K. I'm doing it again. I started blogging again because I want to get back to writing everyday again, just simply as a discipline, but I am already going back to my "ugh, too much effort, don't want to write, just gonna surf" kind of ways. I am not exactly sure what I am feeling such a push to be more disciplined lately. I think mostly it is because I am finding myself with much more time on my hands that I do nothing of any value with. And that is driving me nuts because the wasted time is getting me nowhere. The language issue brings that sharply into focus. If I had been spending a little bit of my free time every day studying Japanese, I would be way ahead of where I am at now. But instead I am still spinning my wheels.

So for blogging I often think of something I would like to write about, but then it is gone or just seems dumb when I go to write in the evening. So I need something to blog around, some kind of other source that would spur some ideas. And I am thinking that the perfect thing would be re-reading the gospels again, and putting the thoughts that arise from it down here. I got in a conversation with a friend the other day where I said:

To me, the gospels hold remarkably more weight than than the rest of scripture (no other foundation than Christ, as Paul would say) because they hold the very revelation of the Divine being. He was what was revealed to us as what God is like, and therefore, we must know how his heart beat and read other scripture in that light, rather than the other way around.

Andrea and I got talking about it and we were thinking got on to the whole thing about how dealing with the OT is just plain a sticky, grey area that historically has often led to really weird application. I don't know if a lot of the stuff going in the OT has to square exactly with what is going on with Christ, because it is evident that either 1. There was some sort of massive paradigm shift between the two testaments or 2. What we are getting in the OT is not as clear revelation-wise (ie: more of the prophet's own stuff getting in there than when you are reading the actual words of Christ). What makes me say that is when Christ himself starts directly contradicting some of the writings of the Law:

"You have heard that the law of Moses says, `Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ". (Matthew 5:43)

So what does one do when Christ points to the OT and says, "look, don't think like that anymore"? He must be establishing himself as a higher authority even than the scripture, which is one of the things that freaked people out so much.

After I wrote it, I thought, man, for the amount of importance I say I place in the gospels, I sure haven't picked them up for a long time. So there, now I said, now I gotta do it. I will start reading through Luke or Matthew and writing down the thoughts that arise.

Soon... not now.