A soldier was asked to report to headquarters for assignment. The sergeant said, "We have a critical shortage of typists. I'll give you a little test. Type this," he ordered, giving him a pamphlet to copy and a sheet of paper, and pointing to a desk across the room that held a typewriter and an adding machine.
The soldier, quite reluctant to become a clerk typist, made a point of typing very slowly, and saw to it that his work contained as many errors as possible. The sergeant gave the typed copy only a brief glance. "That's fine," he said. "Report for work at 8 tomorrow."
"But aren't you going to check the test?" the prospective clerk asked. The sergeant grinned.
"You passed the test," he replied, "when you sat down at the typewriter instead of at the adding machine."
5/17/2009
That's just the beginning of this study
The best part is yet to come: how this feast relates to our Saviour! The whole reason to keep the feast is to honour Him, to bring to rememberance His life, death, and resurrection, of which the first feast was a symbol. I know that topics like this are not just said without someone denouncing the subject, the speaker, or, ultimately, the God to Whom these laws belong. I have faith that the way I believe reflects the truth, but I also attend on His guidance. If He says differently, I listen, and prove the saying by His already manifest Word. In the next post, I will show scriptures and thoughts on these subjects:
- The two feasts of Passover/Unleavened Bread attended by Yahshua after His baptism, with His miracles and events during that time
- New Testament occurence before His crucifixion, washing of feet and communion
- My belief that communion replaces lamb & herbs eaten
- Prophecies & statements about Yahshua being the Passover and the Lamb
- Timing of the Crucifixion, during the feast days and sabbaths
- Yahshua's death and resurrection brings about a new covenant with Israel
- Leavening compared to sin and pride
- The two feasts of Passover/Unleavened Bread attended by Yahshua after His baptism, with His miracles and events during that time
- New Testament occurence before His crucifixion, washing of feet and communion
- My belief that communion replaces lamb & herbs eaten
- Prophecies & statements about Yahshua being the Passover and the Lamb
- Timing of the Crucifixion, during the feast days and sabbaths
- Yahshua's death and resurrection brings about a new covenant with Israel
- Leavening compared to sin and pride
Inspiration
Every once in a while, I read a book on cooking, usually salvaged from a pile that Mother brings home from the library. As I flip through the pages, looking at gleaming dishes and strange ingredients lists, the stark fact that I can't cook like those chefs makes me sad. That kind of a book usually gives me an inspiration to make every meal a masterpiece, something that is quite out of my reach. The same goes for books on gardening, decorating, painting, entertaining and sewing, as well as a lot of cds - it is too hard to reproduce the ideas of those masters. Although, sometimes I can play a piece and make an imitation of a great song. There are some musical geniuses that play so well and different and odd and beautiful that I think, okay, just enjoy and admire, because you can't reproduce that sound.
Back to cooking. Now, understand that I can cook. Some of the things that I fix taste very good. I can bake quite tasty biscuits. A much older friend said that when he first courted his then future wife, he made sure to find out if she made great biscuits. After tasting them, he knew that she would be a good wife, and they've been married over fifty years. Isn't that lovely? So I learned how to make biscuits, for that reason. The cooks that I like are Rocco, Jamie Oliver, Sue Gregg, and now, Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Her book is the first that I've found to have ingredients that are available anywhere and recipes that look easy, and that I would want to make. Usually I scan everything and end up in the cake section, because I like baking.
My favorite food is bread. I like all kinds of bread, but especially french bread with butter and garlic salt. The best meal, for me, is a baked potato with chili, cheese and sour cream. I used to say steak, but those vary in taste so much. I like cheese, (peeled) grapes, carrots with ranch, and chocolate mint cookies. I like juice in those tiny cardboard kiddie boxes too.
Now, I should say that food isn't everything. Our total focus shouldn't be food. However, food is naturally a big part of everyone's life, and for someone that makes the meals, it can be very boring without a little inspiration. Since I've stopped watching tv, I've been cooking more. And maybe some of the Contessa's recipes will appear in our kitchen soon.
Back to cooking. Now, understand that I can cook. Some of the things that I fix taste very good. I can bake quite tasty biscuits. A much older friend said that when he first courted his then future wife, he made sure to find out if she made great biscuits. After tasting them, he knew that she would be a good wife, and they've been married over fifty years. Isn't that lovely? So I learned how to make biscuits, for that reason. The cooks that I like are Rocco, Jamie Oliver, Sue Gregg, and now, Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Her book is the first that I've found to have ingredients that are available anywhere and recipes that look easy, and that I would want to make. Usually I scan everything and end up in the cake section, because I like baking.
My favorite food is bread. I like all kinds of bread, but especially french bread with butter and garlic salt. The best meal, for me, is a baked potato with chili, cheese and sour cream. I used to say steak, but those vary in taste so much. I like cheese, (peeled) grapes, carrots with ranch, and chocolate mint cookies. I like juice in those tiny cardboard kiddie boxes too.
Now, I should say that food isn't everything. Our total focus shouldn't be food. However, food is naturally a big part of everyone's life, and for someone that makes the meals, it can be very boring without a little inspiration. Since I've stopped watching tv, I've been cooking more. And maybe some of the Contessa's recipes will appear in our kitchen soon.
5/14/2009
One day, a painter found himself short of help and went to the unemployment office to hire someone for the day.
When he arrived, they didn’t have any painters available, but they did have a gynecologist there. He reluctantly took him along to help.
A couple of weeks later, the painter returned to the unemployment office needing temporary help again. This time there were two painters, but instead he asked for the gynecologist again.
The clerk asked, "Why do you want a gynecologist when we have two professional painters you can take right now?"
He said, "Two weeks ago when I hired the gynecologist, we arrived at the house and it was locked with nobody home. But I’ll be damned if that gynecologist didn’t stick his hand through the mail slot and paint the whole house!!"
When he arrived, they didn’t have any painters available, but they did have a gynecologist there. He reluctantly took him along to help.
A couple of weeks later, the painter returned to the unemployment office needing temporary help again. This time there were two painters, but instead he asked for the gynecologist again.
The clerk asked, "Why do you want a gynecologist when we have two professional painters you can take right now?"
He said, "Two weeks ago when I hired the gynecologist, we arrived at the house and it was locked with nobody home. But I’ll be damned if that gynecologist didn’t stick his hand through the mail slot and paint the whole house!!"
5/05/2009
Reclaiming Childhood: freedom and play in an age of fear
At last, a book that challenges the culture of risk aversion that is having such a suffocating effect on children's lives.
Drawing on her experiences as a free-ranging child in Norway, as a primary school teacher in Manchester and her research as a developmental psychologist, Guldberg provides a well-argued and spirited challenge to the "institutional suspicion and state-authorised scare mongering" that has fostered a climate of mistrust around contemporary parenting.
Guldberg is particularly critical of the anti-bullying crusade that she says exaggerates both the scale and the consequences of bullying, leading to increasingly intrusive adult and professional intervention in children's activities. As a result, children's free play is curtailed and their scope for independently and informally developed personal resilience and social skills is restricted.
Refusing to join the chorus of parenting blame, Guldberg instead points the finger at "government-driven and mediafuelled campaigns" around issues such as childhood obesity, mental ill-health and child abuse for provoking anxieties and fostering mistrust. Rather than encouraging children to regard strangers as a source of danger, she argues "let strangers be friends". Taken together with her radical proposals to let "parents be parents" and "teachers be teachers", this points the way forward to create a greater freedom for our children.
You can buy this book here
Drawing on her experiences as a free-ranging child in Norway, as a primary school teacher in Manchester and her research as a developmental psychologist, Guldberg provides a well-argued and spirited challenge to the "institutional suspicion and state-authorised scare mongering" that has fostered a climate of mistrust around contemporary parenting.
Guldberg is particularly critical of the anti-bullying crusade that she says exaggerates both the scale and the consequences of bullying, leading to increasingly intrusive adult and professional intervention in children's activities. As a result, children's free play is curtailed and their scope for independently and informally developed personal resilience and social skills is restricted.
Refusing to join the chorus of parenting blame, Guldberg instead points the finger at "government-driven and mediafuelled campaigns" around issues such as childhood obesity, mental ill-health and child abuse for provoking anxieties and fostering mistrust. Rather than encouraging children to regard strangers as a source of danger, she argues "let strangers be friends". Taken together with her radical proposals to let "parents be parents" and "teachers be teachers", this points the way forward to create a greater freedom for our children.
You can buy this book here
4/09/2009
Philosophy
A long while ago, I studied philosophy. That means the different eras of thought, individuals and their followers, and traces of their ideas in modern culture. Also very interesting to me was the history of ideas, which means that an idea, such as the equality of all mankind, has certain ramifications through subsequent generations. Specifically, I read a lot about Nietzsche in relation to the German nation in the twentieth century, bits about Socrates and then got into a book called Modern European Thought by Frank Bauman. It is an overview of major streams of philosophy, with more attention on French thought, as I remember, Voltaire and such. I wrote down one interesting bit, perennial questions. These are questions that all civilizations ask in all ages, but answer in different ways, of course.
1. God
Does God exist? How do we know that He exists? And if He exists, what are His attributes? In particular, how does He relate to man?
2. Nature
What is the order of creation? How are we to function within it?
3. Man
What is man? What is his nature?
4. Society
How should society, which is a community of men, be conceived? Is it fundamentally alterable or unalterable?
5. History
How significant is the past? Does history move in any visible direction? Does it have a design, as subject to a law, to be moving toward a goal? What are its chief driving forces, free will or fate?
The answers to these questions form a person's view toward his surroundings and himself. They can also be answers that will steer a nation. I find society very complex. How do men relate to each other? How can they function in harmony in a group, with their different opinions? How can they create harmony, to lead them into the future with prosperity? I just thought all of you might like to think about your own answers.
Philosophy is very intriguing to me. It explores our thoughts, and the deep, deep issues of the meaning of life, and how best to live. It deals with the abstract many times, the things that we can't see, the energy behind all life.
1. God
Does God exist? How do we know that He exists? And if He exists, what are His attributes? In particular, how does He relate to man?
2. Nature
What is the order of creation? How are we to function within it?
3. Man
What is man? What is his nature?
4. Society
How should society, which is a community of men, be conceived? Is it fundamentally alterable or unalterable?
5. History
How significant is the past? Does history move in any visible direction? Does it have a design, as subject to a law, to be moving toward a goal? What are its chief driving forces, free will or fate?
The answers to these questions form a person's view toward his surroundings and himself. They can also be answers that will steer a nation. I find society very complex. How do men relate to each other? How can they function in harmony in a group, with their different opinions? How can they create harmony, to lead them into the future with prosperity? I just thought all of you might like to think about your own answers.
Philosophy is very intriguing to me. It explores our thoughts, and the deep, deep issues of the meaning of life, and how best to live. It deals with the abstract many times, the things that we can't see, the energy behind all life.
3/27/2009
Passover and Unleavened Bread
This is the time of year that brings about a remembering of events that are very important, both Biblically, and to me personally. As the rest of the Christian world celebrates Easter, I choose to commemorate the events of history that occured during this time with an observance of Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread. In order to present my beliefs to all of you in a clear way, I did a bit of study this week, searching out the Scriptures and testing my own practices against their teaching. There is certainly a wealth of knowledge to be found in His Word! I got very excited about re-discovering the facts on this feast, and how it was and is a symbol of the earthly death and resurrection of our blessed Saviour, Yahshua.
First Old Testament Observance
In Exodus 12, the account of the first Passover, held by Moses and the Israelites in Egypt.
Exodus 12:1-30 - And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
The second Passover and Unleavened Bread feast celebrated is in this Scripture:
Numbers 9:1-5
There are several other mentions of Old Testament observance of Passover and Unleavened Bread, Joshua 5, II Kings 23, II Chronicles 30, II Chronicles 35 and Ezra 6.
Law
Here are the portions of law that command the keeping of the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and how it is to be kept. I believe that all statutes, that is, the how, why, when, when, where and who laws, the descriptive laws, fall under one of the ten commandments. The feasts would pertain to the law about the Sabbath day.
Exodus 20:8-11 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Here is a statute:
Exodus 12:43-49 - And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Leviticus 23 details all of the feasts, starting with the weekly sabbath, and continuing down into the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast. This is the reason why I think the feasts are grouped with the Sabbaths. Also, there is some confusion about whether Passover is considered the first day of Unleavened Bread, thus differing between having the feast is seven or eight days; the confusion is because of an unclarity in the New Testament. This next passage says to celebrate Passover on the fourteen day of the first month, with Unleavened Bread beginning on the fifteenth day, which says to me that we should celebrate Passover as a day, then the feast as seven days, which, put together, makes eight days total.
Leviticus 23:1 - And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
There's also a description of the law of this feast in Deuteronomy 16:1-8, and it says this as well:
Deuteronomy 16:5, 6 - Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
One more telling of the law: Ezekiel 45:21-24.
First Old Testament Observance
In Exodus 12, the account of the first Passover, held by Moses and the Israelites in Egypt.
Exodus 12:1-30 - And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
The second Passover and Unleavened Bread feast celebrated is in this Scripture:
Numbers 9:1-5
There are several other mentions of Old Testament observance of Passover and Unleavened Bread, Joshua 5, II Kings 23, II Chronicles 30, II Chronicles 35 and Ezra 6.
Law
Here are the portions of law that command the keeping of the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and how it is to be kept. I believe that all statutes, that is, the how, why, when, when, where and who laws, the descriptive laws, fall under one of the ten commandments. The feasts would pertain to the law about the Sabbath day.
Exodus 20:8-11 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Here is a statute:
Exodus 12:43-49 - And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Leviticus 23 details all of the feasts, starting with the weekly sabbath, and continuing down into the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast. This is the reason why I think the feasts are grouped with the Sabbaths. Also, there is some confusion about whether Passover is considered the first day of Unleavened Bread, thus differing between having the feast is seven or eight days; the confusion is because of an unclarity in the New Testament. This next passage says to celebrate Passover on the fourteen day of the first month, with Unleavened Bread beginning on the fifteenth day, which says to me that we should celebrate Passover as a day, then the feast as seven days, which, put together, makes eight days total.
Leviticus 23:1 - And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
There's also a description of the law of this feast in Deuteronomy 16:1-8, and it says this as well:
Deuteronomy 16:5, 6 - Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
One more telling of the law: Ezekiel 45:21-24.
3/13/2009
Deeply Profound thoughts of Men
Two men are out just fishing quietly and drinking beer.
Almost silently, so as not to scare the fish, Bob says, 'I think I'm gonna divorce my wife. Shehasn't spoken to me in over 2 months.'
Earl continues slowly sipping his beer then thoughtfully says,
'You better think it over, Bob. Women like that are hard to find.'
Almost silently, so as not to scare the fish, Bob says, 'I think I'm gonna divorce my wife. Shehasn't spoken to me in over 2 months.'
Earl continues slowly sipping his beer then thoughtfully says,
'You better think it over, Bob. Women like that are hard to find.'
3/12/2009
It'll take a dose of political Viagra to put COAG on the right track
WOULD you like to earn a lazy $2.4billion? That's a year. It's Kevin Rudd's latest get-rich-quick scheme. On second thoughts, hold the quick part. And, unfortunately, it would have to be shared with 22 million other Australians. Still, in these straitened times, why look a gift horse in themouth?
After his latest meeting with premiers and chief ministers last week, the Prime Minister announced another breakthrough in his project to fix the federation. The breakthroughs at the Council of Australian Governments came so thick and fast that this one barely rated a mention in the media. Rudd and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the meeting had agreed to ``historic'' reforms to streamline transport regulations that ``have the potential to boost national income by as much as $2.4bn a year''. There would be a single national regulator for trucks, covering areas such as inspection standards, safe driving hours, weight limits and registration.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority would become the national regulator of all commercial vessels operating in Australian waters, not just those that travel between states, as now. And there would be a national rail safety system.
What good ideas. Trucks have been travelling interstate for many years but still have to comply with all sorts of different rules when they cross borders. Trains don't stop at state borders either, at least not since the extension of the standard gauge, but nevertheless Australia has seven rail safety regulators and three rail safety investigators. Considering the US, with 50 states, has had one body responsible for rail safety since 1932 and there has been a European rail authority to harmonise the regulations of 23 countries since 2004, such a reform in Australia is, in the words of Rudd and Albanese, long overdue.
The cost of the tonnes of red tape, the duplication and the conflicting rules covering not only transport but scores of other areas add up to multiples of the $2.4bn on offer in transport. Clearing these thickets can provide a significant boost to productivity. According to Business Council of Australia president Greig Gailey, the progress COAG makes over the next 18 months in implementing such long-term reforms will determine Australia's prosperity for the next decade.
But before we get carried away with the euphoria, it pays to apply a reality check. Heads of government like to have so-called announceables following COAG meetings, but experience suggests these announcements should not always be taken at face value. The first niggling doubt emerges with a short sentence at the end of the Rudd-Albanese statement: ``It is proposed that all reforms will be fully implemented by 2013.'' That suggests there are just a few wrinkles to be ironed out. More than a few, as it turns out.
What the COAG meeting actually achieved on rail safety last week was to put the reforms into reverse, with the potential, believe it or not, for Australia to end up with more safety regulators than it has now.
A meeting of commonwealth and state transport ministers in May signed off on a single national rail safety regulator to ``provide a one-stop shop for all those operating in and on our rail networks'', as the statement issued at the time said. Victoria subsequently had second thoughts when the state's transport bureaucrats raised concerns. Did Victoria really want a national body determining safety issues on Melbourne's trams and trains? What if that resulted in a demand that Victoria spend billions of dollars on its rail systems to comply with national rules?
The advisers were persuasive enough for Premier John Brumby to take the objections first to a meeting with his state and territory counterparts, and then to COAG last week. Instead of telling Brumby where to get off, Rudd meekly went along. As a result -- and contrary to the misleading Rudd-Albanese announcement -- COAG failed to agree on a single national regulator. In the words of the detail buried deep in the COAG communique, there will be ``further consideration of the scope and form of the regulator following receipt of advice at the end of 2009 from the standing committee on transport on specific safety requirements within jurisdictions, especially in relation to urban systems and the interface with interstate and freight operations''. You can bet the Victorian bureaucrats had a celebratory cappuccino after that one.
In plain English, what the communique means is that the Victorians want their own regulator for metropolitan rail. The other states may start thinking what's good for Victoria will do them nicely, as well. As Bryan Nye, chief executive of the industry body the Australasian Rail Association, puts it, under the Victorian proposals ``we will end up with a bigger mess than we have now''. Take a freight train carrying grain from rural Victoria to Geelong. Part of its journey is on the Melbourne metropolitan network, where it could come under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan regulator as well as the national one. ``Sheer madness,'' Nye says.
Still, nothing much surprises Nye and others in the rail industry. Administration of the railways is a metaphor for everything that is wrong with the Australian federation. The reforms on rail safety are as blindingly obvious as a uniform rail gauge, but that doesn't stop them being next to impossible to achieve.
Federal and state governments reached agreement as long ago as 1996 on the need for ``a cost-effective, nationally consistent approach to railway safety''. In 1999, an independent review commissioned by governments recommended a single national rail safety regulator, a finding since echoed by the Productivity Commission and the National Transport Commission. In 2006, COAG identified as one of six hot spots warranting priority action the harmonisation of rail and road regulation, including safety. All governments are supposed to have passed national rail safety legislation two years ago but most missed the deadline and Tasmania and the Northern Territory have not yet gotten around to introducing their bills. The acts that have passed all include variations from the national model. For example, NSW decided it would require two drivers on interstate freight trains, meaning that an extra driver has to be sent to Victoria or South Australia to get on board before trains cross into NSW. It would be funny if it weren't so serious.
Fixing the federation is one of Rudd's professed priorities and he calls COAG ``the workhorse of the nation''. There has indeed been progress but it has been more in the process than in terms of achievements. As public servants present and former from Rudd down will tell you, the right structure has to be put in place and it is the result that matters.
But in some areas, such as managing the Murray-Darling Basin, time is running out and the delays are causing real harm. There has been no end to the benchmarks and goals and interim targets for tackling everything from indigenous disadvantage and homelessness to standardising business reporting, but precious little yet in real resources on the ground.
In transport, agreement on a single regulator for trucks is significant, as are new heavy vehicle user charges. But like many other issues, including uniform national occupational health and safety laws for businesses operating across state boundaries, the timetable has slipped. The operation of the new arrangements is often years away and compromises have cast doubt on the eventual result.
What COAG needs is a good dose of political Viagra. If that doesn't work, Rudd should drop the nice guy approach and flex some of the commonwealth's muscle. If Victoria is so keen on fencing off its metropolitan rail system from big bad government in Canberra, then Rudd may like to suggest that it do without the commonwealth funding as well, including the $3.2bn being kicked in for a new express line from Werribee to the city. Then we would quickly find out states' rights, too, have their limits. buy sildenafil online hawaii
After his latest meeting with premiers and chief ministers last week, the Prime Minister announced another breakthrough in his project to fix the federation. The breakthroughs at the Council of Australian Governments came so thick and fast that this one barely rated a mention in the media. Rudd and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the meeting had agreed to ``historic'' reforms to streamline transport regulations that ``have the potential to boost national income by as much as $2.4bn a year''. There would be a single national regulator for trucks, covering areas such as inspection standards, safe driving hours, weight limits and registration.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority would become the national regulator of all commercial vessels operating in Australian waters, not just those that travel between states, as now. And there would be a national rail safety system.
What good ideas. Trucks have been travelling interstate for many years but still have to comply with all sorts of different rules when they cross borders. Trains don't stop at state borders either, at least not since the extension of the standard gauge, but nevertheless Australia has seven rail safety regulators and three rail safety investigators. Considering the US, with 50 states, has had one body responsible for rail safety since 1932 and there has been a European rail authority to harmonise the regulations of 23 countries since 2004, such a reform in Australia is, in the words of Rudd and Albanese, long overdue.
The cost of the tonnes of red tape, the duplication and the conflicting rules covering not only transport but scores of other areas add up to multiples of the $2.4bn on offer in transport. Clearing these thickets can provide a significant boost to productivity. According to Business Council of Australia president Greig Gailey, the progress COAG makes over the next 18 months in implementing such long-term reforms will determine Australia's prosperity for the next decade.
But before we get carried away with the euphoria, it pays to apply a reality check. Heads of government like to have so-called announceables following COAG meetings, but experience suggests these announcements should not always be taken at face value. The first niggling doubt emerges with a short sentence at the end of the Rudd-Albanese statement: ``It is proposed that all reforms will be fully implemented by 2013.'' That suggests there are just a few wrinkles to be ironed out. More than a few, as it turns out.
What the COAG meeting actually achieved on rail safety last week was to put the reforms into reverse, with the potential, believe it or not, for Australia to end up with more safety regulators than it has now.
A meeting of commonwealth and state transport ministers in May signed off on a single national rail safety regulator to ``provide a one-stop shop for all those operating in and on our rail networks'', as the statement issued at the time said. Victoria subsequently had second thoughts when the state's transport bureaucrats raised concerns. Did Victoria really want a national body determining safety issues on Melbourne's trams and trains? What if that resulted in a demand that Victoria spend billions of dollars on its rail systems to comply with national rules?
The advisers were persuasive enough for Premier John Brumby to take the objections first to a meeting with his state and territory counterparts, and then to COAG last week. Instead of telling Brumby where to get off, Rudd meekly went along. As a result -- and contrary to the misleading Rudd-Albanese announcement -- COAG failed to agree on a single national regulator. In the words of the detail buried deep in the COAG communique, there will be ``further consideration of the scope and form of the regulator following receipt of advice at the end of 2009 from the standing committee on transport on specific safety requirements within jurisdictions, especially in relation to urban systems and the interface with interstate and freight operations''. You can bet the Victorian bureaucrats had a celebratory cappuccino after that one.
In plain English, what the communique means is that the Victorians want their own regulator for metropolitan rail. The other states may start thinking what's good for Victoria will do them nicely, as well. As Bryan Nye, chief executive of the industry body the Australasian Rail Association, puts it, under the Victorian proposals ``we will end up with a bigger mess than we have now''. Take a freight train carrying grain from rural Victoria to Geelong. Part of its journey is on the Melbourne metropolitan network, where it could come under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan regulator as well as the national one. ``Sheer madness,'' Nye says.
Still, nothing much surprises Nye and others in the rail industry. Administration of the railways is a metaphor for everything that is wrong with the Australian federation. The reforms on rail safety are as blindingly obvious as a uniform rail gauge, but that doesn't stop them being next to impossible to achieve.
Federal and state governments reached agreement as long ago as 1996 on the need for ``a cost-effective, nationally consistent approach to railway safety''. In 1999, an independent review commissioned by governments recommended a single national rail safety regulator, a finding since echoed by the Productivity Commission and the National Transport Commission. In 2006, COAG identified as one of six hot spots warranting priority action the harmonisation of rail and road regulation, including safety. All governments are supposed to have passed national rail safety legislation two years ago but most missed the deadline and Tasmania and the Northern Territory have not yet gotten around to introducing their bills. The acts that have passed all include variations from the national model. For example, NSW decided it would require two drivers on interstate freight trains, meaning that an extra driver has to be sent to Victoria or South Australia to get on board before trains cross into NSW. It would be funny if it weren't so serious.
Fixing the federation is one of Rudd's professed priorities and he calls COAG ``the workhorse of the nation''. There has indeed been progress but it has been more in the process than in terms of achievements. As public servants present and former from Rudd down will tell you, the right structure has to be put in place and it is the result that matters.
But in some areas, such as managing the Murray-Darling Basin, time is running out and the delays are causing real harm. There has been no end to the benchmarks and goals and interim targets for tackling everything from indigenous disadvantage and homelessness to standardising business reporting, but precious little yet in real resources on the ground.
In transport, agreement on a single regulator for trucks is significant, as are new heavy vehicle user charges. But like many other issues, including uniform national occupational health and safety laws for businesses operating across state boundaries, the timetable has slipped. The operation of the new arrangements is often years away and compromises have cast doubt on the eventual result.
What COAG needs is a good dose of political Viagra. If that doesn't work, Rudd should drop the nice guy approach and flex some of the commonwealth's muscle. If Victoria is so keen on fencing off its metropolitan rail system from big bad government in Canberra, then Rudd may like to suggest that it do without the commonwealth funding as well, including the $3.2bn being kicked in for a new express line from Werribee to the city. Then we would quickly find out states' rights, too, have their limits. buy sildenafil online hawaii
2/26/2009
secret to a long life
A man once counselled his son that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his cornflakes every morning.
The son did this religiously, and he lived to the age of 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and a 15 foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
The son did this religiously, and he lived to the age of 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and a 15 foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
1/13/2009
speaking to the burglar
A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before.
"You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant.
"No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"
"You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant.
"No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"
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