It doesn't matter your... (pt.2)

It doesn't matter your past.

In the time of Christ, and years before, there was a group of people caled the Zealots. Zealots were like the monks of the mountains in many ways: They hated the way the Caesars ran things, they were very religious and they were all very secretive. The one thing that seperated the monks of the mountains from the Zealots was, the "of the mountains" part. To retaliate and show their dislike of the Caesars the monks went into the mountains and paid no attention to what the Caesars were saying/doing in the citystates. On the other hand, to retaliate, the Zealots chose to... retaliate.

The Zealots were the most notorious "race" even though they were blended from every tribe at that time who had a beef with the government. The Zealots were skilled, trained assassins. They were the greatest killers since the Assyrians and the Philistines before them. Zealots were known to bathe in the blood of politians they killed in the captial streets. They were ruthless, bloodthirsty rouges.

Remember Simon? Jesus' disciple, Simon? Simon the Zealot? Yeah, that guy. Simon was chosen by Jesus to be his disciple. Remember from my last post when I said that after boys were done with school at the age of 20 they had to petition to Rabbis, to beg them to let them be their disciples? Remember that Jesus chose all these people, none of them asked. HE chose THEM.

Jesus looked into Simon. Jesus saw that this man was the one that he wanted. This man was strong. This man was not afraid of what anyone said or did to him. This man was a murderer, or at least in league with murderers. It's obvious that God didn't care what this man did in his past. God doesn't care what you've done or I've done. He wants us. We each have your strong points. God wants us to be us and understand that He doesn't care what we've done anymore! He's forgiven us our past. We must accept His forgiveness and then he can use us for his will.

Will you let God use you? I hope so.

It doesn't matter your... (pt.1)

It doesn't matter your age.

The disciples of Jesus, the Christ were teenagers. Why do I say this you ask? Because it's true. The New Testament was written in Greek originally. The Greek language did and still does have many different words for a single word in the english language. Such as the word "you." The Greek language has seperate words to refer to "you women" or "you priests" or "you children." Having said that, let us look into my reasoning as to why the disciples were teenagers.

1. Their previous occupations.
In Jesus' time Jewish boys were sent to school at the age of 5. For five years, the boys would study the Penteteuch (the first 5 books of the Bible) until they knew it by heart. They would then go up to a Rabbi and be tested on their knowledge of those books. If they were good enough they went on to the next level. If they didn't make the cut they were sent home to work in their family trade. The second level of schooling lasted 10 years from the age of 10-20. That level involved the boys studying the remaining 34 books of the Old Testament (not to mention some books that are only in the Apochrypha and Pseudopygrypha). At the end of those 10 years the boys would again go before a Rabbi and test their knowledge of the books they had studied. If they were good enough they went on to the next (yep, one more) level. If they weren't good enough they were (once again) sent home to work in their family trade. The third level involved working under a Rabbi. Boys who reached this level would have to appeal to a Rabbi and do all sorts of works for him to allow the Rabbi to let them be their disciple. The Rabbi would then, after seeing what the disciple was willing to do for him, choose to let them work under them or send them home (to, yep, work in the family trade). The now 20 year old disciple would watch their Rabbi they followed and learned from them for 10 more years. If the Rabbi thought they had grown enough they could make their disciple a Rabbi to choose their own disciples. HAVING SAID THAT.

Look at all the disciples. They were all Rabbis, looking for their own disciples when Jesus came up to them and - no - . They were working. Many with their families... Therefore, they were working in their family trades. THEREFORE! They "didn't make the cut." They weren't good enough to be a Rabbi. They weren't knowledgable enough. They were subpar. etc.

Andrew, Peter, James and John were all still with their fathers while working. James SON of Alpheus was always known as his father's son. If they were older gentlemen they would have been working by themselves, and James would've been known by where he was from, or his occupation.

2. Called in the ship.

When Jesus is resurrected he goes to his disciples when their on a ship out on the sea and he called to them, "Have YOU caught any fish yet?" In the Greek, that YOU refers to the phrase "You Children." Jesus could be calling his disciples children because they are inexeperienced in their religous lives or because He was acting like their father all this time. Oooooor because they were young.

3. The Temple Tax/Coin in the Fish's Mouth

Jesus told Peter to go find a certain fish in a certain spot. That fish would have a 1 2-drachma coin in its mouth. That coin was to cover the temple tax of Jesus and Peter. Sure, Jesus may have been playing favorites and paying for Peter, but none of the other disciples... Buuuuut.

What is the temple tax you ask? The temple tax was kind of like a forced offering. Everyone over the age of 18 who was going to pray in the temple had to pay a 1-drachma coin for the tax. So, perhaps, Peter was the only one who was old enough to have to pay the temple tax: the only one of the disciples over 18.

Those are the reasons I think the disciples were teenagers.

Another well known youngster in the Bible: Timothy. A young pastor. TALK ABOUT PRESSURE! Timothy was a pastor in the city of Ephesus. Later in life, Mary, Jesus' mother and John, the beloved disciple (the disciple Jesus treated like a son or a brother) stayed to live in Ephesus. PRESSURE! Having to preach to Jesus' mom and best friend! Holy crow!

-more parts (shorter parts) to come-

~Isa ruhu'la alais'salat was'salam
~Awake and pray in peace for prayer is better than sleep

A blessing in an orange truck (and 20 unshaven faces)

My job at the city has turned out to be less suckfest and more of a blessing! I thank God for landing me this job. It's getting me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes to places I feel uncomfortable (which is appropriate) and getting me out of the rut of a life that I didn't like living. It was unhealthy for me being where I was before I got out of the house. Sometimes something you think is a blessing can be a curse. One that holds on for the long haul and never lets go. No matter how hard you try to shake it and remove it from your memory, it'll still linger in the back of your mind: your past life. It's a good thing God has already forgotten, even though I haven't. But thank you, God. Thanks for Steve, Jim, Rick, Denny, Todd, Bill, Dan, Tom, Rod, Darryl, Ken, Bob (I know these sound like generic "I'm making these up" names, but these are actually my coworkers) Kevin, Corey, Marcia, Dave and the others I'm forgetting. I won't forget any of them. No matter how hard I try =P

Starts with F and rhymes with Amos

Famous!
I've always wanted to be famous. Be a famous author, actor, director, chef, whatever. As long as someone knew my name. To have fans. That's what I wanted. People who read all my books, watch all my movies, search for my recipes. I want to inspire people, affect people for the better.
I'm not going to say that "Jesus didn't have fans! I don't need them either!" Jesus had plenty of fans, most people in his day new his name, he certainly affected people and still does. Jesus Christ is the most well known name in the world today!
Guess what!
He love me.
He's my biggest fan.
He reads all my books.
He watches all my movies.
He says, "What's your secret ingredient?" even though he already knows.
God is the only fan I need.

~Isa ruhu'la alais'salat was'salam
~Awake and pray in peace for prayer is better than sleep

2 Trees

There were two trees in The Garden, one that would give life, and one that would bring death. They were put right next to each other, just to show that the choice is clear. Clear for Adam, clear for Eve, clear for you and clear for me. Choose life or choose death. It's not that hard of a choice, so why do we make it out to be so often? Why are we sitting by watching people destroy themselves without doing something about it?

~Isa ruhu'la alai'salat was'salam
~Awake and pray in peace, for prayer is better than sleep