#and now there's like...what? five people who like ts g/t in the year of our lord 2022? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thehummingindontblameme-blog · 6 years

Photo

this is not your ordinary tour post.

you’re probably rolling your eyes rn, but it’s true because i’ve already had all my reputation shows. this is a thank you post to @taylorswift. to thank her for the out of body experience that happened on 5-12-18. above is a picture of me. i’m sam!! and i would do anything for taylor allison swift!!

i’ve been a swiftie since 2014, but i wish i could go back in time and have become a swiftie earlier in my life! but don’t you dare doubt me when i say that i know every word to every song, from i’d lie to mary’s song, from sweeter than fiction to come in with the rain, from shake it off to you belong with me! my room is plastered in posters of @taylorswift and i finally decided to start a tumblr.

i remember watching the new romantics tour video and thinking “i can’t even imagine seeing her in real life” because for the past 4 years i’ve just been watching her life in pictures, dreaming impossible dreams. but then...

reputation dropped. the blackout happened. i didn’t know what was going on, i was excited and scared. but i knew that taylor swift was not over. look what you made me do dropped. i remember crying on my floor and asking my cat if it was real. if it was real that taylor was back. i played look what you made me do on repeat until gorgeous dropped, then call it what you want. and then reputation dropped. and i just about died. it’s still the best album i’v ever heard from anybody, and i’m just so happy that i’m able to be a swiftie in this era. but one thing that stood out was that there would be a freaking tour. i had a chance. i looked at the tour dates. santa clara is 4 hours away, easy, and the tickets were pricey, but i wished and wished and wished.

it happened. it was new years eve, my 13th birthday. (coincidence??? i think not) my family was driving home from going out to lunch and my mom said, “you know what, why don’t you open some presents a little early” and i was like “heck yes” and she handed me this giant bag. everything was tied with a ribbon, so i had to pull everything out one by one. first, it was mt 5th copy of reputation, then it was the reputation t shirt, and then it was another target magazine, and then... lyrics written on cards. i was already crying from the merch, but then... there was a little envelope at the end. i opened it, and i started sobbing. i screamed so loud, because there in my hands, were two reputation tour tickets. i kept screaming “i’m going to breath the same air as her?? be in the same stadium as her???”

i got to work. i had 5 months till tour, and i spent those five months counting down the days, fantasizing about costumes and the set list, watching that new romantics video but with more positive thoughts in mind. i made me costume, i made me sign. i was ready for it.

spoiler alert: i was NOT ready for it

my mom and i drove the 4 hours, listening to @taylorswift the whole way. funny story: our car got broken into, so we stopped at my aunt and uncle’s house, and i thought it was literally the sweetest thing that when i walked in, they were playing shake it off in their kitchen. for me. so that’s why the window is taped up. but we didn’t let it affect our concert, we shook it off.

we got to the stadium, safe and sound. my heart was pounding, i was shaking and breathing heavily when i got there. i had to throw my sign away, but i was good with it.

i got my very own snake ring at the merch trucks, and a tour t shirt that is probably my most prized possesion. again, words cannot describe how freaked out i was. i was saying “you mean... taylor allison swift is less than a mile away from me right now???”

i painted my nails to say “i heart ts” and i drew a 13 on my hand.

my mom was sick but she still came to the concert with me, so we were getting an iced coffee for her. but while we were in line... the lights turned off. the stadium went black. i screamed, my mom and i ran to our seats. we stumbled through people rushing to their seats, but we made it. i was sobbing. the iconic “BABY LET THE GAMES BEGIN” began after the iconic opening video and by then i was hyperventilating. @taylorswift came on and i was screaming and i kept saying to my mom “she’s right there!! taylor swift is right there!!!” and i was a mess but i think i was the mess she wanted.

my mom took a ton of pictures of me screaming the lyrics, i think this was during ready for it.

idsb was probably my favorite part of the show. i was shook and wigless from the vocal shows and the insane fireworks. at this point i was screaming “THIS IS THE BEST PART MOM THIS IS THE BEST SONG”

and then at the end of idsb she smiled that smile of hers and looked out at that endless ocean of crowd and i realized i was part of that endless ocean of crowd so i just kept screaming at the top of my lungs “I LOVE YOU TAYLOR” and “I WOULD DIE FOR YOU”

taylor did a speech before gorgeous and called me gorgeous and that really does a lot for your self esteem so

love story and style and you belong with me were amazing, the holy trinity honestly.

she played look what you made me do and I SAW KARYN BUT I DIDN’T KNOW HER NAME YET and i was probably the only one singing the background vocals in end game and it felt a m a z i n g

she did her little delicate speech and i was like “PREACH GURL” because she started talking about her break and how feeling lonely is different than feeling alone and i really felt that ya’ know? literally anything that comes out of her mouth is gold.

and then this queen pulled the best day out of her little pocket full of sunshine and surprise songs from 2009??? and it was really emotional for me and my mom because that’s our song and we both were singing it together and hugging and i started crying again.

SHE SANG BLANK SPACE AND I DID THE SANTA CLARA BACKGROUD VOCAL THING OFC AND I LOOK AT HER HITTING THAT HIGH NOTE I’M SO PROUD OF HER VOCAL SKILLS

also i witnessed @taylorswift take off her dress but it’s cool it’s chill nobody freaking out over there i was completely calm and composed you know how i feel about taylor swift, i just think she’s alright and everything she does is nothing special

and then the bad blood and SHOULD’VE SAID NO mashup came on and i died and rose up from the dead to take this picture my mom was like “let’s take a picture” and i was like “i’m too busy dancing” but then i let her take a picture of me...

the humming. the humming in don’t blame me. could it be... my STAN SONG??? THE BEST SONG TAYLOR ALLISON SWIFT HAS EVER RELEASED?? HUH?? ALL THE VOCALS AND THE BRIDGE AND THE CHORUS AND EVERY SINGLE LYRIC MY HEART WAS POUNDING I WAS THE LOUDEST ONE IN THE STADIUM AND I DIED DEAD DONT BLAME MEEEEE

also LONG LIVE AND NEW YEARS DAY um excuse me while i drown in my tears

POEMS WERE READ TEA WAS SPILLED and then i heard “no nothin good starts in a getaway car” and I L O S T I T

here i am in hysterics again, screaming “WE NEVER HAD A SHOTGUN SHOT IN THE DARK”

(i’m skipping around bc i don’t have that many pictures)

the “oooOOOOooOOOOh” in WANEGBT started playing and once again, i lost my composure.

in conclusion, it was the best night of my entire life. and i’m serious about that. i saw @taylorswift with my own eyes. i saw her in real life, her hot glue gun scar and her hella good hair, and it was unforgettable. i saw her play the album that i love so dearly. she taught me lessons in that stadium, lessons about loneliness and love and disappearance. no, i didn’t meet her in reproom. obviously i wanted to (i would give anything to) but it wasn’t about meeting her.

it was about being with her. being too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet with her. in that stadium, i felt free of judgement and i was able to dance and sing and have the time of my life. and for that, i want to thank @taylorswift. for putting on a show that i’ll look back on and smile and possibly cry. i want to thank the dancers and the band and the background singers for making it even better, and i want to thank the people who clean up the glitter after the party. thank you @taylorswift. ever since may 12th, i’ve been doin’ better than i ever was.

#reptour santa clara #tour post #reputation #dont blame me #taylor swift

27 notes · View notes

dfroza · 3 years

Text

A connection of giving & receiving

is what Paul writes about in Today’s chapter of the New Testament from the Letter of 2nd Corinthians

[Chapter 8]

Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.

I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.

So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written,

Nothing left over to the one with the most,

Nothing lacking to the one with the least.

I thank God for giving Titus the same devoted concern for you that I have. He was most considerate of how we felt, but his eagerness to go to you and help out with this relief offering is his own idea. We’re sending a companion along with him, someone very popular in the churches for his preaching of the Message. But there’s far more to him than popularity. He’s rock-solid trustworthy. The churches handpicked him to go with us as we travel about doing this work of sharing God’s gifts to honor God as well as we can, taking every precaution against scandal.

We don’t want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves. We’re being as careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God. That’s why we’re sending another trusted friend along. He’s proved his dependability many times over, and carries on as energetically as the day he started. He’s heard much about you, and liked what he’s heard—so much so that he can’t wait to get there.

I don’t need to say anything further about Titus. We’ve been close associates in this work of serving you for a long time. The brothers who travel with him are delegates from churches, a real credit to Christ. Show them what you’re made of, the love I’ve been talking up in the churches. Let them see it for themselves!

The Letter of 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 8 (The Message)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is chapter 6 of 1st Kings where the building of the Temple in Jerusalem is documented:

Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of God. The Temple that King Solomon built to God was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. There was a porch across the thirty-foot width of The Temple that extended out fifteen feet. Within The Temple he made narrow, deep-silled windows. Against the outside walls he built a supporting structure in which there were smaller rooms: The lower floor was seven and a half feet wide, the middle floor nine feet, and the third floor ten and a half feet. He had projecting ledges built into the outside Temple walls to support the buttressing beams.

The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet—no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools.

The entrance to the ground floor was at the south end of The Temple; stairs led to the second floor and then to the third. Solomon built and completed The Temple, finishing it off with roof beams and planks of cedar. The supporting structure along the outside walls was attached to The Temple with cedar beams and the rooms in it were seven and a half feet tall.

The word of God came to Solomon saying, “About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites—I won’t desert my people Israel.”

Solomon built and completed The Temple. He paneled the interior walls from floor to ceiling with cedar planks; for flooring he used cypress. The thirty feet at the rear of The Temple he made into an Inner Sanctuary, cedar planks from floor to ceiling—the Holy of Holies. The Main Sanctuary area in front was sixty feet long. The entire interior of The Temple was cedar, with carvings of fruits and flowers. All cedar—none of the stone was exposed.

The Inner Sanctuary within The Temple was for housing the Chest of the Covenant of God. This Inner Sanctuary was a cube, thirty feet each way, all plated with gold. The Altar of cedar was also gold-plated. Everywhere you looked there was pure gold: gold chains strung in front of the gold-plated Inner Sanctuary—gold everywhere—walls, ceiling, floor, and Altar. Dazzling!

Then he made two cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, from olivewood. Each was fifteen feet tall. The outstretched wings of the cherubim (they were identical in size and shape) measured another fifteen feet. He placed the two cherubim, their wings spread, in the Inner Sanctuary. The combined wingspread stretched the width of the room, the wing of one cherub touched one wall, the wing of the other the other wall, and the wings touched in the middle. The cherubim were gold-plated.

He then carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on all the walls of both the Inner and the Main Sanctuary. And all the floors of both inner and outer rooms were gold-plated.

He constructed doors of olivewood for the entrance to the Inner Sanctuary; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided. The doors were also carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and then covered with gold leaf.

Similarly, he built the entrance to the Main Sanctuary using olivewood for the doorposts but these doorposts were four-sided. The doors were of cypress, split into two panels, each panel swinging separately. These also were carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and plated with finely hammered gold leaf.

He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stones topped with a course of planed cedar timbers.

The foundation for God’s Temple was laid in the fourth year in the month of Ziv. It was completed in the eleventh year in the month of Bul (the eighth month) down to the last detail, just as planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it.

The Book of 1st Kings, Chapter 6 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Thursday, november 19 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A set of posts by John Parsons about the eternal life of our Creator and our faith & hope in Love:

The name of the Lord is YHVH (יהוה), which comes from a root word meaning existence (i.e., hayah: היה, to be). It is this name that gives existence to creation, as it says, "in him all things hold together" (τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν; Col. 1:17) and by his power "all things are carried" (φέρων τε τὰ πάντα; Heb. 1:3). In God we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and "from him and through him and to him are all things" (Rom. 11:36). Some people think of "eternal life" as unending life or immortality of the soul, but eternal life (i.e., chayei olam: חַיֵּי עוֹלָם) transcends the idea of time and is centered in relation to the Living God, right now, wherever we are... Therefore Yeshua says to his followers, "Live in me and I will live in you" (John 15:4). We need not fear death, then, because we partake in the overcoming life of God given in Yeshua: there is no ultimate separation from his love. When we live in Messiah our true life is "concealed" and we pass over from the temporal world of shadows to the world of reality, from fear to comfort, from darkness to light. We “lose our life in order to find it” (Luke 17:33). The walk of faith surrenders all that this life may promise for the sake of finding true life in God. [Hebrew for Christians]

11.18.20 • Facebook

"Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time anything came to be there I AM, and now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit" (Isa. 48:16). Note in this verse the strong intimation of the transpersonal unity (echdut) nature of ha’shilush ha’kodosh, or the ineffable Godhead.... Of course the Torah clearly affirms that "God is one" (יְהוָה אֶחָד), though note that the word "one" (i.e., echad: אֶחָד) means something more than mere numerical identity (i.e., yachid: יָחִיד) but instead unity in plurality, a "transcendental" oneness that points to the unfathomable mystery of the Name YHVH and the tri-unity of the Godhead (אֵין סוֹף). Note further that the Shema is composed of three parts yet is one affirmation, and the great birkat Kohanim, or the "priestly blessing," is composed of three stanzas that use the Name YHVH three times. The Tabernacle, or Mishkan, was composed of three separate sections, with the inmost chamber holding the sacred "three-in-one" box called the Ark of the Covenant... Space is defined in terms of three dimensions, as is time (i.e., past, present, future). God has not spoken in secret, friends. "Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!" (Prov. 30:4).

Both the Torah of Moses and the New Testament attest that Yeshua is Elohim (אֱלהִים) -- the sole Creator of the cosmos: ��ְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר / "in the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1,14). The Divine Word and Voice cannot be separated from God any more than the Spirit of God can be separated. Yeshua is the Source of all life in the universe: כָּל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים נִהְיוּ עַל־יָדוֹ / "All things were made by Him (John 1:3). The "Word made flesh" is the "image of the invisible God" and the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint (χαρακτήρ, 'character') of his nature" (Col. 1:15). All of creation is being constantly upheld by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3): "All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him" and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. "stick together") (Col. 1:16-17). As our Creator and Master of the Universe, Yeshua is both our King and our Judge, and therefore our lives center upon him... [Hebrew for Christians]

11.18.20 • Facebook

Regarding Abraham it is written: “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Here note the distinction between the promise of God and the commandments of God. The promise of God focuses on God’s heart - his desire and goal, his character and passion - but the commandments of God focus on man’s heart, in his desire and will to obey (or not). Receiving God’s love is not based on imperative and the language of conditional acceptance, but is based on the invitation and promise of love and grace. The “work of faith” (מַעֲשֶׂה הָאֱמוּנָה) is to believe that God accepts you despite your unacceptability, and that you are esteemed righteous for believing the truth of God’s heart. Faith justifies the ungodly because faith accepts the promise, just as Abraham was justified because he trusted in the promise of the seed to come. Therefore, as Rabbi Paul taught, we maintain that a person is justified apart from the law (Rom. 3:28), which is to affirm that eternal life is found exclusively in the grace and promises of God. This is the Torah of “faith, hope, and love,” and it is a lifelong discipline to know it in the truth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). [Hebrew for Christians]

https://hebrew4christians.com/

11.18.20 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

November 19, 2020

Redeem the Time

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:5-6)

Time is the most precious resource available to us. Obviously, it becomes available moment by moment, and there is absolutely no way to recapture what has moved into the past. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Our lifestyle should be recognizable from the wisdom that comes from the “fear of the LORD” (Psalm 111:10). So much so that our everyday conversation should not be “in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

“Every idle word that men shall speak” will one day be evaluated “in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). It is clear that “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

That is why we are to “redeem the time.” The Greek term is exagoradzo, meaning to buy up or to make the most of time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). Our speech must be consciously planned to “answer every man” in such a way that it is “alway with grace, seasoned with salt”—two apparently opposite characteristics.

Our words should be “as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24), “but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it?” (Mark 9:50). It is the combined power that is important; “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). HMM III

0 notes

stillevann · 3 years

Text

Gluttony: Sin of Lust and Greed (Part One)

Martin G. Collins

A Realty Times magazine article, "Gluttony . . . Sheer Gluttony: Tyson's Connecticut City—uh, home—goes on the market," tells of how prizefighter Mike Tyson bought a Farmington, Connecticut, estate for $3 million and made some "modest" upgrades: a 3,500 square-foot nightclub designed for 1,000 people, and a 1,500 square-foot exercise facility. The house has 18 bedrooms, 24 full bathrooms, 14 half-baths, an indoor racquetball court, 7 kitchens, a theater, an elevator, a 3-story foyer, and 50 skylights. Tyson has admitted to Prime Time Live that he has probably visited it only five times, yet after a year, he grew tired of his 56,000 square-foot pastime, putting it up for sale for $25 million!

Although Tyson has invested millions upgrading the estate, Connecticut realtors believe he will not get much beyond the initial $3 million for it since $250,000-500,000 homes surround it. What a waste—millions of dollars squandered in gluttonous spending.

With human reasoning being what it is, it is not surprising to see our present society deeply against self-responsibility. Most people today have convinced themselves that they are not personally responsible for their actions, and this applies to gluttony. They reason, "It must be genetic," or "I have a disease." Gluttony is considered merely socially unpleasant rather than a sin. Few in this society know what it is or why it is wrong.

What is gluttony? Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines a glutton as "one given habitually to greedy and voracious eating and drinking." Voracious is "having a huge appetite: ravenous; excessively eager: insatiable." Synonyms for "gluttony" are greed, avarice, gorge, epicure, cram, stuff and guzzle. Children who eat voraciously are said to "eat us out of house and home," and an adult who eats often "plays a good knife and fork."

We associate gluttony most often with overeating, but it can occur in many other forms such as drinking, smoking, gambling, sex, accumulating material things, or even too much studying and researching of a narrowly defined subject in theology, health, genealogy—the list is endless. The key term, however, is "too much." Signs of gluttony are too soon, too eagerly, too quickly.

Gluttony Is Destructive

The Bible ascribes a great deal of destructive power to gluttony, as in Proverbs 30:21-22: "For three things the earth is perturbed, yes, for four it cannot bear up: . . . A fool when he is filled with food. . . ." Physically, what is so harmful about it?

An old English proverb says, "Gluttony kills more than the sword." Another maintains, "There are more gluttons than alcoholics in the grave." This certainly seems true today. In the last five years, sales of oversized coffins at the nation's largest casket company are up 20 percent. Why? The November 8, 1999, issue of U.S. News and World Report answers this in an informative article entitled, Why We're Fat:

Both men and women are getting fat in epidemic proportions. Well over half of all American adults—about 63 percent of men and 55 percent of women age 25 and older—are overweight. Last week in a special issue devoted entirely to obesity, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported new statistics that are nothing short of astonishing for a nation seemingly so obsessed with health and fitness: The rate of obesity—18 percent—has soared from 12 percent just seven years ago, making the United States now secure in its position as the fattest nation in the developed world.

"The rate is shocking," says Jeffery Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "and it means that we have a huge public health problem." Indeed, depending on weight and age, obesity significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, diabetes, and gallbladder disease.

Gluttony is sheer defiance of reasonable and balanced behavior. Benjamin Franklin says of man's proclivity to overeat, "In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires." Each person must determine what is necessary to sustain him, measuring his indulgence in eating and drinking to ensure it is healthy for him.

Obese men risk serious health problems, as Why We're Fat relates:

The potbelly that men often grow in their middle years is not just unattractive, it's dangerous. . . . The midlife paunch, which doctors call "visceral fat," poses a risk because it surrounds the internal organs. It releases fatty acids that make their way into the liver, diminishing the organ's ability to process the hormone insulin, eventually causing diabetes. The fat also affects how the kidneys process insulin, a factor that scientists say may lead to high blood pressure. For every 10 percent increase over normal weight, men and women have about a 20 percent jump in risk for heart disease. [See the inset, "Body Mass Index," to see how health officials determine obesity.]

Obesity is a terrible problem, and unlike other epidemics like a flu epidemic, it will not go away on its own. Some would have us believe that there is nothing wrong with being fat—that people just find it distasteful and assume it is unhealthy. Actually, doctors say fat is unhealthy because a multitude of studies for decades has shown it to be so. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says, "We know that excessive weight fosters everything from diabetes and heart disease to breast cancer, colorectal cancer and osteoarthritis." Prostate, gallbladder, cervical and ovarian cancers have also been linked to obesity.

Gluttony Is Sin

When we use food or drink in a way that injures our health or impairs our mind, we are guilty of the sin of gluttony. King Solomon, a man familiar with feasting and abundance, advises, "Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness!" (Ecclesiastes 10:17). We should eat food primarily at meal times and for strength, not satiation.

Although we all enjoy snacks occasionally, they are most often of poor quality, well known as "fat foods" or "junk foods" for their ability to fatten us up with little or no nutritional value. While adults consume plenty of junk food, teenagers eat it voraciously, one factor in why so many of our youth are overweight (adolescent obesity has jumped 40 percent in a little over a decade). The cycle of gluttony does not end once they reach adulthood.

Perhaps not so surprising to those who are observant, teens ingest an average of 9 percent of their calories from soft drinks. Food and drink proportions have inflated to the point that marketers need a new vocabulary to describe them. Selections no longer stop at "large"—they are now "jumbo" or "supreme." The original Coca-Cola came in a statuesque 6.5-ounce bottle, and in Europe it is still about 8 ounces. In America, however, machines now dispense 20-ounce soda bottles, while convenience stores sell 64-ounce buckets of drink—10 times the original serving size!

Eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia are commonly associated with gluttony. As an affluent nation, we binge and starve and binge again, swinging from food-related anxiety to depression and guilt to pursuing sensory pleasure in food "addiction." For instance, bulimia is characterized by self-perpetuating and self-defeating cycles of gluttonous binge-eating and purging. During a "binge," the person consumes large amounts of food in a rapid, automatic and helpless fashion. Though this may repress hunger, anger and other feelings, it eventually creates physical discomfort and anxiety about weight gain. So the person "purges" the food eaten, usually by inducing vomiting and resorting to some combination of restrictive dieting, excessive exercising, laxatives and diuretics.

According to the World Health Organization, 300,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of obesity. Among lifestyle-related illnesses, only cigarette smoking (at approximately 400,000 deaths) has a higher toll. But smoking deaths are declining, while obesity deaths will continue to climb as long as obesity does.

Of course, eating is not a sin, but if one eats in a manner that is unhealthy, it is sin. Poor eating habits, such as binge eating, constant eating for satiation and junk food inhalation, slowly destroy the human body.

Lust and Greed

How do lust and greed relate to gluttony? Basically, lust is an intense longing or excessive craving for something—anything—and greed is excessive or insatiable desire to accumulate things. Lust and greed are never satisfied, as James 4:1-2 says: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain." Too much of even a good thing can be bad. Among other afflictions, too much eating can cause obesity and gout, and too much drinking, cirrhosis of the liver and depression.

In Numbers 11, the Israelites in the wilderness, inclined to be excessive, let lust and greed rule them. Their gluttony exposes other sins hidden below the surface: ingratitude, wastefulness, lust, greed, covetousness and licentiousness. The chapter begins with some of them complaining of being tired of eating only God-given manna. Displeased with them, God burns up some of the complainers in the outskirts of the camp as a warning (verse 1). Still, many give into their desire for other types of food, especially meat. "Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?'" (verse 4).

Moses, tired of the Israelites complaining about not having meat, complains to God about the complaining Israelites (verses 10-15)! God, although not pleased with the Israelites, tells him that He would provide the entire nation with meat (verses 16-20). Moses immediately assumes it would come from the flocks and herds (verses 21-22), but God performs a miracle to further show His providence: Quail flutter just above the ground near the camp for about a day's journey in all directions!

And the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers [about ten donkey loads]); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah [Graves of Craving], because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. (verses 32-34)

God is furious when we yield to intense craving—lust—because it controls our will. Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and without it a person cannot produce other fruits of the Spirit. The Israelites, devoid of self-control, could not conform to God's will.

In Psalm 78, the psalmist describes God's care of Israel in the wilderness and how the people reacted to His will. He includes a description of the event in Numbers 11:

But they sinned even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?"

Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation. Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food; He sent them food to the full [satiation, margin].

He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind. He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas; and He let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations. So they ate and were filled, for He gave them their own desire. They were not deprived of their craving; but while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came against them, and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel.

In spite of this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear. (verses 17-33)

The Israelites lost control of themselves by yielding to their cravings. Despite all God had provided for them, they quickly forgot and gave their will to the god of appetite. The result was futility, destruction and death.

Wisdom's Children

Matthew 11:18-19 provides a principle to determine if our actions are gluttonous. Responding to accusations of extremes in eating and drinking against John the Baptist and Himself, Jesus remarks:

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon." The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" But wisdom is justified by her children.

What are the children of wisdom? Good works and good fruit. Whether what we do is wise or foolish is seen in the fruit we bear and in what we accomplish. An alcoholic produces sorrow for himself and his family, battered wives and children, poor health and a shorter life. A glutton produces a bad example for his family and his brethren, poverty, poor health and eventually death. We must control our desires because excess desire is the driving force behind gluttony. When we lose control of it, we sin, feeding the god that is in our belly, the god of excess, the god of too much, too fast, too eagerly.

Another interpretation of "wisdom is justified by her children" is that those who follow the wisdom from above recognize and live their lives based on truth. By their example in living wisely and righteously, they justify, prove, that it is the right and reasonable way to live. The way the wise live destroys the credibility of false accusations. Avoiding gluttony is one way to show that we are living in wisdom. The foolish—the opposite of the wise—tend toward gluttony.

The Institute of Medicine thinks the problem "must lie in the powerful social and cultural forces that promote an energy-rich diet and a sedentary lifestyle." But the problem is deeper than that! It is rooted in human nature, which we must overcome and can only be overcome with the help of God's Holy Spirit. When we nurture lust and greed, gluttony is a byproduct, a sign that something of a spiritual nature is eating us.

#gluttony #food #obesity #lust #desire #covet #covetousness #sin #longing #idolatry #idol #greed #selfishness #me me me #selfish #ego

0 notes

omarbelloutiworld · 4 years

Text

100 difficult riddles & Answers that kids and families will love

1. When you do not know what I am, then I am something. But when you know what I am, then I am nothing. What am I? A RIDDLE

2. You can see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I? A REFLECTION

3. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? FOOTSTEPS

4. When I am released to the wind, you look away and you pretend, but away your friends I will send. What am I? A FART

5. What English word has three consecutive double letters? BOOKKEEPER

6. Imagine you are in a dark room. How do you get out? STOP IMAGINING

7. What English word retains the same pronunciation, even after you take away four of its five letters? QUEUE

8. When you have me, you feel like sharing me. But, if you do share me, you don't have me. What am I? A SECRET

9. A man is pushing his car along the road when he comes to a hotel. He shouts, "I'm bankrupt!" Why? HE IS PLAYING MONOPOLY

10. An English word has six letters, remove one letter, and twelve remains. What am I? DOZENS

11. What question can you never answer yes to? ARE YOU ASLEEP?

12. What invention lets you look right through a wall? A WINDOW

13. What s as light as a feather, but even the world's strongest man couldn't hold it for more than a minute? HIS BREATH

14. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years? THE LETTER M.

15. I never ask questions but am always answered. What am I? A DOORBELL

16. If you go to the movies and you're paying, is it cheaper to take one friend to the movies twice, or two friends to the movies at the same time?

- IT'S CHEAPER TO TAKE TWO FRIENDS AT THE SAME TIME. IN THIS CASE, YOU WOULD ONLY BEBUYING THREE TICKETS, WHERE AS IF YOU TAKE THE SAME FRIEND TWICE YOU ARE BUYING FOUR TICKETS.

17. What gets bigger every time you take from it? A HOLE

18. What is full of holes, but can still hold a lot of water? A SPONGE

19. Which came first the chicken or the egg?

THE EGG. DINOSAURS LAID EGGS BEFORE THE REWERE ANY CHICKENS

20. No matter how much rain comes down on it, it won't get any wetter. What is it? WATER

21. I'm flat when I'm new. I'm fat when you use me. I release my gas when something sharp touches me. What am I? A BALLOON

22. Three times what number is no larger than two times that same number? 0

23. What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don't want to use it? AN ANCHOR

24. I cannot hear or even see, but sense light and sounds that may be. Sometimes I end up on the hook, or even deep into a book. What am I?A WORM

25. Which ring is square? A BOXINGRING

26. Why are manholes round instead of square?

IF THEY'RE SQUARE IT'S POSSIBLE FOR THE COVER TO SLIP DOWN THE HOLE (DIAGONALLY). A ROUND MAN HOLE CAN NOT FALL DOWN NO MATTER WHICH WAY IT IS ROTATED BECAUSE IT'S WIDTH IN ANY DIRECTION IS GREATER THAN THE OPENING ON THE HOLE.

27. What tastes better than it smells? YOUR TONGUE

28. At night, they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they? THE STARS

29. The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it? DARKNESS

30. What starts with a T, ends with a T, and has T in it? A TEAPOT

31. Say my name and I disappear. What am I? SILENCE

32. What is it that after you take away the whole, some still remains? WHOLE SOME

33. Forward I’m heavy, but backwards I’m not. What am I? TON

34. I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet they can unlock your soul. What am I? A PIANO

35. My first is twice in apple but not once in tart. My second is in liver but not in heart. My third is in giant and also in ghost. Whole I’m best when I am roast. What am I? A PIG

36. Remove six letters from this sequence to reveal a familiar English word. BSAINXLEATNTEARS BANANAS(REMOVED SIX LETTERS)

37. What has four wheels and flies? GARBAGE TRUCK

38. What has a forest but no trees, cities but no people and rivers but no water? MAP

39. Runs smoother than any rhyme, loves to fall but cannot climb. What am I? WATER

40. Take me and scratch my head. What once was red, is black instead. What am I? A MATCH

41. What is as big as you are and yet does not weigh anything? YOURSHADOW

42. It is an insect, and the first part of its name is the name of another insect. What is it? BEETLE

43. I'm where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow's in the middle. What am I? A DICTIONARY

44. How much dirt is there in a hole 3 feet deep, 6 ft. long and 4 ft. wide? NONE – IT IS A HOLE

45. Name all the numbers from 1 – 100, which have the letter ‘A’ in their spellings? NONE

46. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on? A COAT OF PAINT

47. What kind of cheese is made backwards? EDAM

48. What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand? YOUR LEFT HAND

49. During what month do people sleep the least? FEBRUARY

50. What can never be placed in a sauce pan? ITS LID

51. I am always there, some distance away, somewhere between land or sea and sky I lay. You may move towards me, but distant I will stay. What am I? THE HORIZON

52. I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me. What am I? A SHADOW

53. What kind of room has no doors or windows? A MUSHROOM

54. What can you catch but not throw? A COLD

55. What has a Heart but no other organs? A DECK OF CARDS

56. Two people are born at the same moment, but they don't have the same birthdays. How could this be? THEY ARE BORN IN DIFFERENT TIME ZONES

57. What's orange and sounds like a parrot? A CARROT

58. What always goes to bed with its shoes on? A HORSE

59. How can you make 7 even? REMOVE THE S

60. What am I? A QUESTION

61. I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile, and reverse time. I form in an instant but I last a life time. What am I? A MEMORY

62. Mr. Smith has two children. If the older child is a boy, what are the odds that the other child is also a boy? 50 PERCENT

63. A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All the sides have southern exposure. A big bear walks by. What color is the bear? WHITE. IT IS A POLAR BEAR

64. What starts with an e but only has a single letter in it? ANENVELOPE

65. A girl who was just learning to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction but didn't break the law. How come? SHE WAS WALKING

66. If in a car race, the man who came two places in front of the last man finished one ahead of the man who came fifth. How many contestants were there? 6

67. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him? THE THIRD ROOM. LIONS THAT HAVEN'T EATEN IN THREE YEARS ARE DEAD.

68. What's black and white and red all over? A NEWSPAPER

69. What flies when it's born, lies when it's alive, and runs when it's dead? A SNOWFLAKE

70. I am the only organ that named myself. What am I? THE BRAIN

71. You walk into a room with a rabbit holding a carrot, a pig eating slop, and a chimp holding a banana. Which animal in the room is the smartest?YOU

72. What always murmurs but never talks, always runs but never walks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never speaks? A RIVER

73. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which Iam never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I? A PENCIL

74. I'm tall when I'm young and I'm short when I'm old. What am I? A CANDLE

75. What house can fly? A HOUSEFLY

76. What goes up and doesn't go down? YOUR AGE

77. No matter how terrible things get for the people of the Arctic, they will not eat a penguin. Why? THERE AREN'T ANY PENGUINS IN THE ARTIC

78. A group of ten people are going out for pizza but only two of them have an umbrella to keep them dry. But they manage to walk all the way to the pizza place without getting wet.How is this possible? IT ISN'T RAINING OUTSIDE

79. What runs around the house but doesn't move? A FENCE

80. What goes around the house and in the house but never touches the house? THE SUN

81. A man finds a small iron coin dated 154 B.C., what's it worth? IT IS A FAKE. NO COIN CAN SAY BC

82. There is a one-story house. The walls are blue, the floor is pink, the stove and cupboards are red. What color are the stairs? THERE AREN'T ANY STAIRS

83. Why was the baby strawberry crying? BECAUSE ITS PARENTS WERE IN A JAM

84. I can be cracked, I can be made. I can be told, I can be played. What am I? A JOKE

85. I can't go left, I can't go right. I am forever stuck in a building over three stories high. What am I? AN ELEVATOR

86. What goes back and forth constantly, but never in a straight line? A PENDULUM

87. What dress can you not wear? AN ADDRESS

88. What belongs to you but others use it more? YOUR NAME

89. I don’t have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thought, but am now white and empty. What am I? SKULL

90. What has hands that can’t clap? A CLOCK

91. Which three numbers have the same answer when added together and multiplied together? 1, 2 AND 3

92. What has a mouth but can't chew? A RIVER

93. How did Mark legally marry three women in Michigan, without divorcing any of them, becoming legally separated, or any of them dying? HE WAS A PRIEST

94. I have all the knowledge you have. But I am not much larger than your fist. What am I? I'M YOUR BRAIN

95. Everyone in the world needs it. They generously give it, but rarely take it. What is it? ADVICE

96. Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will. What am I? AN ONION

97. Lighter than what I am made of, more of me is hidden than is seen. What am I? AN ICEBERG

98. You heard me before, yet you hear me again, then I die, ’till you call me again. What am I? AN ECHO

99. If you were standing directly on Antarctica’s South Pole facing north, which direction would you travel if you took one step backward? NORTH

100. What has a neck but no head? A BOTTLE

0 notes