Breaking Bread

     Last night while doing my bible reading for school, I came across something I had never realized before that seemed so significant to me that I hadn't remembered being taught. (The Bible is always revealing new things every time you open it). The revelation I'm going to talk about in the first part of this post comes at the end of Luke, after Jesus is resurrected and appears to his apostles. Here's the verse.
          While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. 

   Sorry that the verse is so long, but I think it's so significant to have all the context. So in this verse we see that after Jesus is resurrected he appears to his disciples, and at first they don't recognize him. They're eyes are opened at the end of the passage after Jesus breaks bread. Jesus could of revealed himself to the disciples in all sorts of different ways, or just revealed himself to them right away. But he didn't, he actually used breaking of bread. This shows the importance that Jesus puts on the covenant meal. We should do it more than just at church meetings, but in our homes at restaurants, as an intimate thing between believers.

Harry Potter and The Bible

         What a weird name to name a blogpost, but there's a reason for it. As I've studied biblical principles I've noticed the similarities between Harry Potter, and The Bible.

         Prophecy:  There's a prophecy of the birth of Jesus and of Harry Potter. I am by know means saying Harry Potter is like Jesus, because of course Harry Potter isn't the son of God. I'm just saying they're are prophecies over their lives before they are born. The prophecy in Harry Potter is given by Professor Trelawney. So she can be seen as a prophet.  The prophecy in Harry Potter talks about how a boy will be born at the end of July that will defeat Voldemort (The devil?) The prophecies of Jesus, told where he would be born and to whom, and his coming to the world to be the messiah.

          The Demonic:  Just as there is an army that are servants to the devil, there seem to be demonic type characters in Harry Potter as well. The Death Eaters. The Death Eaters are servants of Voldemort who is portrayed as they're leader (the devil).
         
           Warfare: They're is a constant fight in the world between good and evil. Known for Christians as spiritual warfare. We have to go through all these tough things meant to make us turn away from our faith. Just like in Harry Potter where the students of Hogwarts are at constant war with Voldemort and when he'll attack next.
             
            The Final Fight (Revelation): In the last book of Harry Potter there seems to be a revelation type fight between the army of Voldemort, and the army of Harry Potter.  The army of Harry Potter will ultimately win, like Jesus's army in Revelation. Before the final fight, the people on Harry's side trained to improve their magic skills. Where as Christians train themselves in discipline and knowledge, and righteousness for the coming final days when Jesus will walk the Earth again.

              Sacrifice and Ressurection: In the last book of Harry Potter while this final fight is going on, Harry Potter decides to sacrifice himself, and let Voldemort kill him as a means to save his people. This can be paralleled to the crucifixion of Jesus, except in Jesus's case he was not killed by Satan but by people. Just as  Jesus was resurrected, so was Harry Potter. Not by the Holy Spirit however, but by a stone. After Jesus died evil things could not win, after Harry Potter died Voldemort was destroyed. Jesus dying did not destroy Satan.
                                

A Short Revelation

      Today as I was picking out what clothes to wear for the day, I came across a shirt with a saying I used to believe. But now troubled my heart.  On the front of the shirt it says "Create", and on the back it says: "Today I create a life of my choosing".
         A person might believe this phrase if they are not born-again, but once you get born-again you realize how false this statement actually is. The truth is once your born-again you realize that your life is not your own. God creates our world and our life. This may seem controlling, but the reality is he actually creates a world for us so much bigger and better than we can ever imagine.  Our worlds without him fall into despair. Before the creation of the world he had preplanned what the purpose of my life would be, and what great things I would accomplish here on Earth. We can rebel against him, or be obedient to his call on our lives. If I created my life the way I wanted it to be, it would take away all the creativeness of God. God has a better life planned for us, it would be stupid to follow what we think would be perfect., because our perfect and God's perfect are on totally different scales.
           It's so funny how God talks to us, even on things as simple as a shirt in our drawer.