Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
PHall | August 27, 2012
From Revelation back to Genesis one recurring theme is that the “all-everything,” perfect God enters into partnerships with His imperfect creation. These partnerships are called covenants from a legal perspective, or more personally, fellowship. These partnerships have at least one commonality, that God does what human beings cannot, but demands that we do all we […]
PHall | August 25, 2012
God created us to be social creatures. So this next point, just like the second one, will sound strange. Fifth, we discover even when we are happy because of the actions of others; it is not the action itself which makes us happy. In fact, we can be happy despite others and their actions. After […]
PHall | August 24, 2012
What do the Sermon on the Mount and Ecclesiastes have in common? Both are about the answer to true happiness. Ecclesiastes closes with the secret revealed, and the Sermon on the Mount opens with the answer. While there are different ways to translate and interpret Ecclesiastes 12:13, I prefer the one which is the most […]
PHall | August 24, 2012
God never intended citizens of His kingdom to just sit around “being and believing.” The Beatitudes are not yoga positions, nor breathing techniques. If you allow me a little linguistic leeway, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with both BE-attitudes and DO-attitudes. Notice the BE-DO rhythm: BE – Poor in spirit; DO – Mourn; […]
PHall | August 22, 2012
From Jesus’ Beatitudes, we glean from that happiness is determined by what we are. Blessed are: the poor in spirit; the gentle; the merciful; the pure in heart. Have you ever heard someone say, “You can never run away from your troubles because wherever you are, you always take you with you.” Well, the reverse […]
PHall | August 21, 2012
Happiness depends upon me. That just seems scripturally wrong, even flagrantly arrogant. But just as everything Jesus said within the Sermon on the Mount must be taken with His context, this must too. This point is only true if the first point is true, that happiness comes from God. Listen carefully to the contextual answer. […]
PHall | August 18, 2012
Author Unknown Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend a few hours a week with their fellow Christians. They are my best workers. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked. I can use them. Blessed are the “touchy” who stop going to […]
PHall | August 17, 2012
The Beatitudes are not just a separate clause of beautiful statements, but a preamble setting the foundation for what follows. Fulfilling true righteousness and imitate God (5:48) is not possible within this Declaration of Dependence without God first and foremost creating within us a poverty of spirit, a mournful self-evaluation, a gentle heart, a hungering […]
PHall | August 16, 2012
The Sermon on the Mount presents a morality that is upside down to the world, but not because the teaching is upside down, but because the world is wrong-side up. “What is the good life?” “Who is a good person?” These questions every culture and individual ask. Jesus’ answers are not the norm. Through promotion […]
PHall | August 15, 2012
Because the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew’s gospel account, let’s just focus on some of those prophecies prior to the Sermon. Mathew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14 – The original promise given to Ahaz is about victory over enemies. Matthew 2:6; Micah 5:2 – Jesus is called a Shepherd and ruler, who leads to […]