Q.9. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.
Q.10. Did God have a beginning?
A. No; he is eternal and unchanging.
Ultimate reality
Great Trinity
Q.7. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. In three persons.
Q.8. Who are they?
A. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
I AM
Q.6. Are there more gods than one?
A. No; there is only one God.
The covenant of grace
Q. Doth God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A. God doth not leave all men to perish in the estate of sin and misery, into which they fell by the breach of the first covenant, commonly called the covenant of works; but of his mere love and mercy delivereth his elect out of it, and bringeth them into an estate of salvation by the second covenant, commonly called the covenant of grace.
Q. With whom was the covenant of grace made?
A. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
(Questions XXX and XXXI of the Westminster Larger Catechism.)
Why?
Q.3. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory.
Q.4. How can you glorify God?
A. By loving him and doing what he commands.
Q.5. Why ought you to glorify God?
A. Because he made me and takes care of me.
The Creator
Q.1. Who made you?
A. God made me.
Q.2. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.
a.m.: John 14:6 p.m.: Psalm 103:1-14
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Of David. Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:1-14
Long long ago…
I tried upgrading my blog a while ago, and I kind of borked it!
However, I just tried upgrading the software and it’s all working again. Yay!
The hiatus has meant I’m now out of the habit of blogging, and it probably also means that anyone who read this blog has probably wandered off due to lack of activity.
I’m wondering whether it’s worth continuing, or if blogging really has had its day, and the ubiquitous social networking sites are where all the action’s at…
I’ll ponder the merits of blogging in my head and let you (whoever you are!) know my conclusions.
Glorious trinity
Q: Are there more Gods than one?
A: There is but one only, the living and true God.
Q: How many persons are there in the God head?
A: There be three persons in the Godhead, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.
Q: What are the personal properties of the three persons in the God head?
A: It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.
Q: How doth it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?
A: The scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names, attributes, works, and worship, as are proper to God only.
(Questions VIII, IX, X and XI of the Westminster Larger Catechism.)
Bake me a cake
This week’s been a fairly good week! Monday’s football was interesting, a player or two were rather unfit, coupled with being the numerically smaller team meant we lost by a significant margin! Wednesday was spent down the snooker hall with Ed and Dave P – a 2-2-2 result in the end, with a really impressive long pot by myself where the cue ball launched into the air, hit the object ball from a height and the object ball went straight into the pocket. 🙂
Thursday’s bible study was on the 100th Psalm – Oh that the world would worship the Lord who is God.
Tonight was spent baking a cherry cake, and some of the young people came round for Perudo and then cake. 🙂 The cake itself was remarkably straight forward, with a recipe from Delia, and all the necessary ingredients and utensils to hand. There’s now a half-eaten cherry cake sitting on my kitchen counter and I’m quite pleased with myself. I forgot to put in the ground almonds, but no one seems to have noticed.
What you don’t have, you don’t miss
It would seem that, when I look around at my friends, everyone around me has a laptop. Their reasoning for having one varies from it being their main/only computer, to something which is more convenient than a desktop, through to no reasoning at all. My mum recently acquired one, and I said I’d set it up. A quick download of Xubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon, (it’s an old laptop!) and it was up and running. Web surfing is accomplished by Firefox, dial-up access and wireless networking worked out of the box. Whilst it is in my possession, I figured I might as well use it, so Pidgin, Xnest and Gnomesword/ESV were installed which enable me to chat on MSN/GTalk/ICQ, open XDMCP sessions on my Fedora 8 box and read the bible all from the comfort of my bed. (Where I am now :))
Eventually I’ll return the laptop to my mum so she can use it to check her email and browse the web. The question I’m left with now is; Do I get a laptop? Sure, it’s nice for blogging from bed, or instant messaging in front of the telly, but do I really need one? It would be useful when I’m on holiday to copy photos onto so my camera doesn’t get clogged up, to watch DVDs, to make blog posts and email, but do I really need it?
I’m not sure I need it, but it’s sure nice. We’ll see I guess…
The English Gentleman
I charge thee, fling away ambition
By that sin fell the angels. How can man then,
The image of his maker hope to win by it ?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues: be just, and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s,
Thy God’s and truth’sWilliam Shakespeare
All you need is love and to believe in yourself.
One of the advantages of having Sky is that I get to see a lot of films I’d like to have seen but never got around to viewing. The range of films is wide and varied.
Last night I watched Monster, which I’d heard about and had an interest in seeing, but as with so many other things, never got around to doing. I must admit, I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was about to see. The film is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a girl in the United States who had a bad start in life, put her trust in the wrong ideas and people, and eventually became a serial killer.
When I started watching, I couldn’t believe it was Charlize Theron playing Aileen, and Christina Ricci looked remarkably cute and adorable as Selby. The film puts down enough groundwork to be able to begin to appreciate the childhood which made Aileen what she became, and Theron’s portrayal is remarkable. I had thought she was just another pretty face until now, but this film demonstrates her significant talent. I look forward to seeing more of her more serious work in the future. Ricci as always puts on a good performance.
As the film develops, the complexities of life unfold. From Aileen’s rather tumultuous upbringing, going from pillar to post, making bad judgements and contacts, through to her meeting Selby. The challenges of life confront the couple, from their underlying belief systems, through to the consequences of the actions they make based on those beliefs.
The few really disturbing scenes really were very disturbing, yet put forward in a very necessary way, leaving an indelible mark and showing their significance in Aileen’s life. Without these scenes it would be difficult to truly understand the events which made Aileen.
A very good film, in the same vein as American Beauty. Not something you’d show children, but would give any adult a very thought provoking insight into life.
Miscellaneous
BOINC
