Jason’s Exodus

Life is taking strange turns these days. Maybe that’s because I’ve shifted to a different gear to deal with this time of year - the year will turn, exams will happen, futures get considered.

One thing I’ve been thinking about has been, well, confirmed. Either that’s a testament to my ability to see, or it was bloody obvious in the first place. Unfortunately, knowing things about reality doesn’t mean they become any easier to deal with. Not when what we’re talking about is an ingrained culture.

Yet, hineini! It’s a Hebrew word, which roughly means “Voila! It’s me!” and usually gets translated “Here I am!”.
I theorised that what I want to do was not something many people realise they need. I also theorised that in that kind of climate, what I need to do is work with someone I trust and who trusts me, to partner with someone long term who is going to need what I can do with and for them. My belief in the sovereignty of God means that I believe the present to be what it is because that’s the way God wants it to be. Here I am. Hineini! Where to next? With whom shall I go? I can’t see how the patterns are forming, but I know that I’ll have to play a part in the weaving if I am to make my future viable. I know God has predestined the future, but I know full well that I have to take responsibility for my future. Here’s to a walk on a tightrope.

One of the problems of compartmentalising and reducing things is that you tend to lose the organic, tied-up nature of stuff.

Like how you read the Bible and have doctrine. In short, exegesis, Biblical theology and Systematic theology. The fact that we have subjects called “Doctrine” or “Systematic theology” makes it look like these are divorced from Exegesis.

2 things seem to have brought this topic into focus. One is a post by Mark, the other is our church history lecture on how many used to read the Bible - allegorically. The thing that most got me on this is the strand structure of NTE.

The way I’d best describe it is that there is a synthesis of these things going on when we read and learn from the Bible. When you read the Bible, it should inform your doctrine, your systematic theology, your system of thinking about stuff about God and Jesus and the Bible. However, when you read the Bible, you do not do so without a system already in there, no matter how basic it is. What you already believe affects how you interpret the Bible. But at the same time, what you read from the Bible should affect what you believe. There is an organic synthesis between your doctrine and your exegesis.

But it’s more than that. There is a circularity here. If you start wrong, how will you end up right? Your presuppositions will end up guiding your reading and then your reading will reinforce your presuppositions. It’s like the old chestnut - how do you know the Bible is from God? It says so. You have to believe the Bible is true in order to accept it’s truthfulness. How do you start reading, and end up with right doctrine, with truth? I think you know who got sent to make sure of that in the hearts of believers.

I’ve got a little more on this, but that’ll have to wait for another post.

We had a break. That break is finished now, and we’re on to the last term of the year. This has meant a few things.

1) Exams
2) More exams
3) Study for aforementioned exams
4) What to do after exams

The break itself was uneventful. Most people were writing essays. I was refining mine, and doing Hebrew and Greek, plus some reading. And bludging at home - I love the old games better than the new games. Plus the old games don’t give me motion sickness. With my room now fully armed and operational all that remains are non-essential nice touches. Like a corner unit, and probably extra shelf space. I’d like to shift the stuff I don’t use here back there just to help keep it cleaner.

Pain hurts. This might seem obvious, but there is pain that doesn’t go away by numbing the nerves with cold running water and a panadol.

Contradictions of words and actions and meanings have left me a little broken hearted. No, this is not about a girl. Fighting to prove myself, to escape someone’s box, has left me weary. Giving forgiveness is easy - acting reconciliation may be another matter.

And so as much as the pain hurts, I have to put away the anger at being hurt, and keep walking, slowly onward, heading for a home that feels just a little further away than it used to.

Joy breaks the pain. Reconnecting with those I miss is awesome. Strength to keep walking returns. And now I have to sort through the emails.

Well, given the fact that this didn’t fall over in a heap, it’s probably safe to say that the upgrade of the ISP’s web servers went ok.

Once that’s confirmed, I guess I better fill you in on the news. But that will be sometime when I’m not doing Hebrew …

It’s been a while since I’ve played full-field normal-rules-with-ref 11-a-side soccer. I mean, Monday arvo random soccer just isn’t the same.

When I played at school, I started off in the back, played in the mids, was put back into the backline, and had about 5 minutes at goalkeeper. That last one was not my idea. In the game against SMBC, I played about a half in the backline as right fullback. I was mostly cover and marking. It was ok. The second game against Morling I played a half and 10 minutes at centre midfield, which turned out better than I thought but not as good as could have been. Still, it seems that my fitness levels are fine, my hip has been healing up as well as the glutes, and my left foot may need some better kicking prowess. And I’ve learnt enough off Pro Evo soccer to be able to do positioning as an attacking midfielder.

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1) My help has ethical limits

2) A little Hebrew has revealed that even as the woman starts thinking about whether to eat the fruit of that tree, she has headed down the dark side - it’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and she sees that the tree is good for food.

3) In the parable of the sower, as the seed that fell on the rocky ground rises up, so the sun also rises up, but to burn it!

4) Tea is no longer putting me to sleep, which is nice when I wanted that tea to keep me warm whilst staying awake! I’ve now slowly built a small variety here, so it won’t be all PoW (I’ve used my previous supply, but I have more now)

5) A little research into the matters of archaelogy is proving rather useful. It’s for an essay we got due in about a month from now. It’s intriguing the stuff you find out - that people are arguing over the date at which Jericho was destroyed; the fact that there was heaps of grain in the city when it burnt, suggesting a really quick conquest without a protracted siege, and that it was also harvest season or not long after.

So the Moore OzTag origin match ended with NSW city beating NSW country + randoms in “golden point extra time”, and then Qld beat NSW by, ummm, well before any mention of “full time”.

OzTag is different. I’ve spent the last half a year figuring out touch footy, and now I’ve got to adjust to trying to snatch one of two slim pieces of fabric and playing more like league, a game which I quite despise. Still, I scored 2 tries and actually managed to take the tags off in a series of 3 consecutive plays from the marking position. So it was alright, and maybe Chappo can come back in the next few weeks.

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In a former post, I began various thoughts about using Transformer analogies for the various trinitarian and Christological heresies of the early church, and sometimes still prevalent.

Since then, I’ve expanded the range of uses.
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