The Lie

I will be publishing poetry I really like - hope you like it too.

The Lie - by Sir Walter Ralegh

I dedicate this poem to President Ahmadinejad of Iran after his interview with Charlie Rose in October 2012

Go, Soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless arrant:
Fear not to touch the best;
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.

Say to the court, it glows
And shines like rotten wood:
Say to the church it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.

Adult Sunday School - Part 12 - Absalom

Adult Sunday School - Part 12 - Absalom - by P.K.Odendaal - September 2012 

We have looked previously at Joseph as a type for Jesus Christ, and we find the same type of story repeated in another form with another person named Absalom.

It starts strikingly in the form of Absalom as the son of David. 2 Sa 13:1  And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David ...

Compare this with : Mark 10:48  And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

So they both were sons of David prophetically speaking.

It ends strikingly with both being killed by hanging on a tree. That is enough for us to start to make comparisons. There are of course again differences as a son of mankind cannot completely mimic the story of a son of God.

One day in Naples

Copy this link into your browser (this link works now, sorry, Google changed the way pictures are viewed):

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Philosophy - Part 23 - Revisiting The Sunset Limited

Philosophy - Part 23 - Revisiting The Sunset Limited - by P.K.Odendaal - September 2012 

Some people approach me from time to time, to ask me for advice on social and spiritual matters, and although I almost always understand their problem and offer them some general help, I am usually unable to really understand what goes on inside them, why they have this question or problem, and what I should say to them - and I usually end up offering them the wrong or irrelevant advice.

When I saw the film 'The Sunset Limited', I had this overpowering desire to understand the dilemma of White and to offer him some advice - advice which Black was apparently unable to offer him, to prevent his second suicide attempt. And that is what started this series on philosophy.

Adult Sunday School - Part 11 - Let my people go

Adult Sunday School - Part 11 - Let my people go - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012 

Now that we have learnt what a type is and how one story is mapped to another, we can look at Exodus and Revelation, in which Exodus is mapped to Revelation. Both have the central theme of releasing God's people from bondage into bliss.

To understand this story we must start with what belongs to whom.

God has made the earth and it belonged to Him, but He decided to give dominion over it, without any strings attached, to Adam and Eve, to dress and to keep: Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

One day in Las vegas

https://picasaweb.google.com/102381076648563287639/OneDayInLasVegas#

Philosophy - Part 22 - Orthodoxy and Heresy

Philosophy - Part 22 - Orthodoxy and Heresy - by P.K.Odendaal - September 2012 

This piece is also known as the forces of man, in contrast to my previous article on the forces of God - see part 8. The forces of man are orthodoxy, heresy, rationalism, empiricism, induction, determinism and materialism.

I will try to define them as well I can.

Rationalism - the explanation of things in terms of our reason or our worldview.

Empiricism - the explanation of things in terms of our experimentation results, without an accepted theory. It is the notion that similar experiments will yield similar results, even if we do not know what the reason for that is.

Induction - the explanation of things in terms of their outcome in previous similar circumstances and conditions and extrapolating them into unknown areas. If we say one plus one is two, then we can safely assume that two plus two is four.

One day in Rome

https://picasaweb.google.com/102381076648563287639/OneDayInRome#

Adult Sunday School - Part 10 - Gideon

Adult Sunday School - Part 10 - Gideon - by P.K.Odendaal - September 2012

How do you go from rejection, bitterness, accusations and humiliation to arrogant and steadfast faith? How can any man go from the one extreme to the other? Just ask Gideon. For me he is an example of what can be done if you are touched by God - more than once. Many of us are touched by God and it stays a touch - and even soon disappears.

Read the article by Annemie here :

http://what-a-friend-an.blogspot.com/2012/08/dont-let-your-encounter-with-god-leave.html

I have been touched by God many times, and it stays an anchor for my soul in times of abject depression, which fortunately are quite rare.

We start off with Gideon - himself, his family and his nation being rejected and forgotten by God, with no hope and no God.

One day in Messina

https://picasaweb.google.com/102381076648563287639/OneDayInMessina#