Tuesday, March 24, 2009

learning more.

i've been learning a lot of really interesting things lately my mind is soaring in information. sadly most of it is not learned in school. but i would like to share the stuff thats stuck in my thoughts.

ryah, ahava, dode.
3 greek words, all meaning some kind of love. different kind of love.
ryah. friendly love, the way you care about your teamates, friends, distant family.
ahava. a liitle deeper, they way you love your parents, your boyfriend, a connected love.
dode. passionate love, die for your lover, marraige, deep bounding love.

its pretty incredible i think, the greek language has 3 words for love, the hebrew language has 8. and english has one. to us we can love sports, love music, love books, love friends, love fiances all with one word, its up to us how to interperit it. love.

another thing is the human exodus. Exodus like the book in the bible, but also the human struggle between right and wrong. i have never thought much of God leading the isralites out of egypt to the promise land, but i learned that this happens over and over again, in egypt the isrealites were oppressed by pharoah. then when they escape that, the remember what its like to be slaves and be hurting and needing, the people helped each other, everyone was equal. David became king, and they lived well. a queen came to visit and she was amazed at the wealth of the people because there was no oppression. Later davids son became king, and thought that town needed more, bigger and better, so he gets slaves, builds a big palace, temple. and he becomes the oppressor. This pattern continues throught the history of the earth, the oppressed saved by God, become the oppressor. The human Exodus will never end, there will always be oppressers because the oppressed over time forget, they are desperate for power and military ego. Convicting. Jesus Wants to Save Christians - Rob Bell, Don Golden.

To help people, the biggest thing you can say is, "Me too." i read this story about the Navy SEALS. The seals trained for a huge rescue. they were rescuing a group of people who were captured by a war drivin country. They arrive in this helocopter. Dressed in helmets, vests, weapons, equiptment. They said to the scared captured people, huddled in a corner. "WE are americans we are here to rescue you and take you home." The captured people, were afraid they they thought the americans were their violent captureres, they wouldn't move. The seals were not prepared for that. they didn't know what to do. One of the seals takes off his helmet, sets down his weapons, takes off his amo vest, and goes to sit among the scared. he puts his arms around them, and holds them. a capturer wouldn't do that. Soon he stands, and says "who will follow me". A man stands, slowly the whole group stands, and they are rescued.
see to help the weak, you need to become weak, to help the hungry you need to know what hunger is. This is what Jesus did when he was on earth, he was vulnerable, he was weak and broken, he was what the people were, and they followed him. i never really thought of it like that. I guess i thought that i needed to be more, better, have more to give, to help other people. but weak, hungry and broken people don't relate to wealthy, happy, and confident. I realized that you need to be vulnerable. you need to, let people see who you are, that you are weak, that you can be disappointed, they need to see that, they need to see your human and struggle, then they relate, then they believe. interesting? Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

So my mind is realing, i now its a lot of God talk, and a lot of people think that christianity is some cult, because of all the wrong that has happened in the world by people who claim to be christian. I want to say i'm sorry for that. What they did was wrong, the oppression they commited was not right in God;s name. Its not right. I'm sorry for all that. forgive me.

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