Day: August 15, 2010

Day-By-Day

Day-By-Day

Karen


(photo credit)

The small, insignificant, day-by-day things that happen in my life.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I currently look six months pregnant. I think I’ve mentioned that I occasionally have intestinal issues – it’s safe to say, I’m having problems!! I woke up several times last night with extreme pressure, one time I even cried because it hurt so much. Without going into too much detail, I think I have IBS – at least, that’s what my Google searches have produced. I’m just about to the point where I’m ready to throw in the white towel and go to the doctor. Fortunately, these “attacks” don’t happen very often, I’ve learned, through trial and error what sets them off – sort of. It’s really hard to explain what I’m feeling, but it’s pressure, bloating and trapped gas, all rolled into one uncomfortable package. It usually only lasts a day or two and things start moving again *ahem*.

It’s hard to live life, let alone focus on any sort of work, when I have these “attacks.” I’ve had to pace myself – get some work done, lay down for a bit. Kevin wanted to go out to lunch (we usually go out on Wednesdays), but the thought of eating just made me ill.

If there’s one good thing about these “attacks” it’s that I usually drop a few pounds before it’s over.

Don’t feel sorry for me, I could go to the doctor, I’m just too stubborn to do that. And if I’m right and it’s IBS, there isn’t a cure for that – only treatments. So I guess, in my mind, why go to the doctor if all they’re going to tell me is, “Sorry. But you’ll just have to watch your diet for the rest of your life.”

Well duh. I know that. Why would I want to fork over a few hundred dollars for someone to tell me that?

Exactly.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

I’m feeling better. Not 100%, but I’m no longer doubled over in pain, either. Whatever it was (or wasn’t), passed. This does not mean I won’t spend some time (later) figuring out what is causing these intestinal problems, but for now, life may resume. Thank God.

I got a lot of work done today. I turned my computer off feeling very satisfied with myself. Though I ran into a bit of a snafu on one project and waiting to hear back on how to handle it, the project is done and ready to go on my end. One of the reasons I got so much work done? I stayed off Twitter. Seriously. I love Twitter, but it’s a TERRIBLE time suck. I’m thinking of just forgetting about it entirely. Well, maybe not entirely, but definitely not as often.

The “Eat, Love, Pray” movie comes out today. I have mixed feelings about this book and I haven’t even read it! I’ve been reading the reviews on Amazon and that has piqued my curiosity. But I heard on the radio that it’s about a woman who suddenly decided she didn’t want to be married anymore and went on a journey to “find” herself. I’m going to have to read this book now, if nothing else, to find out what the story is really about.

I need coffee.

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Thursday, August 13, 2010

The thermostat in my car got all the way up to 104 degrees today!!! I was like … shocked! I was also worried that my car would overheat because how hot does it need to get before it starts affecting your car engine?

Speaking of cars, Jazz wanted to go out to lunch today so I thought this would be a good opportunity to take Dude out driving, you know, just to make sure he doesn’t get too rusty because the boy never goes anywhere, hence, the boy never drives himself anywhere. Since it’s been so hot and the car hasn’t been opened up (or started) in over a month, I went out to air it out. I tried starting it: it wouldn’t start. AARGH! I was annoyed. We had just spent a chunk of change replacing the ignition box/starter thingy.

I complained to Kevin, but he couldn’t look at it as he had a luncheon date with an old colleague. So, Dude and I took off in my car and we went up to meet Jazz for lunch. We ended up eating at Steak N’ Shake and though we missed Kevin, it was nice to have my boys to myself. The boys stuffed their faces (okay fine, I did, too), we got Jazz back to school so he could finish out band camp and we came home.

Dude and I drove up to the house and the first thing we noticed? The black car is gone. I didn’t panic, I just figured Kevin got home early and took the car out for a run – and that’s what happened.

However, after about thirty minutes, I started getting worried about him because here is my handicapped husband, (but not for much longer!), out in a car I didn’t trust in 100 degree weather. You can see why I was worried, right? So I checked messages to make sure he hadn’t called to tell me what he was doing and I nearly had a heart attack when I heard the voice say, “You have one URGENT message.”

Say what??? So, I called to check and thank GOD, it wasn’t from, or about, Kevin. Now I’m spooked. So I called Kev’s cell phone, only he didn’t answer. I wasn’t too terribly worried because he has told me that he will no longer answer his phone if he’s driving (I don’t answer mine while I’m driving either. Actually, I never answer mine, but whatever). I leave him a message figuring his phone will notify him he has a message and he’ll check it when he can.

It wasn’t five seconds after I hung up that I saw him driving up. He had not only gotten the car started (duh), but he had taken it to get it washed. He said it was running great and that he had to give it a bit more gas before it would start up. Still, I’m a little nervous; I’m not sure I trust this car very much and my boys will be driving it. We’ll just have to make a point of making sure it’s started/driven once or twice a week.

I had a very productive day, work wise. I’m cranking through my emails and now have them down to about three or four (trust me, this is a good thing). I got permission from the school district to work on another site and will be uploading their brand, spanking new website as soon as I finish here. I can’t tell you how satisfied I am with myself. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m making progress and not feeling quite so buried.

I’m nibbling on chocolate – I have a feeling I’m going to regret that decision in the coming days. Apparently, I never learn. *sigh*

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

“Good morning sunshine.” This is how Kevin greets the boys every morning. This is funny because the boys are anything BUT sunshine early in the mornings. Jazz is naturally a morning person so once he has a few minutes to wake up, he’s pretty much okay. But Dude is NOT a morning person and takes a least a few hours before he’s feeling civil enough to speak. Me? Well, my eyes are open and I can answer questions when asked – I think that qualifies as awake, wouldn’t you?

Kevin and I went sofa shopping today. I know what you’re thinking, “But Karen, didn’t you JUST buy a sofa, loveseat and chair like, three years ago?” Why yes, yes we did and don’t you have a good memory! However, the fabric we selected, though totally awesome and the color is to die for, is not wearing well. We’ve been noticing bald spots. BALD SPOTS! On a set of furniture not even three years old! UNACCEPTABLE!! And now that we think about it, we’re not quite sure we even LIKE this particular style because the seat is too long and you sort of have to sit sideways to get comfortable and the back is not high enough so you get a crick in your neck whenever you try and lay your head back.

We checked out three different places and we found one we really liked. Our problem? We’re not sure what color to get because, wait for it, we’re ripping the carpets out of our living and dining room and putting in hardwood floors. Only, we have oak furniture, so we want a dark floor, which means that our sofa /loveseat combo? Should probably be light, as in either tan or taupe. We plan on looking at flooring tomorrow.

Don’t you love shopping for one thing only for it to lead to something else entirely? I’m pretty psyched out about these changes, but my pocketbook? Not so much.

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I love Oh life because they send you an email at 8:00 p.m. every night asking you how your day went. You reply to the email and it automatically posts to your Oh Life account.

These entries are raw, immediate and from the heart. You can expect to see these updates every Wednesday and Sunday (or thereabouts)

Thanks for reading.

Abundant Life

Teaching: Why Most People Believe the Bible is Against the Death Penalty

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

(Video: Part Two of Six – Watch Part One)
Vodpod videos no longer available.

The death penalty is an integral part of the Old Testament Law. It is in all five books of Moses (Genesis-Deuteronomy), and in other books of the Old Testament as well. Furthermore, the New Testament supports it. The most common reason why people believe the Bible does not support the death penalty is because the King James Version and the versions of the Bible read by most Roman Catholics (including the Douay Version, The New Jerusalem Bible, and the New American Bible) give the Sixth Commandment in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 as, “Thou shalt not kill.” The Hebrew word translated “kill” in the Sixth Commandment is ratsach, and it can mean “kill” or “slay,” either on purpose or accidentally.

Ratsach, like many other words, has a wide range of meaning, and thus its meaning in a particular verse must be determined from both the immediate and remoter contexts. Thankfully, the Bible has a lot to say about murder, manslaughter, the execution of criminals and killing in war, and it is easy to tell by studying all the verses on the subject that the Sixth Commandment means not to take a life unjustly. Bible commentators are not confused by the commandment, “You shall not kill.” Maxie Dunnam wrote about the Sixth Commandment in the Mastering the Old Testament commentary on Exodus:

According to Genesis 9:6, this commandment did not prohibit the death penalty. It is obvious in the Old Testament that this [Sixth Commandment] was not a prohibition against all killing, only unauthorized killing. [1]

Because the Bible has clear teaching on murder and manslaughter, and because saying, “You shall not kill,” confuses people about killing in self-defense, in war and the execution of criminals, most modern versions properly translate ratsach in the Sixth Commandment as “murder.” For example:

* New King James Version: You shall not murder.
* Revised English Bible: Do not commit murder.
* New International Version: You shall not murder.
* New American Standard Bible: You shall not murder.
* New Revised Standard Version: You shall not murder.
* Amplified Bible: You shall not commit murder.
* New English Bible: You shall not commit murder.
* Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society): You shall not murder.

The above versions of the Bible were produced by teams of scholars with differing theological backgrounds, including Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish scholars. It should be clear from the evidence that the Sixth Commandment is not about the death penalty, but about unjust killing, that is, murder.

Although the best single-word translation of the Hebrew word ratsach in the Sixth Commandment is “murder,” ratsach does have a wider application that must be considered. The well-known Hebrew scholars C.F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch write:

Accordingly, in the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” not only is the accomplished fact of murder condemned, whether it proceed from open violence or stratagem (Chap. 21:12,14,18), but every act that endangers human life, whether it arise from carelessness (Deut. 22:8), or wantonness (Lev. 19:14), or from hatred, anger and revenge (Lev. 19:17,18). Life is placed at the head of these commandments, not as being the highest earthly possession, but because it is the basis of human existence, and in the life the personality is attacked, and in that the image of God (Gen. 9:6). The omission of the object [of the verb ratsach] still remains to be noticed, as showing that the prohibition includes not only the killing of a fellow-man, but the destruction of one’s own life, or suicide. [2]

The highly respected commentator Adam Clarke wrote specifically about the Sixth Commandment in his six-volume commentary on the Bible:

Thou shalt not kill. This commandment, which is general, prohibits murder of every kind. 1. All actions by which the lives of our fellow creatures may be abridged. 2. All wars for extending empire, commerce, etc. 3. All sanguinary laws, by the operation of which the lives of men may be taken away for offences of comparatively trifling demerit. 4. All bad dispositions which lead men to wish evil to, or meditate mischief against, one another; for, says the Scripture, he that hateth his brother in his heart is a murderer. 5. All want of charity to the helpless and distressed; for he who has it in his power to save the life of another by a timely application of succour, food, raiment, etc., and does not do it, and the life of the person either falls or is abridged on this account, is in the sight of God a murderer. He who neglects to save life is, according to an incontrovertible maxim in law, the same as he who takes it away. 6. All riot and excess, all drunkenness and gluttony, all inactivity and slothfulness, and all superstitious mortifications and self denials, by which life may be destroyed or shortened; all these are point blank sins against the Sixth Commandment [emphasis his]. [3]

Adam Clarke is correct when he says that the Sixth Commandment prohibits murder of every kind. It has nothing to do with the death penalty, but is a command not to murder or kill another man unjustly. The vast majority of modern versions recognize this, and read “You shall not murder.” Since killing in criminal execution, in self defense, and in war are condoned in Scripture, it is hard to see how “You shall not kill” is an acceptable translation of ratsach in the Sixth Commandment. There is no question that the average reader gets the wrong idea from that translation. Instead of correctly concluding that accidental killing and suicide are being included with murder, the modern reader wrongly concludes that self-defense, the execution of criminals, and killing in war are forbidden by God. Thus, the majority of modern translators have chosen to translate the verse as “You shall not murder” because that communicates to modern Americans. Perhaps an alternative translation which includes the word “kill” would be, “You shall not kill unjustly.”

As Clarke, Keil, and Delitzsch, quoted above, point out, the Sixth Commandment also prohibits the taking of a life through carelessness or wantonness. The thought that God is prohibiting “accidental killing” can be confusing at first, because “accidents happen.” However, a quick review of the history of mankind will clearly show that a lot of “accidental deaths” could have been prevented if people had cared more about their own lives and the lives of others. Accidental deaths often occur in an environment that could have been made safe if proper attention had been paid to safety. We will never be able to assure perfect safety for people, but things could be a lot safer than they are if human life were more highly valued.

This article was taken from “The Death Penalty: Godly or Ungodly?”

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Thanks for reading.

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