Urrrrrr... brains...

I just saw the movie "Resident Evil" this past night with the guys from Bible study. It was aight, not that bad and not too great... the experience was sorta akin to eating generic potato chips. Plenty of zombie blasting action, I noticed the Special Forces team carried mostly H&K guns - MP5k submachine guns and G36 rifles. That makes it the second movie I've seen this past week with the G36k - "Equilibrium" had it too. Not a very common rifle to see in movies, at least compared to the good 'ol AK-47, M16, or M4. A picture of it:



Simo remarked how frightening it was I knew so much about the guns just by looking at them. Heh heh.

In any case, tonight's Bible study was a short devotional on "spiritual gifts". For those unfamiliar with Christian doctrine, "spiritual gifts" are special talents/abilities that a person gains the moment they become a Christian. These gifts are given by for the sole purpose of ministering to others, caring for their emotional & spiritual needs, and glorifying God. So while they can encompass natural talents, spiritual gifts can also exist outside the realm of natural talent.

The guys and I had some interesting discussions about the various kinds of gifts, but we had a pretty lengthy discussion on the more "controversial" ones - things like speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, and miracles - and whether or not these gifts are given to believers in this day and age. It's a hard thing to judge.

It occurred to me today that the modern world has raised a population of skeptical people, myself included. Our idealism often is superseded by our suspicion of anybody claiming supernatural authority or power. Just think of Jesus Christ was born first in this time, rather than in Imperial Rome... I doubt people would accept him now any more than he was accepted back then. He'd be out and about, preaching, ministering to the needy... and I'm sure we'd be out there booing him, calling him a fake and a charlatan, searching for scientific explanations for anything miraculous he might perform. In short, Jesus would probably get dismissed just like we would dissmiss Madam Cleo. People have no faith.

I wonder sometimes if I would have the faith in him myself if I saw Jesus in person, healing and speaking to the poor and have-nots - all while being scorned by greater society and being told by everyone around me that he's just a pretender, a fake. It's a humbling thing to contemplate, but it's something every person who claims to believe in Christ should have in the back of their minds, to measure their faith and consider in wonder that despite every doubt, God has still given humanity the capacity to believe, have faith, and hope.

As a end note, the inventory test my group took gave me high scores in the spiritual gifts of pastorship, discernment, teaching, servanthood, and leadership. Funny, I don't feel much like a leader. =P

Random:

Song of the moment is "Lost Cause" by Beck. More mournful sounds of an acoustic guitar for me, at times a human lost cause.
posted by G at 3:15 AM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33