I recently heard a very good talk on the issue of the trinity and I had some thoughts I wished to share but didn't wish to raise at the talk/church bible study because it might appear argumentative. I want to know if I'm on the right track .. and to be oriented better if I'm not .. so please, I delight in being wrong, it teaches me. My name is David Ball and I attend the JFC at Cabramatta and Pastor DD is a friend of mine.
My first blush reaction to the academic argument regarding John's Gospel is to throw up my hands and say it isn't that hard. Putting words into the writer’s mouth is not befitting of the learner, but instructor. In many ways, the gospels are only a reflection of how they are read and it is dangerous to overstate what is apparent, just as it is a delight to know my Lord by what he shows of himself with his word. I want to know more, but I don't want to try hard to know it. But I know I must persevere. Many things are discovered and only by discussing them are they remembered, and if we don't, then, we risk missing out with faulty tools.
My second thought is to do with biblical construction. It was written, but the writers were aware of earlier writings. So in Exodus we see Zipporah and Moses and the importance of circumcision. But the event, although described, is not described perfectly well for those who weren't there. I believe that later old testament writers were frustrated by the opaqueness of the text, and took steps to be more explicit. So we see Ezekiel disputing with God how he will cook his food.
New testament writers were also aware of the need for transparency, and clearly wrote as plainly as they could, not being raised in academic traditions generally, except for Paul, and a few others. I get the impression that people like John wrote his gospel as he spoke aloud, probably having discussed the issues many times and sermonised many times before writing it many years later. And so I feel that his words are both deliberate and accidental, related to customary usage mixing with unusual ideas the language had not developed to support.
I don't see the testimony as being sufficient to know all of God, but an imperfect reflection allowing us to walk with Him and learn from Him. But John knew Jesus and faithfully shared what he knew.
The distinctions drawn regarding omniscience, omnipotence, etc seem to me to be imposed constructions related to Greek learning and relevant to things like Physics, but not relevant to understanding God. The Bible, seems to me, to be much easier to read without the imposition of such terms. I have no doubt that Trinity, composed of the five points .. There is only one God. God the father. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. and that other one I forgot to note, is the case. But is it really such a stumbling block to understanding the text?
https://rumble.com/vaj1nd-unanswered-letter-to-a-pastor.html
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
In Tanami’s red sands where spinifex grows,
Where waterholes gleam ‘neath the sun’s golden glare,
Lived Yaparla, sweet maid, with a heart pure as snow,
Her kindness a light in the desert so bare.
Her father, a wise man, kept songs for the land,
To guard the soak’s waters where life held its sway.
But drought gripped the earth with a merciless hand,
And he sought a new spring to ease their dismay.
Deep in a gorge where the rocks hid the sky,
He found a clear pool with fish dancing free.
But a voice shook the stones with a thunderous cry,
“Who steals my sweet water without leave of me?”
Out slid the Wanyarra, half-man, half a snake,
His scales flashed like opals, his eyes cold with pain.
“For your kin’s life,” he hissed, “one price I must take—
Send Yaparla to me, or your land drinks no rain.”
The father returned, his heart heavy with woe,
And told his dear daughter the serpent’s demand.
“I’ll go,” said Yaparla, her voice soft and low,
“For my people, my country, I’ll walk that red sand.”
She came to the gorge with her digging stick strong,
Singing songs of her kin ‘neath ...
AI adapted
To adapt the story of Bambi to the Dreamtime of Warlpiri culture in the Tanami Desert, we’ll reimagine the tale with respect for Warlpiri storytelling traditions, cosmology, and the desert environment. The Dreamtime (Jukurrpa) is a sacred framework where ancestral beings shape the land, law, and life, so Bambi’s journey will reflect Warlpiri values like kinship, connection to country, and survival in harmony with nature. I’ll keep the essence of Bambi—a young creature’s growth amid loss and discovery—while grounding it in the Tanami’s ecology and Warlpiri worldview. Since Bambi is a specific narrative, I’ll translate its core themes rather than reproduce the original text verbatim, ensuring cultural sensitivity. The story will be concise yet vivid, as requested.
Bambi in the Jukurrpa of the Tanami
In the Jukurrpa, when the Tanami Desert glowed under the first stars, the ancestral beings shaped the land. From the spinifex and red sand, they formed Jampijinpa, a young red ...
Folk Song: "The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald"
Verse 1
Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald, a man they did frame,
The deep state and CIA, they tarnished his name.
They said he went to Mexico, a lie they did spin,
While he fought for his service, his honor within.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 2
On that dark day in Dallas, they said he shot Tippit,
Left a wallet behind, but the tale didn’t fit.
Arrested with his own in hand, the proof was right there,
But the deep state kept spinnin’ their web of despair.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 3
They trained him in Russian, sent him off to the East,
A ...