Journal #9
1) The main idea of chapter nine is sharing God’s good news with the world. By giving brief summaries of and quotes from the twenty-one epistles in the New Testament, the author introduces us to many major life choices that we still make in our world today. I think it is important to realize that we must make the right choices when faced with the difficult issues mentioned in this chapter such as addictions and alcoholism, violence, and even finding enough strength inside myself to have humility and seek to forgive others. I never before thought that I could closely relate to Bible messages because they were written so long ago, but this chapter helps me realize that I can find help in making life choices from a great variety of sources. Now I realize that I am not in this quest towards God completely alone. Proof of God’s presence in my life can be found in things I do every day like hanging out with my friends, reading books, or even going to see movies. It is my responsibility to search for God’s loving inspiration within all these actions and gain strength to spread the ways and words of God. The next step, proclaiming God’s good news to those around me, is usually the hardest task for me because I find it hard to speak to those around me. However, just as I have been discovering throughout this book, my fear of standing out a little is holding me back from full doing God’s work. By adopting Paul’s “I can do” attitude, I believe that I can spread God’s word to others through words and actions.
2) The first main idea I would like to remember from this chapter is Paul’s “I can do” attitude. As I mentioned before, I usually find spreading God’s good news to be a difficult task because of my fear to speak up, stand out and be noticed. However, looking at Paul’s “doing great things no matter what happens to me” attitude helps me realize that this way living in fear of being noticed isn’t how I should be living. Rather, I should be striving to have people notice the Word I am spreading and help others incorporate God into their lives while still trying to gain inspiration from the people around me. If something bad happens to me while I am living this way, I know that many more good things are coming from this way of life besides this one bad event. By trying to bring Paul’s “I can do” attitude into my life I can change my life and the lives of those around me by revealing my faith, courage, and personality to the world.
Another major idea I would like to take away from this chapter is the witness of women in the early Church. Although I cannot fully relate with this example of witness because I am not a woman and did not live during the time of the early Church, I do believe that I can somewhat relate to and gain inspiration from these strong willed women. Today, I find that many people are looked down upon or not expected to do great things because a certain prejudice. I believe that this part of the chapter is trying to tell me not to expect the least out of anyone simply because of a prejudice or because of their actions in the past. Expecting the least out of others is a terrible thing to do because my expectations may make that person think less of him or herself. When people think the least of themselves, then they may keep themselves from accomplishing great works in the world. So, by expecting little out of others, I can hinder wonderfully powerful actions coming out the people around me. Rather, I should try to accept everyone and try to encourage others to do the right thing.
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4) Were there any other religious preachers writing to the communities that Paul kept in contact with trying to get the people to join their religion?
5) As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14
This quote from the letter of Paul to the Colossians is my favorite passage from an epistle. This passage really displays a strong sense of unity that I really think everyone in our world should be able to witness. Our world today is full of people being separated from others because of discrimination, arguments, fear, and hostility. I find myself trying to steer clear of others sometimes because of a past argument I may have had with them or because I am afraid of what they will say to me. I think that in this passage in his letter to the Colossians, Paul describes how I should live my life to best help myself and others best see God working in our lives through things like nature and the deeds of those around us. Reading this passage makes me very hopeful that all of us can be helpful factors in making our world a better place by simply standing by one another and helping each other.