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Jamaica Patois Wisdom #6 By Jefferson David Tant (The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of teaching there, I have come to appreciate some things about their culture. – Jefferson David Tant)
Patois:
Cockroach nuh business inna fowl fite It should be pretty obvious that if a cockroach gets mixed up in a fight between two roosters, they might lose interest in one another pretty quickly and pounce on the cockroach for a good snack. I have seen roosters sparring with one another, and have seen plenty of cockroaches in my life, but I don’t think I ever saw a cockroach join in. Perhaps they have better sense than that. I wish it were that way with humans, that they would exercise restraint and common sense before they get involved in the affairs of others. Peter gave some good counsel in I Peter 4:15: “For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters.” It is interesting to consider the “company” in which this meddler is cast—murderers, thieves and evildoers. Many of us tend to categorize sin. While we would not think of committing murder, or theft, or telling a “black lie,” we somehow rationalize “little white lies,” or gossip, or tale-bearing, etc. Have you ever noticed the particular wording in Revelation 21:8? “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." I believe there must be some significance in the words “all liars.” Obviously the abominable and murderers, etc. will be lost, but then the Holy Spirit didn’t have John write “liars,” but he said “all liars.” That should get our attention that there are no “little sins” that God will overlook or excuse. Solomon has a few words of wisdom about such things. “Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, But any fool will quarrel” (Prov. 20:3). “Like one who takes a dog by the ears Is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him” (26:17). Solomon warns about the dog because it can be dangerous. If you grab a snarling cur by the ears, he will snap at you and bite you. You’ve got your hands full, and can’t do anything else. If you turn him loose, then you may be in even more danger, because he can probably run faster than you can. And it wasn’t even your dog to start with! Neither was it your quarrel at the first. Paul’s word concerning a tendency among young widows has a universal application, for it is good for all of us. “At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention” (I Tim. 5:13). Too often we get caught in other people’s quarrels, then we take sides, then the matter blows up, and we are harmed. Paul told the Thessalonians “to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you” (I Thess. 4:11). & Are We Looking for Automatic Obedience? By Gary Henry “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’” ( Luke 9:23). IN OUR EFFORT TO LIVE IN CONSISTENT OBEDIENCE TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, WE SOMETIMES TRY TO MAKE IT EASIER THAN IT CAN EVER BE IN THIS LIFE. We suppose that there must exist some state of holiness where right conduct has become automatic. Yet no such state exists. As G. Campbell Morgan cleverly put it, “Holiness is not inability to sin, but ability not to sin.” Obedience is never anything less than a choice on our part, and we may as well face the fact that the choice will sometimes be very hard. There are certainly means by which we can minimize the number of hard moments that come our way. It would be foolish not to do all we can to establish godly habits and patterns of obedience in our lives. When we do this, we gain the advantage of a “momentum” that is going in the right direction. But there will be a certain number of hard moments that still have to be faced, and it’s precisely at these moments that we find out how much commitment to God we really have. If we only obey when the momentum is favorable, what kind of commitment is that? We shouldn’t be so foolish as to underestimate the devil’s diligence. If we ever did get to the point where we could turn back the common temptations with relative ease, our adversary would just up the ante and hit us with harder choices. Until we’re on the other side and out of his reach, the Evil One is not going to give up on us. It’s naive to look for some stage up ahead where saying “No” to him will have become so easy as to be automatic. Modern avionics are such that today’s aircraft will, for all practical purposes, fly themselves. In the spiritual realm, however, there is no such thing as an autopilot that will take the hard work out of decision-making. Obedience will always require moment-by-moment choices. Even those who live a long time and make much spiritual progress face this reality: there is never anything more than a decision standing between us and disobedience. “Jesus did not say, ‘Come to me and get it over with.’ He said, ‘If any man would come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.’ DAILY is the key word. Our commitment to Christ, however genuine and wholehearted it may be today, must be renewed tomorrow . . . and the day after that . . . and the day after that . . . until the path comes at last to the river” (Louis Cassels). – WordPoints.com & Commentary on the Book of Acts By Bob Myhan Chapter One, Part One 1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, The author is referring, of course, to the third gospel, which he addressed to the same individual (see Luke 1:1-4) 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, Luke’s former account ended with the ascension of Jesus back to heaven (see Luke 24:50-51). The commandments mentioned here is, collectively, the Great Commission. It was great in scope, in contrast to the Limited Commission (Matt. 10:5-6; 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-47); it was also great in regard to the nature of the promises attached to it, in contrast to the nature of the promises attached to the law which God gave to Israel through Moses (Ex. 19:1-6; Heb. 8:1-6). 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. These “infallible proofs” included but probably are not limited to, demonstrating an intimate knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures; showing them the wounds in His hands, feet and side; offering to let them touch Him; and eating in their midst (see Luke 24:37-45; John 20:19-27). In view of these demonstrations, it can hardly be suggested that they mistook someone else for Jesus. We also learn, here, that the time between His resurrection and ascension was forty days. Thus, not everything He said to them took place on the same day, as it might appear in Luke’s gospel. We also learn, here, that the main topic of discussion between Him and them was “the kingdom of God,” which was later the main sermon topic of the apostles and evangelists (see Acts 2:30-36; 8:12). Indeed, this was the main thrust of His teaching from the beginning of His earthly ministry (Matthew 4:17; 13:1-58; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; Luke 8:4-15), as it had been that of John the baptizer before Him (Matthew 3:1-2). This had also been a theme of the Old Testament prophets (see Daniel 2:44). 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; Over the forty-day period preceding this event, the apostles had been to Galilee and back (Matthew 28:10-16; John 21:1-14). But on this occasion, the apostles were not far from Jerusalem, where gospel preaching was to begin (Luke 24:46-49). This had been prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 2:1-3; Micah 4:1-2). The promise He here refers to is explained in the next verse. They had heard it from Him during His farewell discourse, recorded only by John (14:15-17, 25-26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15). 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." This shows that, in the farewell discourse, Jesus had reference to what had been promised by John the baptizer (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). John was not promising a twofold baptism (in both the Holy Spirit and fire) but two separate baptisms—one in the Holy Spirit and one in fire. In both Matthew and Luke, the promise of baptism in fire is both preceded and followed by statements wherein fire is used as a figure for judgment. Neither Mark nor John refers to the baptism in fire for neither refers to the statements of John relative to the judgment of God on those who do not “bear good fruit” (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9). These are so much “chaff;” they are worthless as far as the Lord is concerned, and destined to be burned (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17). Some of those in John’s audience were to be baptized in the Holy Spirit while others were to be baptized in fire. John was marking either the beginning and end of the kingdom age or the beginning and end of the period during which the kingdom would be established. If the former, it would culminate in the final judgment at the end of time. If the latter, it would terminate in the destruction of Jerusalem and Judaism, in AD 70. Inasmuch as Jesus, here, applies the promise of Holy Spirit baptism to the apostles and it is nowhere applied to anyone else, there is no reason for supposing that anyone living today should expect such a baptism. (To be continued) |