2) What is \u201cThe Septuagint\u201d? (Bill Crews)
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Kindness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
John Thompson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A commodity lacking in the world today is kindness. While it is impossible to prove that there is less kindness practiced now than previously, one must admit that we could use much more of it. A universal recognition of the need for more kindness is evident by the speed with which certain phrases have caught on and developed lives of their own. For example, in 1988 George W. Bush used the expression \u201ca kinder and gentler nation\u201d during his presidential campaign. Not long after, the phrase was seen throughout the world in advertisements and company slogans. It quickly became part of everyday speech. It caught on because kindness was more the exception than the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another expression, \u201crandom acts of kindness,\u201d has become so popular that it now refers to a social movement. It originated with the phrase \u201cpractice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty\u201d written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, California in 1982. The phrase, or some variation of it, soon began to appear on bumper stickers. In 1993 Herbert\u2019s book with the same title was published. In it she recounted stories of people who had either provided or received such kindness. This was her attempt to steer people away from what has been described as random violence and acts of senseless cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An internet search of \u201crandom acts of kindness\u201d shows how far the phrase has come. For instance, the website randomactsofkindness.org offers several options: one can become inspired by accessing the latest kindness ideas, quotes, videos and more; educators can download free K-8 kindness lesson plans and projects; one can take on a more direct role by becoming a Raktivist (a Random Acts of Kindness activist); and, of course one can sign up for the Kind blog. Too numerous to list are additional internet resources for those interested in learning more about kindness, how to employ it in their own lives, and how to encourage it in the lives of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The very definition of random acts of kindness exposes the belief that kindness is rare. \u201cA random act of kindness is a non-premeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world.\u201d Non-premeditated means that kindness happens as the result of a spur-of-the-moment thought rather than as the result of careful planning and intention. One acts kindly when the thought just pops into one\u2019s head, or when it seems like a good idea at the time. Inconsistent means that given the same or similar set of circumstances, there is no guarantee that one will act kindly the next time. Either way, non-premeditated or inconsistent, the implication is that kindness is not the norm, and when it happens it is such an unusual event that it ought to be publicized and honored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anne Herbert, were she still living, and all of her followers might be shocked to learn that she neither invented kindness nor began a movement to heighten people\u2019s awareness of it. Those honors belong to God. God is a kind and loving God. His kindness and love are so great and work so well together to the eternal benefit of mankind that they are frequently designated by one word in the Bible. The Psalmist said in Psalm 63:3, \u201cBecause Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.\u201d Just as God is love, so God is kind. Consequently, His kindness is as eternal as His love. It is not just kindness, but lovingkindness, kindness permeated with love; a kindness not given for God\u2019s benefit, but for man\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since man was created in the image of God, humans have a built-in capacity for kindness. God intended kindness to be man\u2019s way of life. There was no hint of unkindness between Adam and Eve in the garden until the serpent deceived Eve into sinning. Ever since, virtually everyone has believed, to some degree, the lie that unkindness has its proper place in human behavior. I don\u2019t believe there is anything about which humans are more ambivalent than they are about kindness. On the one hand we desperately long for more of it in the world, yet we do not want to give up the \u201cright\u201d to be just as unkind as we think we need to be at certain times. We fully subscribe to the principle of doing unto others what we want done to us yet seek revenge with great zeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kindness can indeed be abundant and universally practiced, not by going to a web site and signing up for access to a kindness blog, but by becoming well-schooled by the lessons on kindness contained in God\u2019s Word. The Law of Moses was so much more than a law of \u201ceye for eye and tooth for tooth.\u201d It was a law of fairness and kindness. Those who extended kindness expected kindness in return. Those in positions of authority were to be kind to those subject to them. In 1 Samuel 20 David fled from an enraged King Saul. The friendship of he and Jonathan is sorely tested at this time. David feared for his life from Saul, and Jonathan feared for his life should David become more powerful. He says to David, \u201cBut if my father intends to harm you, may the LORD deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father, But show me kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, unfailing kindness like the LORD\u2019s and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family\u2014not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David\u2019s enemies from the face of the earth.\u201d Kindness that is unfailing is constant and reliable, dependable, steadfast, steady, and sure, just like the Lord\u2019s. It is neither unpremeditated or inconsistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kindness is to permeate every action and thought of God\u2019s people from loving your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31), to loving your enemies and doing good to those who persecute you (Matthew 5:34-38); from looking to the interests of others and considering others better than yourself (Philippians 2:3-4), to living quietly minding your own affairs (1 Thessalonians 4:11). The last half of Ephesians 4 is a treatise on all of the evil things one lets go of by putting on a new life in Christ, things like falsehood, anger, violence, theft, corrupting talk, bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, and malice. The last verse of chapter 4 summarizes that new life by stating \u201cBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you\u201d (Ephesians 4:32). The world can use random acts of kindness, but what it really needs are more Christians who are kind like the Lord is kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Via University Heights Messenger<\/em>, June 24, 2018, Volume 10, Number 26 -2-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill Crews<\/p>\n\n\n\n The word \u201cSeptuagint\u201d is from a Greek word meaning \u201cseventy.\u201d It is sometimes referred to as the \u201cLXX,\u201d the Roman numerals that mean \u201cseventy.\u201d The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament books. It was made by a number of Jewish scholars (supposedly, seventy of them) in Alexandria, Egypt (a very Greek city founded by Alexander the Great, and in which many Jews lived). And it was made in the third century B.C. The arrangement of the Old Testament books in present-day translations, and even their titles, were influenced far more by the Septuagint translation than by the original Hebrew books as kept and arranged by the Jews. The words, \u201cGenesis,\u201d \u201cExodus,\u201d \u201cDeuteronomy,\u201d and \u201cEcclesiastes\u201d are from Greek, not Hebrew. New Testament quotations in the Greek are usually from the Septuagint translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Via The Roanridge Reader<\/em>, February 10, 2019, Volume 34, Issue 06, Page 03 \u201cIn this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another\u201d<\/em> (1 John 4:10-11, NASB). 1) Hear<\/strong> the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30-31). Tebeau Street \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations\u2026teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age\u201d (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013 Contents: 1) Kindness (John Thompson)2) What is \u201cThe Septuagint\u201d? (Bill Crews)\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013 -1- Kindness John Thompson A commodity lacking in the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions\/403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat is \u201cThe Septuagint\u201d?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2) Believe <\/strong>in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent <\/strong>of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith<\/strong> in Christ (Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized<\/strong> in water for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith<\/strong>, living for the Lord; for, if not, salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
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CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA\u00a0 31501
Sunday<\/strong> services:\u00a09:00 a.m. (Bible class); 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. (worship)
Wednesday:<\/strong>\u00a07 p.m. (Bible class)
evangelist\/editor:<\/strong>\u00a0Tom Edwards (912) 281-9917
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com<\/a>
http:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/go<\/a> (Older version of Gospel Observer website without pictures, but back to March 1990)
http:\/\/tebeaustreetchurchofchrist.org\/<\/a>
http:\/\/ThomasTEdwards.com\/audioser.html<\/a> (audio sermon)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"