...For Lack of Knowledge

[david]

Awesome stuff! God does not just watch over Christians, He watches over All, and in all. Some may not yet except this but ultimately all will.
The Great I Am that I Am, breathed His breath into everything, Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist, agnostic, black white yellow , red, and all creation vibrates with His energy.

We always think we have so much more to learn and that is why life is so hard at times. If you ever hold a newborn baby in your arms and look into that face you will see the Divine as clear as you can ever see it on the earth. We all started there...so I don't think it is so much about learning as it is remembering. We allow too many things cloud our memory of what we really are.

"All creation vibrates with His energy"

I want to remember. I think that is why I am taking this class. To remember what we really are.

Amazing post Mike.

[david]

As I reading what Aristotle wrote I was thinking that oh, you're almost there...you're getting closer...you're getting it then AAWWW, you missed it.

...

"for the complete good seems to be self-sufficient ..."
That is a very true statement, unless, it is referring to something such as happiness that is not complete. But, on the other hand, joy can be complete and is not based on circumstances. Knowing that joy can be complete, it is not complete in and of itself so is not worthy of pursuit.
What is worthy of pursuit is the source of joy. When that is done, joy and the happiness that goes along with it, is a byproduct of that pursuit.
What then is that source?
Jesus said in John 15:11, "I have told you this so that MY joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The joy I am talking about is there for the asking. If you pursue God, the source of all things good, you will get it.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Good hearing from you Twopipe. Thank you for this thoughtful post.

On one side, I agree with all your thoughts. I have heard people explain happiness from this perspective since childhood and have taught it to others as well.

I think Pegleg felt the same reservations with the word.

Something worth pointing out is happiness as used above is more closely translated as fullfilled.

And certainly, I can't argue the source of joy, and that He wants his joy to be in us.

I think that this is what Aristotle may have been trying to say. (Fullfillment/Joy).

First off, know that I posted only an excerpt of an excerpt that I read. He does mention in the peice I read the difficulties with defining happiness.

Words are troublesome. Even without trying to translate them from another language such as Greek.

A word spoken or written has one meaning to the speaker or writer and one meaning to the reader or listener. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for these two meanings to be exactly the same. Two people who grow up in the same environment at the same time might get the same meaning.

But two people growing up in vastly different times, cultures, languages, and separated by 2300 years or so are going to have some serious obstacles to communication.

To top that off, Aristotle did not have the revelation of Jesus to draw from, (except some have argued that he did).

But I think from the context and the other things he mentions such as honor, virtue, knowledge, etc, that he is getting at something more like the deep "joy" you describe, and not a fleeting feeling when things go well.

To illustrate the migration of meaning of a word like "happy", you can still find in Websters dictionary a synonym for happy: "gay"

And when I was a child, that is what gay meant: light hearted, care free, happy. So if you were reading something I wrote as a child saying I feel gay; you would read it today and say "hmmmm..."

And most words change meaning and pronounciation and spelling over the years and centuries.

So ultimately, I am wanting to understand the meaning in the minds of the founders as they wrote the words of our founding documents. Just because I want to encounter greatness and enlightenment in that way. But also so that I can recognize when folks intentionally or unintentionally mis-interpret it or change it.

In the excerpt of the Declaration of Independance that I posted, you find the word happiness twice.

I want to know what they meant by that word.
And so far, I have an idea they meant more than a fleeting feeling. I am thinking maybe it has more to do with an alignment with "the laws of nature and natures God".

[david]

Those of us who pursue God know He is no longer politically correct in America and the persecution of Christians has just begun.

All these new laws are aimed at making Christianity illegal. Christianity requires certain attitudes and speech and behavior. Some of these have very recently become illegal in the United States. And the government leaders have emboldened popular culture toward such things as making heroes out of those who would randomly kill a law man. Christians have gone to jail in the United States for excersising their faith. And law suits against faithful adherence to Christianity have been upheld by courts. It is already illegal to be a Christian. It is already unsafe to uphold the laws of nature and natures' God.

You are so right. It has just begun.

[david]

I guess my grandsons will get to hear their granddad preach because no matter what happens in the future i want them to be prepared for eternity .

So right. Me too.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, ON EARTH, as it is in heaven."

Eternity has begun.

The Declaration of Independance, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Federalist Papers, The United States of America, are all an inspired effort toward "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."

The mention of heaven in this prayer (Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.) to me seems to be only a point of reference for the type of kingdom we are praying for to come on earth. People have been praying for this for two thousand years.

America has always had problems, because it is made up of people, and people all are sinful. But this greatest nation and symbol of freedom could only have come about with God's help and in answer to prayers like the one Jesus taught us to pray. As we move away from God and his revealed will, we move away from His Kingdom come on earth.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14

[Mt. Dog]

Anybody looking for a devotional e-mail a couple days a week to gain a little knowledge go to www.GatherMinistries.com and find WiRE for men.
Thanks David, don't mean to hijack your stuff but found this is good devo for anyone.
Jim Mitzkus

[grouse]

Daniel 12:4 .