Posted by Olive Baseball/Anon.II, et al on 6/22/2001, 3:12 pm

Email Story Posted by Olive Baseball on 4/6/2001, 6:33 pm Everything happens for a Reason..... In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while other can be mainstreamed into conventional schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son, Shay? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God's perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to this child." He then told the following story about his son Shay: One afternoon, Shay and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shay's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved up a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of Shay's teammates came up to Shay and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay and his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shay, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shay run home." Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team. "That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection." Funny how this is so true! Funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the world is going to hell. Funny how people can send a thousand 'jokes' through email and they spread like wildfire, but when one starts sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of morality is too often suppressed in school and the workplace. Funny how when you go to forward this message (if you choose to forward it), you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves. ____________________ Question: Is Jesus one being or two? Posted by Anon.II on 4/5/2001, 9:27 am ---------- Posted by Gordy on 4/5/2001, 9:02 pm , in reply to "Question: Is Jesus one being or two?" Dear Anon II: I believe he was/is one being that had/has the fulness of Yahweh's Spirit dwelling in him. I do not believe one can have fellowship with Yahweh except in and through Christ. In other words, he is the only portal to God and fully represents and manifests the nature of Yahweh that dwells in him, having been exhalted above all without limitation (except as qualified by 1 Cor 15:26-28). He was GIVEN all power in heaven and earth (he was found worthy and never failed) and is the ONE (and only) mediator between Yahweh and men. I don't buy a "dual nature" explanation to try and explain the "tough" verses. Christ had/has the nature of Yahweh but isn't Yahweh Himself. He partakes of the divine nature which is also promised to all that accept and follow him though he will always be in the highest position in the Kingdom of Yahweh. He was more than "just a man". He was/is Yahweh's Anointed One, trusted with all the power of Yahweh, exhalted far above everything in the creation of Yahweh. I tried to keep it simple and short :>) Gordy ---------- Posted by Steve B. on 4/6/2001, 6:59 pm , in reply to "Question: Is Jesus one being or two?" A2, I believe Jesus is one being. Following the scriptures, I believe this one being is the Son of God, the Word who was with God in the beginning, and who was God. I believe that he became flesh not primarily for our example (though he is that also) but for our salvation. Another way the scriptures put this is that Jesus, being in the form of God, submitted to being made in the likeness of man for our sake, suffering death and then rising again. Because I can see these things simply and clearly in the scriptures, I believe that trinitarian Christology is correct in saying that Jesus is one person with two natures. Sincerely, Steve Born Email: srborn@seanet.com Home page: http://www.seanet.com/~srborn/