This was my first year as a blogger, and the start of this Christian themed blog, For Whosoever. While partnering my efforts with my musical blog Delayed Distortion, I saw For Whosoever reap the most results. Over the course of the year, the page view count has almost reached 1000, with multiple posts achieving close to 40 views. My most popular post was titled Homosexuality, which reached around 120 views alone.
I'm not only rating the success of this blog on numbers though. I found other areas to produce benefits as well. My opportunities for discussion of theological topics have greatly expanded to Christians and non-Christians alike. I've been able to broach religious topics with non-Christians more then ever before.
Personally, this blog has also helped me develop. I've found that just writing down my thoughts helps me organize what I believe, and what I need to research to find stronger answers. Throughout the year, I have solidified many areas of my religion so that I can give a clear answer as to what I believe regarding certain topics, and I've also identified weak spots that I myself need to work on, and the rest of Christians also need to work on. I've also strengthened my skills discussing religious topics with non-Christians, in order to effectively talk about subjects that are important, and sometimes controversial. At the start of the year, my methods were extremely weak, but at the end of the year, I feel more confident in being able to talk about subjects such as homosexuality in a way that doesn't ruin what Christians stand for, but also doesn't compromise what we believe. This year, this blog has also expanded my experiences, and given me valuable situations that I have muddled my way through, only to be able to more strongly get through in the future. Ultimately, this blog has been an extreme blessing to me, and for me.
For this upcoming year, I plan to stick to my original goal for the blog, but also try expanding a little. Currently, I have multiple series that I am working on. My ethical series, which includes my posts about homosexuality, will grow, with plans for posts on topics such as divorce, abortion, and war already in the workings. However, I am gearing towards making this series less confusing. Originally, many took offence at my first few ethical posts. The confusion arose from the purpose of my posts, which I tend to make much clearer in the next few posts. I am aiming to discuss the issues from a Christian worldview perspective, and while it is important to debate the results with non-Christians, my goal is to stick with simply summarizing what Christians do and should believe about the specific topics.
I am also working on my apologetic series, which began with the case for a God. This will be my main focus in the blog catering to non-Christians. I will be spending a lot of time with this series, finding facts and hard evidence to support the Christian case.
My recent synopsis or thoughts about each book of the Bible will continue, as I make my way through a YouVersion Bible Plan. After I finish each book, I post my thoughts on a couple of main themes that stuck out to me as I was reading. You can join me on the reading plan by searching JPRam1 on Bible.com.
Finally, I will continue to post about the various odds and ends of the Christian faith. This includes things we are currently succeeding at as the church, and also things that we need to work on.
Ultimately, all this falls under my new motto for the blog; Extensio animi ad mangna, which means Stretching the souls to great things. To follow along with this, I plan to add a few more dimensions to my posts.
I plan on posting more reviews of famous books, Christian movies, and sermons. I would also like to begin posting my own sermons, through video or audio format on the blog, as well as starting my own YouTube or SoundCloud site for that specific purpose. Finally, I also plan on expanding For Whosoever to include news postings about situations that influence or include the Christian audience.
2014 was an excellent start, and I can only pray that 2015 brings even greater results. Again, I plan on utilizing this blog to inform, inspire, and motivate others to achieve great things in God's name.
Monday 29 December 2014
Friday 19 December 2014
Reading Numbers
This past month, I was listening to a devotion where the speaker was stressing a specific theme. While he was talking about the book of First John, I think we can extend this theme to all the books of the Bible. If anything, it should help us to fully grasp what we are reading in these law books, such as Numbers.
The speaker who was leading this devotion was stressing the fact that the writers of these books in our Bible were real people, who really walked on this world, and breathed in the same air we breathe today. A lot of the time we read the Bible as if it was a fairytale, or a fictional storybook. The other extreme is sometimes we even read it as a non-fictional textbook. Either way, we never really think about what we are reading, or internalize it. It never seems real to us.
What this speaker was trying to title as important is that we see what we are reading as real words. The Bible isn't a fantasy, it is a reality.
Numbers is another one of those difficult books to read through. However, applying this reading method makes it a lot more interesting.
Just think! Thousands of years ago, someone, supposedly Moses, wrote these very words down on pieces of papyrus or stone. He, while actually living in the desert, resided in a tent, and spent a lot of time either writing himself, or dictating to a scribe. These words describe the very situation that the Israelites lived through, again thousands of years ago. The fact that we have those words still is amazing; picturing the people of God living by these words is astounding.
The thing with the Bible is we tend to make it distant. Sure we may have read the Bible from cover to cover, but we read many books from cover to cover. Something has to make the Bible different, aside from the fact that it is God-inspired. Realizing that these stories and words are very real is the beginning process. With that realization comes the eagerness to learn more, and to research. Eventually, there comes a point where you begin to apply the lessons learned to your life, and you begin to transform your thoughts and your soul. This is where the true transforming power of the Bible lies.
Numbers is no different then any of the other books of the Bible. It is as real as any other, and provides to God's Word in the same amount. We should not undervalue, or skip it merely because there are a lot of rules and numbers presented. Those rules and numbers serve a purpose, and have meaning. It is our job to see the purpose and meaning in the historical context, so we can realize what it meant to the people then, and what it can mean to us now.
The speaker who was leading this devotion was stressing the fact that the writers of these books in our Bible were real people, who really walked on this world, and breathed in the same air we breathe today. A lot of the time we read the Bible as if it was a fairytale, or a fictional storybook. The other extreme is sometimes we even read it as a non-fictional textbook. Either way, we never really think about what we are reading, or internalize it. It never seems real to us.
What this speaker was trying to title as important is that we see what we are reading as real words. The Bible isn't a fantasy, it is a reality.
Numbers is another one of those difficult books to read through. However, applying this reading method makes it a lot more interesting.
Just think! Thousands of years ago, someone, supposedly Moses, wrote these very words down on pieces of papyrus or stone. He, while actually living in the desert, resided in a tent, and spent a lot of time either writing himself, or dictating to a scribe. These words describe the very situation that the Israelites lived through, again thousands of years ago. The fact that we have those words still is amazing; picturing the people of God living by these words is astounding.
The thing with the Bible is we tend to make it distant. Sure we may have read the Bible from cover to cover, but we read many books from cover to cover. Something has to make the Bible different, aside from the fact that it is God-inspired. Realizing that these stories and words are very real is the beginning process. With that realization comes the eagerness to learn more, and to research. Eventually, there comes a point where you begin to apply the lessons learned to your life, and you begin to transform your thoughts and your soul. This is where the true transforming power of the Bible lies.
Numbers is no different then any of the other books of the Bible. It is as real as any other, and provides to God's Word in the same amount. We should not undervalue, or skip it merely because there are a lot of rules and numbers presented. Those rules and numbers serve a purpose, and have meaning. It is our job to see the purpose and meaning in the historical context, so we can realize what it meant to the people then, and what it can mean to us now.
Wednesday 3 December 2014
Reading Leviticus
It's time to get down to the nitty gritty of the Bible. Leviticus along with Numbers, and partially Exodus and Deuteronomy are the most difficult books of the Bible to read through, based upon their listing of numbers and laws. Commonly, many will fall away from reading plans, or will be steered away from finishing the Bible because of the struggles of getting through these books.
As I suggested from the tail-end of Exodus, one way to get through these books is to hold onto one main theme, or a key idea that is present throughout the whole book. Sometimes you know what this main theme is going into the book, but other times, something sticks with you as you make your way through the book. The latter is what occurred to me as I spent the past few weeks reading through Leviticus.
As a side note, commonly because these law books are so difficult to read through, we refer to them in a derogatory manner. I feel like we should work on staying away from this trap. Every single book in the Bible has a purpose, one that God has specially chosen. Anything that God has had a hand in, we should automatically revere. Even if it is dry content, it is still the words of our Lord, and these books need to be treated as such.
Anyways, as I was reading through Leviticus, I noticed this key theme; "You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." This is repeated in one sense or another over and over again. It almost seems that after every chunk of law, God states this.
It got me thinking on a couple of levels. Obviously, the question is why include this statement so often? What's the purpose behind including this in a book of laws?
The amount of laws that God gave the Israelites is overwhelming, even just for the reader. Imagine how it must have been for the people actually living during that time. God definitely knew the weight of what He was demanding from His people. I think He ties in this statement for a few reasons.
When I think about a lot of the laws that we have today, we keep the ones that we understand the purpose behind, whereas the ones we don't understand we break. Using the examples of teens and taking away the extreme cases, the majority of youth today drink alcohol underage because they don't fully understand why they are being restricted from doing so (amongst other reasons). Whereas, the majority of teens won't go out and murder, because they understand why they are told not to.
I think that issue will remain no matter the age, no matter the time in history, no matter the situation. Having all these laws, the Israelites must have looked at them, and asked why they had to obey all these rules. God clearly states why; because you have to be holy like I am holy. The reasons for all these laws are to set apart God's people from the rest of the world. His goal was to have a godly nation modelled after Himself.
What does that then say about God's character? First, that He truly cares about His people. He was doing everything He could to build that relationship between His people and Himself. The purpose of these laws was to create a level with which the people could communicate with God, and live with Him. Secondly, it states just how holy God is. The amount of the laws, the extent of them, and everything that goes with that, such as punishments, shows that God is holier then anything we can even imagine. Because He is so holy, He can't dwell where there is sin. That's why He was trying to help these people become holy. That's why He sent Jesus to die for our sins, and pin them on Himself.
The whole issue that all these laws are dealing with isn't creating a perfect nation, or perfect people, or a better group. God was attempting to let His people have the chance to become set apart for Him, to live with Him in their midst, to have a relationship with the Israelites. When the people failed Him, God was extremely disappointed, but His plan continued on, and He kept offering more and more chances.
This applies to us today as well. We should be striving to be holy, as God is holy. We all remain set apart for Him, even though we may not all be Israelites. We are each set apart for a personal relationship with God, for a personal purpose, for a personal reason. While we know that we can't be holy without God, because Jesus came into the world and sacrificed Himself in order to rip down that divide, and granted us the gift of the Holy Spirit, we now have God in us. With God, we can be holy. But it doesn't just happen. It requires every ounce of human effort, and then the finishing miracle of God's hand.
As I suggested from the tail-end of Exodus, one way to get through these books is to hold onto one main theme, or a key idea that is present throughout the whole book. Sometimes you know what this main theme is going into the book, but other times, something sticks with you as you make your way through the book. The latter is what occurred to me as I spent the past few weeks reading through Leviticus.
As a side note, commonly because these law books are so difficult to read through, we refer to them in a derogatory manner. I feel like we should work on staying away from this trap. Every single book in the Bible has a purpose, one that God has specially chosen. Anything that God has had a hand in, we should automatically revere. Even if it is dry content, it is still the words of our Lord, and these books need to be treated as such.
Anyways, as I was reading through Leviticus, I noticed this key theme; "You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." This is repeated in one sense or another over and over again. It almost seems that after every chunk of law, God states this.
It got me thinking on a couple of levels. Obviously, the question is why include this statement so often? What's the purpose behind including this in a book of laws?
The amount of laws that God gave the Israelites is overwhelming, even just for the reader. Imagine how it must have been for the people actually living during that time. God definitely knew the weight of what He was demanding from His people. I think He ties in this statement for a few reasons.
When I think about a lot of the laws that we have today, we keep the ones that we understand the purpose behind, whereas the ones we don't understand we break. Using the examples of teens and taking away the extreme cases, the majority of youth today drink alcohol underage because they don't fully understand why they are being restricted from doing so (amongst other reasons). Whereas, the majority of teens won't go out and murder, because they understand why they are told not to.
I think that issue will remain no matter the age, no matter the time in history, no matter the situation. Having all these laws, the Israelites must have looked at them, and asked why they had to obey all these rules. God clearly states why; because you have to be holy like I am holy. The reasons for all these laws are to set apart God's people from the rest of the world. His goal was to have a godly nation modelled after Himself.
What does that then say about God's character? First, that He truly cares about His people. He was doing everything He could to build that relationship between His people and Himself. The purpose of these laws was to create a level with which the people could communicate with God, and live with Him. Secondly, it states just how holy God is. The amount of the laws, the extent of them, and everything that goes with that, such as punishments, shows that God is holier then anything we can even imagine. Because He is so holy, He can't dwell where there is sin. That's why He was trying to help these people become holy. That's why He sent Jesus to die for our sins, and pin them on Himself.
The whole issue that all these laws are dealing with isn't creating a perfect nation, or perfect people, or a better group. God was attempting to let His people have the chance to become set apart for Him, to live with Him in their midst, to have a relationship with the Israelites. When the people failed Him, God was extremely disappointed, but His plan continued on, and He kept offering more and more chances.
This applies to us today as well. We should be striving to be holy, as God is holy. We all remain set apart for Him, even though we may not all be Israelites. We are each set apart for a personal relationship with God, for a personal purpose, for a personal reason. While we know that we can't be holy without God, because Jesus came into the world and sacrificed Himself in order to rip down that divide, and granted us the gift of the Holy Spirit, we now have God in us. With God, we can be holy. But it doesn't just happen. It requires every ounce of human effort, and then the finishing miracle of God's hand.
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