Tag Archives: Good Book

Bride

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Bride: (n) a woman on her wedding day

In the pursuit of masculinity, we have generated a flailing femininity.Dictionary B

On the wedding day, the man wears a suit and the woman a frilly white dress, to establish her virgin promise.

We propagate the notion that femininity is desirable, but in the mainstream of life efforts, it ends up being powerless.

For instance, the wedding ceremony itself is an expression of man’s dominance:

  • He gets to remain “man” and she must become “wife.”
  • She ceases to have a human identity, but instead is projected into the role of trailing behind, stepping within his larger footprints.
  • It is required of her to forsake her name and take on the role of incubator for the human race, while simultaneously remaining alluring, able to provide meals and and launder all dirty stains.

The interesting thing to me is that when the Good Book refers to the “Bride of Christ”–the church–it does not portray such neediness. Matter of fact, we’re told that the church is supposed to “destroy the gates of hell.”

There may be nothing wrong with putting a white dress on a woman at a wedding, as long as we understand that the next day both man and woman don the same work clothes.

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Bored

Bored: (adj) feeling weary because one is unoccupied

With those who have communion wine running through their veins, I would probably get in trouble for suggesting that there are parts of the writ of Holy Dictionary BScripture which could certainly use a good edit.

As a writer, I edit myself all the time. Matter of fact, if somebody pulled out an article I wrote seven years ago, it’s possible that I might need to apologize.

So as I look down the list of the Seven Deadly Sins (which I shall not mention due to space and out of fear of immediately falling under conviction) there is one obvious absence, which should either be inserted to replace one of the existing choices–or maybe as just a header, to describe what causes all seven.

Bored.

When we are bored we are capable of everything from stumbling to atrocity.

I do not know where we got the idea that life was hatched in the mind of the Creator with the intention of constantly entertaining us, but part of maturity is certainly realizing the importance and inevitability of “down time.”

For instance, nothing is more annoying than a seven-year-old child telling you that he’s bored–especially if you’ve just returned from the park, a movie and Baskin Robbins.

The need to be entertained is what motivates both sluggard and murderer.

I always feel I have achieved the best of humanity–and made the Good Book sensible–when I finish my day without ever feeling bored.

 

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Bitter

Bitter: (adj) angry, hurt, or resentful

Nothing ever gets better if we insist it should never have happened.Dictionary B

It is the source of all bitterness.

Discussion is avoided because the mere mention of the event creates such a ferocious response that conversation is impossible.

Maybe there’s a little arrogance tied to it. Perhaps it is this “life in a bubble” experience that we all desire–which is continually burst. Then not only are we offended, but also find ourselves rigidly refusing to consider reconciliation.

Why?

  • Because “how dare he?”
  • Or “how dare she?”
  • Or even “how dare they?”

Even though we acknowledge they are just human beings, we still think they should have had the divine insight to be aware that we should not have been challenged.

The Good Book calls bitterness a root.

It is a seed of pride which we plant in the dirt of failure, which sprouts a rage burrowing deep within our soul, disguising its presence.

So we cover up bitter with apathy … and we insist our apathy is just a preference or a decision to move on.

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Big Brother

Big Brother: (n) from George Orwell’s novel, 1984.

Dictionary B

There is a verse in the Good Book which offers some sage and practical advice: “Don’t piss against the wall.”

The reason for this is fairly obvious. Although you may think you’re relieving yourself, the blowback will still land on your person.

Such is the case with all human beings who think that productive solutions can be achieved politically or socially.

Politics has one goal: to control.

Even when they say their goal is to have less government and less control, there is still an agenda to manipulate the mores, standards and ideals of the people by making it seem like “the folks voted on it.”

And when you’re looking for social solutions, you immediately find that to make Citizen A happy, you must disrupt Citizen B, while confusing Citizen C, turning Citizen D into a raving maniac, and taking all the little Citizen Es and making them disillusioned.

Maybe there is a Big Brother out there, trying to control our every move and thoughts.

Yet if such a creature does exist, he, she or it is a wall–a barricade which will only deflect all the things we throw against it … because we’re pissed off.

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Begotten

Begotten: (v) past participle of beget: to procreate or generate offspring.

Dictionary B

“His only begotten son.”

It is a phrase within a verse from the Good Book which describes the master plan of a loving God who is trying to redeem the people He created.

Perhaps the most unfortunate situation in the world is the misunderstanding that bubbles up over the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Some people, in a desire to create the solemnity of holiness, generate the image of a half-god, half-man–or all-god, all-man–individual, who was present in flesh but mostly absent in true humanity.

There are others who try to turn Jesus into a common Jewish prophet or teacher–someone who expounded with great wisdom and suffered the consequences of his idealism.

There are even those who insist there is no historical evidence that such a human ever walked the Earth.

But the source of all the misconceptions is always grounded in a desire to promote an idea which suits us instead of a truth which saves us.

Maybe Jesus was exactly who he said he was.

Maybe God, who was able to forge a Universe, was also able to initiate a human life which was completely susceptible to difficulties and struggles, while internally inspired by the freshness of heaven.

Why not?

If God wanted to make Himself totally human, why couldn’t He?

There are only two reasons He couldn’t: either He didn’t, or He doesn’t exist.

And since Jesus made it clear through his words that he was the Son of Man, the “didn’t” reason is unlikely.

So we are left with a choice:

Is Jesus a human being who was also begotten of God, or is it all just a horrible Middle-Eastern joke? 

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Begat

Dictionary B

Begat: (v) past-tense of beget: to procreate or generate

A genealogy.

A lineage.

One day, in a fit of boredom, I opened up the Gospel of Matthew in the Good Book and began to read the names of men who lived their lives only to be given a footnote in history in reference to a child they procreated.

I was overcome with a deep sense of meaninglessness.

There has to be more to life than spawning.

I certainly love my sons, but I don’t want to be known merely as the father of offspring instead of the instigator of springing off a new idea.

Is that wrong?

Should I be more focused on the by-product of my genitalia? It annoys me because it seems to have a cave-man quality of “obsession with possession.”

And especially when I realized, upon finishing up with that lineage of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew, that the whole process was interrupted by a supernal notion from a heavenly Father–to insert a woman as the mother of Jesus and the matron of salvation.

Fascinating.

Maybe it was necessary for God to establish the lineage to emphasize its futility.

Similar to playing 24 games of tic-tac-toe before you realize that no one ever wins.

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Barley

Barley: (n) a hardy cereal that has coarse bristles extending from the ears. It is widely cultivated, chiefly for use in brewing and stockfeed.Dictionary B

Barley is the slum of grains.

It’s plentiful, cheap and normally gets fed to pigs and other creatures who grunt.

That’s a very important thing to understand.

Religious people who read the Good Book usually do it as an exercise in their faith–exercise in the sense that they believe that in turning the pages and mouthing the words, they have done something spiritual. They often feel no compunction to understand what they read nor dig deeper to get the context of the script of the scriptures.

So the average religious Christian will tell you that Jesus fed the 5,000 with loaves and fishes, and never understand that the bread happened to be barley.

What’s the significance?

Well, the five little barley loaves–which were probably each no bigger than a baseball–were part of a lunch for a little boy who obviously lived in poverty. Everything about his provision was small: tiny loaves, made of cheap barley, with two small fishes. (I don’t know how miniscule these fishes were, but somebody felt it was important to point out that they were dwarfed.)

Even though the Good Book tells us a miracle happened, and 5,000 men ended up munching on the expansion of this little boy’s lunch, at no time were the barley loaves changed into more expensive grain.

Everybody ate the same poor boy’s lunch.

But they ate their fill–and because the lunch was provided and people had compassion, the need was met.

Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out if people will be happy when their needs are met, or if they’re only happy if their needs are met in a specific, prosperous way.

Jesus multiplied the cheap lunch for everybody to eat. He did not improve the quality … and everybody ended up having a plentiful poor man’s supper.

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Backbiting

Backbiting: (n) malicious talk about someone who is not present.Dictionary B

“Gnashing of teeth.”

It is one of those phrases from the Good Book, referring to people who get so angry that they would just like to bite somebody.

So to make sure that we don’t come across like wild wolves, we have come up with more civilized ways to gnash on people, without extracting blood.

But here’s the fact: nobody is willing to admit that they gossip.

So how can you tell if you have fallen into the nasty tendency to become an emotional vampire?

  1. If you’re discussing with another person and the person you’re discussing walks into the room and you tell your friend to “hush up” so you can get back to it later.
  2. If you have to preface what you say with, “I don’t mean this in a bad way…”
  3. If you finish 20 minutes of railing against someone and then decide to close it with prayer.
  4. If you make sure that you attack weaker people so that they have no power to strike back against you.
  5. If you use Biblical or psychological terminology to reinforce your theory of someone else’s perversion.
  6. If you make any kind of pact of silence in order to ensure that your victim is not aware of your true feelings.
  7. If you feel a little greasy and stinky when somebody preaches against gossip.

Gossip is the true sign of insecurity:

It’s projecting onto others our failures.

It is the absence of letting our true yes be yes and our no to resound as a no.

 

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Artifice

Artifice: (n) clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive othersdictionary with letter A

I’ve always been fascinated with the simile, “Sheep in the midst of wolves, wise as serpents, and as harmless as doves.”

Even though this comes from the Good Book, it really promotes an excellent lifestyle choice in what people often believe to be the “big, bad world.”

We spend way too much time bitching about the wolves and complaining about our sheepish profile–which seems to fail to have an ability to sink its teeth into the problem.

I suppose if I believed I was just a sheep surrounded by wolves I would not only be paranoid, but completely exasperated.

But the simile continues.

I am to be “wise as a serpent.”

That means I am supposed to sit down and allow my brain to conjure an idea that will give me an artifice–a means by which I can outsmart my competition. Of course, there is a danger that I could just become part of the problem by being equally as wolf-like as the rest of the carnivores out there, trying to devour humankind.

So the closing part of the simile is very important. Deep in my heart I need to be as harmless as a dove.

In other words, my motivation must be for the betterment of all and not just for the prospering of myself.

I use cleverness and cunning every day of my life. If I were not prepared to come up with inspiration and approaches that are smarter than my adversary, I am ill-prepared to be in the marketplace.

But I must also realize that the fact that I share a message that is geared to sheep does put me at the mercy of critical wolves, and that my ability to spiritually discern real-time situations and come up with intelligent revisions must be tempered by a heart that is harmless and only wants to bring peace.

It is that artifice that makes knowledge work for good… even as it dispels the evil.

 

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Arterior

Arterior: (adj) nearer to the back, especially situated near the back of the body or to the rear.dictionary with letter A

I did not know this word.

Candidly, there are many words I write about that I did not know the definition for until I went through the exercise of reading about their verbal personality.

But this definition immediately popped a piece of philosophy in mind, that I adhere to all the time, even though others might find it counter-productive.

It is a spiritual principle which has great emotional application in the practical world: “Take the arterior seat.”

Yeah.

  • Sit in the back.
  • Don’t push so hard.
  • Don’t thrust yourself forward.

The truth is, the squeaky wheel gets the grease once and then is replaced with a new tire. We are fatigued of those who are self-promoting, only to discover that in most cases they have too much “self” and not that much to promote.

When the Good Book tells us to take the lower seat, the writings do not stop there, making us believe that we just did this to be humble. No, it is very clear that the reason we take this arterior seat is so we can be called up by the desire of other people instead of the strength of our own ego.

It is also a warning–if you place yourself too high on the totem pole, somebody more worthy comes along and bumps you down.

It explains that the greatest danger in life is humiliation–not being ignored–humiliation by being forced to a lower seat instead of choosing one for ourselves.

I have worked this principle so many times that I can boldly guarantee it to you.

It’s not so much that pride goes before the fall. It’s more like pride is the fall that leaves us suspended in mid-air, unable to gain any footing.

 

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