Mind your Ps and Qs

Mind your Ps and Qs

Pearl

Early

Pearl Harbor- Tokyo

Psalm 63:1 
[A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.] "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;" 
Psalm 32:6 

"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

 15 Buddhas at Umin Thounze monastery, Sagaing, Myanmar (from the album Images of Burma)

Chess: "Pearl"  "Earl" "Pearl Harbor" "Tokyo"

Santa Cruz

Holy Cross

Santa Cruz

Tridimensional

Prov. 20:12 
"The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them."

Glade Creek Grist Mill 993

Chess: "Tridimensional" "Santa Cruz" "Holy Cross"



Principles of Interpretation“There are, indeed, difficulties in understanding the [precise and complete] meaning of the prophetic writings, but these are either owing to our ignorance of history and of the Scriptures, or because the prophecies are yet unfilled. The latter can only be understood when the events foretold in the prophecies have actually been accomplished. The former class of difficulties may be removed in many, if not in all, cases, and the knowledge, sense, and meaning of the prophetsmay, in a considerable degree, be attained by prayer, reading [of both history
and the Scriptures], meditation, and [as a way of knowing the mind of God on the matter directly from the divine source and final authority] by comparing Scripture with Scripture” ... adapted from Thomas Hartwell Horne, Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1856; Section II, p. 216).  Dan Bruce : Daniel Unsealed

    

Bay

Mustang

Francis Bacon

Serrano

Heb. 11:10 

"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Phil. 3:3 
"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

Desert Storm, Tucson, Arizona

Sleepy Hollow Farm, Woodstock, Vermont

Chess: "Serrano" "Bay" "Sir Francis Bacon" "Mustang"

Crónica de una muerte anunciada
Gabriel García Márquez

El día en que lo iban a matar, Santiago Nasar se levantó a las 5.30 de la mañana para esperar el buque en que llegaba el obispo. Había soñado que atravesaba un bosque de higuerones donde caía una llovizna tierna, y por un instante fue feliz en el sueño, pero al despertar se sintió por completo salpicado de cagada de pájaros. «Siempre soñaba con árboles», me dijo Plácida Linero, su madre, evocando 27 años después los pormenores de aquel lunes ingrato. «La semana anterior había soñado que iba solo en un avión de papel de estaño que volaba sin tropezar por entre los almendros», me dijo. Tenía una reputación muy bien ganada de interprete certera de los sueños ajenos, siempre que se los contaran en ayunas, pero no había advertido ningún augurio aciago en esos dos sueños de su hijo, ni en los otros sueños con árboles que él le había contado en las mañanas que precedieron a su muerte.


Victoria Guzmán, la cocinera, estaba segura de que no había llovido aquel día, ni en todo el mes de febrero. «Al contrario», me dijo cuando vine a verla, poco antes de su muerte. «El sol calentó más temprano que en agosto.» Estaba descuartizando tres conejos para el almuerzo, rodeada de perros acezantes, cuando Santiago Nasar entró en la cocina. «Siempre se levantaba con cara de mala noche», recordaba sin amor Victoria Guzmán. Divina Flor, su hija, que apenas empezaba a florecer, le sirvió a Santiago Nasar un tazón de café cerrero con un chorro de alcohol de caña, como todos los lunes, para ayudarlo a sobrellevar la carga de la noche anterior. La cocina enorme, con el cuchicheo de la lumbre y las gallinas dormidas en las perchas, tenía una respiración sigilosa. Santiago Nasar masticó otra aspirina y se sentó a beber a sorbos lentos el tazón de café, pensando despacio, sin apartar la vista de las dos mujeres que destripaban los conejos en la hornilla. A pesar de la edad, Victoria Guzmán se conservaba entera. La niña, todavía un poco montaraz, parecía sofocada por el ímpetu de sus glándulas. Santiago Nasar la agarró por la muñeca cuando ella iba a recibirle el tazón vacío.
-Ya estás en tiempo de desbravar -le dijo.


La casa era un antiguo depósito de dos pisos, con paredes de tablones bastos y un techo de cinc de dos aguas, sobre el cual velaban los gallinazos por los desperdicios del puerto. Había sido construido en los tiempos en que el río era tan servicial que muchas barcazas de mar, e inclusive algunos barcos de altura, se aventuraban hasta aquí a través de las ciénagas del estuario. Cuando vino Ibrahim Nasar con los últimos árabes, al término de las guerras civiles, ya no llegaban los barcos de mar debido a las mudanzas del río, y el depósito estaba en desuso. Ibrahim Nasar lo compró a cualquier precio para poner una tienda de importación que nunca puso, y sólo cuando se iba a casar lo convirtió en una casa para vivir. En la planta baja abrió un salón que servía para todo, y construyó en el fondo una caballeriza para cuatro animales, los cuartos de servicio, y tina cocina de hacienda con ventanas hacia el puerto por donde entraba a toda hora la pestilencia de las aguas. Lo único que dejó intacto en el salón fue la escalera en espiral rescatada de algún naufragio. En la planta alta, donde antes estuvieron las oficinas de aduana, hizo dos dormitorios amplios y cinco camarotes para los muchos hijos que pensaba tener, y construyó un balcón de madera sobre los almendros de la plaza, donde Plácida Linero se sentaba en las tardes de marzo a consolarse de su soledad. En la fachada conservó la puerta principal y le hizo dos ventanas de cuerpo entero con bolillos torneados. Conservó también la puerta posterior, sólo que un poco más alzada para pasar a caballo, y mantuvo en servicio una parte del antiguo muelle. Ésa fue siempre la puerta de más uso, no sólo porque era el acceso natural a las pesebreras y la cocina, sino porque daba a la calle del puerto nuevo sin pasar por la plaza. La puerta del frente, salvo en ocasiones festivas, permanecía cerrada y con tranca. Sin embargo, fue por allí, y no por la puerta posterior, por donde esperaban a Santiago Nasar los hombres que lo iban a matar, y fue por allí por donde él salió a recibir al obispo, a pesar de que debía darle una vuelta completa a la casa para llegar al puerto.

El Paso

Fort Worth

El Paso

Texas

Phil. 3:20
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:"

Goatsbeard, Santa Fe National Park, New Mexico  

Chess: "Texas" "Fort Worth" "El Paso"

A Brief History of the Mexican-American War  
 by Phillip Muskett

Mexico was not the only nation against Texas annexation; England was against it as well. England feared the United States would threaten their position in the world, if the nation reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. There had been accusations of English activities to subvert the annexation, but it was not until March of 1845 that these activities were exposed. A British agent, Charles Elliot, worked out a deal with the Republic of Texas President, Anson Jones, to wait three months for Elliot to work out a deal with Mexico.[14] Elliot hoped to convince Mexico to recognize Texas’ independence, so England could block American expansion. Elliot performed this mission incognito.[15] The Americans clamored for action when Elliot’s cover was blown in Mexico City. Elliot’s mission ended in failure and England had no further influence on the annexation of Texas.

Las Nubes de Coronado

Ricky Schroder

Johnny Walker

Las Nubes de Coronado

Elizabethan Reader

Mary Read
Prov. 31:14 

"She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar."

Highway 1, Garrapata State Park, California

Chess: "Ricky Schroder" "Johnny Walker" "Mary Read" "Las Nubes de Coronado" "Elizabethan Reader"

Stephen Hawking

Texture

Step by Step

Stephen Hawking
John 6:19 
"So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid."
 

Fragrant Pathway

 Chess: "Texture" "Step by Step" "Stephen Hawking"

 

Education

Stephen Hawking's new claims opposes Isaac Newton; Christians responds

Newton, who left enduring legacies in mathematics and the natural sciences, had centuries ago warned against using the law of gravity - which he discovered - to view the universe as a mere machine, like a great clock.

“Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done,” the 17th century scientist and non-Trinitarian Anglican stated.

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being,” he added.

Hawking, however, says “the universe can and will create itself from nothing” because there is a law such as gravity.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” he writes in his soon-to-be-released book, The Grand Design. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper (fuse) and set the universe going."

While Hawking has long been known to be a deist – believing in the existence of an impersonal god on the evidence of reason and nature only – his denial of a personal god was notably more explicit in the excerpts from his latest work.

In The Grand Design, Hawking refers to the 1992 observation of a planet orbiting a star other than the sun and says it “makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions – the single sun, the lucky combination of Earth-sun distance and solar mass – far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings."

Not surprising, Hawking’s comments sparked a number of responses from Christian apologists and theologians of different faiths.

In the United Kingdom, where Hawking resides, Denis Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, said Hawking was “missing the point.”

"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," he said, according to CNN.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, similarly, accused Hawking of making a "misinterpretation" - one that he said "is damaging to religion and science in equal measure."

"Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation," he wrote in the U.K.-based Times, which first printed excerpts from The Grand Design on Thursday.

"Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. They are different intellectual enterprises," Sacks added.

Meanwhile, in the United States, scholars at the ministry Reasons To Believe have argued against the idea that God is not necessary because laws such as gravity exist and said even with the laws there is the requirement for something that transcends the universe to bring it into being.

Hawking, said RTB research scholar Dr. Jeffrey Zweerink, “is putting the laws of physics or the mathematics on that basis of … this transcendent entity … that is ultimately responsible for the cause of the beginning of the universe.”

“It’s a transcendent impersonal entity but nonetheless it’s a transcendent entity,” he added.

Furthermore, RTB President and Founder Dr. Hugh Ross said there a “fundamental flaw” in Hawking’s reasoning.

“A fundamental flaw in this Hawking idea is that God is no longer personal, and yet we human beings are personal,” he said in his ministry’s podcast Friday. “We have a mind, we have a spirit, and you’re attributing the development of the human mind, the human spirit, the minds for that matter we see in the higher animals, the personalities that we see in all of us from completely impersonal soul-less and spirit-less laws of physics. How can the lesser produce the greater?”

Like Hawking, RTB scholars agree that God is "the Grand Mathematician” but go further by saying He is more than that.

And, they say, the laws of physics in nature "are a reflection of God’s intimate sustaining care for the universe.”

“From a naturalist perspective, there need not be any laws of physics," said Zweerink. "But from a Christian perspective, we expect to see these laws of physics given God’s character and what He’s revealed to us.”

With only excerpts of the book having been released, the discussion is expected to continue and expand with the release of Hawking’s upcoming book.

The book, co-authored by physicist Leonard Mlodinow, is scheduled to be published by Bantam Dell on Sept. 9.

The Grand Design is Hawking's first major work in nearly a decade.

Christian interpretation

Jesus takes Peter who failed to walk on water. Lluís Borrassà, 1411 (Terrassa)

The walking on water miracle has specific interpretations within Christian teachings. Merrill Tenney states that the incident centered on the relationship of Jesus with his apostles, rather than their peril or the miracle itself.^[4] Similarly, authors Dwight Pentecost and John Danilson argue that this miracle was deliberately designed by Jesus to instruct his apostles and increase their faith.^[5]
Pentecost and Danilson note that according to the Gospel of John (John 6:19) the apostles had only been able to row slightly over three miles after several hours as they were buffeted by the waves and the storm. However, although the storm had prohibited them from fulfilling the command of Jesus, they did not give up and continued to exert themselves, straining at the oars (Mark 6:48).
In the early morning as Christ walked towards them, they realized that the sea that had impeded their movement was no obstacle to Christ, and all that they feared brought no fear to Jesus.
Apostle Peter initially showed great faith by walking on the water towards Jesus, but as he walked fear grasped him as he began to sink. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying: "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Here Jesus indicated that the temporary doubt in the power of Christ was the source of Peter's sinking.
Only after Christ had brought Peter back to the boat, the wind died down (Matthew 14:32). At the end of the incident, the response of the Apostles was to cry: "Truly you are the Son of God".
Pentecost and Danilson thus suggest that the miracle was designed to teach the apostles that when encountering obstacles, they need to rely on their faith in Christ, first and foremost.

McCannEricksson

Loyola

McCannEricksson

Bavaria
Matt. 27:52 
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,"

 

White Aster Close-up copy

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, Bavaria, Germany

 Sunset Silhouette

Chess:  "Loyola" "McCannEricksson" "Bavaria"

Cotopaxi

Lettering

Mount St. Hellen

Cotopaxi

1Sam. 2:13 -17:
"And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;"
"And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither."
 "Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
"And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force."
 "Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD."

Chess: "Letering" "Cotopaxi" "Mount St. Hellen"

Oblique

Oblique

Izaac Walton

The Compleat Angler

Eccles. 11:1 

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."

Raja Empat Island Group, Indonesia

Chess: "oblique" "Izaac Walton" "The Complete Angler"