12/28/11: Psalm 96

Psalm 96
The psalmist tells the audience to praise the Lord, and describes a number of His qualities

12/27/11: Psalm 95

Psalm 95
The psalmist invites his audience to worship the Lord. He then reminds them of Israel's stubbornness and tells them to obey.

Update

So a lot of things (mostly failures) happened these past two days. Of course they're no excuse to not update this blog. Now I'm back to reality, and I really need focus.

Right now I'm reading about the Bible from http://www.windmillministries.org/IBT.htm, and I learned that the version I've been using (NIV) is a "dynamic equivalent translation." The translation could be subjective. Then I'll be continuing the reading about the compilation of the Bible. Of course, I'll still continue the diary.

12/24/11: Psalm 94

Psalm 94
The psalmist complains to God about how the wicked are .

12/23/11: Psalm 93

Psalm 93
The Lord's glory and dominion over all the earth is proclaimed all throughout.
This is a very controversial psalm, I think, for it seems to support a geocentric universe (v. 1)

Boxes

"Merry Christmas!"

This is what beggars say during this season to ask for money (mostly kids, but even adults do this). People, believing that the spirit of Christmas is in giving and forgiving, take money out of their pockets. These kids then call their comrades and nag (or pest, if I may say) to death these 'generous' men. After a short while - or a long one, depending on how dense/rich - men stop giving. This attitude of kids and adults kills the 'generosity' of good guys out there. Good men are indeed hard to find. This is a huge problem to the society.

Others say that Christmas is about spending quality time with the family and friends. A lot of people become sentimental and often wish that their missing, overseas or dead relatives can come home even just once to celebrate Christmas. There's nothing wrong about this, is there?

Yes there is. The root of the problems lie in a viral misunderstanding of Christmas. It is extremely evident that humanity is doing everything in its power to remove the Christ in Christmas: "X-mas", "Happy Holidays", "Santa Claus", "Spirit of Giving", and hundreds more which I do not have time to mention. Media commercials never mention Christ, perhaps in fear of being branded as biased towards a religion. This gives birth to the current condition of the Christmas season: a time for spending time with the family or a time of giving and receiving, the latter of which is being abused by many. I'm not saying that it is wrong to do either: what I'm saying is that doing all these is worthless without the right reason in which it is done. It is a form without substance, a gift box without a gift. Disappointingly fascinating, people choose this box and throw away the gift that God has given.

To end this, I'd like to share a poem I (with the help of my Dad) made a few years back.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
A man in blue, smiling, handing
A coin or two to a poor lass
He’s happy, with eyes a caring.
For love is the heart of giving
Giving is the art of living

Merry Christmas, merry Christmas.
A boy, caroling, cajoling
From house to house, from bus to bus
And begging with a can of tin
Hopeless, desperate, mirroring
A grim society we’re in

But Christmas is not us giving
It is receiving life endless
It is not candy, nor money
But is God’s gracious gift Jesus
A gift to change each one’s heart
A heart to change society
     For us to say, “Merry Christmas!”

12/22/11: Psalm 92

Psalm 92
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
Perhaps this is one of the songs they usually sing during worship.

12/21/11: Psalm 91

Psalm 91
The writer says that the Lord is trustworthy all throughout the psalm.

Piracy and Christianity

Intellectual property rights hmm. I don't really know about the law here in my country, but I'll look into it. Meanwhile, another link for reading pleasures. http://www.gotquestions.org/sin-copyright.html

12/20/11: Psalm 90

Psalm 90
"A prayer of Moses the man of God."
Moses acknowledges God's glory and majesty. He then states that the Lord is angry at them and prays for His anger to stop and have compassion for His servants.

12/19/11: Psalm 89

Psalm 89
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite (Who is he? He is not necessarily the writer.)
A troubled man whose friends and relatives 'disdain' him cries to God for help, but God does not seem to respond.

Piracy and Christianity

I've been bothered by me using downloaded ebooks from the internet. I don't really know what to do, I seem to need them for my studies. What do you think?

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/piracy.of.gospel.music.worries.christian.music.ministries/675.htm

12/18/11: Psalm 88

Psalm 88
Written by the Sons of Korah (Who is Korah?)
A troubled man whose friends and relatives 'disdain' him cries to God for help, but God does not seem to respond.

God Went Camping

John 1:1, 14-18
v1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
v14-18 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.

John testified concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

Three things Jesus did in the Incarnation

Status

Since last year I've been trying to finish the bible from cover to cover. I began with the book of Matthew, and am currently reading Psalms. From now on, I will try to write here what I think and verses or phrases that stick to my mind. I will also try to apply OIA (Observation, Interpretation, Application) to my readings.