Sunspots 642

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: (Sort of) SmokyMountans.com has a fall foliage prediction map, for the entire United States. As of September 1, there are only a few regions which are expected to have even minimal color, namely, a part of New England, some of the Rockies, and Michigan's northern Upper Peninsula, and Northern Minnesota.

Christianity: (or, at least, good behavior) A CNN crew stopped what they were doing to rescue some people during the Houston flood.

An article on burdens pastors face, and which they often can't tell anyone about.

Listverse has an article on the excruciating types of suffering induced by crucifixion.


Food: (and hurricanes) FEMA uses the Waffle House Index to measure the impact of large storms. How Waffle House (almost always) keeps open.

Health: Listverse suggests that 10 different types of parasite could be infected me (or you) right now.

Humor: (Or geography!) Relevant reports on a couple who have visited all 645 Cracker Barrel restaurants in the US.
 

Politics: Scientific American details how the Trump administration is acting in ways that damage our National Park System, and National Monuments.

A statement from a retired official of my own church, The Wesleyan Church, on ending DACA, in The Huffington Post.

Science: Listverse reports on 10 strange planets (all outside the solar system).

Wired reports that fire ants have been clumping together and floating around, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Scientific American on the same subject.

Listverse reports on strange caterpillars, including one that jumps (video included) and one with hair that looks like that of the current US President.

Scientific American on the many possible "sexes," that is, people with more or less sex chromosomes than most of us, or with various anatomical aberrations, such as indeterminate sex organs, and more.

Sports: (And Christianity) A Southern Baptist minister and denominational official, who is a football fan, warns that football can take the place of God, in Relevant.


Image source (public domain)

Good Friday poster

 

An attempt at a Good Friday poster.

Note that sin, with an enlarged "i", leads to death, and that despair obscures hope. The scriptural quotation is from the statement of the two disciples, on the road to Emmaus, to a stranger (who turned out to be the risen Jesus.) They said this on Easter evening, but they were still in a Good Friday mood when they said it:
Luke 24:20b the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21a But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel.

The background is from a photo of pollen, in a little puddle in a parking lot.

He is risen! Thanks for reading and looking. The poster is a link to the original, which is on my Flickr photostream, and may be used by anyone, provided the use is non-commercial.

Prophecies relating to Holy Week

Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength has posted a list, with references and quotes from the Bible for each, of all the fulfilled prophecies relating to Holy Week.

I thank her.

And Can it be, That I Should Gain

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain-
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father's throne above
So free, so infinite His grace-
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray-
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

-Charles Wesley, Public Domain,1738. The Cyberhymnal page for this hymn, with audio, is here.

Nailed to the Cross

There was One Who was willing to die in my stead,
That a soul so unworthy might live;
And the path to the cross He was willing to tread,
All the sins of my life to forgive.

Refrain: They are nailed to the cross,
They are nailed to the cross,
O how much He was willing to bear!
With what anguish and loss Jesus went to the cross!
But He carried my sins with Him there.

He is tender and loving and patient with me,
While He cleanses my heart of the dross;
But “there’s no condemnation”—I know I am free,
For my sins are all nailed to the cross.

Refrain

I will cling to my Savior and never depart—
I will joyfully journey each day,
With a song on my lips and a song in my heart,
That my sins have been taken away.

Refrain

-"Nailed to the Cross," Public Domain. Words by Carrie E. Breck, 1899. Nethymnal entry for this song, including audio, is here.

Christ, cursed by hanging on a tree.

Deuteronomy 21:22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (both passages ESV)

A couple of thoughts. The most important one is that Christ was cursed for me. (And you.)

The second is that Paul seems to have been a lot looser with his quotation of the Old Testament than I would have expected. (Perhaps the original language is such that his was a more accurate quote. Perhaps not. But I'm not Paul, and I should be more careful.)

I noticed this passage as a consequence of following the ESV on-line Bible reading for a day in April.

Thanks for reading!

The Physiology of Christ's suffering on the cross

I did a Google search for crucifixion physiology, and found a number of hits. Here are some of the results:
From an Azusa Pacific science professor. One page, with footnotes:
"The English language derives the word “excruciating” from crucifixion, acknowledging it as a form of slow, painful suffering."

Perhaps the most thorough treatment, from a physician, with footnotes.
"Dr. Barbet secured cadaver wrists to a wooden beam using spikes through the palms and found that the weight of a body when suspended from the cross would simply tear the spikes through the hands. If, however, the spikes were placed in the wrists, a body could be suspended successfully."

From a physician, a page, discussing Christ's last words, in conjunction with His suffering.
"Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have produced marked weakness and possible shock."

Another good page from a physician, with footnotes.
"Jesus did this for me! He hung on that cross, and went through all this heinous, physical agony of the worst and most intense pain ever devised as torture that a human could conceive and be subjected to. He did this all for me; He took my place; He endured, as an innocent Person, what I deserved as a sinner. He accomplished, by Grace, what I should have born myself." [emphasis added]


They don't agree on all points, but all of them are worth reading. I have included a quotation from each.

Christ suffered for us!

Thanks for reading.