bierkergaard

Matthew 5:48 Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Perfect (teleioi). The word comes from telos, end, goal, limit. Here it is the goal set before us, the absolute standard of our Heavenly Father. The word is used also for relative perfection as of adults compared with children. "The word rendered here perfect by St. Matthew, is elsewere by St. Luke rendered merciful, Luke 6:36, implying, that charity is the perfection of a Christian's graces: he that is made perfect in love, is perfect in all divine graces, in the account of God. " (William Burkitt). I struggle with this verse in Matthew in the sense that I know that perfection is not possible, in and of myself. Religion can lead a person to depend on their own righteousness, to stand with the belief that I can get myself to heaven. So, Jesus is stopping this construction of the steps to heaven at the first brick. Like the Tower of Babel, we want to get to heaven under our own effort and work...

My dad made an interesting comment the other day....he said that he knows a lot, perhaps too much, about my lawn and garden. Since I write about these two things a lot in my blog, and he reads my blog, he is going to hear a lot about my lawn and garden. Kind of like if you lay out in the sun too long on a summer day without protection, you are going to get sunburned. But, yardwork and gardening are the primary ways I relate to the more physical nature of life. I am not mechanically-inclined (but declined) and don't play a musical instrument. So, the yard and the garden become rich fodder for observations about life in general. I have to wonder if our inability to follow the Gospel is somewhat because we are so detached from the cycles of life and growth in the realm of agriculture. Farmers are spiritual people...you have to be. You can only do so much when you farm to get good crops; other things, like rain, are out of your control. I know that with modern agriculture, even some of...

I have changed the subtitle of Bierkergaard from "Where philosophy collides with real life" to "Where theology collides with real life." Contact all the major media outlets! Both philosophy and theology can become esoteric, irrelevant, and impractical. Lina and I heard another sermon on infant baptism vs. believers baptism where the speaker truly did not succeed in answering the 'So why does this matter?" question. I think it does matter but the speaker dedicated himself for the first third of his sermon to the "How" which really is not as important...and then when he got to the "Why," the sermon devolved into thoughts lacking linkage to the present day realities. I think that the baptism issue does come down to the difference between predestination versus free will and I will leave it at that. No time to get into this now. I know, 'Chicken!" Retreating to life of the mind without an awareness and application to the world reall...