant if you want but I mean get into a plant-based diet. This may require some gradual changes and some learning (take a vegetarian cooking class!) but the benefits are both mental and physical. There’s evidence that flax and chia seeds,  spinach, and avocado may help ease depression.

Get faith: having a consistent devotional and prayer life is very helpful but it also has to be lived out in community and put to use in service to others.

I hope this is helpful. I would be interested in hearing what you have done to fight back against depression.

Haiku – Volume 7

05 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Uncategorized

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Some Conditions Apply

“I love you,” they said,
But you must do this and that,
Manipulation.

Avoidance

Knowing the answer,
She avoided the question,
Yet truth persisted.

Shackled

Shackled by our past,
See no, speak no, hear no tears,
Truth truly sets free.

Prophecy Gap

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by braddahr in Observations, Spirituality

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God, Jesus, paulien, Prophecy, Revelation, second coming

Most people are interested in prophecy. Who wouldn’t want to know the future? This is from a series of posts but Dr. Jon Paulien who gives a valuable perspective on this topic. 

Q2. Has every apocalyptic prophecy already been understood or there are open gaps that are not understood yet?

A. In my book What the Bible Says About the End-Time, I studied fulfilled prophecy throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation. The results of that study are also summarized in the second chapter of The Deep Things of God. In short, I learned that the fulfillment of many prophecies was quite surprising to those who had studied them in advance, for a number of reasons. God sometimes fulfills prophecies in a spiritual, rather than a literal way. Sometimes the prophecy is worded in terms of God’s past actions and does not fully disclose God’s plans for the future. Sometimes the prophecy is open-ended and depends to some degree on the human response to the prophecy. Sometimes God simply decides to “do a new thing” (Isa 43:16-19)! Prophecy is best understood at the time of fulfillment, not before (John 13:19; 14:29). 

 This leads me to believe that even when we have fully understood a particular prophecy, events may not turn out exactly as we expect. There will be surprises in the fulfillment of God’s prophecies at the Second Advent, just as there were when the Messiah came the first time. We need to keep on studying, but anticipate that there will be gaps in our understanding of the future right up to the time of fulfillment (1 Cor 13:9-12). Prophecy was not given to satisfy our curiosity about the future, it was given to teach us how to live today.

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