Pages

Friday, October 25, 2019

FLY TRAP

There are some things that people write on advertisements that appear as you are perusing the web.  They are meant to grab you away from what you are doing to the marvelous idea of what they are offering.  I treat such attempts with scorn, do you?  You know them by the phrases they use such as:

 - - (blank) don’t want you to know. . .
 - - (blank) is hiding this (blank) . . .
 - - Guys are obsessed with (blank)
 - - must see (blank)
 - - (blank) can’t do without (blank) . . .
 - - what (blank) won’t tell you . . .

If you fall into this trap you find yourself in a very, very long description of the process or object that will promise to disclose what it is further on in the article.  You must read further to get to the point.  When you get there you find that, although this item is "free", it costs money; or it might require you to disclose personal information.  You have fallen into a Venus fly trap.  You should have known better.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

RATTING OUT JESUS

Why did the man at the pool of Bethesda rat (tattle, blab, spill the beans) on Jesus (see John 5:15)?  Was he afraid of the Pharisees that they would punish him for carrying his bed roll?  Did the think, "Boy the Pharisees nearly burned me because I was carrying the bed; I'd better tell them where he is; if they find out I knew and didn't tell they'll make it tough for me." 

Was he loyal to the Pharisees?  Did he want to identify the man who encouraged breaking the Sabbath?  Did he think, "These guys and I are brothers.  I'll tell them because they want to know.  I’ll get myself approval points if I tell them."  

Did he tell them because Jesus spoke of him as a sinner?  (Jesus told him, "go and sin no more lest a worst thing come onto thee.")  The man might have thought, "How dare he assume I am a sinner?  This guy is saying, 'This thing happened to you because you sinned, sin no more because a worse thing will happen to you.’  I’ll fix him, I’ll go tell the Pharisees where he is.  I know they are looking for him; they’ll make his life miserable once they find him."

Knowing that Jesus is God and knows all things, why did he pick this man out for healing?  Are we ever like him?