You have entered Part III of III: Director's Cut Excerpts, for Part I of III click here.
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Magic Spells, Curses, and Incantations:
Part III: Director's Cut:
The Excerpts
--Sermon by Dr. Bob Benchoff, November 25, 2002
This sermon forming the third part of the Trilogy, brings the full usefulness to the preceeding sermons of the Trilogy.
Part I is evangelical.
Part II is teachers notes, as for University Professors to teach their classrooms full of students.
Part III is for the flock of long time experienced rooted believers grounded in the faith in Jesus Christ.
Part III is something that as not part of this Trilogy, the non-Christian might find too boring to consider (boring due to lack of glorifying the reader). As part of the Trilogy, they may find it opens their eyes to improved reasoning, and the Christian might find Part III with the commencement of transformation from relative to absolute as being too exciting in relative terms (particularly important for {all people} those who teach others at times throughout their lives) so that they give glory to God through rejoicing after having suffered the mesh of reasoning (including intramesh pitfalls) proffered in Part I and to a lesser degree in Part II.
To perfect glorifying God, the previous sentence is a very important reason one should not think to merely recant on their death bed.
Aside from semantics, Part II reveals the intentions of Part I, with two exceptions. The two special purpose exceptions were made to keep the professors interested.
By similar reasoning, references were also kept ambiguous.
And finally, the author appears in various persons for similar reasonings.
The details of the above are discussed below.
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The first special exception involves the section titled "The Wall". Part of that section mentions "plain". In Part II the desire is for glamour, while various Bible messages revere plain. Bible messages also respect righteousness, and hence there are differences of interpretation.
The Bible makes it clear that it is better to give someone a diamond necklace than a dented can with the label missing. So should the recipient also give away that necklace, and that recipient as well? Perish the thought.
Consider that people take photos, such as pictures of friends during a tour of where Jesus Christ walked. The while the photos are important to the people involved due to their [technical expertise in the field of study] having known about the situation and having been there, the photos are of more value to them than to certain other people who would ignore the photos, similar to falling on deaf ears; although of course, some strangers would find the photos very valuable.
Substituting "technical expertise" for love from Christ, with reviewing the photos representing the reminding to glorify Christ, the value of the photos to the pertinent party (parties) becomes clear. (Note: excessive emphasis on the photos rather than on love and glorification they represent, works to nullify value as graven imagery.)
So as the Bible teaches, don't cast your pearls before swine. The Bible also teaches to preach, and so we find another difference of interpretation.
If an ignorer is given info, they might sell the info or perhaps work to use the info against the provider (such as anti-spam efforts). The safeguard Christ provides is allowing them some of the strong delusion they seek, so the ignorer of Christianity might see the error of their ways and repent.
My point(s) about "plain" was already made, above. Nonetheless, I would also like to add a personal experience. When I was Secretary / Treasurer of Central Steele Creek Presbyterian Church School (K-12 plus advanced studies), before an advanced class started that I was teaching, one of the students brought-in a dress she had made, and showed the class. It was plain. It seemed intentionally made to be unattractive sexually, and looked altogether to be made uninteresting, although many people said they liked it. To me it looked hideous and I quietly felt sorrow for her husband beside her.
While her virtue is commendable, it is important to remember that if you make your children look dull, they might be treated as such; and if you show-up at a wedding or at a court of law and look out of place and gross, the usher or judge might throw you out.
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The second special exception involves the section titled "The Rulers". That section and other sections remind people of having to do what others in authority say, like it or not. Part II calls it "bad". Of course, from an absolutely holy perspective, it's all good for edification and nurturing in the Holy Word.
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The cryptic reference messages are from Nehemiah Chapters 12 and 13, with the King James Version referencing the book of Moses.
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Finally, it is hoped the readers will find great interest via personal empathy through these writings, helped by projected viewpoints with referrences to myself in the first person, second person, and third person, which seems fitting for a Trilogy.
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To visit the Internet Church of Christ founded by Dr. Bob Benchoff, click here.
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To visit the back page (List of Sermons, Page 2) of the Internet Church of Christ founded by Dr. Bob Benchoff, click here.
