Bad Things Archives - Page 2 of 4

6 Lessons From The Life Of Moses

November 9, 2015 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Moses Breaks
All The Molds

Additional articles you may find interesting:
4 Lessons From Moses’ First Forty Years
13 Thoughts From Moses’ Second Forty Years
25 Observations From Moses’ Last Forty Years

Moses is the guy that intrigues us all but I don’t know of anyone who wants to trade places with him. King David, yes, but not Moses.

Moses accomplished more in his life than any other Bible figure and he wore many pairs of shoes in the process: statesman, historian, judge, commander, prophet, author, teacher, and intercessor, but that doesn’t make him appealing.

Interesting, maybe, but not appealing.

I’ve never aspired to lead a nation, and can’t understand why anyone would, but Moses didn’t just lead a nation. He did something much more complicated. He built one.

People who read Moses respond in two ways. They love God or accuse Him. Let’s talk about it.

Three Stages In Moses Life Each Lasting 40 Years

The life of Moses is divided into three stages that make it easy to analyze.

Infant To Adulthood (Pharaoh’s house)
Exile in Midian
Exodus to Canaan

Significant events in the first two stages shaped Moses in ways that prepared him for God’s ultimate purpose. The high points are:

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Stage One:

Spared from destruction as an infant.
Adopted into Pharaoh’s house and enjoyed the privileges of a family member.
Tradition (Josephus) says he successfully led military campaigns.

Stage Two:

At the age of 40 he makes an unsuccessful attempt at alleviating the suffering of his people, the Israelites.
Rejected by the Israelites and threatened by Pharaoh, he escapes to Midian.
In Midian, he meets Jethro and marries one of his daughters, Zipporah, with whom he has two sons.
Becomes a shepherd.
Called by God out of the burning bush.

Stage Three:

Returns to Egypt.
Meets with Israelite leaders.
Confronts Pharaoh.
Leads Israel out of Egypt, eventually arriving at Canaan.

Observations: [Read more…] about 6 Lessons From The Life Of Moses

3 Reasons Christian Living Is Not Ideal

September 30, 2015 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Consequences For Christians
Are Opportunities To Grow

Let’s start with a question. What do Christians talk about most, when they discuss their spiritual lives?

It’s a good question, and I have no hard evidence to prove my answer, but the conversations I’ve witnessed firsthand are a bit introspective, revolving mostly around personal issues like:

Am I a Christian?
How can I know I really did what is necessary to become a Christian?
How can I be sure that I’m still a Christian now?

And so on.

The focus is inward, not outward or onward. It’s the proverbial all-about-me, in-the-moment mindset.

The Philippian jailer expressed it well:

What must I do to be saved (become a Christian)? (Acts 16:30)

He, of course, had a very good reason for asking the question. But as far as we know, he never asked again. He didn’t repeatedly harangue Paul for reassurance.

Today things are different. People often ask over and over and over again, “how can I be saved” or “Am I really saved” or “How can I really be sure?” The question is overworked. [Read more…] about 3 Reasons Christian Living Is Not Ideal

6 Things Parents Learn From Kids

June 17, 2015 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

First Step: Get over your highfalutin self

Everyone Learns
Everyone Teaches

The fact that kids learn from parents is so apparent it smacks you in the face.

Kids start out as bundles of curiosity and parents are walking talking versions of Google. Kids learn. Parents teach.

What we don’t readily see, or wish to admit, is that parents can also learn from kids, and that shouldn’t sound strange. The adage “Never stop learning” applies to every person – including parents – and every relationship – including kids.

I’ve provided a sufficient number of lessons here (6) to establish the learning-in-reverse point. There could be more.

Before jumping into the lessons, there are three irrefutable facts that support the idea. [Read more…] about 6 Things Parents Learn From Kids

4 Reasons Never To Treat Children The Same

June 15, 2015 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Even if parents were perfect enough to treat each child the same, life wouldn't cooperate.

First Grade
Isn’t The Same
For Anyone

Some parents pride themselves on treating all their children exactly the same. They even say this out loud as if that is the most honorable thing a parent can do.

Unfortunately for them, even if it were possible, it wouldn’t be true.

I do agree that parents should attempt to treat their children equally: equal opportunity, equal resources, equal time but even that isn’t possible. First children get all the attention until more are added and every child after that must share.

There’s nothing equal about that.

For those who obstinately argue the equal-treatment point, the Bible doesn’t help their case.

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In fact, the Bible makes a few parenting statements that aren’t so easy to pin down. The meaning is clear but the applications are endless. They need qualification.

There is a reason for this. [Read more…] about 4 Reasons Never To Treat Children The Same

x.vindicosuite.com Is An Unwanted Redirect (Intrusion)

May 6, 2015 by EnnisP 5 Comments

A Quick Search
Revealed The Solution

I recently noticed some unusual click-thrus on my site, and being the curious person I am, I investigated further.

The clicks were actually a redirect, which means people were attempting to navigate to one page but instead being taken to a completely unexpected page, a page that had nothing to do with anything on my site: x.vindicosuite.com.

The last time I checked, that URL delivered a blank page.

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I did a search and found several posts explaining what was happening. It involved Sitemeter, a visitor tracking service for websites. Any site that had their code installed was vulnerable to the redirect.

The bad news is, even though Sitemeter was notified well over a year ago, they’ve done nothing about it.

I only discovered the problem in May 2015 so there is no telling how many visitors this glitch has run off. Frustrating! [Read more…] about x.vindicosuite.com Is An Unwanted Redirect (Intrusion)