ThisCowIsPurple.com

Bye bye Windows XP..

ha..

Woke at 530 to go sch. While eating breakfast at west coast mcdonalds just now, I found out mcdonalds points expire on 31st may! vouchers redeemed are valid for a month after that. After that I walked back to sch. Its not that far…

View Larger Map

Now I look at the zig zag route and think I walk quite a silly way.

Ubuntu 8.04 comes just after I finish up all my projects. I’m ditching windows on my laptop for good! (until my bro comes back for his desktop at least)

Crucified, Laid behind a stone
You lived to die Rejected and alone
Like a rose Trampled on the ground
You took the fall And thought of me Above all

Was taking MRT from sch to city hall today and thought of all the bad things I do. I come to realise so many things are not important and that more important than anything was a genuine heart to Jesus and even that I lacked.

He never scolded the “really bad” sinners. Prostitutes(seriously, any of you had lunch with one recently?), tax collectors(the equivalent of extortioners), robbers, murderers, foreigners(local context -  equivalent of *ahem* some *ahem* large majority) were all shown love and kindness . He only rebuked the hypocrites and people pretending to be holy the strongest. Vipers(Matthew 3:7), sinners who commmited the unpardonable sin(Mark 3:29) were just some of the things he called the pharisees.

Still, after saying that, I also can pull up some verses of teaching by the apostles that strongly rebuke sin (1 Corinthians 6:8-10). But of course, that was special case for the extra decadent Corinthian people. Don’t think paul didn’t show love to them also cos he said some nice things in the opening chapter(1 Corinthians 1:4) and the closing chapter (1 Corinthians 16:24).

The one recorded time Jesus was nice to a pharisee was in John :1-21. That was probably cos Nicodemus came seeking.. even though I must imagine he was quite a pretender to come to Jesus by night. Still, it was interesting to note he said “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2). Why we? Because the pharisees probably all agreed that he must be God because his signs were not fake. Here’s some stuff from some commentary (not that commentaries are human interpretation and might not be right! read with care.)

Nicodemus is one of these who have an untrustworthy faith. John signals this connection by his repetition of the word man (2:25; 3:1) and by the fact that Nicodemus’s assessment of Jesus is based on the signs he had seen (3:2; cf. 2:23). Later in the story we find him defending Jesus among his fellow Pharisees (7:50-52) and assisting Joseph of Arimathea in burying Jesus (19:38-42). He will end the story as a disciple, but here at the beginning he is something less.

He comes to Jesus under cover of night and makes a grand statement of faith (3:2). He is identified with the Pharisees, so we understand that when he says we know, his assessment of Jesus is more than his own private opinion. This makes it clear that there is not yet a settled opposition to Jesus, though his coming by night suggests, as we would expect, that not all share his positive view of Jesus after what took place in the temple. Within the group at the heart of the opposition to Jesus in this Gospel, there is at least one who is attracted to him. This shows that John, despite his strongly dualistic language, recognizes the grayness of life. Only Jesus and the devil are absolutes; all other characters are in motion either toward the light or away from it.

In response to Nicodemus’ profession of faith Jesus once again expresses a cryptic saying that tests the heart (3:3; cf. 1:49-51). How uncomfortable it must have been to be around Jesus! He has been approached as a spiritual master, and he responds as one. He has been recognized as a teacher who has come from God (v. 2), and he responds by speaking of the kingdom of God (v. 3). Nicodemus may think he is talking to a rabbi, but in fact Jesus is the King of Israel (1:49). The kingdom of God is his own kingdom, but it is not of this world (18:36). One must be born from above even to see it (v. 3), let alone enter it (v. 5).

Thus, in his response to Nicodemus, Jesus is giving Nicodemus the opportunity to recognize who it is that stands before him. But Nicodemus gets confused. When Jesus says one must be born from above (anothen), Nicodemus takes it as being born again (cf. NIV text and note). Jesus is speaking of the spiritual realm, but Nicodemus thinks he is referring to the physical. Such a mistake need not be an absolute barrier to understanding Jesus. The Samaritan woman will have the same problem, and yet Jesus will use her misunderstandings to reveal himself to her (4:1-26). But Nicodemus is unable to pick up on the additional clues Jesus gives.

Jesus explains being born from above in terms of being born of water and the Spirit (3:5). The water of baptism and the coming of the Spirit have already been associated in this Gospel (1:31-33), and cleansing by water and new life from the Spirit were already associated with one another in the Old Testament, especially in Ezekiel 36:25-28:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

What follows in Ezekiel is the vision of the valley of dry bones in which the Spirit’s restoration of the people is described as bringing the dead to life (chap. 37). What is needed is a new heart and a new life; that is, the Spirit must give birth to spirit (Jn 3:7). Only those alive in the realm of the spirit by the Spirit will be able to recognize and enter that realm.

The fundamental point is God’s initiative in bringing spiritual life, which is reinforced by an illustration from nature (3:8). One can see the effects of the presence of the wind, but one cannot see the wind itself nor map out where it comes from nor where it goes (at least before modern technology). So also in the spiritual realm people can see the effects (cf. 3:2), but they cannot map out nor control the activity of the Spirit. It is God alone who initiates and produces this birth from above (cf. 1:13). Thus, once again we are back to the theme of God’s grace, for this begetting is an act of sovereign gracious love initiated by God, not by us.

The image of begetting is not very common in the Old Testament (cf. Brown 1966:138-39), though there are texts that link the metaphor of childbirth with God’s new life for his people (for example, Is 26:17-19; 66:7-14; Hos 13:13-14). But this fundamental point of the divine initiative of God’s grace is central to Old Testament religion. No wonder Jesus reproves Nicodemus’ obtuseness (3:10). A teacher of Israel should have recognized such a vital theme, especially as it is conveyed so clearly in imagery from Ezekiel. Instead, we leave Nicodemus stammering his question, How? His problem, as Jesus points out, is precisely one of receptivity (3:11). Although it was acceptable for a student to question his rabbi (cf. note on 2:20), if Nicodemus really believes that God is with Jesus, then he should receive what Jesus says. But he does not, and thereby his heart is revealed. The signs have shown him that Jesus has come from God, yet he does not receive Jesus’ teaching as teaching come from God.

As Nicodemus fades from view we have Jesus’ first monologue. He begins by referring to his testimony: I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony (3:11). These words echo what the Johannine Christians say to their Jewish opponents in John’s own day. The striking use of I and we seems to be an example of the voice of the risen Christ speaking as the head of the community of those who have received the Spirit and bear witness (cf. 14:26; 15:26-27; 16:7-11). The we know of a ruler of the Jews (3:2) is countered by the we know of the Lord of the Christians.

Jesus distinguishes teaching about earthly things from teaching about heavenly things (3:12). It seems strange to call the topics of divine begetting and entrance into the kingdom of God earthly! But they are earthly in the sense that they refer to the effects of divine activity here on earth. He immediately goes on to speak of the heavenly things, that is, the heavenly source behind this divine activity on earth. These heavenly things have to do with Jesus himself as the Son of Man who came from heaven (3:13). In the Synoptics Son of Man is used of Jesus as a human being on earth, as the future judge and as the one coming in glory. In John, Jesus is indeed on earth and is certainly human (1:14); but the future has entered the present, and already on earth judgment takes place through the presence and revelation of the Son of Man. Already he is glorified, though it is on the cross. Therefore the Son of Man sayings in John refer to the Messiah from heaven who brings God’s life and judgment, especially through the cross (cf. Schnackenburg 1980a:529-42; Moloney 1978; Lindars 1983:145-57). The term itself obviously speaks of a human, perhaps even of a representative human (cf. Pamment 1985), yet because the Son of Man comes from heaven and exercises divine prerogatives (cf. comment on 5:27) he also shares in divinity. Thus the term is a complex one, speaking to Jesus’ deity and his humanity (cf. Marshall 1992:780-81).

Jesus’ strong denial that anyone else has ascended into heaven (3:13) has in mind the claims of the Jewish mystics (cf. Odeberg 1968:72-98), in particular the traditions concerning Moses’ ascension (cf. Borgen 1968; Meeks 1967). Moses did not ascend into heaven; he only lifted up the serpent, which was a figure of Christ (3:14). Moses is indeed a source of revelation, but he is so through his witness to Jesus (cf. 5:39, 45-47). Thus, John does not simply reject the claims of the Jewish mystics; he also shows that what they were after is available in Jesus. Among those who pursued heavenly journeys some “sought to find an answer to the question of what would follow death” and “others desired the vision of God which could bring with it eternal life” (Grese 1988:688). In our passage, as well as throughout the Gospel, John is speaking to these desires (see comments on 1:18; 6:46; 14:8-10).

When Jesus says the Son of Man must be lifted up (3:14) he means it is God who lifts him up, since must (dei) often refers to God’s plan (cf. Grundmann 1964:22-24), and be lifted (hypsothenai) is an example of a passive verb used to refer to God’s action, a common form of expression in the New Testament. In this way Moses has a role analogous to that which God plays, but the older revelation is now fulfilled in Jesus (cf. 6:32).

The lifting up of the Son of Man points us to the center of his revelation, the cross. The cross itself is a heavenly thing for it reveals the life of heaven that Jesus has come to offer us (3:15). Since God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and love is the laying down of one’s life (1 Jn 3:16), it is precisely in the cross that we see God most clearly. Jesus humbles himself to the point of crucifixion because he is God, not despite it (cf. Phil 2:6, reading hyparchon as causal). That God is love is the good news–this revelation is the gospel.

The heart of John’s message is summed up in the justly famous sixteenth verse, which declares that the Son of Man’s coming down from heaven and being lifted on the cross is the activity of God himself, of his gracious love, the love that gives. As Jesus will declare clearly at the end of his teaching, summing up his revelation, “the Father himself loves you” (16:27).

Thus in these verses we hear of the agent from heaven and the act whereby he reveals the reality of heaven, the heart of the Father. To believe that Jesus is the Son of Man from heaven and that his revelation of God is true gives one eternal life, that is, a share in God’s own life (3:15). This message is clear enough to John’s readers, including us, but within the story verses 13-15 contain a very cryptic message that, Jesus says, Nicodemus and those like him (the you in vv. 11-12 is plural) cannot receive.

Okay, I only read around the bold-ed parts. I’m sure you can read the rest yourself. I’m going to sleep now. Get good rest to work tomorrow.

Edna’s Baptism

This required quite abit of picniking.

This is also a POTD just cos its Edna. haha.. don’t think its particularly fantastic because of the blah weather. The colour was almost totally burnt out. I desaturated it so you can’t see how bad the color was. Cropped out other misc people’s heads also. Check out this photo of me and her too, roll the cursor over for some notes..

Have you seen… the manga bible? I was thinking.. the arguments follow ccm kind of things. Do we use mediums that are used/have been used by the world bla bla… the fact is we have done so and we still do with regard to music, multimedia, speaking styles and administrative methods. Still, certain things are more controversial than others. I read manga.. but c’mon.. using it to convey the Lord God himself? erm.. Its like playing beethoven’s 5th symphony with a big band and claiming it will convey the same message, effect and essence of the music. Kinda far fetched if you ask me.

This guy ate mcdonalds for 30 days to lose weight in response to the “Super Size Me” documentary. Basically he felt the guy made it seem like it was mcdonald’s fault because he chose that particular restaurant. Still, the losing weight part is a no brainer because its all a calorie game, whatever you eat. I also think he’s got something to prove thats why he ate so little. Anyway, the page is like.. so hard to read. Bleeding red color is killing my eyes. My favourite $2 double cheese burger is like.. 440 calories! I’d actually be better off eating 10 nuggets. Quite interesting.