BIBLICAL TRUTH

Larry was fond of saying that the Bible is all poetry, and poetry is the highest form of truth. If one goes to the Bible looking for literal truth he/she will be disappointed for the truth of the Bible is spiritual truth which is of a different nature than what be stated can be stated literally. Poetry uses symbols, metaphors and allusion to suggest more than is overtly stated. The words rock, water, awake, earth, fire do not necessarily refer to physical entities; they point toward realities with larger, deeper  meanings. When we read the Bible as poetry, we find the meanings that reveal truth about ourselves, our families, our societies, and our relationship to the world of spirit.

https://sites.google.com/site/blakeprimer/bible  

"In reality the biblical truth is just as relevant to 18th Century England as it is to first century (or any century) Palestine. The same spiritual events continue to unfold today that Ezekiel, John and the others saw and described in their day. The same choices are to be made by 18th Century Britons (or 20th Century Americans!) as were made by first (or any) century Palestinians, and these choices have the same consequences. Truth is spiritual and timeless; the passing scene is only a shadow of the eternal reality.

...

Having said all this how can we summarize Blake's relationship to the Bible? First we recall that he didn't read it literally but symbolically, not historically, but poetically. ...

It should be said however that Blake found inspiration for his myth from many other sources beside the Bible; the secular critics have pointed them out in great detail. He drew impartially on everything in his experience, but found the Bible his richest fountain. The other sources were secondary and for the most part commentaries on or elaborations of the biblical truths. 

 Much as he loved the Bible, Blake ascribed paramount authority to his visions. The true man of God has visions which refine, bring up to date, and correct the earlier visions of the earlier prophets. This is where Blake departed from the orthodox attitude to the Bible, which he called reading it black. This is where he acted on the heritage of English dissent. This is how he saw the New Light and became a man of the New Age."

_______________

God is Love

First John 4

[16] So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

God Forgives

Colossians 3

[13] forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Awake

1st Thessalonians 5

[5] For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
[6] So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

Thanksgiving

2nd Corinthians 4

[13] Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believe, and so we speak,
[14] knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
[15] For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.

Still Small Voice

1st Kings 19

[12] and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Within

Luke 24

[30] And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
[31] And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
[32] And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Incarnate - Human Form

John 13

3] Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

Fear no Evil

Matthew 6

[25] And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
[26] And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Christ

Hebrews 8

[6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Heaven

Hebrews 11

[16] But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

SIDDHARTHA

National Museum of Asian Art

The Buddha Calling the Earth to Witness

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

"No, I am telling you what I have discovered. Knowledge can be communicated, 
but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, 
but one cannot communicate and teach it
________________
It seems to me, Govinda, that love is the most important thing in the world. It may be
important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I 
think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate 
each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love,
admiration and respect."
____________

 I know that I am at one with Gotama. How, indeed, could he not know
love, he who has recognized all humanity's vanity and transitoriness, yet loves 
humanity so much that he has devoted a long life solely to help and teach people? Also
with this great teacher, the thing to me is of greater importance than the words; his 
deeds and life are more important to me than his talk, the gesture of his hand is more
important to me than his opinions. Not in speech or thought do I regard him as a great
man, but in his deeds and life."
_____________

Siddhartha was silent and looked at him with his calm, peaceful smile. Govinda looked 
steadily in his face, with anxiety, with longing. Suffering, continual seeking and 
continual failure were written in his look. Siddhartha saw it and smiled. "Bend near 
to me!" he whispered in Govinda's ear. "Come, still nearer, quite close! Kiss me on 
the forehead, Govinda." Although surprised, Govinda was compelled by a great love and 
presentiment to obey him; he leaned close to him and touched his forehead with his 
lips. As he did this, something wonderful happened to him. While he was still 
dwelling on Siddhartha's strange words, while he strove in vain to dispel the 
conception of time, to imagine Nirvana and Samsara as one, while even a certain 
contempt for his friend's words conflicted with a tremendous love and esteem for him, 
this happened to him.
_________________
Govinda bowed low. Incontrollable tears trickled down his old face. He was overwhelmed 
by a feeling of great love, of the most humble veneration. He bowed low, right down 
to the ground, in front of the man sitting there motionless, whose smile reminded him 
of everything that he had ever loved in his life, of everything that had ever been of 
value and holy in his life.
 
****

GOOGLE ACCOUNT

 OK 

I CAN STILL POST ON LARRY'S ACCOUNT

CHARLES WESLEY

St Simons Island Georgia, data from the National Park Service

Fort Frederica was established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe to protect the southern boundary of his new colony of Georgia from the Spanish in Florida. Colonists from England, Scotland, and the Germanic states came to Georgia to support this endeavor.

Charles Wesley In Georgia

Charles Wesley set sail for Georgia on October 21, 1735 with his brother John who was doing missionary work for the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. While John was assigned to be the minister at Savannah, Charles served as General Oglethorpe’s secretary of Indian affairs and minister to the soldiers and settlers of Frederica. He arrived on March 9, 1736 and recorded in his journal, “about three in the afternoon, I first set foot on St. Simons island, and immediately my spirit revived. No sooner did I enter upon my ministry, than God gave me, like Saul, another heart…”

When Charles arrived at Frederica he found very primitive conditions and he held services in the open and small prayer meetings in the temporary palmetto huts the settlers constructed. Preaching, however, was not his only job at Frederica. Seven days after his arrival he recorded in his journal, “I was wholly spent in writing letters for Mr. Oglethorpe. I would not spend six days more in the same manner for all Georgia.”

Wesley was constantly involved in the personal struggles of Frederica’s settlers and quickly earned James Oglethorpe’s disfavor. In his journal, he noted, “At half-hour past seven Mr. Oglethorpe called me out of my hut. I looked up to God, and went. He charged me with mutiny and sedition; with stirring up the people to desert the colony.”

At this point in his life, Charles lacked the physical, emotional and mental stamina needed to cope with such a difficult life on the Georgia frontier. While Charles had no love for the conditions in Georgia, many of the Georgia settlers had no great love for the Wesleys. To recent settlers struggling to survive on the harsh frontier, the immediate needs of safety and survival mattered far more than the strict piety espoused by both John and Charles Wesley.

On May 12, 1736, Charles left Frederica eventually bound for England. He recorded his feelings in his journal, “I was overjoyed at my deliverance out of this furnace, and not a little ashamed of myself for being so."

---

     Hark! The herald angels sing by Charles Wesley

1. “Glory to the newborn King;
   Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
   God and sinners reconciled!”
   Joyful, all ye nations rise,
   Join the triumph of the skies;
   With th’angelic host proclaim,
   “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
   • Refrain:
     Hark! the herald angels sing,
     “Glory to the newborn King!”
   • 
     
2. Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
   Christ the everlasting Lord;
   Late in time, behold Him come,
   Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
   Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
   Hail th’incarnate Deity,
   Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
   Jesus our Emmanuel.
3. Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
   Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
   Light and life to all He brings,
   Ris’n with healing in His wings.
   Mild He lays His glory by,
   Born that man no more may die;
   Born to raise the sons of earth,
   Born to give them second birth.
4. Come, Desire of nations, come,
   Fix in us Thy humble home;
   Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
   Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
   Now display Thy saving pow’r,
   Ruined nature now restore;
   Now in mystic union join
   Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
5. Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
   Stamp Thine image in its place:
   Second Adam from above,
   Reinstate us in Thy love.
   Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
   Thee, the Life, the inner man:
   Oh, to all Thyself impart,
   Formed in each believing heart.

 

PRAYER

Wikipedia Commons

Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

"What I mean is this. An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God – that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying – the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on – the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers."

-

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

Johnny Appleseed

The Lord is good to me

And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The Lord is good to me.

And every seed that grows
Will grow into a tree,
And one day soon there'll be apples there,
For everyone in the world to share.
The Lord is good to me.

When I wake up each morning,
I'm happy as can be,
Because I know that with God's care
The apple trees will still be there.
The Lord's been good to me."  

 

RYAN

 

Sixth Grade

DUKE CHAPEL

https://chapel.duke.edu/sites/default/files/offset-3.jpg

Along the left wall, the university's benefactors—Washington Duke and his two sons, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke—are entombed in three 30-ton, white Carrara marble sarcophagi carved by Charles Keck. Over the altar are three limewood figures: Jesus stands in the center, with St. Paul on the left and St. Peter on the right.

[The son of the sculptor, also name Charles Keck, was Larry's roomate at Duke.]   

James Buchanan Duke, Duke Memorial Chapel

Charles Keck

To the left of the chancel and behind the iron gates is the Memorial Chapel. On the altar are three limewood figures: St. Paul, Jesus, and St. Peter. Entombed in the Memorial Chapel are the benefactors for whom the University is named, Washington Duke and his two sons, Benjamin N. Duke and James B. Duke. The sarcophagi and the Memorial Chapel were gifts of the Duke Memorial Association.

Crypt

Between the Memorial Chapel and the chancel, a flight of steps descends to the crypt. Here are buried the following people: William Preston Few, first president of Duke University; Mrs. Nanaline Holt Duke, wife of James B. Duke; J. Deryl Hart, fourth president of Duke University; Mrs. Mary Johnson Hart, wife of J. Deryl Hart; Terry Sanford, sixth president of Duke University, U.S. Senator, and governor of North Carolina; Mrs. Margaret Rose Sanford, wife of Terry Sanford; The ashes of James A. Thomas, chairman of the Duke Memorial Association; James T. Cleland, former dean of Duke Chapel; and his wife, Mrs. Alice Mead Cleland, are also interred here.

Charles Keck, sculptor

Library of Congress

______________

Robert E Lee

 

A photo of the statue taken in months before it was damaged and then removed, shows Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at the entrance to Duke Chapel in Durham, N.C.

AUGUST 19, 2017