JeremyLaDuke.com

Life is working itself out it so many interesting ways. I can’t wait to see what’s next. God has given me such a wonderful life. I only hope I can somehow make it worth all the effort He’s put into it and me.

It’s raining today in Bangkok. It’s made the weather much cooler. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have cleared the air much. I’m literally choking on the air here. You can see it. It’s worse than L.A. People wear masks over their face. Seems wise. I had to go to the pharmacy to get some caugh drops.

That reminds me of a conversation I had with Jamie, a good friend and theological student. We were talking about smoking Ganja. The question came up of whether it was allowed by God or not, but then spread to incorportate more than just Mary Jane.

Galatians 5:19-21
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Witchcraft. Blatently of the sinful nature. But what is witchcraft? The greek word is pharmakeia. It’s where we get the English word for Pharmacy.

It had a few different uses in the Bible.

1) the use or the administering of drugs
2) poisoning
3) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it
4) metaph. the deceptions and seductions of idolatry

Hmm… Maybe withcraft is a little more prevalent in our lives than we thought. Maybe our idols come in the form of something more acceptable to society.

So I hired a taxi and explored the city. The poverty is shocking. What even more shocking is the huge devide between rich and poor. You see this entire city–or maybe nation–trying to grab hold of the future, to modernize and technologize. And then you see the disregard for the common man. People are living on the side of the road in tarp houses, or in run down buildings, or buildings that were half finished and forgotten about.

A man approached my taxi window asking for money. He had an infection of some kind that left gaping hole in his leg that had dried out and become like jerky. He was walking on it, going from car to car as people ignored him or waved him away. I was so shocked and didn’t know what to do. At the moment I thought “No amount of money I can give him is going to help him.” But I’m sure my heart and mind were not in the right place. I look back at that moment and the moment when children ran up to me begging for food, pointing at the empty tin foil my lunch was in, and other similar moments and wonder, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?

I find myself at a loss. I feel compelled to help these people. When I’m caught off guard, in the heat of the moment, I find it difficult to find the ability to do anything more than stare or keep walking and say “I’m sorry.” I feel helpless. I give some of them money. And more come.

What bothers me more is I don’t find the time to think about these issues more often. I spend hours, days and weeks pondering my own sorry situation, looking for solutions. I usually find them. So why am I not spending more time thinking of solutions for these issues? Can I even do anything?! These issues are huge!

I saw most of Dehli in a day. It’s rather large, but the monuments are spread across the entire city. I expect to head to Agra tomorrow and see the Taj Mahal.

In my conversation with Christine (a shipmate on my boat cruise to Olympos in Turkey) I’ve somewhat compiled my thoughts regarding the simplicity of our purpose.

Matthew 22:34-40
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

John 13:34-35
34″A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

How do we please God? We follow His commandments. What are his commandments? Love God and each other, this is the fullfillment of the whole Law. So how do we love God? We love each other. How do we love each other? We love each other as Jesus loved us. How did Jesus love us? He became the ultimate servant going so far as to give up His own life for our benefit.

“Paul brings out the same truth when he develops the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11-16). Each individual in the church is to develop deep relationships with other members so that the body can grow and “build itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16). To be mature Christians who reflect God’s image, we need vital relationships with others. ” [1]

1. Love feels compassion.
2. Love is intentional.
3. Love denies self.
4. Love acts.
5. Love gives.

Love is a VERB!

It’s fantastic when someone realizes the simplicity Jesus spoke. When he turned the Jewish faith upside-down and reveal the true nature of the Law it was amazing! But what I really noticed, after my conversation with Christine, was that it wasn’t just the Jewish faith being flip-flopped, it’s also popular Christianity as we see it thrown about today! When I explained to Christine the simplicity of Jesus’ words, she asked “Then why do they make it seem so confusing and complicated?” Maybe “they” was refering to her perception of Christian leaders or maybe just Christians in general–some who today look just like the Pharisees of Jesus day. They complicate the simple formula.

I think that was one of the issues I had in understanding Jesus’ message. I saw hypocrisy on every level and it didn’t seem like anyone was addressing it. I still don’t know why we humans complicate things so simple, but what I did discover was that I didn’t need a religion. I needed a relationship–with God. I also realized relationships can’t be maintained vicariously. I can’t have a mediator between God and I–not a priest, not a pastor, not a friend and not a parent.

Man without the Spirit is describerd in Jude 1:18-19 as one who follows mere natural instincts–the sinful nature–nature not ment for us, or at least not living up to out potential or original design. That seems interesting to think about. I’ll have to elaborate on that later.

Matthew 7:1-2
1″Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ”

1 Cor 2:11
11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

10 “I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”

Proverbs 20:27
27 The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man;
it searches out his inmost being.

I wanted to quote all these verses I discovered because it goes along with the actions and attitudes I believe we are called to have towards others. This is a reminder and opportunity for me to work out some thoughts.

I remember a verse Matt 5:27-28 where Jesus says
27″You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Lust is discribed in the dictionary as
1. Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.

The word in greek is epithumeo {ep-ee-thoo-meh’-o}. Which is defined as
1) to turn upon a thing 2) to have a desire for, long for, to desire 3) to lust after, covet

You can’t define a word with the word so we’ll go with desire.

Desire is defined as
1. To wish or long for; want.

Want is defined as
2. b. To seek with intent to capture

Now we have a broader more acurrate view of what lusting means. Often our terms lose their true meaning thru inaccurate word association. And the best way to understand a word is to find it’s roots. Lust > Desire > Want > To seek with intent to capture. I think most of us have been socially conditioned to believe that lust = fantasy, more specifically: sexual fantasy. It doesn’t. Lust is to seek with intent to capture–sexually.

It becomes pretty clear that no one but God and the man lusting is going to know that he is truely lusting. Therefore it becomes even more clear that no man can judge another man based on his secret intentions. Only God knows and only God can judge a mans heart, mind and soul.

I chose lust as the topic because of its controvery regarding its definition in everyday conversation. I constantly find my self arguing over the semantics and wanted to document clearly how I’ve arrived at my understanding. This same principle can be used with ANY situation. Just as it is illegal to conspire to commit murder, Jesus is saying it is also a sin to conspire to commit adultery even if you don’t get the opportunity to actually commit the act.

In short, no one has the ability to judge another man’s secret intentions. You don’t know if he has secret, sinful intentions or not. So watch yourselves because you too will be judged with the measure you used.