Domenic Marbaniang

"the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God." Rom.4:19 ~ Human government with its rules and regulations symbolizes humanity in a toddler age [quite freaky when govt attempts to act like a parent]. When the "sons" come to age, they do not live by the letter of the law but by the spirit. Children need codes of conduct, "sons" do not. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (8:14)

One man's terrorist is another's freedom-fighter, It's folly to think that sticks can beat out a raging fire- They only add ire to ire. One fights for honor, the other for his rights; Darkness has covered this city of 7 million lights, On the streets, cries and sighs!

Oh paradise! The world so far That sorrows here can't make it there; Whence wafts of joy we oft' await To lighten the load of daily pain. Oh death! The door of the near Opening up to freedom or fear. Some fall helplessly into hell's cries. Some are snatched away by paradise.

There are these 3 orientations of the self: Towards itself Towards others Towards God People usually have a mixture of these with one or two predominating the others. Romans 12:1-2 reminds that pleasing God can only be possible through a living sacrifice of the body and a transformation of the mind to be able to discern God's acceptable will. Galatians 1:10 challenges is to please God and not the world. Jung talked of the mass man who falls prey to the images of the collective consciousness (what the world is demanding as ideal) rather than listening to the collective unconscious (analogous to the Imago dei, the designer's blueprint within us). Conforming to the world is equal to being incapable of pleasing God as well as being untrue to oneself - inauthentic existence. Transformation requires letting the Spirit work in our innerman to transform the way we are thinking so that our minds become capable of right perception unclouded by and free of  the consciousness of the masse...

SCIENCE SELF Causality (determinant factors ) Self-determination ( freedom ) Essentiality (defining features ) Social disguise/identity ( façade/front ) Objectivity (definite facts ) Subjective dispositions ( feelings )

Accepting an anomaly into the grammar of social-culture might introduce meaning confusions and so humans naturally resist any disturbance of the prevailing system of meaning which is crucial for any proper communication/socialization to take place. That is an important factor why in traditional Asian societies like India, the transgender had to group away into a community of their own with their own socio-cultural grammar system that was different from the others. However, with the rise of liberalism, individualism, and postmodernism, systems of meaning are breaking down. Human consciousness identifies this as an omen of forthcoming rational catastrophe and would naturally attempt to forestall the same. Whether homosexuality should be criminalized or whether same-sex marriages should be allowed much depends on the ideological position of a government in the spectrum of Individualists Vs Collectivists. The individualists would regard sexuality as a private matter while the collectivis...

Principle of Invisible Action Jesus was asleep on a pillow and it felt and looked like he didn't care, but He is in control. Like the seed sown that grows regardless of human feeling or knowledge, the work of the Kingdom is independent of human cognizance. Sometimes, answer to prayer, miracl es don't seem happening. But, what seems to be the case is only a matter of sub jec tive perception. God knows what he is doing. Principle of Tangible Flow of Power The physical flow of power through CONTACT is evident in both OT and NT (Moses' rod, Elijah's mantle, Elisha's bones, Disciples' kerchiefs, oil...). Jesus perceived power leave His body. ... But it was faith that Healed her Principle of Order, Unity, and Seriousness God is not a God of confusion.

One’s lifetime is insufficient to capture in words the extent of the Spirit’s work towards the salvation of any individual. The Spirit was involved not only in the creation of the world (Gen.1:1,2; Psa.104:30) but also is involved in the creation of every human being that comes into the world (Psa.139:7,13-16). But, more importantly, it is through the Spirit that the believer is regenerated (born again) and becomes a new creation in Christ. “According to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit.3:5) Jesus said to Nicodemus, a Jewish teacher: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” As Nicodemus began wondering what “born again” meant, Jesus explained, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5, 6).  Jesus declared Himself to Nicodemus as the “He who ca...

There are some who are trying to contend that Pentecostalism is a mystical movement or tradition. I disagree with this notion. Pentecostals call themselves Pentecostals since they regard their experience as the same as the experience of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. It would certainly be amiss to label the apostles and the early Christians as mystics. The Pentecostal experience of Holy Spirit is considered as the truly New Testament normal Christian experience of a believer. Paul expected the Ephesian disciples to have this experience (Acts 19). While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to belie...

קֶרֶן • (kéren) and किरण(kiran) both mean "ray of light" נהר (nahar) and नहर (nahar) mean "river". Nahar also means river in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu (نهر) הֵיכַל (hekal) and هيكل (haikal) in Arabic mean temple. The word is used for temple in Hindustani literature. מֵאִירָה (Meira) means "illuminates" and मीरा (Meera) means prosperous

Contrary to the postmodern and deconstructionist skepticism regarding the possibility of encountering truth hermeneutically (which, as has been observed, is self-skeptical as well since deconstructionists need to use the medium of language whose efficiency they doubt), Jesus said "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." This might appear too simplistic an understanding of truth; nevertheless, it's undefeatable. Do the deconstructionists believe that they "know the truth and the truth has set them free"? Is it really the truth that they are believing in? 1. Arundhati Principle. (Arundhatīdarśananyāyaḥ (अरुन्धतीदर्शनन्यायः)) The proximate star (or landmark) principle. Arundhati ( Alcor ) is the smallest star in the Ursa Major, almost invisible. Someone who knows the star can help his friend see it by first pointing to the brightest star closest to Arundhati. Once the friend is able to see the brightest star, it becomes easier to then point to...

1 KINGS 13 gives us the narrative of a prophet whose prophecies were accompanied by signs and wonders. However, he was lured by another old prophet into doing what was forbidden to him. He was forbidden to eat and drink in that place. But, the old prophet said that the Lord had told him to feed him. The narrative describes the ensuing events that unraveled the error of the prophet lured by lies and his subsequent tragic death by a lion. The lion didn't eat him nor hurt his donkey. Interestingly, the old prophet who lured this young prophet seems to go unpunished. On the other hand, he wisely observes that the young prophet's prophecies will come true and instructs his sons to bury him when he dies along with the young prophet. Subsequently, when the prophecies did come true, and Josiah was turning over the tombs in Bethel, the old prophet's body was honorably left because it was placed together with the young prophet's body in his tomb. Seems shocking. But, the youn...

While the reasons behind religious conversions may be considered for any potential evidential value, the conversions themselves do not possess any intrinsic value apart from their rationale. Conversions may have various motivations. There might even be a mixture of various motivations behind them. Conversions prompted by lure or coerced by means of fear or force do not possess intrinsic value. Similarly, conversions backed by diplomatic motives are neither real. Real conversions are governed by strong epistemic values of justification. King Solomon's turning towards the religions of his non-Jewish wives by itself does not constitute an invalidation of his previous privileged claim of a personal visitation of the Lord in which he received the gift of wisdom. It does not prove that the religions that he turned to in his later years were superior or more advanced or similar to his previous faith. Similarly, King Saul's turn to spiritist involvement in the forbidden practice o...

An 1825 CE painting depicting Kabir weaving (Wikipedia) Rabbi Eliezar (around 100 AD) "If all the seas were of ink, And all ponds planted with reeds, If the sky and the earth were parchments And if all human beings practised the art of writing- They would not exhaust the Torah I have learned, Just as the Torah itself would not be diminished any more Than is the sea by the water removed By a paint brush dipped in it." [1] Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai (around 1050 AD) “Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made; Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, And ev’ry man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.” [2] Quran (632AD) And if whatever trees upon the earth were pens and the sea [was ink], replenished thereafter by seven [more] seas, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise. (Qura...

William Barclay, Gospel of Mark (1956) THE GREATEST GIFT ( Mark 12:41-44 ) 12:41-44 When Jesus had sat down opposite the treasury, he was watching how the crowd threw their money into the treasury, and many rich people threw in large sums. A poor widow woman came and threw in two mites which make up half a farthing. He called his disciples and said to them, "This is the truth I tell you--this poor widow woman has thrown in more than an the people who threw money into the treasury, for all of them threw their contributions in out of their abundance, but she out of her lack has thrown in everything that she had, all she had to live on."    Between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Women there was the Gate Beautiful. It may well be that Jesus had gone to sit quietly there after the argument and the tension of the Court of the Gentiles and the discussions in the cloisters. In the Court of the Women there were thirteen collecting boxes called "The Trumpe...

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Rev 13:15) One advantage of prophecy is that it can be verified in history. While the Genesis account of creation is disputed by many in the scientific community (with some theologians attempting to demythologize it), prophecy resists such attempts. Thus, the strongest of evidences for the Messiahship of Jesus did not come from science [it could not] nor from the miracles He did, but from the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies regarding Him. However, the sheer irony of all this is that while prophecy helps to unfold the meaning of events to the believer, the prophecy itself includes a clause regarding disbelief in the same (which also needs to be fulfilled). Thus, while many disciples were able to see the Messianic prophecies as fulfilled in Jesus, there were many others who could not s...

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The essential Christian ethic is love. The commands such as "Do not murder", "Do not bear false witness", and the like are by virtue of this essential principle. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the...

But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17) WHAT HER CHOICE WAS NOT 1. Her choice was not utilitarian. (Ruth 1:11-13. Noami makes it clear that following her would only mean their loss). 2. Her choice was not pragmatic. (She was not merely taking a risk to see if it works) 3. Her choice was not merely ethical. (She was not merely trying to fulfill an obligation to her mother-in-law; she had all right to be remarried. Even the New Testament would advise her to get married, 1 Timothy 5:14 - "I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.") 4. Her choice was not out of ext...

Revelation 7 curiously omits the name of Dan from the list of the tribes of the 144,000 witnesses. One wonders why this is so. Many hold that Dan was probably omitted because he represented full-fledged idolatry in Israel (Judges 18:30). Judges 17 and 18 tell the story of how the priesthood is commercialized and treated in a pagan utilitarian way by a family of Ephraim and a clan of Dan. Revelation 7 does not also mention Ephraim, though it mentions Manasseh and Joseph (the father of Ephraim and Manasseh). Both Ephraim and Dan were guilty of idolatrous worship throughout the Old Testament.  And the sons of Dan set up the engraved image. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set up Micah's engraved image for themselves, the image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. (Judges 18:30-31) And the king took counsel, and made two calves o...

Judges 21 recounts the story of how the children of Israel provided wives for the surviving Benjamite males. An important episode is the gathering of the entire assembly before the Lord at Mizpeh for worship, prayer, and communion. Since, by an act of vengeance, the whole tribe of Benjamin was destroyed except a few remaining, the Israelites felt it morally obligatory to ensure that the Benjamite tribe survived through posterity. However, they had made an oath saying, "There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife." Consequently, their obligation towards the oath clashed with their obligation towards Israel (that by doing the former, they risked losing one tribe of Israel). Therefore, they decided to first find a tribe that had not been represented at the assembly before the Lord at Mizpeh. They found that Jabeshgilead was not represented. For the Israelites, this was a capital crime. It was unforgivable to ignore the national assembly before the Lor...

SOCRATES: Let us not leave the argument unfinished, then; for there still remains to be considered an objection which may be raised about dreams and diseases, in particular about madness, and the various illusions of hearing and sight, or of other senses. For you know that in all these cases the esse-percipi theory appears to be unmistakably refuted, since in dreams and illusions we certainly have false perceptions; and far from saying that everything is which appears, we should rather say that nothing is which appears. THEAETETUS: Very true, Socrates. SOCRATES: But then, my boy, how can any one contend that knowledge is perception, or that to every man what appears is? THEAETETUS: I am afraid to say, Socrates, that I have nothing to answer, because you rebuked me just now for making this excuse; but I certainly cannot undertake to argue that madmen or dreamers think truly, when they imagine, some of them that they are gods, and others that they can fly, and are flying in their ...

Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5:18) What is Addiction? “Loss of control over drug use or the compulsive seeking and taking of drug despite adverse consequences.” “An inability to stop doing or using something, especially something harmful” Types of Addiction Substance Addiction (drugs, tobacco, alcohol, medicines, etc) Behavioral Addiction (gambling, food and eating, shopping, surfing (internet), watching T.V., foul language, sex, pornography, work, exercise, self-love (narcissism)) What Addiction Does Robs TIME Robs our TREASURES Ruins PHYSICAL HEALTH Ruins MENTAL HEALTH Ruins RELATIONSHIPS Rusts TALENT Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  (1Co 6:9-10) ...

The Nyaya Sutras was composed by Aksapada Gautama, probably in the 6th c. BC. Nyaya Sutra 1.6.32 states the parts ( avyava ) of a deduction ( nigmana ) in the aphorism: PratijnaHetUdaharanOpanayNigmanAanyavyavaha which unfolds as: 1. Pratijna - Claim or proposition (conjecture) that needs to be established (1.6.33) 2. Hetu - Reason (1.6.34) 3. Udaharana (Drstanta)- Empirical support (negative or positive case examples) (1.6.35,36) 4. Upanaya - Application (1.6.37) 5. Nigmana - Conclusion or deduction (restatement of claim) (1.6.38) Example: 1. Pratijna Claim: The hill (full of trees (wood)) is on fire 2. Hetu Reason: Because I see smoke over it. 3. Udaharana Example: On a hearth (burning wood), fire and smoke are always seen together; but, never in a lake (without wood). 4. Upanaya Application: The smoke on the hill is like the smoke on the hearth, not like vapor over a lake. 5. Nigmana Deduction: Therefore, the hill is on fire The Nyaya syllogism provides a relativ...