Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
PHall | September 27, 2012
Jesus is beginning more than a religious movement; He is laying the foundation for a righteous movement. Reaching backwards to Judaism and forwards to Christianity His words still move more than any others, transforming the way people think and act. Religious movements trying to transform Christianity often focus as much on forms as do those […]
PHall | September 26, 2012
Religious people love impugning the Pharisees for three reasons. One, it is universally agreed that the Pharisees were wrong, which makes their denouncement both unanimous and safe. Two, the sins of the Pharisees are overtly obvious to us today, making them easy targets for denunciation. Three, never are we guilty of the same misguided attitudes, […]
PHall | September 25, 2012
In the Sermon, Jesus specifically mentions the Pharisees once (Mt 5.20). Yet they are the unnamed religious “elephant in the room” lurking behind the most damning descriptions. “You have heard” (5.21,27,31,33,38,43) is about the Pharisees as teachers. Their opinionated applications became God’s law. “Hypocrites” (6.2,5,16; 7.5), people wearing “false faces,” is how Jesus describes their […]
PHall | September 23, 2012
Implied within each Beatitude is the unnamed benefactor of blessing – God. Such an obvious point must be made to us believers; it is so easy to forget what is obvious, and to take for granted what we know is true. That God is our blessed benefactor can be seen in the beatitudes themselves, in […]
PHall | September 11, 2012
Each day I mourn all my deathly sins. Today I mourn deaths caused from false religion. Today I mourn Bin Laden had to be assassinated for his crimes. For eternity God mourns Bin Laden has to be damned for sins. Today I mourn my sins are equal to Bin Laden’s. Blessed are those who mourn, […]
PHall | August 29, 2012
Finally, and as a wrap-around to our first point, each of the eight blessed pronouncements is spiritual in nature. Our society, much like every society that is not the kingdom of God, values the opposites. Materialism is a danger to every person, even Christians. That is why even though beginning His sermon with “blessed are […]
PHall | August 28, 2012
Studying the Beatitudes and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount leads to seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (6:33). In our spiritual infancy, we begin studying the text, asking what the text reveals about righteousness. We ask, “What does the text say?” – Technical Studying. Then maturing, we become uncomfortably self-aware of righteous […]
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 […]