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renaroo · 7 years

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Wednesday Roundups 7/6/17

Wow I had a lot to read and I still managed to turn it out faster than I turn out about 90% of these which I’m not sure if it’s a reflection on my reading and writing skills getting better or if I was stressing out over doing these way too much in the past.

Regardless, we have quite a variety this week and still seem to be celebrating Wonder Joy so let’s just get into it~

DC’s Batman, Creator Owned CBLDF Defender, Marvel’s Spider-Man/Deadpool, DC’s Superman, IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light, DC’s Wonder Woman FCBD, DC’s Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor, Viz’s Yona of the Dawn

DC’s Batman (2016-present) #24 Tom King, David Finch, Danny Miki, Clay Mann, Seth Mann, Jordie Bellaire

Okay, so I follow Batman at a distance because I’ll be completely honest: Tom King absolutely lost me with the Gotham and Gotham Girl plot because I just could not get into it, and it annoyed me, so I’ve been hands off with the title for the most part, a decision I only double downed on with the Catwoman debacle and my correct assumption in King really relying too heavily on TWISTS. a

....

But I absolutely picked up this issue because even if nothing in my thinking brain believes, at all, that this will be allowed to change the status quo between Bruce and Selina...

I love BatCat so much you guys.

He proposed. And I bought it purely for those pages.

I have to emphasize it was for those pages alone because I could not have cared less about Claire and Bruce’s conversation because I’m just so tired of how many people there are in Gotham and how this conversation would have been so much more meaningful if it came from Kate or Dick or Tim or Cass or Duke or Harper or Damian or Julia or Luke or Jean Paul or Leslie or -- THERE ARE SO MANY BAT CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT BEING USED TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL RIGHT NOW DAMMIT.

The conversation itself is kinda stuff we’ve heard before, and while I like how it tied in thematically it just wasn’t in me to not criticize the fact that it’s coming from the current OC of the Day.

Anyway.

I came for the BatCat and I was happy for it even if it was basically only three issues and I had to deal with grown artists making Gotham GIrl’s skirt incredibly short while she was in weird positions for most of it.

So. That’s my take on that.

Now I can write 3 million fics about how this could be wonderful and that Helena Wayne gets to grow up with all her siblings and be loved by the world. byyyyeeeeeeee

Creator Owned CBLDF Defender Vol. 2 #2 Marc Adreyko, Gene Luen Yang

So this is mostly just an addition at the last minute both because it’s free and because it’s, well, an information brochure about uniting to subscribe or pledge money to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for all those who have been encouraged into activism thanks to recent events and the collective consciousness surrounding events like last year’s Pulse nightclub shooting.

It’s a good idea and it’s pro-community messaging speaks to me. I’d like to spread awareness for people that these voices are out there and that if you’re interested in providing support you can check out this particular brochure on Comixology for free or google at your leisure.

Marvel’s Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 2: Side Pieces Scott Aukerman, Gerry Duggan, Penn Jillette, Nick Giovannetti, Paul Scheer, Joshua Corin, Reilly Brown, Scott Koblish, Todd Nauck, Tigh Walker

Okay, so... I like Spider-Man/Deadpool’s first arc... but it’s pretty much exactly like Trinity over at DC and it’s spiritual predecessors Batman/Superman and Superman/Batman in that, outside of what’s honestly a pretty stellar initial premise, there is not a whole lot of plan behind where the comic wants to go for the future.

So you get a whole lot of different creative teams and no cohesive narrative or direction for the comic to go.

But I guess that really brings into question what makes ongoing comics work and whether or not th idea of “hilarious monthly team ups of Spider-Man and Deadpool without a point, and assumedly without continuity consequences” is enough to work.

And as someone who honestly really enjoys one-shot one-and-dones, that’s honestly a pass for me.

But at the same tim... I mean there’s a reason I have both Spider-Man/Deadpool and Trinity on trade wait status now.

The whole is not equivalent to the sum of its parts, but honestly it’s got some genuinely funny and worthwhile parts as it stands. And I appreciate that.

DC’s Superman (2016-present) #24 Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Mick Gray, Joe Prado, Wil Quintana, John Kalisz

You know, sometimes being a comic fan is kind of like reading the newspaper more than reading a narrative story.

For me that’s kinda what this issue felt more like, I was getting information on where all the characters had moved since last time, the motivations, some backstories. Slight progress and movement in the form of an update on what happened to Lois and getting to see her still kicking Clark’s ass in gear despite his concern for her injury, which I liked, but overall this issue mostly felt like filler for the final moment where we see Jon fall completely into the control of Manchester Black.

Who... is a big whooping plot hole I am stil waiting to be addressed. Clark remembers Manchester Black from the New Earth continuity still and the “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?” and knows about the Elite, but do they know about him? Or are they completely different from the Super Elite we knew? Are we going to get a Justice League Elite mention (which good god please spare me, though I’ll take Sister Superior).

This is one of those cases where I feel like my overly extensive knowledge of things in continuity actually puts me at a disadvantage to actually like... reading and taken things for granted.

I want things to make sense, or I want enjoyable Kent family shenanigans.

But this issue did have Krypto so, I automatically add a star to it. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light (2016-present) #6 James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, Joanna Lafuente

Look, sometimes I think it’s important for critics, reviewers, readers, what have you, to bea ble to say that they’re confused and don’t know what emotion to feel or whether or not the comic accomplished exactly what it wanted to and I’m just. Like.

Yes that is my emotion at the moment.

A lot of stuff happened in this issue. Like lots of crazy, out there, amazing stuff was packed into a single issue and it’s like, there were panels where you’d blink and you’d miss important character development notes -- like Ratchet hugging their Rung once they got back. Like there’s so much good -- Rodimus had a lot of amazing moments throughout and I love the range of humor to anger to disappointment that he showed. Like his trust and faith in others is already pretty shattered at the moment and to feel Megatron’s apparent betrayal adding onto that is like a million times more stuff. I fear he’s nearing a very dangerous ledge, which is bad because this issue also tells us that Rodimus’ death wish and lowkey desire to put himself in dangerous positions to die heroically is still as prominent as ever.

Someone hug my trash fire of a son, please.

And then magical girlfriend romance bringing back her girlfriend as a baby and it’s kinda weird like is it still going to be the same Lug? Does Anode acknowledge that it’s weird? Is anyone going to point out that they could feasibly use protoform matter now to resurrect anyone whose spark remnants are available now? Including Skids and Ravage?

what is going on

Anyway.

There’s a lot packed into this issue which is why I am honestly kind of happy that next issue’s description is a “fallout” from this because holy shit, I need room to breathe and think through things.

Also. Dat smile when Megatron heard Optimus’ voice in the epilogue-ish finale. I like. Maybe had a fangirl moment. Just maybe.

Anyway. I’m shrug emoji right now until I can get my emotional state sorted out because wow there’s a lot at the moment. Like a lot. A lot a lot.

DC’s Wonder Woman FCBD 2017 Special Edition (2017-present) #1 Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott, Romulo Fajarado Jr.

Like last week’s Wondy special, this is a reprint, but it’s a reprint of the first issue of “Year One” which still holds up as the far superior of the two starting Wonder Woman titles from Rucka last year and is amazingly well held up...

...save of course for the exact same criticisms as the last time I went over the issue which is Dead Bro Walking trope and a whole lot of Rucka Why???? that comes attached to the really bizarre treatment of race in the first arcs of the series. It’s just so bizarre.

But honestly, again, these moves are meant to attract the new, excited audience after the box office smash that has been the Wonder Woman movie -- an audience that has been largely female of all ages. And if there’s one free comic I’m glad will show up immediately on their google searches this Wednesday, I’m very glad it’s going to be the start of what has quickly become my favorite standard bearer of Wonder Woman’s origin story.

Something I appreciate even more after having finally read the entirety of Azzarrello’s Wondy run which. Eck. Wash my mouth out.

DC’s Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor (2017) #1 Tim Seeley, Christian Duce, Allen Passalaqua

So this addition to my pull was kind of unexpected in that I had no idea that it was coming out this week and thought “why not” because I’m literally still so Wonderfully Pumped Up a the moment and as far as I can see, the more proceeds DC and WB can see attributed to Wonder Woman the better.

That being said, Tim Seeley really dug into his Grayson roots in this one because that’s about the only thing I really got from this issue is that Steve Trevor’s a badass secret agent with secrets and a deep seeded guilt thing. Which kinda felt like a harsher toned take on his Dick Grayson more than anything else. Which is fine.

Part of the problem here is that I did not read the New52 short term published book that was A.R.G.U.S. or whatever where Steve starred during the weird interim where Steve was not allowed around Diana and Lois wasn’t allowed around Clark but DC still wants to make money from fans anyway.

idk. And since those kinds of spy books are rarely my cup of tea, I don’t think this issue sold me on renigging on that instinct.

Still it was cute and Diana and Steve’s interactions, while minimal, are really the driving portion of his narrative which I think is always good.

But, just like the Annual, I’m left just sitting here going “why don’t we use this opportunity to show off the upcoming Wonder Woman creative team, DC????”

And I get no answer bc DC actually doesn’t care about some weirdo random blogger on the internet constantly screaming at them.

Viz’s Yona of the Dawn (2009-present) Vol. 6 Mizuho Kusanagi

I have actually been very interested in Akatsuki no Yona since I saw its anime show up in my Crunchyroll feed, and as with most anime I can’t help but immediately try to find the manga instead because I am impatient and want Answers Now. As I understand it, the Viz official translations are far behind the current run of the manga (makes sense, as the manga series has been ongoing since 2009 in Japan), and is only catching up to where the anime left off so far, but that’s more than okay for me right now.

Because oh my gosh, it’s so amazing to read such a beautiful story about the growth, empowerment, and pure will of a female character as told by a female author and artist. I’m not the biggest fan of Shoujo as a style of art, but having Yona strike a balance between beautiful and cutesy visuals with what is ultimately a fairly action driven plot with intense moral posturing and constant detail put into the grayness of life’s choices makes Yona of the Dawn honestly unlike just about any Shoujo I’ve read before.

Yona is one of the most compelling heroines I’ve ever seen, and her intensity of spirit and her meaningful examination of her kingdom makes this fairy tale story really unlike anything else out there.

And while I’ve really enjoyed Yona to this point, I have to say it is an amazing relief to reach Volume 6 an finally get more female characters than just Yona. I like the reverse harem appeal of the cast as it has been so far, and I have affection for several of the boys, but man is it so much more meaningful to have a few more compelling female characters backing up Yona in the representation department.

Especially since some of Yona’s crew still feel... a little bland to me. It’s usually not a good sign in a massive cast when the traits that come immediately to mind for me are purely character design.

I’m excited for what’s to come and to see how our Princess fully realizes her potential as the Crimson Dragon.

Also I should note some skeevy parts of this. One I don’t mind but am sure other people might, there’s the fact that Yona’s current storyline is dealing with Yona taking down a ring of human traffickers and slavers, which brings up the question of autonomy both for Yona as a woman in this honestly pretty traditionally sexist kingdom but also for the Dragons themselves and how their “service” to Yona is framed as a question of their own will. But it’s still a story about human trafficking and that could bother a lot of people. Another thing in this volume, which has bothered me in the previous volumes but really came to a head this time around, is Hak’s... weirdly possessive outbursts toward Yona. I get that they are meant as... idk protective and romantic to some and that we’re supposed to be compelled by his struggle to not show his affection for Yona, but honestly I’m just kinda... naw hoss. Like Hak’s a fine character and I like his relationship and history with Yona most of the time, but like.. the weird pushing her against walls and... licking honey off of her wrists and just. idk. We’re lost in translation here or something bc I’m not a fan.

I’m also not a fan of Viz’s weird changes in the font randomly throughout the book? Like just stop. It’s bad when your translations look lazier than the fan translations I’ve seen floating around on tumblr.

I’ll be honest, as high quality as I consider almost all of these comics this week, I would say the good majority of them did not give me a fully emotional experience or really captivate me in a way that satisfied me from start to finish. And I’m sure in the follow up issues to come there’ll be a lot for me to question into why that might be for the majority of them, but that time is not now. So, as much as it may feel like cheating to pick a volumed book over single issues, I can’t help but say that Yona of the Dawn by far is my pick of the week. It delighted, it changed up its structure and storytelling, built out its world and has started spending more time on the titular characters where before it often felt like we were just taking for granted that there was a dragon gained every volume. And Yona herself is just one of the most satisfying characters to see grow into their own.

But that’s just my opinion, I’d love to hear what you all think. Agree? Disagree? Think I missed a great comic this week? Please let me know!

#SPOILERS #Wednesday Spoilers #Rena Roundups #Yona of the Dawn #Wonder Woman (2016 )#Superman (2016 )#Transformers: Lost Light #Spiderman/Deadpool (2016 )#Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor (2017)#Batman (2016 )

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aheartofwood · 7 years

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the king arthur movie is SO BAD, guys.

imagine a baby and a kitten got together and tried to edit a movie with only the vaguest idea of arthurian legend based on the backs of the VHS of the disney version and also the lion king for some reason, and also the barest idea of how human brains can accept and understand editing and narrative. imagine a pretty good video game opening for 2001, but watched thru the haze of a really strenuous flu and it’s rented and ancient and was chewed up by at least two dogs so it’s glitching a lot. imagine a knight’s tale……………Reimagined™ (needlessly) by a team of randos who only speak italian and their ideas are being translated by jen from the IT crowd in that one episode where she pretends she can speak italian. imagine a movie with a budget of four dollars (except the budget was HUGE). imagine an opium dream within a dream of robert downey jr’s 2009 sherlock holmes where jude law becomes a boring, leathery king who has a bad habit of constantly sacrificing the silent women he supposedly loves to an undulating pile of lovecraftian horror water ladies that live in his shame toilet in his penis tower basement ONLY to super saiyan into a really bad DnD dude with a motorcycle-insignia-metal skull head and the torso of two The Rocks smashed together (sorry, The Rock) instead of (a much better) watson. imagine eragon, but somehow exceedingly, fremdschamenly, schadenfreudingly worse. not many things get both german expressions, in a gleefully terrible adverb form at that, but this movie——oh, THIS movie——-deserves them.

the letters of the opening credits roll (or creep?) across the screen. the kerning is bad. all the T’s have a phallic, buffylike, sword motif going on and it renders the names unreadable. the colors and the blurry shots look like something out of monty python. again, who hired this editor? who watched this movie, kissed their fingertips like an italian grandma, and gently set this eldritch horror adrift on the tides of eternity to be received with fear and loathing by millions of human eyes? the elephants from lord of the rings attack the bridge from legend of zelda, and that red flamey eye guy from eragon (mordred, for some reason, in a shake n bake wig) ?? or possibly from inkheart?? is defeated. remember, we know nothing about these characters. feel nothing for them. and the trend continues. katie mcgrath appears, of course, in her standard and splendid emerald green, and then immediately dies. none of the shots in the first 20 minutes of the movie match up, we go from scenes with several people to ultra close ups of faces—-it’s like the “mmmm whatcha say” SNL skit, but serious. the movie continues to not know if it’s playing itself seriously or if it knows how bad it truly is (how bad me be?)

finally we get ONE establishing shot of a sweeping wall (maybe? the camera never stays still enough to tell) and the audience (five people) grounds ourselves, sort of. we get a whip-fast, but not whip-smart, super evolution of arthur’s childhood, in which he shoves coins into a wall (see kids!!! if u just put YR COINS IN YR WALLS instead of BUYING GODDAMN AVOCADOS, U COULD HAVE A CASTLE!!!!) and hearkens back to his character in pacific rim, bc he’s just a scrappy, vaguely appropriative white guy that loves 2 fight stuff. oh, his mom is killed when he’s young ofc. charlie hunnam eventually fucks off to the island w the sword in the sort-of stone (none of the physics makes sense in this movie?? the sword in the stone dropped into a lake, but is now in a chasm on a different island which shows no sign of the ruins of arthur’s childhood town?? in the final fight scene, charlie hunnam is several floors up from scythe-y jude law, but then suddenly they’re fighting on the top of saruman’s tower scuse me at the whipping sea-level, then suddenly BACK IN THE TOWER bc i guess it wasn’t destroyed????? bc then it gets destroyed again??) of course, charlie hunnam is the One Man who can Grip the penis sword, even though in an interesting turn of events, They are Testing Everyone by shipping them in boats to the island (this seems like an egregious waste of resources). charlie hunnam got in this unfortch sitch bc i forgot, but the guy who put him on the boat chuckled darkly and said he was “”””getting on a different boat””””, but like, doesn’t everyone end up there?? it had the air of the DMV, on purpose, so why was this a threat? how did he avoid it for so long? are there that many people in the kingdom??? also, if i was him i’d straight up pretend i couldn’t lift it tbh and come back for it when They were getting donuts. oh, another inkheart thing—the BLONDE MOM SURVIVES (!!!??? somehow???? unexplained? she had a HOLE THRU HER BODY??) and maybe has memory loss or something and spends her days being somehow indispensable to jude law despite doing nothing but moving a plate.

i cannot explain the rest of the plot, because i do not understand it. charlie hunnam just EXPERIENCES things with a world-weary, almost kingly worldliness, despite flashing in between being an innocent farm boy who doesn’t wanna do anything and a self-assured wisecracking hustler. there are some good jokes about boring white dude names in a medieval setting, and no more humor forever is allowed in this movie or any movies ever again. a chris parnell lookalike with a hat says he can shoot 75 yards but not 175, then shoots 175 with absolutely no introduction/buildup/continuance/jokes and spends the rest of the film as robin hood. there are some other dudes?????? more women (the brothel ladies that rescue arthur from the river ((not unlike….the prince of egypt…..)) are killed to further manpain, including lucy, who is Special for an unexplained reason. jude law murders his daughter (i guess???), who has a russian name and a tendency to sit around and stroke birds and stare sappily out the window (i feel u, johanna). everyone is wearing medieval versions of suits. there are many iterations of snake, ranging from economy-sized snake to a Giant Fuckmaster Snake Mother. at least five cloaks are cast off. eric bana becomes a literal rock. everything has the vague, shuddering feeling of an improv show where everyone wants the final word/bit. there is grit, there is dirt, there is snake blood, and there is clanking. so much clanking. charlie hunnam is bravely hurling one-liners but no one is listening. what is the sound of only one hand on excalibur???? apparently not as powerful as…………T W O hands on excalibur.

the editing continues to be bizarre. they keep trying to do the inception thing where they talk about the plan while showing the plan, therefore (in inception, correctly) allowing us to get to the good parts, but there ARE NO GOOD PARTS or even parts at all and they don’t fully commit to the dang method anyway. the shining light of the film, an unnamed mage woman with good bone structure and sweet harem pants (and who COULD have at least been set up as morwen but was not) who can possess animals and also make a lot of dust fly around behind her, becomes charlie hunnam’s spiritual guide?? sort of?? maybe love interest??? she seems to have no interest in him or inhabiting the worldly narrative/plane of this movie. i do not blame her. anyway, she’s got the eagles from LOTR on her side. she dopes the shit out of charlie hunnam (again, why) with a literal snake and he solves his daddy/uncle issues (line @ jude law: “”””you created me”””””) in an incomprehensible nonlinear part of the narrative (she was captured, but i guess jude law let her go before hunnam got to the castle???? bc he’s Not So Bad After All? bc he was bored? eating a sandwich? fuck idk so she could have met him in the middle of fuck knows? i mean if they have medieval lyft or medieval twitter DMing or something??) also, he may or may not have gone to a ””””””DARK””””””””island, but he did NOT solve his daddy issues there. he did, however, fight some rodents of unusual size from the princess bride.

ok that is all the energy i have; this movie has sapped me, i am nothing in the great maw of its terribleness. other stuff happens. we have a happy ending, with 4/6ths of the Round Table built (literally and figuratively), and some Vikings conceding to charlie hunnam for no other reason than he’s a bro, i guess. line: how do u scam money out of a viking? u talk to them. SEE MILLENNIALS ALL U HAVE TO DO IS TALK AND PPL GIVE U MONEY or be born the true heir to the throne of (fake england).

the worst part is that i don’t understand how jude law, who is 44, looks the same the entire movie and watches as charlie hunnam, who is 37, grows up and eventually challenges him. eric bana, who is 48, doubtlessly had fictional charlie hunnam arthur at like 27-35, making jude law the same age in that fiction. i guess men can just ???? play any age????????? forever??????? honorable mentions: the soundtrack, jude law’s eyeshadow, and the preview for atomic blonde.

#long post #king arthur #i love arthurian legend okay #and honestly i loved this movie #from hate springs love

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andilou74-blog · 7 years

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24th February

Who are you? well THIS IS ME

OK I recently joined something and on sign up it says 'Who are you, describe you' so I decided that could be a good blog post because sometimes I think on social media it is easier to see some text and not really understand the person behind it. So here goes, this is me warts and all.

I am 42, female,a divorced single mum with 3 daughters aged 19,17, and 3. I have many interests including supporting Leigh Centurions rugby league, reading historical novels mostly WWII era but not exclusively that. I love to write both poetry and fiction and have some published.

I used to figure skate but the bones and back won't allow me to do so at present.

I am very arty farty with a temperament to match. I love all kinds of arts and crafts including card making, Venetian mask making, colouring, cross stitch.

I love music from Classical, 1940's, to Megadeth. I am obsessed with Matt Goss and I am watching Bros twice in August. I have been to many concerts from Erasure to WASP and Marilyn Manson. I can play the organ, keyboards, bass guitar, drums, recorder, violin but don't find the time to partake at the moment.

I guess I am very Bohemian. I love the 1940′s from style to music but I also love anything Victoriana and pretty much anything historical from fact to fiction from text to period dramas.

I love animals more than people but that doesn't rule out people. I am a very compassionate person, I love to help and will give all that I have to ease suffering. I hate conflict, racism and prefer to see myself as a humanitarian and would rather spread love and harmony not hurt. I am now a pagan in belief but no longer practice or belong to any groups. I am very spiritual and sometimes meditate and I believe I am a Reiki healer.

I have been in the TA, I have helped with the air cadets and I have been a nurse/midwife which I loved but for health reasons I cannot do this anymore

. I drive an Astra, I have ridden on motorbikes but I am not a thrill seeker. I am sure there are a lot more positives to me somewhere but I also have negatives.

I suffer from arthritis, degenerative disc disease including a tear in the L4 disk. I have ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I also suffer from depression for which I am medicated. I get hurt, offended and cry very easily but that is because I am a very sensitive, passionate, caring individual and I have had my heart broken more times than I care to mention.

I have a tendency to be a bit irritable, negative sometimes and I am an untidy sod even though I try hard to get shit sorted.

I am sick of being single but such as life, it would be nice to have a partner for cuddles n stuff. I don’t like being alone as I am a very tactile and physical person (relationship wise) and lack of physical contact makes me feel physically ill and depressed.

I cannot be doing with soaps on TV and I would much rather watch a decent period drama. I also don’t like shopping, I find it tedious and a chore.

I believe there is far more to every single one of us than just text on a screen, we are all people with real feelings and lives and sometimes that can get lost on the internet. How about you, WHO ARE YOU???

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stewyhosseini-bf · 1 year

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I posted 2,087 times in 2022

That's 174 more posts than 2021!

254 posts created (12%)

1,833 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@stewyhosseini-bf

@ssriuser

@arunima

@tomwambsgirl

@hbosuccession

I tagged 1,391 of my posts in 2022

Only 33% of my posts had no tags

#kenstewy - 91 posts

#vid - 69 posts

#kendall roy - 68 posts

#succession - 66 posts

#art - 54 posts

#queue - 46 posts

#shiv roy - 38 posts

#succlb - 37 posts

#faves - 28 posts

#sarah snook - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#includes saying stuff like ‘and bro people don’t like you’ or ‘i am spiritually and emotionally and ethically behind whoever wins’ but like

My Top Posts in 2022:

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884 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

no but can we talk about how business IS sex in succession

912 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

this exchange on the kendall roy cringe compilation video is like a brother to me

981 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

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1,046 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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1,600 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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johnchiarello · 6 years

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Acts 24

ACTS 24 Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:

Acts 24- https://youtu.be/r48iPGZCaP0 https://ccoutreach87.com/10-3-17-acts-24/ https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/10-3-17-acts-24.zip

Furman- https://youtu.be/Ad0VlHwxtbA [I made this video the other day- and also added some notes and verses below] Vegas Shooter- the real story- https://youtu.be/wTObzkO-_YA https://ccoutreach87.com/10-7-17-vegas-shooter-the-real-story/

Friends- https://youtu.be/Cmq_MHuGngA https://ccoutreach87.com/10-7-17-friends/ You see some of my friends at Dave Watters street ministry- New Christian Harvest- Prayer requests- 1- Roger 2- George’s Dad 3- Bob .Crow- Bro. Dave .Furman-Joe .Jammer- Neena .George- Albert .Claire

Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

ON VIDEOS- [Past teaching- verses below] [Furman] .Furman’s story .The truck .Update- Apostle Allen and Roger [Please pray for them] .Marriage in heaven? What will our relationship with spouses be like in heaven? [Acts 24] .Baby the dog .Read the whole bible- it can be done .They were corrupt .Rhetoric .Paul- the trouble maker? .Paul’s accusation- and defense .Felix and Drusilla .How did her son [Agrippa] make it into the history books? .Some event in ad 79 .Felix wanted a bribe from Paul .Felix’s 3rd wife .Paul sits in jail for 2 years- waiting for a decision .Story of Black kid in NYC .Sat in prison for 3 years- accused of stealing back pack .No trial- he killed himself .Italian grandma- and the painting .Pompeii- Vesuvius- [found the lost city in 1748] http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/pompeii .Bay of Naples .Fossil evidence- evolution .Catastrophism .Lost in time .Google Vesuvius- too many Italian restaurants!

I finished the Mark study- which I started in New Jersey- here’s the link https://ccoutreach87.com/mark-links/ For those following the sites- I will hopefully finish Acts- and Kings. Those are my current studies.

PAST POSTS- [My past teaching that relates to this post] https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/14/mark-12/ https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/ https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/ ACTS- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/18/acts-1/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/26/acts-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/02/acts-3/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/09/acts-4/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/23/acts-5/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/31/acts-6/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/06/acts-7/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/14/acts-8/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/18/acts-9/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/07/acts-10/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/16/acts-11/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/22/acts-12/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/01/acts-13/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/14/acts-14/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/03/acts-15/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/07/acts-16/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/27/acts-17/ http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/2017/08/acts-18-acts-1828-for-he-mightily.html https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/09/acts-19/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/20/acts-20/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/04/acts-21/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/20/acts-22-2/ https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/10/04/redo-acts-23-2/

(739)ACTS 24- Paul’s accusers come down from Jerusalem. They hired a lawyer [orator] to accuse him! Tertullus gives a speech to the Governor that could be defined as the classic political ‘suck up’ speech of all time. Paul defends himself and says ‘I am not guilty of these so called accusations. But I am guilty of believing the law and the prophets. I believe that what they spoke of [the shadows] have happened! I believe in the resurrection. Jesus has fulfilled the promises of the prophets!’ I had a discussion with a good friend the other day. We have a mutual friend who is really into Messianic stuff. He has espoused the idea that the feasts and images of Israel are EXACT PICTURES that give us a detailed road map to Christ’s return. Basically the friend believes that all the shadows and images are exact descriptions of all future events. I shared with my friend that I too believe that the feasts of Israel are prophetic signs of things. Surely Passover and Pentecost have had great meaning for the people of God. Paul says ‘Christ our Passover died for us’. Some see the end time feast of the latter harvest as having future fulfillment in the ingathering of the nations to Christ. I have taught some of this on the radio before. The problem with this other stuff is it takes the feasts and shadows and tries to ‘detail’ every little thing. Paul understood the prophets and law having been fulfilled thru the present work of Christ and his resurrection. I can’t stress enough how the apostolic witness in Acts sees Jesus as the fulfillment of these things. They do not preach a heavily nationalistic [Jewish] message, though they are all Jews! [The Apostles] As Paul defends himself, the governor listens and trembles! Paul spoke of judgment and temperance and the reality of a future resurrection of the just and unjust. The basic apostolic message as seen in the classic creeds of the church. Paul will sit under house arrest for 2 years until another person takes over Felix’s position. The guy’s name is ‘Porcius festus’ [I think I would prefer the name Judas over Porcius!] We end the chapter with Paul waiting to give another witness of Jesus before another ruler. The legal problems of Paul were Gods providence to give Paul opportunity to speak the gospel all the way up the chain. The chain ends at Rome.

Hebrews 13- Once again we will see an image in this chapter that Paul will take from the Old Testament and use to describe the sacrifice of Christ. It might even be the best image yet! But let’s start with some basics. ‘Let brotherly love continue’ the other day I was shopping at Wal Mart and saw some Cowboys shirts. I have a homeless friend who I have known for 15 years who loves the Cowboys [The football team!] So I bought him a 13 dollar shirt [they had a nicer Jersey for around 40 dollars, but I am not that spiritual yet]. So I bought him the cheaper one. Sure enough he’s been wearing it ever since! Sometimes it’s the little things, the ‘brotherly love’ stuff that we need to do. We are so obsessed with doing ‘religious stuff’ and attending ‘religious meetings’ and ‘tithing’ that we really do not see the underlying reality of going out of our way for others. We will read in this chapter the 3 sacrifices God does want from us, after all the teaching Paul does on ‘no more sacrifices’ he will give us the spiritual sacrifices that God requires of us. They don’t even touch what we think is important!

‘Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them’ a regular part of my prayer life includes praying for our fellow brothers and sisters ‘in bonds’. A few years ago a brother from our area got sent to jail for stealing money from a famous Christian mission that he worked for. I met him a few times over the years. He used to go to the church I attended. I really didn’t like him to be honest with you. I loved him as a brother, but a little to ‘I am a Christian, cant you see’ type thing. I don’t want to judge him, but this was how I felt. Well many years later when he got sent to jail he became the talk of the town. I started regularly praying for him and haven’t stopped since. This has been around 5 years or so. I also recently included some other Christians who also did some public crimes and were sent to prison, a girl who was found guilty of murdering her foster child. I also pray for those around the world who are in prison for the faith. True persecution. I want to exhort you to pray for those in bonds. Paul knew how hard it was, he was in jail often. ‘Marriage is honorable in all… but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge’ Paul made it clear in all his letters that he was not preaching a gospel of grace that condoned sin. He will say this time and again thru out his writings. He was accused of preaching a sinful gospel, but he wanted to make it clear that in all of his preaching about the law and sacrifices passing away, that in Christ people by nature will do what is right [Romans]. At the end of this great treatise to the Hebrews he makes it clear ‘don’t go on sinning’.

‘Let your conversation [lifestyle] be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he hath said ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee’ Paul once again deals with avoiding a materialistic mindset. He isn’t urging them to believe God for millions of dollars, or to set a goal of what you want and then to use scripture to get it. He tells them ‘you have Jesus, so be happy. Don’t be always trying to find fulfillment in things, they pass away’. You will find this mindset all thru out scripture [read 1st Timothy 6!] so many Christians today think that this mindset is ‘tradition’. But it is in scripture!

‘Remember THEM which have the rule over you’ to be fair, I have done a lot of teaching in the past against the authoritarian one man rule over believers. I want to submit to you that both here, and in every other New Testament letter that leadership is always plural. It is ‘them’ not ‘him’. Also there are a few other passages that use the term ‘rule’ you could also interpret these as ‘those who watch over you, have care for you’ and use more amicable terms. There are actual reasons why the stronger language is used, I don’t really want to get into the whole thing here, but some feel it had to do with the time that the English bibles were being translated. The kings of the time [England] wanted to maintain a strong hierarchy within their ‘nation states’ as they broke away from the Papacy of Rome, and the translators made a conscious decision to use the more authoritarian terms to keep the people under authority. A whole book has been written on this dynamic. But for now I simply want you to see that Paul is addressing a community of people and saying ‘submit to the eldership of your area, they have responsibility for your spiritual growth, they will give an account to God. So listen to them’ this is not a verse to be used to justify the present office of the singular Pastor in the Protestant church!

‘Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them which have been occupied therein’ I like this verse. It summarizes so much of the Christian life. The whole point of this letter is to establish people in grace. To see that in Christ we have been accepted with God. Our main message isn’t all the interesting doctrines and stuff that we like to argue about. It really is Christ and Gods grace being freely given to us thru him. A lot of the reproving I do is not for the purpose [I hope not!] of just arguing about things that don’t matter, but it is for the purpose of bringing Gods people back to a platform of grace. I teach ‘you are not under the tithe [law] but give all you can in love [grace]’ we are all living our lives openly before the face of God, we shouldn’t be running around trying to ‘one up’ the next guy. Or showing everybody how smart or spiritual we are. We are all here to become more like Jesus and to simply see our requirement as living a thankful life and doing good deeds and sharing our goods with others [the 3 sacrifices that we will see later in this chapter!] I like this verse a lot!

‘We have an altar [the Cross] whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle [those under the tabernacle system, the law!] For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp [the main area where the tabernacle and all the holy things of God were located]. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate [right outside the City of Jerusalem at the hill of Golgotha]. Let us go forth therefore unto him [leave the Old Covenant and all of its sacrifices, and move on unto perfection found only in Christ] without the camp [outside of the rules and regulations of the law and all of its shadows], bearing his reproach [those who left their Jewish heritage for Christ suffered extreme reproach and ridicule from their friends and family. It was a very unpopular thing to do for the 1st century Jew] for here we have no continuing city [natural Jerusalem], but we seek one to come [spiritual Jerusalem]’ Paul sees significance in the fact that the bodies of the animals whose blood was used for atonement were burned outside the camp. There were different types of sacrifices that took place around the system of the tabernacle. Some were totally burnt [burnt offering] others were eaten [Passover] and for the one whose blood alone was used, these bodies were taken to a place outside of the camp and were disposed of by burning. It was purely a utilitarian purpose. They had to get rid of the bodies and they burnt them. Now Paul sees this as a prophetic symbol of Christ. Paul says ‘remember that place where those bodies were burnt? It is a type of Jesus who suffered outside of the city. It was showing that there would be a day where a sacrifice would be made, outside of the law system, that would sanctify all the people’! Amazing, once again Paul sees things in scripture that no body else is seeing, until now! Paul’s mind was consumed with seeing Jesus in everything. He sees hidden shadows of Gods preplanned coming of Messiah and how God all along would require people to ‘leave the camp’ and come unto Christ. In essence Paul is saying ‘even in the tabernacle system God prefigured a once for all sacrifice that would take place outside of the law’ Bravo!

Also you will notice how Paul says ‘here we have no continuing city’ [Jerusalem] but we seek one to come [The heavenly city, the bride the Lambs wife, the church!] Paul does not do what many modern Evangelicals do. He does not exalt Israel’s natural heritage. Interesting that a first century Jewish believer [Paul] writing to a 1st century Jewish audience, downplays their ‘holy land’. If you go back and review everything in this commentary, you will see that there are no references to the prophetic significance to the land of Israel as a geographical ‘holy place’. As a matter of fact the main theme is ‘leave your dependence and cultural pride that comes from your natural heritage, and come into this ‘new city’ that all of our fore fathers were looking for’ there is this amazing lack of exalting the natural city of Jerusalem [which the New Testament calls ‘Sodom’ in a spiritual sense! Revelation] and a plea for all nations, including natural Israel, to come unto Christ.

‘By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased’ Paul gives us 3 main sacrifices that the New Covenant priest/believer can bring. Praise, doing good and giving of your goods and money to meet the needs of those around you [communicate means this here]. ‘Obey THEM that have the rule over you and submit yourselves’ again we see leadership in plurality. Every city has spiritual leadership, they are responsible before God for how they lead the people in their area. They are also responsible to bring the people to maturity and independence. A place where people are not co dependant upon leadership. I believe much of the modern system has failed in this respect. The modern system has actually taken these types of verses and used them to tell people ‘your main role is to come to church on Sunday and passively listen’ we have built this audience/ spectator mindset into people, and we have failed in this respect. ‘Pray for us’ I have found this simple request to be one of the most important things you can ask others to do for you. Enlist prayer support. Pray for me! Ask people to pray for you! We all need this desperately!

‘Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever amen’ What a great way to end this letter! It is thru the blood of Jesus Christ that we are accepted and perfected in every way. We can only live and function because of the blood! We have true forgiveness for all of our sins because of what Christ has done for us. Paul has penned 13 chapters of revelation showing us the great significance of Christ’s sacrifice. He has urged his fellow country men ‘come out from trying to make yourselves holy and acceptable, and receive the once and for all sacrifice of Christ’ he has trumpeted this theme all thru out this letter. I want to exhort you guys to see the sufficiency of the Cross. We get so caught up in what we are doing that there is a tendency to rely on ourselves and our own ability to change things [even us!] we need to re-focus on the biblical priority and necessity of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He truly is the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father but by him! God bless you guys,

John. [parts] (961)1ST CORINTHIANS 7:1-15 Paul addresses divorce. It is interesting that Jesus himself actually raised the bar from the Old Covenant practice to the New. In most other areas he emphasized grace as opposed to law ‘the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ but in this area Jesus said ‘Moses made an exception under the law for divorce, but from the beginning this was not Gods plan’ and Jesus restricted divorce to the cause of adultery [fornication- actually the word for pornography] only. Here Paul gives some direction. First, you shouldn’t divorce. You also shouldn’t be married to an unbeliever. Well, what should happen to those who were unbelievers when they married, but now one is a believer? Paul says if the unbeliever is ‘pleased’ to stay in the union, then that’s fine. Well what does ‘pleased’ mean? If the unbeliever is physically abusing his spouse, then that doesn’t seem ‘pleasing’ to me. Paul will say if the unbeliever departs, let them go. The believer should not feel condemned by this. He/she had no control in this case. But if there is a divorce, let the one who left remain unmarried. So what happens if you were forced into it, can you re marry? Paul does not specifically say. He does say to the one who left the marriage, they should not remarry. Divorce is a tricky issue. When attending the fundamental Baptist church they taught that if one were divorced they could never be ‘a Pastor’ [even though no one was ‘a pastor’ in this way in the first century church!]. Many teach that Paul’s instructions on Bishops/Elders said a divorced person should not be an overseer. Paul actually said ‘they should be the husband of one wife’. This most certainly could simply be saying they shouldn’t be in a plural marriage. This was common in the first century, so you could take it this way. Overall I find it strange that someone could have been a murderer [Paul] or any other type of sinner, but the divorcee’ seems to be the only sinner that is excluded. The other problem is how much of ‘a believer’ were you at the time of your divorce. There have been well known preachers who initiated the divorce from their wives, they remarried and later wanted this to be treated as any other sin, just forgive and forget. The problem is if you were wise enough in the lord to have known better, then true repentance would entail making things right. Whether that’s reconciliation or simply remaining single, but it sure seems like these types of brothers who went into the whole remarriage thing with their eyes wide open, they should be held to a higher standard. Overall, we should not be in bondage to things that were out of our control. Those who were victimized and the partner left you, you should not be condemned for something that was out of your control. Believers who initiate the divorce from someone who was willing to stay in the marriage, they should not remarry. There have been too many cases where believers divorce other believers, without biblical grounds, and then remarry someone from the church. These situations are not permitted. If the believing spouse was simply ‘difficult to live with’ then that doesn’t cut it. In situations where there was actual physical abuse, well I don’t believe the Lord wants you to stay in the house under these circumstances. But the only biblical excuse for divorce, according to Jesus, is adultery. In all of these gray areas, wisdom must be applied. The high profile ministers who have initiated their divorces and remarried, without the proper biblical grounds, should not be simply ‘forgiven’ and permitted to continue in their public role in ministry. True forgiveness and restoration would entail some sort of repentance and a public change in the situation. Like Paul says ‘to the rest speak I, not the Lord’. I am giving you my opinion on some of this stuff, but I too think I have the Spirit of Christ.

(962)1ST CORINTHIANS 7:16-24 ‘Were you circumcised when you were called into the Christian life? Then don’t become uncircumcised’ [that would be quite a feat!] ‘Were you uncircumcised when called? Don’t get circumcised’. What’s Paul saying? Basically he is keeping the decrees that were made at the Jerusalem council [Acts 15]. He is stressing the importance of Christ’s spiritual kingdom. To the Jew, he is not saying ‘keep trying to become justified by the law and sacrifices’ but he is saying ‘I am not trying to wipe out your culture and heritage, I am trying to bring you into the fullness of what the Prophets have foretold’. This is Paul’s ongoing defense in the book of Acts ‘I stand condemned because I believe that what the prophets said would happen, did!’. Paul says the thing that matters is ‘the doing of Gods commandments’. When we studied Romans I showed how Paul did say ‘the hearers of the law are not justified, but the doers shall be’. Here again Paul stresses the importance of the Christian life being one of true conversion. Those who believe are changed and become doers of Gods law by nature. The mechanism of conversion is Faith, the outworking of that conversion is obedience. So even though Paul is not putting the law on the gentile converts, yet he does teach that they will by nature keep the law [Romans again]. Now he says ‘were you a slave when called? Seek not to become free. Were you free? Don’t become a slave’ and ‘be not the servants/slaves of men’. We actually have hit on this a few times in recent months. Once again Paul says ‘don’t see this new faith as an opportunity to mount a civil disobedience campaign’ but at the same time he makes it clear ‘don’t put yourself under servitude either!’ The New Testament does not justify the institution of slavery or racism! The basic ethos of this new kingdom is freedom from bondage, it was only a matter of time before this new movement would shake the foundations of society and uproot this evil. Make no mistake about it, the anti-slavery movement was instigated by the people of God [William Wilberforce, Charles Finney and many others].

(963)1ST CORINTHIANS 7: 25-40 let’s be a little unconventional today. This passage deals with Paul’s counsel on celibacy and marriage. The historic church has had a bad rap on this issue. It is common today to say the church devalued marriage [and sex] and therefore we should exalt it. Sometimes this attempt at trying to correct the perceived imbalance puts a stumbling block in the way of those who are truly called to live the single life. Though marriage is an honorable thing, a true gift from God, yet living the celibate life can also be considered a very noble thing. It is rare in contemporary evangelicalism to leave this option open. Paul does say this option is not only available, but a noteworthy calling! He also makes it clear that only those who are called to this single lifestyle should attempt it. The church should not force celibacy on people. Now, do our catholic brothers force it upon the Priests? In a way, yes. But don’t forget that no one is ‘forced’ into the priesthood. Some feel like the scandals of catholic priests who abused children can be blamed on forced celibacy. The problem with this idea is many protestant ministers have also fallen sexually, and they were not celibate! The point being we need to be careful when we brand any Christian denomination with an accusation. Now, Paul also makes an interesting statement that we need to look at. He says ‘for the present distress I give these guidelines’. Is it possible that Paul’s seeming harshness on marriage was due to the fact of some type of distress that he saw coming? Possibly the Neronic persecutions? If so, Paul could be saying ‘because of the upcoming severe persecution I recommend everyone just laying low for the time, if married, seek not to be single and vice a versa’. This is possible, we need to keep this in mind when reading this section of scripture. But most of all I think the modern evangelical church needs to retool her message in this area. Marriage and sex are good, God ordained these things in their proper place. But living single and celibate is also considered a very noble calling, we do not normally reflect this balance in the present atmosphere. Also as an aside, a few years back it was common to teach ‘the world/public schools have taken sex and taught it to our kids. They have usurped the job of the family/church’ while there is some truth to this, the problem was some well known TV evangelists began to discuss sex in the Sunday morning setting that was improper in a way [If you local Pastors who read this have done this, be assured I am not talking about you!]. I remember watching a national minister speak openly, with grandma’s and children in the service, and say ‘now speaking about sexual climax’ Yikes!! Just because the family/church dropped the ball on these issues, this doesn’t mean there are no barriers at all while dealing with these issues. Those who do this type of stuff seem to be saying ‘sex is not a dirty thing, therefore we need to bring it out into the open’ while this is true to a degree, there are also age appropriate subjects that should be taught in a private setting. If the church feels the need to delve into these subjects, we need to be careful that we are not crossing boundaries when doing it. [parts] I mentioned Rhetoric on today’s post- ACTS 24- here are some of my past posts where that word popped up [That’s why you see these past sections on the posts] ARISTOTLE

Born in Northern Greece- in 384 BC. The most famous student of Plato- attended Plato’s Academy for around 20 years.

His main disagreement with Plato was on his theory of Forms. Plato believed that the ‘idea’ world contained the forms of all things we see in the physical realm.

Aristotle taught that substance itself was the main thing- that the forms of what we see in the natural realm come from matter itself.

He spoke about Potentiality and Actuality- that is the material things have in ‘seed’ form the final product.

The acorn has the Potential of becoming a tree- the fetus has the Potential of becoming a man- etc. The form is already embedded in the thing itself- it does not exist in the ‘idea’ world of Plato.

Aristotle loved and admired his teacher- yet Plato had somewhat of a disdain for his most famous student. Plato passed over Aristotle to head up the Academy- twice.

As things go- Aristotle went and started his own school- called the Lyceum.

Aristotle did not just teach Philosophy- but Biology- Logic- Ethics- Rhetoric. Some refer to him as the first real scientist.

His development of the laws of Logic- Cause and Effect- play a key role in the Scientific Method till this day.

Aristotle taught that the main way we gain knowledge is thru sense perception and experiment.

As we study the natural order of things themselves- we gain understanding from them.

What we refer to as the Empirical method- knowledge gained thru the observation and experimentation of things.

He referred to God as the Final Cause- not the First Cause. Why?

He believed in God [some debate this- Aristotle himself called him God in his work on Metaphysics] and called him the Prime Mover.

As I said before- a big thing with the early thinkers was the origin of Motion- who started the ball rolling- so to speak.

Aristotle credited the source of all motion to an ‘un- moved Mover’.

He gave the attributes of God to his Mover- said he had no beginning- was not material- an eternal and imperishable substance.

So- why the Final Cause? He said God attracts all things to himself- so in his mind- motion started by attraction- not by a ‘push’ so to speak.

This is interesting indeed- in modern physics we see that the universe is undergoing a continual expansion- heading somewhere- of course we believe this somewhere is God himself- the source of all things.

Isaac Newton agreed with Aristotle on this point- he referred to it in his 3rd law of Physics.

The medieval Muslim thinkers called him ‘The First Teacher’- and Kant [who we will get to later in this study] credits him with the bulk of what we know today as the Laws of Logic.

Aristotle taught that the main activity of God was thought. The bible says that thru Wisdom and Understanding God made things [‘Wisdom builds the house- Understanding establishes it- and thru Knowledge it’s rooms are filled with all pleasant and precious riches- Wisdom is profitable to direct- the words of the wise are like nails fastened by the masters of assemblies- as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation’- various bible verses found in Proverbs- Ecclesiastes and Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth] – in a way Aristotle was right.

One of his key contributions was the Syllogism- you start with a Logical argument- you engage in Deductive reasoning- and come to a Conclusion.

A famous example would be ‘All men are mortal- Plato is a man- Plato is mortal’.

Aristotle did not believe that something comes from nothing- a phrase that will come up a lot as we progress in this study is ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’- meaning Nothing comes from Nothing.

He was also what we refer to as a Teleolologist- he believed that there was design and purpose in the created order of things.

He saw design in the universe- world.

Many today embrace an idea that there is no purpose or design- that the design we see in the material world is by accident- and furthermore some say all that we see- CAME FROM NOTHING.

I can’t stress enough that this is simply not possible- I don’t say this from the Christian view point alone- but from a scientific one.

Science deals with the observation and testing of things- we look into the material world and come to certain conclusions based on what we see- observe.

One of the most fundamental observations that science SEES- is what I quoted above- NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING.

That is- every effect has a cause.

This is important for our day- because many have capitulated to the view that all things CAME FROM CHANCE.

Not only is this statement illogical [chance is simply a word- this statement ascribes Ontological status to a word- which is impossible].

But it is scientifically not true.

Why?

Because science shows us that things do not ‘pop into existence’ without a cause- from nothing.

True science in no way contradicts belief in God- no- it backs it up.

Aristotle- as well as most of the great thinkers we shall cover- came to the conclusion that there had to be some immaterial thing [being] that was the cause of all other things.

Now- why did he argue for a PRIME MOVER?

Because he believed that the universe was eternal- if there ever came a time when science showed us that the universe had a beginning point- then the argument would be over.

The Theists [those that believe in God] would win.

Sure enough- in the 20th century that’s exactly what happened.

Today Physics teaches us that time- space- matter did indeed have a beginning point- what we refer to as the Big Bang Theory.

If the early thinkers had this knowledge- then the argument for a Prime Mover would be moot- because instead we would have a Prime Starter- see?

Aristotle is credited with writing the second greatest work on Ethics from the ancient period- called Ethics [the first one being Plato’s Republic].

He wrote on political theory- believed that Aristocracy [rule by the excellent] was the best form of government [sort of like Socrates Philosopher Kings]. Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great. [overblog- see the rest here- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/24/alien-life-north-bergen/ ]

During Alexander’s conquests- he took a huge team of scientists with him- they collected all types of specimens from these conquests- and Alexander brought them back to Athens and they were used at the Lyceum for further study.

It has been said that this was the most expensive scientific enterprise up to the day of the modern space program.

He taught that the intellectual virtues can be taught directly- but the moral ones HAD TO BE LIVED FIRST.

The bible says ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom’.

I agree.

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. Proverbs 3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop [parts] Alexander sought to implement the ideals of his teacher- he wanted to unify the known world under one people/culture- a belief that Aristotle held- a sort of ‘unified theory’ [Einstein] that would seek to bring all learning/knowledge together under one supreme [Divine] principle.

Alexander’s experiment was called Hellenization- which was the Greek worlds attempt to impose Greek culture/language on all their conquered enemies- and at the same time allow them to hold on to the their own culture too. Alexander did amazingly well at this experiment- at the young age of around 24 he had accomplished most of his mission. The cities were a sort of composite of Greek culture mixed in with their own culture- this is where we get the modern term Cosmopolitan.

Alexander died young and his kingdom was divided between 4 generals- one of them- Ptolemy- would himself make it into the history books because of his keen intellect.

The system of cosmology developed under him would last [and work!] until some 17-18 hundred years later when it was overthrown by the Copernican revolution during the time of Copernicus and Galileo.

Alexander’s generals would do their best to carry on the system of Hellenization- and other nation’s generals would keep the system going even after Greece fell. One of them- Octavian [Roman general] makes it into the history books by another famous name- Julius Caesar.

Alexander established a great library in the Egyptian city of Alexandria [named after him] and many of the great writings were preserved during this time.

The writings of Aristotle would be discovered again during the time of Thomas Aquinas [13th century Catholic genius/scholar] and this would lead to Scholasticism [a peculiar school of thought developed/revived under Aquinas] and give rise to the Renaissance.

Okay- before the birth of Christ- the Jewish people resisted the imposing of Greek culture upon them- you had the very famous resistance under the Jewish Maccabean revolt- where the Jews rose up and fought the wicked ruler Antiochus Epiphanies- and till this day the Jewish people celebrate this victory at Hanukah.

Eventually Rome would conquer the Greek kingdom and the Jewish people were allowed to keep their culture and temple- yet they were still a people oppressed. Hassidism [getting back to the beginning] developed during this attempt to not lose their Jewish roots- the Pharisees of Jesus day came from this movement.

Alexander was pretty successful in his attempt to unify language- even though the bible [New Testament] was written by Jewish writers- living under Roman rule- yet the original bible is written in the Greek language.

Bible scholars till this day study the Greek language to find the truest meaning of the actual words in the bible [I have a Greek Lexicon sitting right in front of me].

It would take a few centuries before a Latin version appeared on the scene [the great church father- Jerome- would produce the Latin Vulgate].

Yet it would be the re- discovery and learning of the Greek texts [under men like Erasmus- and the Protestant Reformers] that would lead to the Reformation [16th century] and other movements in church history.

The Jews had various responses to the empires that ruled over them during various times. Alexander the Great instituted Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered. They could keep their religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule. Some Jewish people rejected any compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community. This was a few centuries before the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the 20th century. A Bedouin boy was looking for his goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found the scrolls. The scrolls might have been hidden there by the Essenes- Now- when my friends asked me about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this- but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we had had all along. [parts]

THE CREED https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/12-3-15-the-creed.zip https://youtu.be/1-fcoGwgO10 [The creed]

ON VIDEO- .Liberal arts .Cathedral .Charlemagne .Holy Roman Empire .Feudalism .University .Notre Dame .Bill O’reilly got it wrong!

NEW STUFF- In this ‘new stuff’ section I’m trying to cover short snippets of things I mention of the videos that I never wrote about before. So- Liberal Arts? In the Middle Ages the church took up the slack after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West [5th century]. Over time the Cathedral churches became places where people would be able to obtain an education. The Cathedral churches /cities [Like Corpus Christi] were the main hub for the outlying Parish churches. Eventually they made education available to not only the clergy- but to other interested students. In the early days of the Roman Empire- this type of education was only available to ‘Free Men’. So- the term Liberal comes from the Latin ‘Liberales’- or ‘Free Men’. There were 7 ‘arts’ or general fields of study- 1 Math 2 Geometry 3 Astronomy 4 Music 5 Logic 6 Rhetoric 7 Latin In today’s world- when you study for a general education- we call that ‘Liberal Arts’- as opposed to what a person majors in- a specific field. Got it?

PAST POSTS [verses below]- HEBREWS- 2015- VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED HEBREWS 1-3 The next few weeks I’ll be teaching from an old commentary I wrote a few years back [2007-8]- The notes at the bottom of the chapters- and post- are new [as well as the videos]. https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/4-12-15-hebrews-1-3.zip

NEW NOTE- In the study of the bible- there are debates about who wrote the letters of the New Testament. In the field of higher criticism- it gets a bit silly at times. I just finished an on line course from a respected scholar out of Yale university. He taught from the higher criticism perspective- I enjoyed the course- though I did not agree with lots of his conclusions. At one point he questioned whether Paul wrote the middle chapter of one of the letters attributed to Paul. Yet he did believe the first- and last chapters were by Paul. For the most part- we believe that the letters in the bible- that say in them ‘written by Paul’ are from Paul [or Peter, James, Etc.]. But- Hebrews leaves the authors name out- so some debate who wrote it. Tertullian- an early church father [2/3rd century] attributed it to Barnabus- Paul’s companion that we read about in the book of Acts- For about 1500 years- till the time of the Reformation- most Christian scholars attributed it to Paul. Hebrews is written in a high form of Greek [which is another way we determine who wrote the letters- tough this is not always accurate. Many say John the apostle did not write Revelation- because the form of Greek used is much lower than the other writings of John- yet- there is internal witness that John [the apostle] wrote it. In John’s writings [gospel- 1st, 2nd and 3rd John] he speaks about Jesus as the Word [Logos] and this theme is seen in Revelation too]. So- while we don’t know for sure- I personally stick with the authorship of Paul the apostle.

INTRODUCTION:

I have been wanting to overview this book for a long time. I believe there are a lot of misconceptions from Hebrews. Often time’s modern translations take older books of the Bible and want to make them relevant for our day. This can be both good and bad.

I like the message Bible, but for in depth study it doesn’t really work. There are certain things that must be interpreted in context of the time and place when the book was written. Hebrews is one of the most important New Testament books to ‘read in context’. I wont go over every verse in this short commentary, I will hit the high points of various chapters and try to show you what I mean by ‘reading it in context’.

I believe it is possible that this book was Paul’s ‘open letter’ to the first century Jewish community, this is quite possibly why it goes unsigned. The ‘Judaizers’ had so polluted the minds of their fellow Jews against Paul ‘he speaks against Moses and our law’ type thing, that if Paul signed this letter, there would be little chance that the intended audience would read it!

If you read a book on auto mechanics, and tried to make it relevant for the human body, it wouldn’t work. For instance if you spoke on the engine of a car, and then tried to ‘translate’ that and equate it with the human heart, you would have problems. But if you left it in context and then applied the concept of maintenance and the need for clean fuel lines, and then applied it to the human need for clean arteries, well then that would be OK.

So I believe when we read Hebrews, and don’t try to make it ‘fit’ Gentile believers, then it works. You still get great principles from the ‘manual’, but you understand that it is not speaking directly to the Gentile church. God bless you guys, I hope you get something from it. John.

CHAPTER 1: NEW NOTES AT END OF CHAPTER- LOGOS. SEATED.

‘God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Many years ago when I was going to a fundamental Baptist Church, they would interpret this passage in a ‘cessationist’ way. They would say because God says in the past he spoke by prophets, but now by his Son. That this means he doesn’t speak thru Prophets any more. The Prophets here are Old Testament voices. In Ephesians it says after Jesus ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men, some Apostles, some Prophets, etc. The fact that Jesus made Prophets after the ascension teaches us that there were to be a whole new class of New Testament Prophets that were different from the old. I find it strange to believe that Jesus would create a whole new class of gifts, and then take them away as soon as the Bible is complete. Why would Paul give instruction in the New Testament on how Prophets would operate [Corinthians] and then to say ‘as soon as this letter is canonized with the others, all this instruction will be useless’ it just doesn’t seem right.

The reason Paul is saying in the past God used Prophets, but today his Son. Paul is showing that the Jewish Old testament was a real communication from God to man. But in this dispensation of Grace, God is speaking the realities that the Prophets were looking to. Paul is saying ‘thank God for the Old Jewish books and law, they point to something, his name is Jesus’! The Prophets [Old Testament] served a purpose; they brought us from the shadows to the present time [1st century] now lets move on into the reality. Now you must see and hear the Son in these last days. ‘Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person…when he by himself purged our sins SAT DOWN on the right hand of the majesty on high’ here we are at the beginning stages of themes that we will see later in the letter. The significance of Jesus ‘sitting down’ will be contrasted with the Old testament priests ‘standing up’. Paul [for the record I think Paul wrote this letter, from here on I will probably just refer to the writer as Paul] will teach that the ‘standing up’ of the Levitical Priests represented an ‘incomplete priesthood’ the reason Jesus sat down was because there would be no more sacrifice, and no more priesthood made up of many priests who would die year after year. This doesn’t mean there would be no more New Testament priests as believers, but that there would be no more Old Testament system. Paul will find spiritual truths like this all thru out the Old Testament.

Some theologians feel that Paul is a little too loose with these free comparisons that he seems to ‘pull out of the hat’, for the believer who holds to the canon of scripture, it is the Word of God. ‘Being made so much better than the angels…but unto the Son he saith “thy throne O God is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy Kingdom”. Here Paul introduces another theme that will be seen thru out this letter. The superiority of Jesus over angels. Why is this important? Most believers know that Jesus is greater than angels, don’t they? Here we see why context is important to understand this letter. In Jewish tradition it is believed that the law was given to Moses by God thru the mediation of angels. Some say ‘well, we don’t use Jewish tradition, we use scripture’. First, Paul used anything he could to win the argument. Second, if we believe Hebrews is an inspired book, then when we read later on that the law given thru angels received a recompense if broken, then right here you have scripture [Hebrews] testifying that God did use angels to ‘transmit’ the law to some degree. Now, why is it important for gentiles to see this? Well it really isn’t! But it is vital for a first century Jew to see it. If Paul can show that Jesus is greater than the angels, then he is beginning to make the argument that the New Covenant is greater than the Old.

Here is the context. Moses law is highly revered in the first century Jewish community, so here Paul says ‘how much better is the law/word given to us from Gods Son’. Since Jesus is much better than the angels, therefore pay closer attention to the words spoken thru Gods Son, he is greater than the angels! ‘But to which of the angels said he “sit at my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool” we end chapter one with the theme of Jesus being better than the angels, yet in chapter 2 something funny happens, Paul will make the argument of Jesus being “a little lower than the angels” lets see what this means. NEW NOTES- 4-2015 LOGOS. We see God having created all things thru Christ ‘the express image of his person- by whom also he made the worlds’. Jesus is called the WORD of God in scripture- the Greek word- for ‘word’ is Logos. We read in the bible that God made all things- but also that Christ made all things- Is this a contradiction? No- For the first 3-4 centuries of Christianity- as you study the early church councils- The early church struggled over how to view the relationships between God and Jesus These debates raged- and at times each side viewed the other as Heretics. I think it was a mistake to be so quick to judge those as heretics- who were having difficulty in expressing in finite words- the great mystery of God and Christ. In Genesis we read that God spoke all things into existence- so- here we see God’s Word- Logos [Christ] as being the instrumental cause of creation. In John chapter one we read that Jesus was the Word- in the beginning- who was with God- and was God. I’ll try and simplify it [not an easy task to say the least]. God- who is Spirit- spoke- and this expression of God- his Word- is also referred to as Christ- Christ/Jesus is the Word of God made flesh- and it is thru his humanity [incarnation] that we do indeed see God in ‘the flesh’- Yes- by Him- all things were made.

SEATED. We see a theme in chapter 1- that will run thru the whole letter- HE SAT DOWN- In Hebrews we are seeing the superiority of the New Covenant over the old- and there will be many comparisons to show how the Old Covenant- priests- sacrifices- the law itself- was less than what we get in the New Covenant- And the reality that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God- shows us that he was the last- and [parts] (999)1ST CORINTHIANS 13:1 ‘THOUGH I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN AND OF ANGELS, AND HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM BECOME AS SOUNDING BRASS OR A TINKLING SYMBOL’ Over the years I have seen how the church can ‘have a voice-make noise’ without actually effecting change. Last night I watched some Martin Luther King stuff. Without ‘sucking up for political purposes’ I must admit that Martin is at the top of my list of personal heroes. Martin spoke with a revolutionary purpose in mind, he was not ‘delivering sermons’. One time I spoke at a friends church, I only spoke for around 15 minutes [much like my radio show] and the pastor said ‘no wonder John doesn’t have a church/ preach regularly, you have to at least speak for 45 minutes’ [something like that]. Though after the message I had good comments from the people, the sincere pastor felt like we didn’t ‘put the time in’ in order to fulfill the Sunday morning practice of ‘church’. Were did we get our modern sermon from? [The actual format]. If you go to Bible College you can take a course called ‘homiletics’ this course will teach you the structure of speaking and putting a message together. If you study Greek rhetoric you will find that this science existed in the Greek intellectual world before Christians embraced it [the actual format and structure taught in homiletics comes right out of the Greek system of rhetoric, to the tee!]. I find it funny how many modern pastors seem to measure a persons degree of ‘being scriptural’ by this measuring rod. ‘Well brother, didn’t they preach in scripture’ you bet they did. We see Jesus reading from the scroll in the synagogue. Paul and Peter were master ‘preachers’ if you will [though Paul himself was no ‘golden tongue’] basically the biblical concept of preaching/teaching was more of a spontaneous thing. It’s certainly not wrong to borrow the sermon from the Greeks [which we did do] but we don’t want to fall into some mindset that sees modern ministry [pastoral] as being a professional [parts] HEBREWS- 2015- VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED HEBREWS 1-3 The next few weeks I’ll be teaching from an old commentary I wrote a few years back [2007-8]- The notes at the bottom of the chapters- and post- are new [as well as the videos]. https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/4-12-15-hebrews-1-3.zip

NEW NOTE- In the study of the bible- there are debates about who wrote the letters of the New Testament. In [parts]

VERSES- here are the verses I taught or quoted on today’s post- ACTS 24 18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. Mark 12 Acts 24:1 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. Acts 24:2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, Acts 24:3 We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Acts 24:4 Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. Acts 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes: Acts 24:6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law. Acts 24:7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands, Acts 24:8 Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him. Acts 24:9 And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Acts 24:10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: Acts 24:11 Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. Acts 24:12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: Acts 24:13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men. Acts 24:17 Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings. Acts 24:18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult. Acts 24:19 Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me. Acts 24:20 Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council, Acts 24:21 Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day. Acts 24:22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. Acts 24:23 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. Acts 24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Acts 24:26 He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. Acts 24:27 But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.

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theinquisitivej · 6 years

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Character Predictions

Let’s take a brief detour from films and narrative analysis and talk about games, or rather a specific game. Or, I suppose, let’s do both at the same time, because the game I’m more excited about than any other this year is the latest in my favourite party game meets intense fighter series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

I apologise to those of you who have stumbled across this and have no idea what I’m talking about, because I’m pretty sure the next few thousand words or so will be impenetrable gibberish. But, if you’re riding the hype train along with me and share my passionate excitement for this series, or you’re still curious and want to know more, then read on.

Super Smash Bros. is an ongoing series from Nintendo in which you get to play as some of their most popular characters from their numerous iconic franchises as you duke it out with a group of other players in intense, frantic battles. For a series with a relatively simple premise, it’s gained a deep level of appreciation from fans of all backgrounds, as it draws players from a number of different fanbases of the different games it represents, branching out to even include characters from third party companies like Sonic, Pac-Man, Mega Man, and so on. Whether you’re a player who enjoys bringing the game out at casual get-togethers with friends and family, or you’re a competitive player who obsesses over knowing the game inside and out, there’s something universally exciting about seeing a game that celebrates so many franchises and their characters, settings, and music.

And now there’s a new game coming out, which means people are losing their minds over speculation concerning which new characters we might get to play as, and I am certainly no different. We’ve had a number of new characters already announced including Ridley and King K.Rool, fan favourite villains who players have been clamouring for since the days of Super Smash Bros. Melee in 2001. Their inclusion makes it feel like all bets are off; in the past, expectations and hopes were tempered by thoughts like ‘ah, that character would never make it in’, but now, if sodding Cloud from Final Fantasy VII can make it, then anyone can.

So, because everyone’s been making their prediction/wish lists and I’ve spent far more time obsessing over this game than I care to admit, I figured I’d have a little fun and throw together a list of my own character predictions. If you’ve been checking out other people’s theories and videos on the subject, then I’m sure many of these picks will sound familiar, and, on the one hand, I do worry that this post will look like a shallow attempt to regurgitate the same information that other people have gone over for the sake of jumping onto the bandwagon. But truthfully, I just wanted to make this list for the fun of getting it out there and seeing how many I end up getting right once we know the game’s final roster of characters. The way I see it, I’d be writing this list for myself anyway, so I might as well share it with anyone who’s interested.

This list is meant to represent likely candidates rather than necessarily my all-time dream picks. This is who I expect will make it in, not who I hope beyond hope to see in this game (otherwise the list would just say ‘Banjo-Kazooie’ ten times). Even so, there are one or two characters on the list which I will admit have less of a chance, and most likely got as far as they did in my considerations due to preferential bias. Nevertheless, there are enough points in their favour that I stand by dedicating a spot to them. And at the end of the day, this is my own damn list on the dumb fighting game about cartoon characters, so try not to worry about it.

*So how many more new characters do you think there’ll be?*

This is the question a lot of people who’ve been closely following news on the game have been wondering. Masahiro Sakurai, the series director whose dry offbeat sense of humour and difficult to predict eccentricity has made him just as beloved to Smash fans as some of the Nintendo mascots featured in his games, has gone on record to say that, since Ultimate’s remit was to bring every single character in the series’ history back for this ‘ultimate’ instalment, we shouldn’t expect too many newcomers. Considering the insane amount of content already revealed for this game, many have said that’s a fair deal, with a common sentiment being that the game could ship with just what we’ve heard about it thus far, and we’d still be over the moon with what it’s given us.

However, Sakurai is a notorious workaholic whose obsessive dedication to his work has led him to exceed our expectations time and time again in Smash’s 20-year history. Since making that statement, Sakurai has shown off 5 new characters, and hinted that there is more to follow. What helps is that Sakurai and his team have found a creative solution which enables them to include an impressive number of new characters without cutting too much into development time in the form of ‘Echo Fighters’. Echo Fighters, or ‘Echoes’, is a term coined by Sakurai to describe characters who are technically new to the series, but whose set of moves are closely based on a pre-existing fighter. This means we get the option of playing a slight variation on a classic fighter who, through a different surface appearance and a few of their own unique animations, feels like their own distinct character.

So, what this boils down to is that, while Sakurai may mean it when he says we’re getting fewer brand new movesets than we have in past instalments, we are nevertheless getting a good number of new representatives from different series through this time and money-saving measure. While I’m sure there are some critics of this approach out there, the overwhelming consensus on this is that it’s a win-win situation which takes some of the weight off the developers while simultaneously providing the players with more characters who may not have necessarily made it in otherwise.

To answer this section’s original question, I’m inclined to think that, on top of the 4 ‘newcomers’ (characters with brand new movesets) we’ve seen so far, we’ll get 2 or 4 more, as trends suggest it will be an even number. As for echoes, who we’ve been receiving at a surprising rate, I think we’ll see 4 or 6 more on top of the 4 we’ve already seen. This leadup to the list has taken long enough, and this thing is going to be monstrously big already, so let’s not waste any more time on the boring stuff and get straight to the list. I’m setting it in stone:

These are my final predictions for the rest of the characters we’re going to see in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Newcomers

#1: Decidueye

Artwork by R-nowong.

Pokémon is Nintendo’s biggest franchise after Mario, so it gets reps. The latest generation of Pokémon, Sun & Moon, did well with people and sold decently, and Decidueye, the final evolved form of the grass starter Rowlet, is arguably the most popular of the three Sun & Moon starters, much like Greninja was in the previous generation, who secured a spot in Super Smash Bros. 4. Decidueye also has the added bonus of embodying an elemental type that hasn’t been represented by a solo Pokémon fighter in Smash before – grass. On top of that, he’s got some ghost-type moves and a signature arrow attack in his toolkit which he can use, and with the added appeal of being a mysterious hooded owl warrior who can fly about, his potential moveset writes itself. He was even in Pokémon’s standalone fighting game Pokken, so yeah; he’s probably the safest bet on this entire list. On the other hand, that flame cat wrestling heel starter Incineroar from the same generation has also slowly risen in popularity, so I could see him also being a possibility. But my money’s on the spooky Robin Hood-in-feathers, Decidueye.

#2: Geno

Artwork by jordanewing.

You’re either completely oblivious to whoever the hell this character is or you’re rolling your eyes and saying you’re sick to death of hearing about Geno – there is no middle ground.

A wooden toy puppet given life by a … star spirit, I think? I’m not sure, I’m only halfway through my playthrough of the game right now. Anyway, Geno is a one-time character from a SNES Mario RPG game called, er, Super Mario RPG. The game was a collaboration between Nintendo and Square, and represents the spiritual beginnings of other Mario RPG series such as Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games on handheld systems. Of the characters unique to Super Mario RPG, Geno stands out; he’s mystical and dedicated to his mission to reform the Star Road in order to make it so that people’s wishes can once again come true, meaning the point where he joins the party also introduces the player to the game’s central quest. With his innocent wooden doll appearance and contrastingly enigmatic cape, profile, and gun-arm weapon, he seems like the kind of character who’d result from a fairy-tale colliding with a Final Fantasy plot, making him a suitable representative for a game made through the collaborative efforts of Nintendo and Square.

Speaking bluntly, Geno has little-to-no relevance in this day and age, having only appeared once as one of several main playable characters in a game that released over 20 years ago. Even so, he’s a character with such appeal that he’s not only been a fan favourite request for Smash since the days of Melee, but he’s also someone Sakurai himself has wanted to include for a long time now. When people talk about Geno’s game, it’s always with a loving, nostalgic fondness, and, having made my way through a decent portion of the game, I can see why. Also, appearing only once in a classic game that came out decades ago has never stopped the Ice Climbers from being a series staple for Smash, so I don’t think Geno’s solitary appearance necessarily hinders his chances. Since Sakurai seems to be using Ultimate to grant some longstanding fan requests and finally include things he’s been meaning to do for years, I’d say the odds have never been in Geno’s favour more than they are right now.

#3: Bandana Waddle Dee

Artwork by rongs1234.

Weird name, I know. Still, Waddle Dee is the most enduring and recognisable enemy type in the Kirby series, and there’s been one Waddle Dee in particular who’s tagged along in Kirby’s adventures for several decades now, and he’s known as ‘Bandana Waddle Dee’. Donning a bandanna and wielding a spear as his weapon, he’s pretty much a perfect melting pot between Kirby’s adorable friendliness, Meta-Knight’s cool proficiency with an actual weapon, and King Dedede, being his underling / dogsbody who’s probably more competent and reliable than he is.

There’s not a lot of complicated reasoning as to why Bandana Waddle Dee is both likely and deserving to make it in. The Kirby franchise is a big part of Nintendo, and of the more prominent in-house series in Smash, it stands out as one that could do with a little more representation. Being stuck at 3 characters seems like a loose end in Smash, as you only need one more inclusion to have enough characters for a traditional 4-player battle. Bandana Waddle Dee makes the most sense for this series as he’s just a delightful recurring character with the potential for a unique moveset, and after Kirby, Dedede, and Meta-Knight, he’s the next most recognisable character in the series. It’s high time Kirby got another character, and Waddle Dee fits the ticket perfectly.

#4: Paper Mario

If Link gets three versions of himself in this game, then Mario can have a third one too, and darnit, Paper Mario has paid his dues! As far from grace as he’s fallen, he is still an ongoing property, and his first two … eh what the hell, let’s thrown in Super Paper Mario in there too and say his first three games are still wonderful and a part of Nintendo’s history that’s fondly remembered by many and stands out as something that is yet to be acknowledged by Nintendo’s flagship crossover series beyond a simple stage.

Admittedly, if one Mario RPG character were to get in, then I’d oddly expect the one-time Geno to get in over this character, even if he does have a series of games to his name. But I think Paper Mario as a series has enough unique qualities to its aesthetic and characteristic mechanics to distinguish itself from the rest of the Mario franchise, including the other Mario RPG games. As such, I think bringing both of them in would represent different properties well enough. If I’m being honest with myself, of the four proposed newcomers, Paper Mario’s the least likely to make it. Geno’s got the edge on him, especially if space is a premium for new characters. But then again, they have brought back the Paper Mario stage for Ultimate, so here’s hoping that Mr. Game & Watch has a new two-dimensional best friend joining him in the next Smash.

Echoes

#5: Isabelle

With Animal Crossing being unquestionably one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises today, eclipsing veteran series like Starfox, Metroid, and F-Zero, it’s frankly staggering that Ultimate, with a roster that currently sits at 70+ characters, only has one representative from this flagship franchise. I mean, I get it; Animal Crossing is a relaxing, peaceful game about life in a quiet village where the biggest conflicts are ensuring you make your appointment to see your dog neighbour tomorrow afternoon like you promised and paying off your debt to the local ruthless raccoon landowner. It’s difficult to envision any of the characters from this series engaging in battle with Solid Snake or an anime protagonist with a six-foot broadsword. But Smash is a ridiculous series that embraces cartoonish logic, so the incongruency of these series is a big part of the fun. And the fact that Villager is in shows that there’s precedent for a fun as hell character with a slice-of-life moveset that kicks ass.

Isabelle would be a terrific choice for a second Animal Crossing representative, and if character spaces are tight enough that she can’t make it into the fully-fledged newcomer list, then she could still easily incorporate Villager’s moves. There are a ton of mainstay Animal Crossing characters who would also be very fun to play as like K.K. Slider, Tortimer, and Tom Nook, but since New Leaf came out in 2013, Isabelle has been a prominent face for the series. She’s been heavily featured in Animal Crossing’s various off-shoots since then, as well as in promotional material and crossovers like the excellent Mario Kart 8 dlc. Plus, with Smash’s roster being so heavily taken up with male characters, we could really do with more female characters being featured. Isabelle is not only one of my most hopeful newcomers, she’s also one of the most likely to make it.

And to that one person who I know is reading: Jeremiah is lovely, but I’m sad to say I just don’t see him making it in … just yet.

#6: Black Shadow

Wolf’s back, DK and Diddy have K.Rool, Samus has two villains from her series to contend with now; bad guys are currently all the rage in Smash, and while I’ll admit to being completely inexperienced with F-Zero, Black Shadow seems like a suitable pick for a much-needed rival to Smash’s resident Captain Falcon. As a dead series that still receives a ton of love from fans yet only has one representative in Smash at the moment, F-Zero could do with a little push into the spotlight. Black Shadow’s design isn’t much to write home about by itself, but when paired against Captain Falcon, I think there’s some potential. His ‘Night on Bald Mountain’ look and pompous smirk could be a fun personality to play with, and I’m positive that Ultimate’s stellar team of animators could make him stand out. With Ganondorf becoming more and more his own thing, Black Shadow could honestly just take Ganondorf’s moveset from Melee with one or two changes, and he’d be a terrific Echo Fighter of Falcon that’s good to go.

#7: A Metal Gear Solid representative, most likely Raiden

I adore the Metal Gear series. Its outlandishly over-the-top military action and exaggerated characters, its cool-as-hell protagonists, and its legendary music make it a special series in games. Here’s the thing though: I’ve never played them. Well, I’ve played and completed the first Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. Anything from Metal Gear Solid onwards, however, I’ve yet to play through. I was first introduced to the series when Snake was announced for Brawl, and since then, I’ve listened to many pieces of music from the series, enjoyed hearing passionate fans talk about the games, and learned and heard things about the series which make me positive that I’m going to love these games when I finally take the time to sit down and play them, ludicrous plot and all.

So, since Konami, the company who owns the rights to the series, have not only okayed Snake coming back to this upcoming game, but also allowed Sakurai to have both a newcomer and an echo from their Castlevania series, I reckon Snake’s chances of gaining an echo as a partner have gone up. The most likely candidate is Raiden, the protagonist from Metal Gear Solid 2 who has an important role in the franchise, but as I’ve yet to play a good portion of this series, I honestly can’t say for sure who would be the best echo. Maybe someone he contends with, to fit the theme of villains and rivals I mentioned earlier, like Liquid? Snake’s former mentor turned villain Big Boss would be cool too, especially if it’s him when he’s an old soldier, as we could do with some badass old characters in the game. My favourite pick, however, is Meryl. Her design is cool as hell, she seems to be a significant character in the series, and as I mentioned earlier, we need to even out the gender imbalance in this roster. At the end of the day, however, I would be happy to see any of these guys make it in.

#8 Tails…or Shadow, if we must

I know that the most likely second Sonic representative via echo fighter at the moment is Shadow. His assist trophy is nowhere to be seen, he fits Sonic’s model and moveset, and he’d fit the bill of the current trend of rivals / villains making the cut. But… really? Do we really want to go with the edgy teen version of Sonic that once starred in a dreadful game that took itself too seriously and filled a cartoon universe about fast-moving animals with realistic guns? …alright, to be fair, when that came out I unironically loved it, played the hell out of it, and I still have a soft spot for it, so I wouldn’t even be unhappy to see Shadow make it in as a true guilty pleasure of a character.

But come on, as much as I’m not the biggest fan of Sonic games from any era, I think that the character deserves to have his version of Luigi in, and that’s Tails. He’s been there since practically the beginning, has a design that’s always been appealing and avoided becoming dated (or as good as this franchise can manage), and despite nominally playing different to Sonic with his flying propeller tails, he moves very similarly to Sonic. Just make him a little slower on the ground, have him control better in the air, and shift some of his aerial attacks around, and you’d have a decent echo. Say what you will about the Sonic series, but it is iconic to the videogame medium, and Tails is a big part of the picture whenever you consider Sonic as a franchise.

But whatever, put grungy Sonic with guns in instead if you want, that should be good for a laugh.

#9: Ken/Akuma

This one is difficult to call. Ryu’s my favourite fighting game character of all time, and his inclusion in the previous Smash Bros. as DLC was a significant moment that I adored seeing come to pass. In his own series, he’s had no shortage of characters based off of him with similar movesets, so looking through the range of options for echo fighters from his series has yielded two likely options. Ken, as a pallet swap version of Ryu with more fire effects added to his moves with slightly different properties, is pretty much the perfect template for an Echo Fighter. He’s got a sweet musical theme that I believe was already in the previous Smash, and he’d be a ton of fun to play as.

Still, there’s one other person who has a chance of snagging the Rye Echo Fighter slot away from him: Akuma. A fan favourite and Ryu’s dark opposite with an ultimate move that translates to “Wrath of the Raging Demon”, there’s no denying that Akuma would be an impressive villain to include to Ultimate’s expanding catalogue of dark rivals. I’d be ecstatic with any new representation from Street Fighter, so calling this one is tough. I’ll go with Ken, as he just embodies the concept of an echo fighter perfectly. But, if I’m wrong and we get Akuma, that would be cool too. Or Sakura, she’d be awesome as well. Just as long as it’s anyone other than Dan Hibiki.

#10: Impa

Legend of Zelda is one of my all-time favourite game series, providing me with numerous all-time classics that have been some of the most formative games of my life. But despite its flagship status as a Nintendo franchise, and despite having 6 characters in Smash already, it’s in an awkward position when it comes to who else you could put into the game. The series has no shortage of striking, memorable, and well-loved characters, but the format of the series means that each game is more or less a fresh start, introducing us to a new version of Hyrule with a fresh batch of inhabitants and different iterations of a handful of enduring characters, namely Link, Zelda, and Ganon/Ganondorf. What this means is that, while you can have different versions of Link and Zelda from different games in Smash, there’s not a lot of options for character picks who have a lasting presence in the series beyond the one game they’re featured in. Of course, this sort of reasoning doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything, and Sakurai could have just said screw it and thrown in a fan favourite like Skull Kid, but it’s difficult to say if there’s much of a chance of that happening.

What I can say is that there is one recurring character in Legend of Zelda who has yet to be included in Smash: Impa. She’s appeared in many different forms throughout the series, and while I would love to see her old nurse / attendant to Princess Zelda appearance be the inspiration for a creative moveset, I think it’s more likely we’ll see one of her more warrior like iterations using most of Sheik’s moves with the occasional change here or there. She could resemble her Skyward Sword appearance, or her impressive design from Hyrule Warriors, but either way, I think she would make a great addition to the series. She’s more representation for not only Legend of Zelda, but for formidable older women as well, who I think could do with a lot more prominence in all areas of fiction, let alone Smash.

And that was my lengthy list! We’ll be back to film reviews soon, but if you’ve made it this far, thank you for indulging me and letting me try this out. If you’ve been absorbing as much fan speculation content on this upcoming game as I have, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of what I’ve talked about today discussed in other places, but I nevertheless felt a need to write all of this down and put it out there. So, for those of you who have no idea what I’ve spent thousands of words going on about but have nevertheless read to the end, thank you so much! It’s always a lot of fun to try something new and different. In fact, if I was to narrow down what I love about Super Smash Bros. represents as a series, it would be how much it celebrates and delights in the endless possibilities of creativity. There’s so much to enjoy out there, and it’s all so different; it can be overwhelming at times, especially when you feel the impossible need to try and keep up with media, but it can also be immensely uplifting and inspiring to see just how many different experiences there are out there. I’ll keep trying to seek out those new experiences in all aspects of my life, because there’s so much art and content out there to inspire you, whatever your field of interest might be.

Of course, once December 7th rolls around, it’s quite likely I’ll turn around on that and play nothing but Smash. Ah well, we can but try.

#The Inquisitive J #article #game article #video games #nintendo #super smash bros #super smash ultimate #super smash switch #smash bros #super smash bros characters #the inquisitive j reviews

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johnchiarello · 7 years

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Acts 24

ACTS 24

Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:

Acts 24- https://youtu.be/r48iPGZCaP0

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-3-17-acts-24/

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/10-3-17-acts-24.zip

Furman- https://youtu.be/Ad0VlHwxtbA [I made this video the other day- and also added some notes and verses below]

Vegas Shooter- the real story- https://youtu.be/wTObzkO-_YA

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-7-17-vegas-shooter-the-real-story/

Friends- https://youtu.be/Cmq_MHuGngA

http://ccoutreach87.com/10-7-17-friends/

You see some of my friends at Dave Watters street ministry- New Christian Harvest- Prayer requests-

1- Roger 2- George’s Dad 3- Bob

.Crow- Bro. Dave

.Furman-Joe

.Jammer- Neena

.George- Albert

.Claire

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

ON VIDEOS- [Past teaching- verses below]

[Furman]

.Furman’s story

.The truck

.Update- Apostle Allen and Roger [Please pray for them]

.Marriage in heaven? What will our relationship with spouses be like in heaven?

[Acts 24]

.Baby the dog

.Read the whole bible- it can be done

.They were corrupt

.Rhetoric

.Paul- the trouble maker?

.Paul’s accusation- and defense

.Felix and Drusilla

.How did her son [Agrippa] make it into the history books?

.Some event in ad 79

.Felix wanted a bribe from Paul

.Felix’s 3rd wife

.Paul sits in jail for 2 years- waiting for a decision

.Story of Black kid in NYC

.Sat in prison for 3 years- accused of stealing back pack

.No trial- he killed himself

.Italian grandma- and the painting

.Pompeii- Vesuvius- [found the lost city in 1748] http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/pompeii

.Bay of Naples

.Fossil evidence- evolution

.Catastrophism

.Lost in time

.Google Vesuvius- too many Italian restaurants!

PAST POSTS- [My past teaching that relates to this post]

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/14/mark-12/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/

ACTS-

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/18/acts-1/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/26/acts-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/02/acts-3/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/09/acts-4/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/23/acts-5/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/31/acts-6/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/06/acts-7/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/14/acts-8/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/18/acts-9/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/07/acts-10/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/16/acts-11/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/05/22/acts-12/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/01/acts-13/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/14/acts-14/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/03/acts-15/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/07/acts-16/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/07/27/acts-17/

http://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/2017/08/acts-18-acts-1828-for-he-mightily.html

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/09/acts-19/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/20/acts-20/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/04/acts-21/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/09/20/acts-22-2/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/10/04/redo-acts-23-2/

ACTS 24- Paul’s accusers come down from Jerusalem. They hired a lawyer [orator] to accuse him! Tertullus gives a speech to the Governor that could be defined as the classic political ‘suck up’ speech of all time. Paul defends himself and says ‘I am not guilty of these so called accusations. But I am guilty of believing the law and the prophets. I believe that what they spoke of [the shadows] have happened! I believe in the resurrection. Jesus has fulfilled the promises of the prophets!’ I had a discussion with a good friend the other day. We have a mutual friend who is really into Messianic stuff. He has espoused the idea that the feasts and images of Israel are EXACT PICTURES that give us a detailed road map to Christ’s return. Basically the friend believes that all the shadows and images are exact descriptions of all future events. I shared with my friend that I too believe that the feasts of Israel are prophetic signs of things. Surely Passover and Pentecost have had great meaning for the people of God. Paul says ‘Christ our Passover died for us’. Some see the end time feast of the latter harvest as having future fulfillment in the ingathering of the nations to Christ. I have taught some of this on the radio before. The problem with this other stuff is it takes the feasts and shadows and tries to ‘detail’ every little thing. Paul understood the prophets and law having been fulfilled thru the present work of Christ and his resurrection. I can’t stress enough how the apostolic witness in Acts sees Jesus as the fulfillment of these things. They do not preach a heavily nationalistic [Jewish] message, though they are all Jews! [The Apostles] As Paul defends himself, the governor listens and trembles! Paul spoke of judgment and temperance and the reality of a future resurrection of the just and unjust. The basic apostolic message as seen in the classic creeds of the church. Paul will sit under house arrest for 2 years until another person takes over Felix’s position. The guy’s name is ‘Porcius festus’ [I think I would prefer the name Judas over Porcius!] We end the chapter with Paul waiting to give another witness of Jesus before another ruler. The legal problems of Paul were Gods providence to give Paul opportunity to speak the gospel all the way up the chain. The chain ends at Rome.

‘Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever amen’ What a great way to end this letter! It is thru the blood of Jesus Christ that we are accepted and perfected in every way. We can only live and function because of the blood! We have true forgiveness for all of our sins because of what Christ has done for us. Paul has penned 13 chapters of revelation showing us the great significance of Christ's sacrifice. He has urged his fellow country men ‘come out from trying to make yourselves holy and acceptable, and receive the once and for all sacrifice of Christ’ he has trumpeted this theme all thru out this letter. I want to exhort you guys to see the sufficiency of the Cross. We get so caught up in what we are doing that there is a tendency to rely on ourselves and our own ability to change things [even us!] we need to re-focus on the biblical priority and necessity of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He truly is the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father but by him! God bless you guys,

John.

[parts]

(961)1ST CORINTHIANS 7:1-15 Paul addresses divorce. It is interesting that Jesus himself actually raised the bar from the Old Covenant practice to the New. In most other areas he emphasized grace as opposed to law ‘the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ but in this area Jesus said ‘Moses made an exception under the law for divorce, but from the beginning this was not Gods plan’ and Jesus restricted divorce to the cause of adultery [fornication- actually the word for pornography] only. Here Paul gives some direction. First, you shouldn’t divorce. You also shouldn’t be married to an unbeliever. Well, what should happen to those who were unbelievers when they married, but now one is a believer? Paul says if the unbeliever is ‘pleased’ to stay in the union, then that’s fine. Well what does ‘pleased’ mean? If the unbeliever is physically abusing his spouse, then that doesn’t seem ‘pleasing’ to me. Paul will say if the unbeliever departs, let them go. The believer should not feel condemned by this. He/she had no control in this case. But if there is a divorce, let the one who left remain unmarried. So what happens if you were forced into it, can you re marry? Paul does not specifically say. He does say to the one who left the marriage, they should not remarry. Divorce is a tricky issue. When attending the fundamental Baptist church they taught that if one were divorced they could never be ‘a Pastor’ [even though no one was ‘a pastor’ in this way in the first century church!]. Many teach that Paul’s instructions on Bishops/Elders said a divorced person should not be an overseer. Paul actually said ‘they should be the husband of one wife’. This most certainly could simply be saying they shouldn’t be in a plural marriage. This was common in the first century, so you could take it this way. Overall I find it strange that someone could have been a murderer [Paul] or any other type of sinner, but the divorcee' seems to be the only sinner that is excluded. The other problem is how much of ‘a believer’ were you at the time of your divorce. There have been well known preachers who initiated the divorce from their wives, they remarried and later wanted this to be treated as any other sin, just forgive and forget. The problem is if you were wise enough in the lord to have known better, then true repentance would entail making things right. Whether that’s reconciliation or simply remaining single, but it sure seems like these types of brothers who went into the whole remarriage thing with their eyes wide open, they should be held to a higher standard. Overall, we should not be in bondage to things that were out of our control. Those who were victimized and the partner left you, you should not be condemned for something that was out of your control. Believers who initiate the divorce from someone who was willing to stay in the marriage, they should not remarry. There have been too many cases where believers divorce other believers, without biblical grounds, and then remarry someone from the church. These situations are not permitted. If the believing spouse was simply ‘difficult to live with’ then that doesn’t cut it. In situations where there was actual physical abuse, well I don't believe the Lord wants you to stay in the house under these circumstances. But the only biblical excuse for divorce, according to Jesus, is adultery. In all of these gray areas, wisdom must be applied. The high profile ministers who have initiated their divorces and remarried, without the proper biblical grounds, should not be simply ‘forgiven’ and permitted to continue in their public role in ministry. True forgiveness and restoration would entail some sort of repentance and a public change in the situation. Like Paul says ‘to the rest speak I, not the Lord’. I am giving you my opinion on some of this stuff, but I too think I have the Spirit of Christ.

(963)1ST CORINTHIANS 7: 25-40 let’s be a little unconventional today. This passage deals with Paul’s counsel on celibacy and marriage. The historic church has had a bad rap on this issue. It is common today to say the church devalued marriage [and sex] and therefore we should exalt it. Sometimes this attempt at trying to correct the perceived imbalance puts a stumbling block in the way of those who are truly called to live the single life. Though marriage is an honorable thing, a true gift from God, yet living the celibate life can also be considered a very noble thing. It is rare in contemporary evangelicalism to leave this option open. Paul does say this option is not only available, but a noteworthy calling! He also makes it clear that only those who are called to this single lifestyle should attempt it. The church should not force celibacy on people. Now, do our catholic brothers force it upon the Priests? In a way, yes. But don’t forget that no one is ‘forced’ into the priesthood. Some feel like the scandals of catholic priests who abused children can be blamed on forced celibacy. The problem with this idea is many protestant ministers have also fallen sexually, and they were not celibate! The point being we need to be careful when we brand any Christian denomination with an accusation. Now, Paul also makes an interesting statement that we need to look at. He says ‘for the present distress I give these guidelines’. Is it possible that Paul's seeming harshness on marriage was due to the fact of some type of distress that he saw coming? Possibly the Neronic persecutions? If so, Paul could be saying ‘because of the upcoming severe persecution I recommend everyone just laying low for the time, if married, seek not to be single and vice a versa’. This is possible, we need to keep this in mind when reading this section of scripture. But most of all I think the modern evangelical church needs to retool her message in this area. Marriage and sex are good, God ordained these things in their proper place. But living single and celibate is also considered a very noble calling, we do not normally reflect this balance in the present atmosphere. Also as an aside, a few years back it was common to teach ‘the world/public schools have taken sex and taught it to our kids. They have usurped the job of the family/church’ while there is some truth to this, the problem was some well known TV evangelists began to discuss sex in the Sunday morning setting that was improper in a way [If you local Pastors who read this have done this, be assured I am not talking about you!]. I remember watching a national minister speak openly, with grandma’s and children in the service, and say ‘now speaking about sexual climax’ Yikes!! Just because the family/church dropped the ball on these issues, this doesn’t mean there are no barriers at all while dealing with these issues. Those who do this type of stuff seem to be saying ‘sex is not a dirty thing, therefore we need to bring it out into the open’ while this is true to a degree, there are also age appropriate subjects that should be taught in a private setting. If the church feels the need to delve into these subjects, we need to be careful that we are not crossing boundaries when doing it.

[parts]

I mentioned Rhetoric on today’s post- ACTS 24- here are some of my past posts where that word popped up [That’s why you see these past sections on the posts]

ARISTOTLE

Born in Northern Greece- in 384 BC.

The most famous student of Plato- attended Plato’s Academy for around 20 years.

His main disagreement with Plato was on his theory of Forms.

Plato believed that the ‘idea’ world contained the forms of all things we see in the physical realm.

Aristotle taught that substance itself was the main thing- that the forms of what we see in the natural realm come from matter itself.

He spoke about Potentiality and Actuality- that is the material things have in ‘seed’ form the final product.

The acorn has the Potential of becoming a tree- the fetus has the Potential of becoming a man- etc.

The form is already embedded in the thing itself- it does not exist in the ‘idea’ world of Plato.

Aristotle loved and admired his teacher- yet Plato had somewhat of a disdain for his most famous student.

Plato passed over Aristotle to head up the Academy- twice.

As things go- Aristotle went and started his own school- called the Lyceum.

Aristotle did not just teach Philosophy- but Biology- Logic- Ethics- Rhetoric.

Some refer to him as the first real scientist.

His development of the laws of Logic- Cause and Effect- play a key role in the Scientific Method till this day.

Aristotle taught that the main way we gain knowledge is thru sense perception and experiment.

As we study the natural order of things themselves- we gain understanding from them.

What we refer to as the Empirical method- knowledge gained thru the observation and experimentation of things.

He referred to God as the Final Cause- not the First Cause.

Why?

He believed in God [some debate this- Aristotle himself called him God in his work on Metaphysics] and called him the Prime Mover.

As I said before- a big thing with the early thinkers was the origin of Motion- who started the ball rolling- so to speak.

Aristotle credited the source of all motion to an ‘un- moved Mover’.

He gave the attributes of God to his Mover- said he had no beginning- was not material- an eternal and imperishable substance.

So- why the Final Cause?

He said God attracts all things to himself- so in his mind- motion started by attraction- not by a ‘push’ so to speak.

Isaac Newton agreed with Aristotle on this point- he referred to it in his 3rd law of Physics.

The medieval Muslim thinkers called him ‘The First Teacher’- and Kant [who we will get to later in this study] credits him with the bulk of what we know today as the Laws of Logic.

Aristotle taught that the main activity of God was thought.

The bible says that thru Wisdom and Understanding God made things [‘Wisdom builds the house- Understanding establishes it- and thru Knowledge it’s rooms are filled with all pleasant and precious riches- Wisdom is profitable to direct- the words of the wise are like nails fastened by the masters of assemblies- as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation’- various bible verses found in Proverbs- Ecclesiastes and Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth] - in a way Aristotle was right.

One of his key contributions was the Syllogism- you start with a Logical argument- you engage in Deductive reasoning- and come to a Conclusion.

A famous example would be ‘All men are mortal- Plato is a man- Plato is mortal’.

Aristotle did not believe that something comes from nothing- a phrase that will come up a lot as we progress in this study is ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’- meaning Nothing comes from Nothing.

He was also what we refer to as a Teleolologist- he believed that there was design and purpose in the created order of things.

He saw design in the universe- world.

Many today embrace an idea that there is no purpose or design- that the design we see in the material world is by accident- and furthermore some say all that we see- CAME FROM NOTHING.

I can’t stress enough that this is simply not possible- I don’t say this from the Christian view point alone- but from a scientific one.

Science deals with the observation and testing of things- we look into the material world and come to certain conclusions based on what we see- observe.

One of the most fundamental observations that science SEES- is what I quoted above- NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING.

That is- every effect has a cause.

This is important for our day- because many have capitulated to the view that all things CAME FROM CHANCE.

Not only is this statement illogical [chance is simply a word- this statement ascribes Ontological status to a word- which is impossible].

But it is scientifically not true.

Why?

Because science shows us that things do not ‘pop into existence’ without a cause- from nothing.

True science in no way contradicts belief in God- no- it backs it up.

Aristotle- as well as most of the great thinkers we shall cover- came to the conclusion that there had to be some immaterial thing [being] that was the cause of all other things.

Now- why did he argue for a PRIME MOVER?

Because he believed that the universe was eternal- if there ever came a time when science showed us that the universe had a beginning point- then the argument would be over.

The Theists [those that believe in God] would win.

Sure enough- in the 20th century that’s exactly what happened.

Today Physics teaches us that time- space- matter did indeed have a beginning point- what we refer to as the Big Bang Theory.

If the early thinkers had this knowledge- then the argument for a Prime Mover would be moot- because instead we would have a Prime Starter- see?

Aristotle is credited with writing the second greatest work on Ethics from the ancient period- called Ethics [the first one being Plato’s Republic].

He wrote on political theory- believed that Aristocracy [rule by the excellent] was the best form of government [sort of like Socrates Philosopher Kings].

Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great. [overblog- see the rest here- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/24/alien-life-north-bergen/ ]

It has been said that this was the most expensive scientific enterprise up to the day of the modern space program.

He taught that the intellectual virtues can be taught directly- but the moral ones HAD TO BE LIVED FIRST.

The bible says ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom’.

I agree.

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

Proverbs 3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop

[parts]

Alexander sought to implement the ideals of his teacher- he wanted to unify the known world under one people/culture- a belief that Aristotle held- a sort of ‘unified theory’ [Einstein] that would seek to bring all learning/knowledge together under one supreme [Divine] principle.

Alexander died young and his kingdom was divided between 4 generals- one of them- Ptolemy- would himself make it into the history books because of his keen intellect.

The system of cosmology developed under him would last [and work!] until some 17-18 hundred years later when it was overthrown by the Copernican revolution during the time of Copernicus and Galileo.

Alexander established a great library in the Egyptian city of Alexandria [named after him] and many of the great writings were preserved during this time.

Bible scholars till this day study the Greek language to find the truest meaning of the actual words in the bible [I have a Greek Lexicon sitting right in front of me].

It would take a few centuries before a Latin version appeared on the scene [the great church father- Jerome- would produce the Latin Vulgate].

The Jews had various responses to the empires that ruled over them during various times.

Alexander the Great instituted Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered.

They could keep their religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule.

Some Jewish people rejected any compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community.

This was a few centuries before the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the 20th century.

A Bedouin boy was looking for his goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found the scrolls.

The scrolls might have been hidden there by the Essenes-

Now- when my friends asked me about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this- but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we had had all along.

[parts]

THE CREED

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/12-3-15-the-creed.zip

https://youtu.be/1-fcoGwgO10 [The creed]

ON VIDEO-

.Liberal arts

.Cathedral

.Charlemagne

.Holy Roman Empire

.Feudalism

.University

.Notre Dame

.Bill O’reilly got it wrong!

NEW STUFF- In this ‘new stuff’ section I’m trying to cover short snippets of things I mention of the videos that I never wrote about before.

So- Liberal Arts?

In the Middle Ages the church took up the slack after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West [5th century].

Over time the Cathedral churches became places where people would be able to obtain an education.

The Cathedral churches /cities [Like Corpus Christi] were the main hub for the outlying Parish churches.

Eventually they made education available to not only the clergy- but to other interested students.

In the early days of the Roman Empire- this type of education was only available to ‘Free Men’.

So- the term Liberal comes from the Latin ‘Liberales’- or ‘Free Men’.

There were 7 ‘arts’ or general fields of study-

1 Math

2 Geometry

3 Astronomy

4 Music

5 Logic

6 Rhetoric

7 Latin

In today’s world- when you study for a general education- we call that ‘Liberal Arts’- as opposed to what a person majors in- a specific field.

Got it?

PAST POSTS [verses below]-

HEBREWS- 2015- VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED

HEBREWS 1-3 The next few weeks I’ll be teaching from an old commentary I wrote a few years back [2007-8]- The notes at the bottom of the chapters- and post- are new [as well as the videos].

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/4-12-15-hebrews-1-3.zip

NEW NOTE- In the study of the bible- there are debates about who wrote the letters of the New Testament.

In the field of higher criticism- it gets a bit silly at times.

I just finished an on line course from a respected scholar out of Yale university.

He taught from the higher criticism perspective- I enjoyed the course- though I did not agree with lots of his conclusions.

At one point he questioned whether Paul wrote the middle chapter of one of the letters attributed to Paul.

Yet he did believe the first- and last chapters were by Paul.

For the most part- we believe that the letters in the bible- that say in them ‘written by Paul’ are from Paul [or Peter, James, Etc.].

But- Hebrews leaves the authors name out- so some debate who wrote it.

Tertullian- an early church father [2/3rd century] attributed it to Barnabus- Paul’s companion that we read about in the book of Acts-

For about 1500 years- till the time of the Reformation- most Christian scholars attributed it to Paul.

Hebrews is written in a high form of Greek [which is another way we determine who wrote the letters- tough this is not always accurate.

Many say John the apostle did not write Revelation- because the form of Greek used is much lower than the other writings of John- yet- there is internal witness that John [the apostle] wrote it.

In John’s writings [gospel- 1st, 2nd and 3rd John] he speaks about Jesus as the Word [Logos] and this theme is seen in Revelation too].

So- while we don’t know for sure- I personally stick with the authorship of Paul the apostle.

INTRODUCTION:

CHAPTER 1:

NEW NOTES AT END OF CHAPTER-

LOGOS.

SEATED.

NEW NOTES- 4-2015

LOGOS.

We see God having created all things thru Christ ‘the express image of his person- by whom also he made the worlds’.

Jesus is called the WORD of God in scripture- the Greek word- for ‘word’ is Logos.

We read in the bible that God made all things- but also that Christ made all things-

Is this a contradiction?

No-

For the first 3-4 centuries of Christianity- as you study the early church councils-

The early church struggled over how to view the relationships between God and Jesus

These debates raged- and at times each side viewed the other as Heretics.

I think it was a mistake to be so quick to judge those as heretics- who were having difficulty in expressing in finite words- the great mystery of God and Christ.

In Genesis we read that God spoke all things into existence- so- here we see God’s Word- Logos [Christ] as being the instrumental cause of creation.

In John chapter one we read that Jesus was the Word- in the beginning- who was with God- and was God.

I’ll try and simplify it [not an easy task to say the least].

God- who is Spirit- spoke- and this expression of God- his Word- is also referred to as Christ-

Christ/Jesus is the Word of God made flesh- and it is thru his humanity [incarnation] that we do indeed see God in ‘the flesh’-

Yes- by Him- all things were made.

SEATED.

We see a theme in chapter 1- that will run thru the whole letter-

HE SAT DOWN- In Hebrews we are seeing the superiority of the New Covenant over the old- and there will be many comparisons to show how the Old Covenant- priests- sacrifices- the law itself- was less than what we get in the New Covenant-

And the reality that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God- shows us that he was the last- and

[parts]

(999)1ST CORINTHIANS 13:1 ‘THOUGH I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN AND OF ANGELS, AND HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM BECOME AS SOUNDING BRASS OR A TINKLING SYMBOL’ Over the years I have seen how the church can ‘have a voice-make noise’ without actually effecting change. Last night I watched some Martin Luther King stuff. Without ‘sucking up for political purposes’ I must admit that Martin is at the top of my list of personal heroes. Martin spoke with a revolutionary purpose in mind, he was not ‘delivering sermons’. One time I spoke at a friends church, I only spoke for around 15 minutes [much like my radio show] and the pastor said ‘no wonder John doesn’t have a church/ preach regularly, you have to at least speak for 45 minutes’ [something like that]. Though after the message I had good comments from the people, the sincere pastor felt like we didn’t ‘put the time in’ in order to fulfill the Sunday morning practice of ‘church’. Were did we get our modern sermon from? [The actual format]. If you go to Bible College you can take a course called ‘homiletics’ this course will teach you the structure of speaking and putting a message together. If you study Greek rhetoric you will find that this science existed in the Greek intellectual world before Christians embraced it [the actual format and structure taught in homiletics comes right out of the Greek system of rhetoric, to the tee!]. I find it funny how many modern pastors seem to measure a persons degree of ‘being scriptural’ by this measuring rod. ‘Well brother, didn’t they preach in scripture’ you bet they did. We see Jesus reading from the scroll in the synagogue. Paul and Peter were master ‘preachers’ if you will [though Paul himself was no ‘golden tongue’] basically the biblical concept of preaching/teaching was more of a spontaneous thing. It’s certainly not wrong to borrow the sermon from the Greeks [which we did do] but we don’t want to fall into some mindset that sees modern ministry [pastoral] as being a professional

[parts]

HEBREWS- 2015- VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED

HEBREWS 1-3 The next few weeks I’ll be teaching from an old commentary I wrote a few years back [2007-8]- The notes at the bottom of the chapters- and post- are new [as well as the videos].

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/4-12-15-hebrews-1-3.zip

NEW NOTE- In the study of the bible- there are debates about who wrote the letters of the New Testament.

[parts]

VERSES- here are the verses I taught or quoted on today’s post- ACTS 24

18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,

19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.

21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.

23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

Mark 12

Acts 24:1 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.

Acts 24:2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,

Acts 24:3 We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.

Acts 24:4 Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.

Acts 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:

Acts 24:6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.

Acts 24:7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,

Acts 24:8 Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him.

Acts 24:9 And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so.

Acts 24:10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:

Acts 24:11 Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.

Acts 24:12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city:

Acts 24:13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.

Acts 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:

Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.

Acts 24:17 Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.

Acts 24:18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.

Acts 24:19 Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me.

Acts 24:20 Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council,

Acts 24:21 Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.

Acts 24:22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.

Acts 24:23 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.

Acts 24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

Acts 24:26 He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.

Acts 24:27 But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.

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#bible #religion #philosophy #history

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