The Fireside - All Topics

Today as I was reading Johann Gerhard's Sacred Meditations*, I found these great quotes, which just made my day. I'm sharing them here because I hope they will make yours too!

"Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven; blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity" (Ps xxxii I, 2). How can the Lord impute our iniquities to us after He hath once imputed them to another? For the sins of the people He hath smitten His dearly-beloved Son; therefore by His knowlege shall he justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities (Is. liii, 12)

Why then art thou disquieted, O my soul? Let the mercy of the Lord cheer thee! Let the divine justice encourage thee. For what if God is just? Yet He certainly will not demand a double satisfaction for the sins of a single person. He hath already smitten His Son for our sins, how can He then smite us His servants for the same sins? How can He inflict upon us the punishment which He hath already visited upon His Son for our Sins? The truth of the Lord endureth forever. (Ps. cxvii. 2)

*Sacred Meditations, by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, Second Printing September 2000, pg 56-58

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Let me briefly introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me well.

I am an RN and am currently working on various seasonal contracts with hospitals in three of the Four-Corners states, and I live in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I have done many other things in my life as well, from management and technical positions in IT, to flight paramedic and emergency room nursing, to ski patrol, forestry, and construction work.

Life may be short, but we do seem to have time to develop a vast range of experience if we so desire!

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by Rev. Richard A. Bolland

as published in the Pagosa Springs Sun

Understanding the Bible isn’t always very easy. Even St. Peter said of St. Paul’s letters, “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand...” (II Peter 3:16b) How, then, can we understand what God is saying? Here’s one help that can make a very big difference. All of Scripture is divided into either a message of God’s Law or His Gospel. If we do not properly distinguish between Law and Gospel, the reader will always view the message of the Scriptures as confusing or contradictory.

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by Rev. Richard A. Bolland

as published in the Pagosa Springs Sun

There are certain things that we Americans (and lots of others) really don’t like to hear. First, we don’t like to hear that we are sinners! We’d all like to think that we’re all pretty nice people who try their best to be good. But then there’s reality. Every last one of us is guilty of being thoughtless, hurtful with our words and often selfish in our actions. One of the things we need to understand about sin is that being a sinner is not a comparison game. We aren’t more or less sinful if we compare favorably or unfavorably with another person. In the Scriptures we are told that our problem with sin is directly connected to a violation of God’s holiness and will. So how much sin does it take to be less than holy? What’s even more disconcerting is that the Scriptures also tell us that being a sinner is more about who we are rather than what we do or fail to do. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah hit the nail on the head when he said, “We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...” (Is. 53:6) David, the great king of Israel, tells us plainly that we are conceived as sinful beings. (Ps. 51:5) So the Church has confessed over an over again that we are by our very nature sinful and unclean. Which means, of course, that we are completely unacceptable to God since He is utterly holy.

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Welcome to the Fireside, my new weblog. Thanks for visiting, and I look forward to your participation! Julie Martinez