On The Virgin Birth:

This was over at the Triablogue and I thought it was interesting because of the argument I saw going around dealing with the veracity of the use of virgin as a descriptor.  While this is by no means a holistic answer for the questions people raised, I thought it was neat.  Something to meditate on.  BTW this is about the time scale for me responding to things I see now, like 2 months.  So, when Easter starts up the chatter again you can rest assured I will be not blogging in a timely matter.

That’s the Absolutely Spoo promise.

It is sometimes asserted that Mary’s miraculous conception is little more than a reflection of popular ideas and myths about gods impregnating mortal women…It is not likely, however, that early Jewish Christians, including the evangelist Matthew, would present Jesus in pagan garb. Jewish teachers were highly critical of pagan morals and myths. The idea of gods and goddesses having sexual relations with mortals was repugnant. To compare, even if only implicitly, the God of Abraham to a pagan deity like Zeus and to imagine him as somehow impregnating Mary would have been viewed as idolatrous and quite scandalous. Moreover, there was no expectation of a virgin birth in Jewish messianism.

 

No, it is much more likely that Mary’s miraculous conception would have been understood very much in terms of the powerful working of God’s Spirit, as seen in every conception (as in Philo), and especially seen in the examples in the Old Testament in which elderly or otherwise barren women conceive. Mary’s virginal conception tops them all, for her child is none other than Israel’s awaited Messiah and God’s Son.

C. A. Evans, Matthew (Cambridge 2012), 41-42.

Spoiler Alert: He is not an actual Super Saiyan

If you skip to about the half way point you can watch a young man scream bloody murder for 2 minutes in an attempt to go Super Saiyan.  If you do that though you will miss a really good speech about the power of the mind.  You’ll be rooting for the kid.



PS. Saiyan’s are an alien race from the Dragon Ball cartoon series.  Therefore it would be impossible for this kid to go “Super Saiyan” as he was never normal Saiyan to begin with.  So, unfortunately his issue may have been that he set his goals unrealistically.

I left a hole for . . .

Things you may not know about me.  I think Zooey Deschanel’s show New Girl is hilarious.  I love to laugh with the Olsen twins.  Kristen Wiig’s impersonation of Bjork is my favorite Bjork impersonation.  This video is a perfect storm.

I am “I"

For a class that I’m in there was a requirement to take a big spiritual/personality assessment. I have my misgivings about them, but have softened over that last year or two. Basically when the personality tests starting saying, “your personality type hates personality tests.” I was like, oh...ok. So I thought I would put up a little blurb of information that the test have shown. Maybe you, like me are a HARD I type. I’m talking off the charts.

  "I" Type Personalities With Gift of Showing Mercy Inspiring type Christians with the Gift of Showing Mercy influence others to care more. They use verbal skills to generate excitement for the cause of demonstrating love. Interested in people, they induce strong feelings of concern. They can be too emotional. I Showing Mercy types can over do their influence. Some people may think their concern is all show. They like to impress others with their kindness. They need to calm down and be more humble. When it comes to evident sensitivity, I Showing Mercy types are tops. 


 "I" Type Personalities With Gift of Encouraging Inspiring type Christians with the Gift of Encouraging make enthusiastic exhorters. They impress others with their advice. But they can be too optimistic. They often create high expectations. They need to be more realistic. "I" Exhorters should guard against using their verbal skills to manipulate others. They may try to influence others to do more than humanly possible. They should listen more and speak less. Interested in others, they often induce positive responses. "I" Exhorters communicate encouragement best. 


 "I" Type Personalities With Gift of Prophecy Influencing type Christians with the Gift of Prophecy / Perceiving make great communicators of truth. They articulate correctness with persuasion. They tend to over use enthusiasm and emotions to convince others. Able to induce action or reaction, they need to guard against verbal abuse. Proclaiming truth, "I" Prophets / Perceivers should season their speech with sugar. Making great impressions, they must remember Who they represent, not what they defend. "I" Prophets / Perceivers are inspiring protectors of the faith.