• Ephesians 4:26-27
• In your anger do not sin
• Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry
• do not give the devil a foothold

2 more annotations...

• Finding Social and Global Coherence

  • "You Do Affect Those Around You!"
    
    Here's an explanation for lay people of the intriguing science behind how and why we affect others with our emotions and moods ...what's called the "Energetic Effect".
    
    Discover the power of love ...and hate!
    gfp (2012-06-21)
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• Most people understand that certain people in our lives can have a profound influence on us:
• We are learning much more about how and why our presence, and especially our moods and emotions can affect others and how we can sense how others are feeling. Our mere presence can help others feel better and more comfortable, or ill at ease and anxious.
• the boy was not petting or interacting with dog
• he horse’s heart-rhythm pattern, or HRV coherence, shifted to a more ordered pattern
• esearchers were able to detect synchronization between a mother’s brainwaves (EEG) and her baby’s heartbeats (ECG). The pair were not in physical contact
• "Of the many new scientific perspectives that emerged from the 20th century, one of the most profound is that the universe is wholly and enduringly interconnected and coherent. Complex living systems, including human beings, are composed of numerous dynamic, interconnected networks of biological structures and processes."

5 more annotations...

• 1 Peter 4:7-10

  • "Love Covers ALL Sin"
    
    1 Peter 4:8 in context of 7-10 explains why "love" is so important!
    
    GaryFPatton (gfp '42™2012-06-02)
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•  Above all, ^(C)keep fervent in your love for one another, because ^(D)love covers a multitude of sins

  • All sin is rooted in selfishness. Love kills selfishness and, therefore, covers all sin.
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• John 14:7-10

  • "Jesus Is Oneness In & With God, The Father"
    In John 14:7-10 below, Jesus clearly states He is one with God our Heavenly Father and the earthly depiction of Him ...His attributes, his character and His love for every human being.
    gfp (2012-05-23)
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• from now on you ^(B)know Him, and have ^(C)seen Him.”
• He who has seen Me has seen the Father
• I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me

2 more annotations...

• James 1:2-8

  • Christian: "Handling Life Is To Produce Joy ...Not Fun"
    
    What Others Say
    “The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable.” http://diigo.com/0qoff ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1942) German persecuted Jesus Follower
    What I Suggest
    James 1:2-8, of the New Covenant portion of the Christian Bible, says what God allows to come our way in our lives is to be joy-creating ...not necessarily fun... because of what they help us to learn for the future ... when we're wiser.
    You can read my further comments on this passage in e-Sticky Notes attached to individual verses below. To see them, click the small, numbered icon at the beginning of an highlighted Verse.
    What The Bible Says Is Below
    © GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-05-18)
• James 1:2-8
• James 1:2-8
• James 1:2-8
• New American Standard Bible

  • Christian: "Handling Life Is To Produce Joy ...Not Fun"
    
    What Others Say
    
    “The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable.” http://diigo.com/0qoff ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1942) German persecuted Jesus Follower
    
    What I Suggest
    
    James 1:2-8, of the New Covenant portion of the Christian Bible, says what God allows to come our way in our lives is to be joy-creating ...not necessarily fun... because of what they help us to learn for the future ... when we're wiser.
    
    You can read my further comments on this passage in e-Sticky Notes attached to individual verses below. To see them, click the small, numbered icon at the beginning of an highlighted Verse.
    
    What The Bible Says Is Below
    
    © GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-05-18)
• Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter ^(B)various ^[a]trials, ³ knowing that ^(C)the testing of your ^(D)faith produces ^[b](E)endurance. ⁴ And let ^[c](F)endurance have its perfect ^[d]result, so that you may be ^[e](G)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

  • Other translations say "perseverance". Endurance sounds like harder work, eh?
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• But if any of you ^(H)lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and ^[f]without reproach

  • What an incredible promise from the Living God Who cannot lie! A Jesus Follower never has to be in doubt about how to proceed when they have faith in God and step out in that ...not worldly wisdom.
    
    For this promise, I thank God because, in my 70 years of experience, "grey areas" have become "greyer" the older I get when I and Jesus Follower's I know, have stayed open-minded.
    
    Have fun prayerfully working through your grey challenges and look forward to Holy Spirit sending you more and more complex ones as you "endure". :-)
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• it will be given

  • What an incredible promise from the Living God Who cannot lie! A Jesus Follower never has to be in doubt about how to proceed when they have faith in God and step out in that ...not worldly wisdom.
    
    For this promise, I thank God because, in my 70 years of experience, "grey areas" have become "greyer" the older I get when I and Jesus Follower's I know, have stayed open-minded.
    
    Have fun prayerfully working through your grey challenges and look forward to Holy Spirit sending you more and more complex ones as you "endure". :-)
    
    Verse 5 - On "It will be given
    
    In the context of Holy Spirit-inspired wisdom, Jesus Followers also are wise to remember that He sometimes gives wisdom without our asking because of His grace for us in the context of a trial or other reason of His knowing only.
    
    This unsolicited and generous wisdom-providing "Gifts of the Spirit" can come in many ways including:
    • a "still small voice" that insists that you "know that you know that you know" something,
    • a word of knowledge sent to assist, convict or persuade another,
    • a word of wisdom to move some situation or you along, plus,
    • a vision in the form of a daydream or night- dream.
    
    What a U.S Missionary and Twitter colleague, Justin Long, wrote about visions applies, I believe, to all gifted wisdom:
    • "Vision, by its very nature, has a ethereal, foggy, transient quality.
    • "You only notice details by constant and continuous observation. Most "visions" can be elusive and unclear simply because we do not have or take the time to observe them long enough to notice all the details. Dreams in the night are bounded by the hours of sleep. Visions in the day - waking visions, daydreams - are brief and illusory, shattered by sensory input and kind people asking us if we're all right or what we're thinking.
    • "When visions are gone - however clear, however divine - they can be forgotten within minutes or hours. Their clarity recedes, their meaning is unknown, they are discarded.
    • "The only way to strengthen vision is to record it and then observe it in the mind's eye, recall it, remember it, seek clarification, and most importantly act on it.
    • "If it's not recorded, it will be lost. If it's not acted on, it is voted an unimportant, wispy product of the mind's emotion, and discarded with the dendritius of daily forgettings."
    
    Justin wrote the above in his Blog on 2012-05-30 at http://wp.me/pAN31-1SH
    
    Because of the fleeting nature of nighttime and visions especially, I keep a small flashlight, paper & a pen in the drawer of my night stand.
    
    Might God's non-requested and gifted-wisdom, which is every Jesus Follower's for the asking as James says in Verse 5, be given, normally, only once and then passed on to another who WILL take action on it?
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• he must ^(J)ask in faith ^(K)without any doubting,

  • This is the key, Holy Spirit says, for getting the "wisdom" that He has promised in verse 5.
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•  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸ being a ^[g](M)double-minded man, ^(N)unstable in all his ways.

  • Don't ask for wisdom if you're not going to act in faith on how God leads because it is too dangerous!
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• All warfare is based on deception.

• God Behaving Badly

  • In this Interview by fellow author, Frank Viola, David Lamb author of "God behaving badly" contextualizes a number of "hard sayings" from the Old Covenant portion of the Christian Bible. He helps a reasonable reader understand that the seemingly harsh and vindictive God of thr Old Testament is the gentle Jesus of pre-cross Christianity.
    gfp (2012-05-08)
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• 10 Powerful Body Language Tips

  • Studies show that observers have greater success judging a person’s real emotional state when they can see the entire body. Here are 10 other helpful tips for improving your relationship engagement.
    gfp (2012-05-07)
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• simply holding your body in expansive, “high-power” poses (leaning back with hands behind the head and feet up on a desk, or standing with legs and arms stretched wide open) for as little as two minutes stimulates higher levels of testosterone
• focus on those who are speaking by turning your head and torso to face them directly and by making eye contact. Leaning forward, nodding, and tilting your head are other nonverbal ways to show you’re engaged and paying attention. It’s important to hear people. It’s just as important to make sure they know you are listening.
• Physical obstructions are especially detrimental to collaborative efforts
• Even during a coffee break, be aware that you may create a barrier
• Touching someone on the arm, hand, or shoulder for as little as 1/40 of a second creates a human bond.
• A genuine smile not only stimulates your own sense of well-being, it also tells those around you that you are approachable, cooperative, and trustworthy.
• mirror other people with intent, it can be an important part of building rapport and nurturing feelings of mutuality
• incorporate gestures into their deliveries, I consistently find that their verbal content improves
• legs and feet are left unrehearsed, they are also where the truth can most often be found.
• Studies show that observers have greater success judging a person’s real emotional state when they can see the entire body.
• when stating your opinion, use the authoritative arc,
• sat with unfolded arms and legs, they remembered 38% more
• see your audience exhibiting defensive body language, change tactics, take a break, or get them to move—and don’t try to persuade them until their bodies open up

12 more annotations...

• 1 Timothy 2:3-4

  • 1 Timothy 2:3-4 confirms God's heart for those not in personal relationship with Him because they haven't confessed Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour.
    gfp (2012-05-05)
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• God our Savior, ^4 (B)who desires all men to be ^(C)saved

  • This verse prompts a question which is at the heart of the sometimes acrimonious and unChristlike debate between Calvinists vs. Universalists. The debate revolves around the question of whether only a few vs. everyone will be saved.
    
    That question is: "Does an omnipotent God, who is both perfectly Holy and just plus perfect love, get what He wants?
    
    That question leads to another: "Where in the Bible does God say He will NOT do other than what individuals choose ...despite our much talked about human "free will choice"?
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• 1 John 4:15-17
• 1 John 4:15-17

  • In 1 John 4:15-17, the passage below, Jesus' Apostle (sent-out-one) John, one of Jesus' first Followers, outlines "the who", "the why" and "the what" of abundant and eternal life.
    
    As the highlights below on key sections of this passage confirm, the Bible clearly states that confessing Jesus' (Yeshua's) "Divinity in the flesh" is the ONLY way to God. Jesus says so, bluntly, Himself in John 14:6 at http://diigo.com/0qe5p. That's the 'Who'.
    
    These verses also clearly state the 'why', i.e., "God IS love!" as noted in Verse 16 below.
    
    Finally, they explain the 'what', i.e., God comes to live His life out through Jesus Followers to remove the uncertainty of the consequences of our sin nature and sins as it says in Galatians 2:20 at http://diigo.com/0jggi .
    
    What it doesn't say here or ANYWHERE in the Bible, that anyone has found to my knowledge, is the 'how', the 'where' or the 'when' because God delivers his grace in many ways as it says in Ephesians 2:8-10 at http://diigo.com/0n20e .
    
    GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-12-11)
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• 1 John 4:15-17
• 1 John 4:15-17

  • "God IS Only Loving"
    
    In 1 John 4:15-17, Apostle (sent-out-one) John, one of Jesus' first Followers, outlines "the who", "the why" and "the what" of abundant and eternal life with God through Jesus (Yeshua).
    gfp (2012-05-04)
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• 1 John 4:15-17
• Jesus is the Son of God

  • A “Christocentric” analysis of the Old Covenant enables its readers to understand that, because of what we see in Jesus as portrayed in the New Covenant, God does not necessarily behave the way people of the Old Covenant thought that He did or for the reasons they often suggest.
    
    A Christocentric view maintains the historical accuracy of the Gospel accounts, thereby allowing the life, teachings, miracles, parables, and actions of Jesus to be the guiding principle in understanding the Old Covenant.
    In other words, when a passage of of the Old Covenant does not match up with the Jesus of the Gospels, Jesus trumps what we read in other passages. This does not mean that these other passages are wrong, but that they more accurately reflect what people thought about God, but misunderstood Him looking through their imperfect level of revelation.
    For example, when we look at Jesus in the New Covenant, we only see Him calming storms ...never sending them. We see Him only feeding the hungry ...never sending famines. We never see Him calling down fire upon His foes, but only rebuking His disciples when they ask Him to incinerate those who reject Him.
    The contrast between our God of the Old Covenant with our God of the New, Jesus, continues throughout the latter section of the Christian Scriptures.
    If Jesus, not the Muslim Isa, reveals God the Father to us, and is the exact representation of the One God, as God the Son says He is in http://diigo.com/0rc45, then Jesus shows us how God behaves.
    
    Portrayals of God in the Old Covenant which contradict how Jesus represents God to us are inerrant portrayals of what people thought God was like, but are not inerrant portrayals of what God is actually like.
    
    When contrasting passages arise that a Christocentric position doesn't seem to resolve, I feel that one can still rest at peace by using the concept of "antinomy", i.e., "equal but opposing truths".
    
    Antinomies arise throughout the Scriptures as you may know, e.g., free will vs. predestination, grace vs. justice, etc.
    
    I do not believe any of them can or will be resolved to every Christians satisfaction by our finite human minds. And quite possibly God the Holy Spirit, Who inspired the Scriptures of both Covenants which knock so jarringly against one another so often, possibly never intended them to be.
    
    Might that be why He uses the word "mystery", regularly about some of the things He inspired?
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• Whoever confesses that ^(B)Jesus is the Son of God, God ^(C)abides in him, and he in God.

  • As the highlights on key sections of these verses confirm, the Bible clearly states that confessing Jesus' (Yeshua's) "Divinity in the flesh" is the ONLY way to God. Jesus says so, bluntly, Himself in John 14:6 at http://diigo.com/0qe5p.
    That's the 'Who'.
    These verses also clearly state the 'why', i.e., "God IS love!".
    Finally, they explain the 'what', i.e., God comes to live His life out through Jesus Followers to remove the uncertainty of the consequences of our sin nature and sins.
    What it doesn't say here or ANYWHERE in the Bible, that anyone has found to my knowledge, is the 'how', the 'where' or the 'when' because God delivers his grace in many ways as it says in Ephesians 2:8-10 at http://diigo.com/0n20e .
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• God is love,

  • Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the famous U.S. Preacher from the time of the "Great Awakening", said humankind are: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God".
    
    Yes, God does get very angry. And we are in His hands.
    
    Yet, I prefer the perspective of the New Covenant rather than the image Edwards takes from the Old Covenant which sometimes portrays God as"the big, bad cop in the sky".
    
    The former perspective rather that of Edwards' is nicely summarized by a modern, 21st Century, rather than 19th Century frontier, American writer when he says:
    "If Jesus is any guide, we are not sinners in the hands of an angry God, but are children facing the wrath of angry sin." ~ Jeremy Myers, U.S. author
    
    You'll discover Mr. Myers excellent article discussing what God is really like at http://is.gd/e0boom .
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• God abides in him.
• the one who ^(G)abides in love abides in God
• confidence in ^(J)the day of judgment

9 more annotations...

• Universalism
   The
   Prevailing Doctrine

    

  Of The
   Christian Church
   During Its First
   Five Hundred Years

  • The author documents his thesis well.
    gfp (2012-05-04)
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