J. Randal Matheny

The Bible describes a person's life as a path or road. It also describes Christianity as God's path. In the book of Acts, it is simply called the Way. Perhaps this is because Jesus called himself the way (John 14:6). The Bible says Jesus is the only way.

Therefore, on God's path, a person should "not deviate to the right or to the left" (2 Kings 22:2, NET).

Read the whole article at the link above. It is written in simple style. The intended audience is people who use English as a second language.

Taking a cue from the poetry and hymns of Scripture, I see my poetry, in part, as an evangelistic effort. Entering the midst of worldly people, even in order to bless, one hears and sees what one would rather not. I imagine our Lord Jesus had to tolerate some unpleasantness from the publicans and prostitutes he worked with. Not to mention from the religionists and his own disciples. So I’ve joined a social-networking poetry site with some unsavory pieces there and, for example, a segment on erotica. Here’s where I’d appreciate your feedback.

A tad longer piece than usual on TFR, but I trust you'll find some nugget to adorn your faith.

Man has no nobler function than to defend the truth. —Ruth McKenney

... many of us would hasten to agree with her statement.

But she was wrong.

Man has a nobler function. Defending truth is good and necessary, but does not lie at the peak of the scales of those greatest purposes that man could adopt.

Read my debut article on Weylan Deaver's Biblical Notes magazine: click on the tiny link above.

I sometimes think there are two kinds of people: those that think there are two kinds of people and those that don’t that agree with Socrates (like me) and those that just like to get on with life without any need for introspection (the eponymous protagonist of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel Zorba the Greek , with his zest for life and distaste for navel-gazing springs to mind).

Perhaps the same justification could be put forward for poetry (at least some forms of poetry), not that it needs any.

My interest in the quote is the reference to poetry, which the author sees as getting its justification, if it needs such, from the principle of introspection. I doubt he'd see that as an exclusive one, but much poetry indeed does look inward.

Perhaps that's one reason why poetry finds such a happy place in Christianity, with such great emphasis upon the mind, motivations, and the evaluation of the inner life. "Examine yourselves," urges the apostle Paul (2Cor. 13.5).

Poetry serves wonderfully as a tool for such analysis, if the utilitarians among us need a rationale for the time and energy spent on its writing and reading. Then, again, maybe poetry was a pasttime of Zorba the Greek, too.

Often thus, through sin’s deceit,
Grief, and shame, and loss I meet,
Like a fish, my soul mistook,
Saw the bait, but not the hook.

After I posted an article on the deceitfulness of sin, by Eugene Adkins, on Bulletin Digest, through a search I found this, above. Click to read the whole hymn. Oh, the article:

http://bulletin-digest.com/2011/10/12/land-of-spoiled-milk-venom/

The primary growth for Facebook and Twitter is coming from the so-called BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — plus Indonesia, eMarketer reports.

I've noticed that Brazilians are coming on board in big numbers. I used to use FB for English, orkut for Portuguese, but not anymore.

We'll not quit on FB and Twitter, but look to rearrange things. Using #Diaspora more as a primary posting spot, as it nears beta, with autoposts to FB, Twitter, and Tumblr. But then, Posterous gave me that a long time ago. But Diaspora is non-commercial, distributed, with the user in control of data. So find me there: https://diasp.org/u/jasrandal