Today's verses are John 15:18-20:
"'If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."
The ESV Study Bible has this to say on these verses:
"15:19 therefore the world hates you. Christians should not be surprised that unbelievers in the world hate them. It follows a pattern seen in the world since Cain murdered Abel (see Gen. 4:8, Heb 11:4; 1 John 3:12), and it is seen in the world's reactions to Christ himself (see John 15:18)."
In the main service at church today, the pastor talked about how the prophet Hosea was the last prophet to prophesy in Israel before the Assyrian takeover, and how Hosea proclaimed God's message of a "total recall" of Israel. That is to say, God intended to punish Israel because they "...no faithfulness ...no steadfast love [and] ...no knowledge [of God]." In the High School service today, which I paid much better attention to that last week, the youth pastor there talked about importance and method of evangelism, and our motivation and duty to do engage in it. There was a hand out, and in it we were given a list of categories of unbelievers (e.g., family, school, neighborhood, etc.) who I know, and wrote down names on that list (you people know who you are, ha ha ha). I forgot to meet with the church librarian about a position in the church library, but she said in an email that I could meet with her next week. After that, I went home and ate lunch, after which I went to the Wendt's house and had a little tea party with the rest of the Bible Quiz Team. I know tea parties are supposed to be kind of a girls' thing, and I was one of only two guys there, but hey, I was invited and I like tea, so don't judge me. Anyhow, I chatted with Mr. Wendt about my writing, and he gave me some very enlightening advice to me concerning a story of mine which involves the country of Somalia. Very complicated stuff, which has led me to be open to the possibility of making that particular installment of The Ultras a sort of political satire. Of what, well, you'll just have to wait until the graphic novel comes out.
At the end of the tea, scones, and Yorkshire Pudding part (I helped make the scones by pealing the grapefruit skin shavings), we played the game Apples to Apples, of which I won the descriptor card "Fat & Sassy." I had to go before we could finish the game, however. My mom and I then went to the store buy most of the stuff we need for the Memorial Day dinner/barbeque we're holding tomorrow. A lot of our family will be coming over, though not all of our family, as we don't want to overwhelm poor mummy. I'll also be going to see Iron Man 3 at the theater tomorrow for the morning matinee, with my dad, my sister, and possibly my good friend Nick Towne. I think it will be a very awesome movie. No spoilers, please!
I would also like to take the time to announce a new feature on my blog: Ask Levi! For those of you who are familiar with my Facebook-based vlog series, Ask Levi! is a feature where you ask questions and I answer any that I darn well please. Questions are asked via the comments section, meaning you have to post your questions by posting it a comment below. You can ask questions on everything from religion and philosophy to technology of any type, cats and dogs and other animals, comic books, movies, television, video games, heck, food even, and just about anything under my area of expertise, which is just about everything. I will not answer questions that any fool (no offense) can look up on Google, such as what the circumference of a circle is, or how to properly use the word "whom." Questions that are harder to answer, which require deep research, these I would love to answer, such as what is the difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism, or if Batman is effective as he could be. So, post them below, and if you don't, I'll be forced to either make up my own questions, which would be dishonest, or discontinue the feature before it even starts. So please, ask away!
Also, Geek Pride Day was yesterday, not today, as I originally thought, so I only celebrated that blessed holiday by working yesterday. Oh well, Happy birthday, Peter Cushing (he's the guy who played Grand Moff Tarkin, though he's been dead for 19 years now), and happy 30th anniversary, Star Wars Episode V1: Return of the Jedi!
Also, I would like to wish everybody a blessed Memorial Day weekend. I wore a suit to church to commemorate the occasion, a black tie event if I ever saw one. I will post a more detailed entry on Memorial Day tomorrow evening. In the meantime, I hope everybody has a blessed, fun memorial day weekend.
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