Sunday, July 26, 2015

What the Rainbow Really Means

Here is an essay I wrote for English.
 
What the Rainbow Really Means
 
Who isn't familiar with the arc of colorful bands known as a rainbow? Throughout history, this bow has stood for something. Its colors are often portrayed on a flag as a symbol of a particular political or cultural idea. Along with the peasant's boot, such a flag signified a new beginning of hope and social change in Germany during the German Peasants' War in the sixteenth century.[1]  Created in the 1920s, the rainbow flag known as the Wiphala quispemanta has represented freedom in South American countries such as Peru and Ecuador.[2] Five decades later, the colors of this wonderful bow were seen once again waving in the wind as homosexuals fought for equality with heterosexuals.[3]  June 2015 brought an abundance of rainbow paraphernalia as a result of the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is constitutional.[4] The rainbow has become a very common sight; for all its prominence, however, people have virtually forgotten what the rainbow really means.
The first book of the Bible reveals the origin of the rainbow. We read in Genesis that men eventually became so unlike God in character that everyone, except a man named Noah and perhaps his family, was altogether evil. They were so evil, in fact, that God had no choice but to destroy the world with a universal flood. He commanded Noah to build and ark in preparation for that day, and told him to seek to have as many people to go in with him as he could. Noah faithfully labored on the ark for one hundred twenty years, while entreating people to heed the divine warning; but because the idea of rain, let alone a flood, was foreign to the world at that time, almost everyone mocked him and thought he was strange. When those years were over, and the construction of the ark completed, the message of mercy sounded no more. Since no one else had listened, Noah and his family as well as the animals, boarded the ark. The door was shut, and the deluge began, killing everything and everyone else.[5]
  In the eighth chapter of Genesis, we read of Noah leaving the ark at the end of the Flood and offering a sacrifice to God. This sacrifice was a "sweet savour" to the LORD, and He decided that the ground would not be cursed again due to man's ever-rebellious nature, and that seedtime and harvest would continue while the earth remained.[6] After giving instructions to Noah and his sons on how to live,[7] God said: "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.[8]
In His mercy, our Maker declared that He would never again destroy the whole planet by water. More than that, He made a covenant, or an agreement, with our world on this point.[9] So that no one would doubt His Word, He gave us a sign, or token, that it was indeed true. "And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth."[10] The phrase "in the cloud" surely denotes the rainbow. In Ezekiel 1:28, speaking of the "brightness round about" God's throne, the prophet states that it is "as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain." Instead of declaring that sin is all right, as the world likes to think, clearly the rainbow is there to remind us of God's judgment against sin and of His love and grace for humanity.
Our subject is not mentioned in the Old Testament only. The book of Revelation in the New Testament also speaks of it. Chapter four verse three is particularly noteworthy. When he described the throne of God, John the apostle wrote: "And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." It was not by accident that John employed the emerald to convey his point.
Colors often mean different things in the Bible. Generally, the color of an emerald is green. Green is a combination of the colors blue and yellow. Numbers 15 gives us an indication as to what blue refers to. God told Moses to instruct the children of Israel to "make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them."[11] In other words, blue stands for the law of God. In Psalm 68:13, we find the expression "yellow gold." Searching for more references for gold, we find that Jesus counsels us to buy "gold tried in the fire" from Him.[12] Peter tells us what this signifies: "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."[13] It signifies faith. The law of God and faith in Him are parts of the foundation of His kingdom, and they are blended together in the green of the bow of Revelation four. The apostle Paul explains how the two fit together. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."[14] It is faith, "faith which worketh by love"[15] that enables us to keep the law.
Far from referring to one of the sins that demanded the Flood, or anything else man decides upon, the rainbow points us back to the results of such transgression—and simultaneously to God's love and mercy, and His promises. As we look at the rainbow, we should remember that the earth is still here—God has kept His Word concerning the earth; and He will fulfill His other promises to us if we will but trust and obey Him. Yes; if we do this, we may "be partakers of the divine nature"[16] and overcome every defilement—even homosexuality. Faithful is He that has promised. This is the real meaning of the rainbow.





[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag.
[3] Ibid.
[4] (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/supreme-court-gay-marriage/).
[5] (Genesis 1-7).
[6] (Genesis 8:20-22).
[7] (Genesis 9:1-7).
[8] (Genesis 9:8-11).
[9] (Genesis 9:11).
[10] (Genesis 9:12-13).
[11] (Numbers 15:38-39).
[12] (Revelation 3:18).
[13] (1 Peter 1:7, emphasis added).
[14] (Romans 3:31).
[15] (Galatians 5:6).
[16] (2 Peter 2:14).

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

A Relief

I lost a friend two days ago. A friend I've known since I was eleven. If this had happened two years ago,  I most likely would've been plunged into a dark pit of loneliness and despair,  bawling my eyes out--the sorrow only exacerbated by the memories parading through my mind.  But not today. Today, I felt no malice, no melancholia, no nostalgia, only a slight twinge of regret that he no longer wants to communicate. If I have any deep sorrow, it is because he doesn't understand the principles I aim to govern my life by; because he doesn't want to make thorough sense of them, and live by them himself.

Even this sorrow is not so great, because I can still pray for him; and I know that God will do all He can to lead him in the way everlasting, and make a noble man out of him. It rests with my friend to determine whether he will achieve such excellence, but whatever the outcome, I praise God anyway, because He is faithful. I know I can count on Him to seek my friend's best good.

Along with that, I realize I no longer have to worry about sudden and unexpected outbursts over things (at least not from that corner), or other stressful incidents. Since he was the one that told me we shouldn't talk, I can rest assured that I caused no hard feelings when it came to that. I simply agreed with him, and told him that he knew where to find me if he changed his mind. It was a relief when he chose to walk away.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

What Really Matters

My friend *Wayne* was married this month. I still find it hard to grasp, as the wedding was out of the country, and I wasn't able to attend. I haven't been able to see photos, since I refuse to be a Facebooker any longer. None of that really matters, though.

I have been praying for Wayne and his new wife ever since I knew they were going to be married--which actually wasn't for very long. Friends and I didn't know until very recently (and some still don't!). Wayne believes in God, but I don't know whether his wife shares those beliefs, as she grew up in a faith other than Christianity. I have been praying that Wayne will enter into a deeper relationship with his Maker, and that his wife will let Jesus be her all in all too. That is the only way they will be happy as individuals and as a couple. That is the key to unity, to peace, to fulfillment in life.

Not only that, but when you consider that Jesus died for Wayne and for his wife so that they could have this life and the life to come; so that He could deliver them from the curse of sin and make them the noble people He wants them to be; so that He could make them a blessing to the world;--your heart just longs for them to experience salvation in the full sense of the word.

It is then that you realize this is what really matters when it comes to people. Nothing else. It makes you want to sing the words of that old song, "For You I Am Praying":


I have a Savior, He’s pleading in glory,
A dear, loving Savior, though earth friends be few;
And now He is watching in tenderness o’er me;
And, oh, that my Savior were your Savior, too.
 
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
I’m praying for you.
 
Yes, I am still praying, and I don't plan on stopping until I see results. I hope you won't for those you know, either.
 
Blessings,
Jean 


Monday, February 23, 2015

Things in Perspective

There are times when we lose a proper perspective on life, and then something comes along to restore it. For me, it's the book Because of Patty by Paula Montgomery. Patty was the author's sister who ended up with encephalitis due to a vaccination, and then cerebral palsy as a result of that. As with some people I know personally, her symptoms didn't start to appear until she was two, and it was a while before she was diagnosed. It was heartbreaking for the parents to watch their vibrant little daughter lose her speech and her coordination; heartbreaking for them to watch her be wracked by convulsions and seizures; heartbreaking for them to have dear Patty referred to as "crazy" or an "it."

I have CP too. In the round of daily life, I often forget that my situation is not as bad as it could be, and that I have much to be thankful for. While I can relate to the name-calling and the seizures, I am blessed in that  my seizures were petit mals--the type where one is unresponsive and just stares, instead of grand mals, which are accompanied by limb-flailing and so on. I am blessed in that I can speak intelligently, and that I'm not afflicted with drooling constantly. I am blessed in that I am a normal person simply trapped in a not-so-normal body, with all my sensory abilities and mental faculties intact. It's really been putting things in perspective.

Jean

Friday, November 28, 2014

The Downside to Internet Communication (Most of It, Anyway)

I say most, because there are programs that are very near to face-to-face communication, and that make it easier to "read" the other, such as Skype or something similar. But because the bill increases if we stream too much with our Fivespot, using the voice calls or anything on Skype isn't an option. That leaves E-mail, texting via TextNow, and IMing. Generally I find these to be satisfactory, but lately I have found using them to be increasingly frustrating. It's not because I don't know how to use them--I can do that quite well--but because when I use them, there is the inability to see facial expressions and body language, and to hear the tone of voice. These convey a tremendous amount of information, and when they are absent, it can very easily lead to disastrous misunderstandings. (Yes, I know there are emoticons, but even those don't suffice at times!)

And so I am just wondering whether all these technological advances are really a sign of progress, if they are really and truly good...

Jean
 

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Ebola and God's Laws of Health

I have to admit that if I didn't believe in an all-powerful God, I might go crazy with worry over this Ebola situation. As it is, I have to remind myself sometimes that God is in control, and that good will come out of whatever happens, no matter how bad it seems to be at the time.

Yet when I research Ebola on Wikipedia, I find that it is transmitted to humans through the bodily fluids of infected animals, such as bat or monkey, and then to other humans. "So? What's the big deal?" you might ask. (And that is a logical question, by the way). Well, I know folks probably can contract it from touching the carcass and getting fluid on them. I know for a fact that they contract it from eating these things too.

I know, where am I going with this, right? (Unless you figured it out from the title). God has specified in the Bible certain foods as clean and certain foods as unclean. Many of you, like I used to, probably think that those are just Jewish ceremonial laws and were done away with at the cross. Because of that, I will address some of these claims briefly before continuing with this in relation to Ebola.


  • Aren't those laws just for the Jews? Well, let us see. The first mention made of this distinction was in Genesis 7:2, when God was instructing Noah about the animals to go on the ark. In Noah's day there were no Jews.

  • What about when Jesus said it wasn't what went into you that mattered, but what came out? Matthew 15:11 is where that idea is found. If you look at verses  1-2, you will see the main issue. "Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread." The issue was handwashing, not what you ate. Jesus makes this clear when He ends His answer in verse 20. "These are the things which defile a man," He said, after listing several sins, "but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."

  • What about Peter's vision? The conclusion that Peter's vision did away with the food laws might seem logical, but only if you don't read before or after. Before the vision, the centurion Cornelius was told in a vision of his own to send for Peter (see Acts 10:1-5). Then Peter had the vision with the sheet, and one of the main things said was: "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common." This was done three times (see Acts 10:11-16). After Peter's vision,  the Bible says: "Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate," (v. 17). Once he had greeted Cornelius, Peter explained how up to this time it had been unlawful for Jews to associate with non-Jews, but God had showed him that "I should not call any man common or unclean." (v. 28). This is reiterated in chapter 11, when people gave him trouble for eating with uncircumcised people (see vv. 1-11). The issue was people, not food.

There are many other passages that I could talk about, but for the sake of length, I won't. Suffice it to say, the Bible cannot contradict itself, and if read as though each thought were links in a chain, with prayer for God's guidance, you'll arrive at the right conclusion.

With all that addressed, we see that the laws are still binding. Leviticus and Deuteronomy give clear information in regards to animals that are OK for food and those that are not. The bat is condemned by name in both books (see Lev. 11:19, Deut. 14:18). While the monkey is not specifically mentioned, those beasts that didn't divide the hoof, chew the cud, and those that went on all fours, were off limits (see Lev. 11:26-27).

Not only were there laws about what not to eat, but there were also laws on what to do if you touched the carcass of an unclean animal. You were unclean until the evening. If you carried such a carcass, you were as well, and you had to wash your clothes. If a carcass fell into a vessel of wood, skins, sacks, clothes, or other vessels, it was to be put in water till the evening, when it would be clean once more. If it was an earthen (most likely meaning clay) vessel, it was to be broken. Ovens or pots that dead unclean animals touched were to be taken apart. (see vv. 31-35). There are other things further on in the chapter as well.

God is a God of intelligence, of purpose, of good intentions. He doesn't make silly, useless laws. Whatever He ordains has a reason behind it. God desires us to be healthy and happy. While I don't believe the sacrificial laws apply now (because they were just a shadow of the sacrifice Jesus was to make), I believe these still do. I believe they are there to promote our well-being.

This is especially evident to me when I see and hear about Ebola. If people didn't eat these animals and properly disposed of their dead bodies, I don't believe we would even have this problem. Don't misunderstand me; I know people are already infected, and that doing these things will not save them, or anyone they happen to infect. But implementing these measures will prevent anyone else from getting it after this epidemic is under control.

Just my musings for the time being. Something to think about.

Jean

Please note: For further study on Biblical health laws (or any other Bible topic), visit www.amazingfacts.org

Monday, July 21, 2014

A Reason for My Random Musings

My other blog, Gems in the Sand, was intended for sharing my spiritual thoughts, and I want to keep it that way. But, with my being naturally drawn to writing in the first place and being bored most of the time, I want a place where I can vent my thoughts on...whatever. I don't know how often I'll update this blog, but I'm sure I'll have something to say at least once.

Jean