what is man? by william cowper

How readily, upon the gospel plan
That question has its answer-What is man?
Sinful and weak, in ev'ry sense a wretch;
An instrument, whose cords, upon the stretch,
And strain'd to the last screw that he can bear,
Yield only discord in his Maker's ear:
Once the blest residence of truth divine,
Glorious as Solyma's interior shrine,
Where, in his own oracular abode,
Dwelt visibly the light-creating God;
But made long since, like Babylon of old,
A den of mischiefs never to be told:
And she, once mistress of the realms around,
Now scatter'd wide, and nowhere to be found,
As soon shall rise and reascend the throne,
By native pow'r and energy her own,
As nature, at her own peculiar cost,
Restore to man the glories he has lost.

Go-bid the winter cease to chill the year;
Replace the wand'ring comet in his sphere;
Then boast (but wait for that unhop'd for hour)
The self-restoring arm of human pow'r.
But what is man in his own proud esteem?
Hear him-himself the poet and the theme:
A monarch, cloth'd with majesty and awe;
His mind his kingdom, and his will his law;
Grace in his mien, and glory in his eyes,
Supreme on earth, and worthy of the skies,
Strength in his heart, dominion in his nod,
And, thunderbolts excepted, quite a God!

So sings he, charm'd with his own mind and form,
The song magnificent-the theme a worm!
Himself so much the source of his delight,
His Maker has no beauty in his sight.
See where he sits, contemplative and fix'd,
Pleasure and wonder in his features mix'd;
His passions tam'd, and all at his control,
How perfect the composure of his soul!
Complacency has breath'd a gentle gale
O'er all his thoughts, and swell'd his easy sail:
His books well trimm'd, and in the gayest style,
Like regimented coxcombs, rank and file,
Adorn his intellects as well as shelves,
And teach him notions splendid as themselves:
The Bible only stands neglected there-
Though that of all most worthy of his care;
And, like an infant, troublesome awake,
Is left to sleep, for peace and quiet sake.

What shall the man deserve of human kind,
Whose happy skill and industry, combin'd,
Shall prove (what argument could never yet)
The Bible an imposture and a cheat?
The praises of the libertine profess'd,
The worst of men, and curses of the best.
Where should the living, weeping o'er his woes;
The dying, trembling at the awful close;
Where the betray'd, forsaken, and oppress'd,
The thousands whom the world forbids to rest;
Where should they find, (those comforts at an end
The Scripture yields) or hope to find, a friend?
Sorrow might muse herself to madness then;
And, seeking exile from the sight of men,
Bury herself in solitude profound,
Grow frantic with her pangs, and bite the ground.
Thus often unbelief, grown sick of life,
Flies to the tempting pool, or felon knife.
The jury meet, the coroner is short,
And lunacy the verdict of the court.
Reverse the sentence, let the truth be known,
Such lunacy is ignorance alone.
They knew not, what some bishops may not know,
That Scripture is the only cure of woe.

That field of promise, how it flings abroad
Its odour o'er the Christian's thorny road!
The soul, reposing on assur'd relief,
Feels herself happy amidst all her grief,
Forgets her labour as she toils along,
Weeps tears of joy, and bursts into a song.
But the same word, that, like the polish'd share,
Ploughs up the roots of a believer's care,
Kills too the flow'ry weeds, where'er they grow,
That bind the sinner's Bacchanalian brow.
Oh, that unwelcome voice of heav'nly love,
Sad messenger of mercy from above!
How does it grate upon his thankless ear,
Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear!
His will and judgment at continual strife,
That civil war embitters all his life:
In vain he points his pow'rs against the skies,
In vain he closes or averts his eyes,
Truth will intrude-she bids him yet beware;
And shakes the sceptic in the scorner's chair.

Though various foes against the truth combine,
Pride above all opposes her design;
Pride, of a growth superior to the rest,
The subtlest serpent, with the loftiest crest,
Swells at the thought, and, kindling into rage,
Would hiss the cherub mercy from the stage.

And is the soul, indeed, so lost?-she cries;
Fall'n from her glory, and too weak to rise?
Torpid and dull, beneath a frozen zone,
Has she no spark that may be deem'd her own?
Grant her indebted to what zealots call
Grace undeserv'd-yet, surely, not for all!
Some beams of rectitude she yet displays,
Some love of virtue, and some pow'r to praise;
Can lift herself above corporeal things,
And, soaring on her own unborrow'd wings,
Possess herself of all that's good or true,
Assert the skies, and vindicate her due.
Past indiscretion is a venial crime;
And, if the youth, unmellow'd yet by time,
Bore on his branch, luxuriant then and rude,
Fruits of a blighted size, austere and crude,
Maturer years shall happier stores produce,
And meliorate the well concocted juice.
Then, conscious of her meritorious zeal,
To justice she may make her bold appeal;
And leave to mercy, with a tranquil mind,
The worthless and unfruitful of mankind.
Hear, then, how mercy, slighted and defied,
Retorts th' affront against the crown of pride.

Perish the virtue, as it ought, abhorr'd,
And the fool with it, who insults his Lord.
Th' atonement a Redeemer's love has wrought
Is not for you-the righteous need it not.
Seest thou yon harlot, wooing all she meets,
The worn-out nuisance of the public streets;
Herself, from morn to night, from night to morn,
Her own abhorrence, and as much your scorn!
The gracious show'r, unlimited and free,
Shall fall on her, when heav'n denies it thee.
Of all that wisdom dictates, this the drift-
That man is dead in sin, and life a gift.

Is virtue, then, unless of Christian growth,
Mere fallacy, or foolishness, or both?
Ten thousand sages lost in endless woe,
For ignorance of what they could not know?
That speech betrays at once a bigot's tongue-
Charge not a God with such outrageous wrong!
Truly, not I-the partial light men have,
My creed persuades me, well employ'd, may save;
While he that scorns the noon-day beam, perverse,
Shall find the blessing, unimprov'd, a curse.
Let heathen worthies, whose exalted mind
Left sensuality and dross behind,
Possess, for me, their undisputed lot,
And take, unenvied, the reward they sought:
But still in virtue of a Saviour's plea,
Not blind by choice, but destin'd not to see.
Their fortitude and wisdom were a flame Celestial,
though they knew not whence it came,
Deriv'd from the same source of light and grace
That guides the Christian in his swifter race.
Their judge was conscience, and her rule their law:
That rule, pursued with rev'rence and with awe,
Led them, however falt'ring, faint, and slow,
From what they knew to what they wish'd to know.
But let not him that shares a brighter day
Traduce the splendour of a noon-tide ray,
Prefer the twilight of a darker time,
And deem his base stupidity no crime;
The wretch, who slights the bounty of the skies,
And sinks, while favour'd with the means to rise,
Shall find them rated at their full amount,
The good he scorn'd all carried to account.

Marshalling all his terrors as he came;
Thunder, and earthquake, and devouring flame;
From Sinai's top Jehovah gave the law-
Life for obedience-death for ev'ry flaw.
When the great Sov'reign would his will express,
He gives a perfect rule; what can he less?
And guards it with a sanction as severe
As vengeance can inflict, or sinners fear:
Else his own glorious rights he would disclaim,
And man might safely trifle with his name.
He bids him glow with unremitting love
To all on earth, and to himself above;
Condemns th' injurious deed, the sland'rous tongue,
The thought that meditates a brother's wrong:
Brings not alone the more conspicuous part-
His conduct-to the test, but tries his heart.
H#ark! universal nature shook and groan'd,
'Twas the last trumpet-see the Judge enthron'd:
Rouse all your courage at your utmost need;
Now summon ev'ry virtue-stand, and plead.
What! silent? Is your boasting heard no more?
That self-renouncing wisdom, learn'd before,
Had shed immortal glories on your brow,
That all your virtues cannot purchase now.
All joy to the believer! He can speak-
Trembling, yet happy; confident, yet meek.

Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot,
And cut up all my follies by the root,
I never trusted in an arm but thine ,
Nor hop'd, but in thy righteousness divine:
My pray'rs and alms, imperfect, and defil'd,
Were but the feeble efforts of a child;
Howe'er perform'd, it was their brightest part
That they proceeded from a grateful heart:
Cleans'd in thine own all-purifying blood,
Forgive their evil, and accept their good.
I cast them at thy feet-my only plea
Is what it was-dependence upon thee:
While struggling in the vale of tears below,
That never fail'd, nor shall it fail me now.
Angelic gratulations rend the skies:
Pride falls unpitied, never more to rise;
Humility is crown'd; and Faith receives the prize.

Doctrine

well i haven't posted anything in a long time so i guess i'll say something. been reading a book called doctrine by mark driscoll, it's really good, something i saw that i thought was cool was that other gods worshiped by other people of other religions are really powerful fallen angles that perform signs, wonders and miracles to try to trick people in to believing that they are equal with god (which they are no where close to being equal) scripture verses showing this are Deut.32:17 , Ps.106:37, 1cor.10:20, Gal 4:8 pretty much any false god of a false religon is really a demon so allah, baal,mother Earth ,Mammon(money) , and Aphrodite(sex) just to name a few are demons and i would say that they(the false gods of old) are still wrongly worshiped to this day but back on track that Deuteronomy chapter is really great so i 'll share it...

Deuteronomy 32

¹"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
²May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
³For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God!

⁴ "The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
⁵They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.
⁶Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
⁷ Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
⁹But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰"He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
¹¹ Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
¹² the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
¹³ He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

¹⁵"But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
¹⁸You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ "The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
²⁰And he said, 'I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
²¹ They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
²²For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³"'And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them;
²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
²⁵ Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
²⁶ I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,"
²⁷had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this."'

²⁸"For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
²⁹If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!
³⁰How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up?
³¹For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
³²For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
³³their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴"'Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.'
³⁶For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
³⁷Then he will say, 'Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
³⁸who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!

³⁹"'See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
⁴¹if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.'

⁴³ "Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land."

⁴⁴Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them, "Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

C H Spurgeon

C H Spurgeon something to say about it

"What a golden example Christ gives to his disciples! Few masters could venture to say, "If you would practise my teaching, imitate my life;" but as the life of Jesus is the exact transcript of perfect virtue, he can point to himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher of it. The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model. Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the grace which was in him. As a husband, the Christian is to look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint according to that copy. The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to his church. The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the church a peculiar affection, which is set upon her above the rest of mankind: "I pray for them, I pray not for the world." The elect church is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very centre and core of his love. A husband should love his wife with a constant love, for thus Jesus loves his church. He does not vary in his affection. He may change in his display of affection, but the affection itself is still the same. A husband should love his wife with an enduring love, for nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." A true husband loves his wife with a hearty love, fervent and intense. It is not mere lip-service. Ah! beloved, what more could Christ have done in proof of his love than he has done? Jesus has a delighted love towards his spouse: He prizes her affection, and delights in her with sweet complacence. Believer, you wonder at Jesus' love; you admire it-are you imitating it? In your domestic relationships is the rule and measure of your love-"even as Christ loved the church?"

more on marriage and also some on courtship

ok im going to add some cause i don't what to come off the wrong way or anything....

ok so it's pretty clear that man and women have different God given roles, ephesians 5 is pretty clear Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her also 1 Corinthians 11 :3

"Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7A man ought not to cover his head,[b] since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

11In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

ok so it's important to understand that God made women totally equal to men in person hood, dignity , and worth no less important or valuable but what is key to understand is we are created equal but are different. we have different roles and are just different we are not the same any one should be able to see that. so these role bases on genesis man is to be the leader and initiator and head of the household and the spiritual leader of the house hold and the woman is to be the helper , and to complement, nourish and help there husbands. now that role is not less than that of the mans(remember created equal but are different) and it also illustrates the trinity and in the same way the father, son and holy spirit are equal and ONE they also perform different distant tasks also genesis 2: 18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." also the only other person assigned the role of the helper in the bible is the holy spirit and as many Godly men have told me they are nothing with out there wife so really don't get the idea that it's not an important role because it's very important . now for the mans role the leadership is done in love and not in a strict or harsh kinda of way nor would it ever be used to make the wife do something she doesn't wish to do . again i'm not married so i know i don't know everything but this is just what God has been teaching me about in the bible and also in books like boy meets girl which also talks about the different roles.n ow on to the initiator part , it is the man's role to initiate a relationship, to give girls a small picture of it it requires alot of prayer , faith, trust in God's soverginty, seeking after God ,keeping God as the focus in our lives, not getting preattached to anyone, treat all girls as sisters with absolute purity, becoming and striving to be a biblical man, and when we do become attracted to someone to test those feelings, hide them from that person, guard that person's and our hearts , and in God's timing if it clear that God wants us to seek a relationship with that person to ultimately see if that person is who God wants us to marry so then we go to that person's father or whoever is the leader over her and ask first his permission and then that person's permission and in the end it can all end in a NO but it's not like that's a bad thing cause i see it as answer prayer and in the end God will work out what his plan is and also God cares about the journey not just the destination. know that all ideally what someone is suppose to do and pretty much every relationship is different but it key to understand that the reason for all the work is because a woman is something of great value and worth and as a guy we have no right to simply ask for her heart with no commitment and it would also be wrong to take her from under the authority of her father and God (so don't have a whole lot of time to go into all this so listen to paul washer's sermon on dating to learn more ) but we work and fight in the mud and slay dragons while the woman is high on a throne in the safety of the castle because she is a princess, she is that highly valued and worthy of such protection and is that big of a prize. OK i hope i made some sense and can now get to the part that confused the most people most likely.... now i said that the spirit lead love that the husband is called to have can't really be matched by the wife , now it's hard to explain but now that it is something that has to be learn and is really given by God but the husband is called to love his wife and the way he is called to love her is different then the way the wife is called to love(joyfully submitting) now don't think that there's no love on the wife part but its different (it's hard to explain so bear with me) the movie fireproof perfectly exemplifies this , how the main character loved his wife and pursed his wife, with steadfast love in the same way Jesus loves the church, although his wife hated him and didn't respect him, but the main guy continued ( i'm i starting to make some sense now?) so i humbly submit that i believe there is a difference (and don't think when it comes to relationships that there doesn't have to be any interest on the girl's side, she ultimately has the final say to rather to start a courtship or not) so feel free to comment and i hope i'm making some sense, i would love to hear from some married couples on what they think about this and any tips you have or stuff you've learned also my sister's in Christ what do you think about it and hopeful you got to see a brief glimpse of some of the stuff as guys we go through and deal with wich may be different then what you go through often and i pray that i didn't come across in any way that belittled or devalued how valuable and amazing Godly women so i pray that God may use this note a encouragement to someone and that God may get all the glory and i'll end with a proverb 31 :30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate

unity in community

so i wrote a rap cause i had nothing better to do so i'll share it

unity in community
by MC guppy truth dog blimp

(verse 1)

unity of community
unity of community
if you don----'t knows what i means----
then you must be have-in a lot of enemies

(chorus)
so as a believer yo
say what?!
as a believer we must be have-in community

(repeat chorus)

(verse 2)
so don't you see without community
you don't never got no unity
what !? what!?
it like facebook
what!? what!?
so get to camp and jump off that bunk
cause there be no such thing as luck
so come , get with unity so we canbe spellin
come-unity
Word!

(chorus)

love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

^{so i had this really cool realization about something so i'm going to try to share it}

Hosea 2

²"Plead with your mother, plead—

for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
³lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
⁴ Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
⁵For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, 'I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'
⁶Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
⁷She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
'I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.'
⁸And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
⁹Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
¹¹ And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.
¹²And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
'These are my wages,
which my lovers have given me.'
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
¹³And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the LORD.

¹⁴"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' ¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.
²¹"And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
²²and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,

²³and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people';
and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"

so it's important to note that Hosea is talking about Israel unfaithfulness and also about the bride of Christ. the bride of Christ isthe church , made up of all of God's elect who he choose before the foundation of the world and given to his son. marriage was ordain by God and really illuminates and shines some light on salvation and regeneration , but also should note i'm coming from a husband's point of view cause that's my role

^{ephesians 5:22 "}Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body. ³¹"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." ³²This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.³³However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

so the big realization for me was that the bride of Christ was a whore, we were at one time unfaithful, haters of God and turned to many lovers ( idols/false gods)

^{titus 3:3"}At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another."

romans 5"⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

so in marriages back in that time the father would go out and pick out a wife for his son( God has done the same thing john 6:⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.") then the two would remain pure and set aside for each other then when the women was of age the bridegroom would go to the bride house and take her to his house and they would be married and have a big wedding party, now the bible also illustrates that stuff but don't have time to go into it now and not my main focus. my main focus is that we did not remain pure and faith full to our bridegroom, we are whores as God puts it, but God did something amazing

titus 3: ³At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

ezekile 36:24 " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸ You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. ³⁰ I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. ³² I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!" and

hosa 2:14"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
andspeak tenderly to her.
¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' ¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

is that not truly amazing GOOD NEWS that ^{romans 5:8}But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." isn't that truly amazing and all some and really what love is and now something that hit me even harder is that in that exact same way i am suppose to love my wife" ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word," now incase you didn't know marriage and relationships are a Sanctification process , i believe there is a one, not the one who is perfect and will complete my life, but the one who is perfectly flawed in all the areas i am strong in and strong in all the areas i'm weak in and that God in his perfect plan wants us to be to together for his glory and that we may be held accountable and be make known each others sin and areas where we fall sort. but also it's the husband who is to love his wife, the wife has to be taught to love her husband (titus 2) something i've come to see is that for that one person person there is when you get down to it past all the miss leading feelings from the heart a true unconditional spirit lead love that cannot be explained for and that i don't think the woman could ever match or at least with out much time and help so i hope i made some sense and feel free to comment (i would love to hear from some of my sister's their view point of this)

war peace and then more war

so i watched the third part in my war and peace movie(it's 8 hours long and in Russian) i still really enjoy it . the third movie was mainly one EPIC battle with thousands of people on screen at once and thousands of bodies and explosions going off for like an hour.this part and the film as a whole dives into the horrors and senselessness of war , 200, 000 people killing each other simply because that is what they have been ordered to do ,war makes men loses all sense and reason. well thats just one of the themes going on but it's still a really cool movie and very well made , the visual effects are amazing because of the lack of cgi and computers means they had to be all done by hand . well thats all i feel like writing for now

more dancing tips

so im doing pretty good right now, i can see God at work around my life right now. one thing i should add about relationships is that feelings don't merit anything or really mean they are the "one God wants you to marry or pursue a relationship with" it requires something more ...lots of prayer, conformation from the body of Christ around you, God leading you to it and Peace about it. it also requires wisdom and faith as well...

"if indeed the spirit of Christ dwells within your heart then you will be attracted to the Christ that is manifested in her life"- Paul washer

to dance the dance....

well just so you don't think im still some kind of fruit case since the last post don't worry i am fine now , forgiveness is a pretty amazing thing. oh and i promised some stuff on relationships so here it goes we live in a culture right now where the body (church) doesn't teach or really have much to help people wanting to pursue a relationship and to want to purse a Godly relationship is a very counter culture thing and even different then what most professing Christians practice. but there is plenty of sources to find information and good biblical teaching on this matter and knowledge is very key. the bible does not teach us to live and then learn as the world or recreational dating promotes but to learn and then live , to use this time , this season of being single to learn to grow in our walk and become a Godly man/ woman so if God does will for you to be married you will be ready to "dance the dance and not get hurt" and "to be the one that your future wife/ husband needs you to be" so for recommendations for learning , Paul washers sermons on dating, Joshua Harris books on dating ( read i kissed dating good bye first) and mars hill church also did a good sermon on Christian dating and passion and purity(although ive never read it but heard it's good). but thats just a few to get you started .also when reading and studying remember to make it personal and not to become leaglist or judgmental about it and understand that pretty much every relationship is different and unique but as Joshua so wisely pointed out in his illusion about it, it's like a bunch of art students trying to copy there art masters masterpiece but there teacher has given them all different tools and materials to use based on what is best for them but they are all trying to copy the same thing. so thats all for now but remember to not act upon or follow your heart because it is very deceitful and wicked and don't make the person of affection an idol in your life but wait on the Lord be devoted to prayer and God will give you direction

so i can't do the jerk dance but i do feel like one

so i feel completely awlfull , you know the whole you hurt a good friend without meaning too or even knowing and still even after apologizing still feeling super sick about it....yea that feeling i don't know this day seemed to have so much promise but it fell short on almost ever level

“A man should never be ashamed to own that he is wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.”

Alexander Pope quotes

snow!

so i wonder if anyone ever reads this... oh well the point of blogging is not t be read but to express yourself like a dairy but you leave it open to be read by everyone. so were to begin... well it snowed!!!! thats something that is very weird and strange to happen cause we very rarely get snow in south Carolina . in celebration i made a pretty sweet snowball fight video and i posted it on you tube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izEHDOJ99PE) I guess thats something i should mention, that i love to edit videos together and i'm pretty good at it too, i just never have any good quality videos or software but i make do with what i have.so what else can i mention...well I've been learning more about relationships lately , which is strange that it's happening all around valentine's day (it's strange how God works like that ) but i guess i'll post something soon the talks about everything I've learned/learning but until then think about this....

"if indeed the spirit of Christ dwells within your heart young man, then you will be attracted to the Christ that is manifested in her life" -Paul washer

it's been 18 years already?

hahaha so i guess i somehow messed up the title of my last post , oh well still learning how to blog . so i finally got a dvd copy of urine town it's definitely going to be in my "strange movies that no one has heard about but i going to take them to ciu with me anyway" list . speaking of collage i can believe that i'm about to go to collage , it seems only yesterday that i was on the play ground swinging with friends, or in my room creating fantastic epic battles with my action figures(usually based on the days drangon ball z episode) or going to foot ball games but ending up not watching the game but talking with friends, or eating lunch in the court yard talking about some random ps2 game or even going to those awarkered middle school dances that everyone went to but you really didn't know how to dance and felt really uncomfortable around girls or being in Mrs ack's drama room doing nothing or playing Go with my friend zerak or even everyone bringing there DnD books to school and us reading them during break or even really getting to go to Tracy's camp for the first time and meting so many new friends that would soon become my brothers and sisters and even getting to go to Camden and visit dear friends . wow there seems to be so many memories and events that only seem like yesterday but i can't wait to see what the yesterdays of tomorrow hold

salvation is not a get out of free card

well i guess i'm still pretty amazed by the lack of biblically knowledge on salvation and regeneration and how salvation is simply seen as getting to go to heaven...this being all from youth or really by most people who claim to be Christians.i think why we so foolishly simply think of salvation as simply a free ticket out of hell is from our sinful selfish nature in which we only care about ourself. it's the same reason you can get a bunch of kids to rise there hands and say a prayer and say that they love Jesus, it's not because they really love God or desire him but they love them selfs and this "Jesus" has been presented to them in a way to avoid an eternity of pain and suffering. it's almost like that God saves people because of who we are and he would be unloving to send anyone to hell which is WRONG! Romans 11:36, psalm 79:9,psalm 106:6-9, Isaiah 48:9, Isaiah 63:12, Jeremiah 14:7, and to sum it all up Ezekiel 36:22-23²² "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes." we should worship God not because we get to go to heaven or we get something but because of who he is because of the glorious grace that he has shown us!

Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!-psalm 72 :19

well here goes nothing...

well i don't know why i'm blogging but since i have stuff to say alot of times but not always somebody to say it to maybe some good can come of this blog thingy.

well i guess to start my friend Brennan inspire me to want to write a blog(lol the blog wars have begun) but maybe the real reason (and likewise the reason for her to start blogging )is two fold , when i write i feel as though i can get my point across more clear and thus understand more clearly what i'm even thinking about and second to help others who may be going through something similar

so about me if you don't know anything about me, i'm a thinker, i take quick to listen slow to speak to heart BUT at the same time i am very bold when it comes to things of God or harm being done to others. for the most part i'm a follower and an observer but if the need arises i find no trouble filling a spot of leadership but at the same time i find i rely on others probably to much and don't have enough self confidence in my self. last and most important i so long and strive to bring Glory to God in all thing that i do.

i guess thats not too bad for a first introductory post

and for laughs(don't take it too seriously) ...