Hi,
I'd like to start a thread whereby we can share our contemplations with each other during the progress of our readings of the Holy Bible. This is also a good chance whereby any thoughts or ideas we have that are not orthodox, can be KINDLY corrected by our friends, the admin.
Also, and i feel that this of a personal issue for me, that I have some pretty cool contemplations, and then I find out that someone else has already thought of them. (Like my discovery of the parallel between Joseph and Our Lord Jesus Christ. Both had 12 brothers/disciples. THeir disciples/brothers sold them/betrayed them, both suffered for being righteous, and both gave food to the world to save them from death: sin vs famine.) That's a summary of my 1st contemplation at the age of 17.
Now I have another contemplation:
Contemplation 2: Did you notice that we fell from grace when we ate the fruit of the tree, and yet we attain it again when we eat the Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord.
Contemplation 3: Did you notice that right near the beginning of the 10 Commandments, God asks us to not use His Name in vain? And yet, at the VERY beginning of Our Lord's Prayer, Christ taught us to say :"Hallowed be Thy Name".
Contemplation 4: Did you notice that it was due to a tree that we lost paradise, and its also due to the cross (which is described as a "tree" in the New Testament) that we gain paradise.
Contemplation 5: The prodigal Son:
* The prodigal son asked for his father's inheritance WHEN the father was still alive. We usually acquire inheritance when the parent(s) die. Therefore, this is an insult to the father. Its literally saying :"I want to live my life, but without You".
Its very insulting.
* The son found himself eating pods (in fact, if i'm not mistaken, he wished to eat the pods of the pigs!!). Pods contain no or very little calorific value. They fill you up, but you are always hungry afterwards. This is what the son wished to eat. Things that fill him up, yet leave him empty. This can be seen as 2 things: Either the love the world has for us (no matter what we attain, we are still left empty and wanting more), or our need to be filled with something that quenches our thirst and hunger: Like the bread and water of Life. Or, it is our need to be in the Likeness of God. - I haven't made my mind up yet... but - i thought of this contemplation. WHen I make my mind up, i'll let u know.
Given that he wanted to eat the pods of the pigs, this shows that this food wasn't for him, yet that was his desire.
Contemplation 6: No one noticed this: BUT IT WAS BRILLIANT:
Saint Paul gets thrown into jail for curing a girl who was possessed with demons or evil spirits. Her managers (from what I remember) didnt like her being cured because she was profitable to them being possessed. Anyway, long story short, they throw Paul in Jail. When they realise that he's a roman etc, they released him secretly from jail. So, Paul is released from jail.. right? Rather than going along his merry way, he tells them: "No! U publicly threw me in jail, and you secretly let me go!! " and so he demanded an apology from them. (perhaps i missed some stuff) - but i thought it was really wise to do that. I just found that really cool.
Sorry.. its not much of a contemplation, but - perhaps someone wants to contemplate on that???
* I read the books from His Emminence Metropolitan Bishoy. I'll be honest with you, i'm contemplating on his contemplations. They were so good!!
Comments
Remember that Jacob fooled his father in thinking that he was Esau to try and get the blessing of the 1st born?
Isnt also interesting that Jacob was fooled by his father-in-law who married him the wrong girl also??
Did that ever occur to anyone??
Though I couldn't help giggling when I recognised some of those. It's not a bad thing.. You thought of the same thing that some of our fathers thought of. I think there's a lesson here, The Holy Spirit is the one that gives us these contemplations.. He allows us to search deeper in the Word and find depth and depth againn.. He shows us all those who search!! Isn't that beautiful?
That's my contemplation :P.
[quote author=QT_PA_2T link=topic=6605.msg87889#msg87889 date=1210970639]
* I read the books from His Emminence Metropolitan Bishoy. I'll be honest with you, i'm contemplating on his contemplations. They were so good!!
p.s. which book by Anba Bishoy are u reffering too?
GBU
plz pray for me
God appeared to the three men in the furnace as they were praying, in the same form as Jesus took as when He was in the presence of His three beloved disciples as they prayed on Mount Tabor.
Here's some more contemplations:
And some things that I really learnt from:
When pharoah's wife wanted to sin with Joseph, he said "How can I commit this sin before the Lord" - basically, he refused. So, why did he run away for?
THis is the part i loved the most. That even though he did not have the intention to sin, he did not put himself into temptation, and he prefered to run away from temptation than assume that because he's a good man, he won't sin. THIS IS SO WISE!!!
He did not enter into a discussion with the devil concerning this, nor bargain about his limits within the situation. He just ran away from temptation.
Is this not also the same as Our Lord, who was tempted and also did not enter into a dialogue with Satan. He really cut the conversation short (so to speak). This was a huge lesson for me. There's no need to welcome temptation. It will most likely come from outside of us, than inside of us, but its up to us what we do with it. We can either entertain bad thoughts in our hearts, or as soon as they come, QUICKLY, without any discussion, without any contemplation - just brush them away.
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I like your contemplations about the prodigal son and how he insulted his father to go off and follow 'worldly' desires and found himself in a pig sty eating food that kept him always hungry.....it is like Sunday's lesson of the Samaritan woman meeting Christ by the well and telling her he is the water of life and who drinks of it will never thirst again.
We see how everything is connected. Many acts are pre-destined. All are lessons for us.
Per, Abba's instructions i was studying The Lords Prayer the other day and made these contemplations:
The Lords Prayer is:
1. Simple, yet
2. Complete, and
3. Perfect, like
1. Hope 2. Faith and 3. Love.............and through Simple Hope we find Complete Faith and Perfect Love for God!!!
And it is 3 like the Holy Trinity!!!
Our God is truely amazing......His wonders to behold........
Thanks and Praise to our Almighty God for giving us a reasoning mind
QT,
I like your contemplations about the prodigal son
;) there's plenty more where that came from.
You made me think of another one...from Joseph and the pharoahs wife 'incident'.....Like Joseph realized he had to not only refuse her but flee from her. There is a scripture that says "flee from her". 'her' now meaning the evil places of this world. And i think we as Christians should realize that it is not enough to refuse to partake with evil but also we have to flee from evil, not even live amongst it.
The wheat and tares grow together until Christ and His angels separate them....
CONTEMPLATION: In the same way, we as sinners deserve nothing but death from OUR Lord the King of Kings, but God gives us a place to eat at HIS table, as sons and daughters of the king. STILL he gives us the right to make many more appeals to him, through the power of prayer. :)
All my grandfather's descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?" 2 Samuel 19:28
CONTEMPLATION: In the same way, we as sinners deserve nothing but death from OUR Lord the King of Kings, but God gives us a place to eat at HIS table, as sons and daughters of the king. STILL he gives us the right to make many more appeals to him, through the power of prayer. :)
THat's what i'm talkin about people. Look at that!
That is top quality bonified contemplation. I've never heard that before, and its from the OT on top.
Nessa, you win.
Let's try again and see who give us the best mind blowing contemplation.
Nessa, if u want to have another go, feel free to do so. Just read a bit more and give us your contemplation.
Our Almighty Father God would like for His chosen people to be like the Leviathan - Job 41:15-17 "His back has rows of shields tightly closed together;" etc.
Job 41:33-End "Nothing on earth is his equal - a creature without fear." etc.
Contemplations on St. Job 41:1-End
Our Almighty Father God would like for His chosen people to be like the Leviathan - Job 41:15-17 "His back has rows of shields tightly closed together;" etc.
Job 41:33-End "Nothing on earth is his equal - a creature without fear." etc.
Elsi,
What is the contemplation exactly?
I'm really eager to know. I feel there's something there.. but I can't see it.
Thanks for elaborating.
[quote author=elsi70x7 link=topic=6605.msg88676#msg88676 date=1211901379]
Contemplations on St. Job 41:1-End
Our Almighty Father God would like for His chosen people to be like the Leviathan - Job 41:15-17 "His back has rows of shields tightly closed together;" etc.
Job 41:33-End "Nothing on earth is his equal - a creature without fear." etc.
Elsi,
What is the contemplation exactly?
I'm really eager to know. I feel there's something there.. but I can't see it.
Thanks for elaborating.
Hi QT_PA_2T,
Thanks to God for your patience and for giving you these interesting topics!
In contemplating Job 41, i felt that God is telling us to be like the Leviathan. In our faith and worship; we should be sealed together by the blood of the Lamb, Christ. Clinging to one another firmly and never parted; unapproachable by the Devil and his minions. Fearing only God.
Job 41:31 - "He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of boiling ointment" - Like how you, QT_PA_2T churn and stir up things in this blessed forum ;); making people think of higher things, Godly ways.
Wow!! That's all i have to say concerning your contemplation. What I love about it is that you dug things up from Job's story that aren't so obvious. Also, what i love are the complements about me.
Keep it up. Even if they are false complements, its still good. Remember: a false complement is better than none at all. So, i thank God.
What are your contemplations on Acts 11:9:
Saint Peter sees a vision of a sheet carrying many different animals, and a voice calls to him saying: "Take Peter, kill, eat", and he says "No! I cannot eat anything unclean".
But a voice from heaven answered a second time[b], 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.'[/b]
Obviously this was the beginning of the creation of the Church that God is telling Saint Peter to accept the gentiles. But what are your contemplations on this verse?
Hi Elsa,
Wow!! That's all i have to say concerning your contemplation. What I love about it is that you dug things up from Job's story that aren't so obvious. Also, what i love are the complements about me.
Keep it up. Even if they are false complements, its still good. Remember: a false complement is better than none at all. So, i thank God.
QT_,
I think 'wow' is what i said when i first found this forum. It is the answer to prayer's. I have read Job many times before but never noticed such a contemplation. I know it is our Almighty God giving us His Grace in Jesus Christ's Name! I do not wish to go off the subject but, Sunday's online sermon by Abba Gebre Tsadik was about avoiding the darkness of this world; he lists 10 things to avoid 1 of them is 'flattery'. I do not know much about 'false complements' and i hope i wasn't coming across as a flatterer. I just like to give credit where credit is due. I thank God also, for motivating us and bringing us to this hour.
God bless you
OK, i'm gonna open the discussion up a bit:
What are your contemplations on Acts 11:9:
Saint Peter sees a vision of a sheet carrying many different animals, and a voice calls to him saying: "Take Peter, kill, eat", and he says "No! I cannot eat anything unclean".
But a voice from heaven answered a second time[b], 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.'[/b]
Obviously this was the beginning of the creation of the Church that God is telling Saint Peter to accept the gentiles. But what are your contemplations on this verse?
My contemplations on this verse are diverse -St. Peter seems so head strong yet he is the 'Rock' upon which the Christian Church as we know it today is founded. Have you heard the saying that 'the way to hell is paved with good intentions' ??! It's not that Peter didn't mean well, he just had to learn better. I have realized myself to be very head strong and my aquaintances who are close to holy men can be very head strong. I think we can get arrogant and full of pride in our false knowledge of this world! I think this verse is another lesson in humility accepting God's will, knowing God's will and not following our own head-strong ways.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God. When the Lord asked them what was happening, rather than apologise, Adam puts the blame on his wife. In fact, he even puts the blame on God saying "The Wife YOU have given me told me do this".
Anyway, The Word of God becomes Man and saves the 1st Adam and all his descendants from the calamity and corruption of death. Once His mission was completed, He appeared to His apostles saying :"Take unto you the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive will be forgiven, and whose sins you retain shall be retained". Here he institutes confession. Adam did not confess his sin when He was in paradise, now the gates of paradise are open for you, and the sacrament of confession also.
When the 1st Adam failed to confess his sin and mistake, then Christ, the 2nd Adam, corrects this by instituting confession to make us confess our sins.
I can add a lot more to this, but I just wanted to give u a small taste of this contemplation.
What do u think??
It made sense to me at least.
God bless
Just like how many are today, I think he was embarrassed and unused to having to confess sins. Even in Adams case there was no sin before.
We can become ashamed of ourselves; our sin, in the presence of Gods Glory and like Adam want to run and hide forgetting how merciful and forgiving our God is.
Recently we were discussing the martyrdom of St Stefanous in dars kitaab. When he died (Acts 7:55) he saw heaven open and Jesus Christ 'standing at the right hand of God'. Normally (eg Hebrews 10:13) Jesus sits down 'at the right hand of God'. This means Jesus actually stood up to receive the soul of St Stefanous!
Abouna explained that often we expect some reward from our minor earthly toils, some recognition from God without having to go through the suffering. But He asks us to persevere till the end to receive the crown, like St Stefanous.
May his blessings be with us all Amen
This is a great discussion topic!
Recently we were discussing the martyrdom of St Stefanous in dars kitaab. When he died (Acts 7:55) he saw heaven open and Jesus Christ 'standing at the right hand of God'. Normally (eg Hebrews 10:13) Jesus sits down 'at the right hand of God'. This means Jesus actually stood up to receive the soul of St Stefanous!
Abouna explained that often we expect some reward from our minor earthly toils, some recognition from God without having to go through the suffering. But He asks us to persevere till the end to receive the crown, like St Stefanous.
May his blessings be with us all Amen
Thanks Mabsoota for your encouraging comments. I try to find topics that appeal to all types of different people. I'm glad that this one touched a positive note with you.
Your contemplation was equally interesting. Thanks for sharing it with us.