Hebrews 7

There's just such a beautiful elegance to this design. It fits together so nicely, and so consistently with all the other Biblical doctrine. This is why "the Cult of Christ" as it was known at the beginning is not a Cult. Cult's change fundamental principles of their antecedents. Christianity holds the fundamental principles of Judaism, and in fact has been holding to for the last 2000 years where Judaism has been denied by the loss of the temple. Christianity's temple has been devolved (into the body of believers), the curtain torn. But there is still only one High Priest who intercedes for us. We still need intercession for our sins. We still hold to the Spirit of the Law, which is a far harder thing than holding to the Letter (we often think the opposite, that it's easier than following the Letter, but by golly it's not!). And we still sin, and therefore still need forgiveness and sacrifice, all of which is accomplished through Christ.

"²³Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵Therefore he is able to save completely^c]">[c] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever."

Collossians I

^{Speaking of Jesus, Paul (and Timothy) says this "19}For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

I had never caught the reference to "things in heaven" before. I don't know how well this is connected to the rest of Biblical theology, but it certainly opens to the mind to very interesting subjects. We're told of a schism in heaven, where Lucifer is cast out along with (a third? can't remember) a group of angels, who become demons. But this statement is remarkable, in that it points to there still being a rent in heaven over these matters, which has now been closed through Christ. Redeemer, Deliverer, and Ultimate Joint Compound, capable of sealing schisms of heavenly and earthly proportions.

Of course, sealing one schism can open up others, which is why I think Jesus also talks about his coming causing divisions amongst families. When you tie up a ship to a dock in stormy weather, sure, it is now fastened to the solid immovable structure, but it's also going violently resist it, still being in the heaving waves as it is.

Romans 14

This is a set of verses talking about the Weak and the Strong. It starts with "¹Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters." The keyword to me here is "disputable." For, Paul goes on to talk about differing food and holy day observance as examples.

Then we must ask, what are disputable items? For, these days, I believe the enemy has brought, and we have accepted, into the Western Church such a multitude of "disputable" items that we now are disputing our very faith. We are then asked to abide by Paul's direction in Romans 14 here, that we live to the lowest common denominator of faith amongst the believers.

That brings up more interesting questions, as to how far that extends. In Paul's day, the community of believers extended as far as you could walk in a few days time. Now, every practice by every congregation on earth is common knowledge for all. If a Church in Kansas protests against homosexuality at Military funerals, should we in New Jersey join them? Of course, I'm unfairly combining the "disputable items" with the "common denominator" discussion now.

Good things to think about though, especially "¹⁶Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil." and "²²...Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves." The first gets to the idea that there is some line to be drawn by how far you're all allowed to push your fellow Christians. The second idea echoes Jesus, with the "take the log out of your own eye first" command. Also note here that all of this is directed at Christians. All the notions of Don't Judge in Romans 14 are only in the context of the body of believers.

Matthew 20:9-16

⁹"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹²'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

¹³"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

¹⁶"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Point one: It is far more, even infinitely more important how we finish our "race" here on earth than how we started it. This is not to speak of making a decision to "work in the vineyards" and changing your mind later, that's covered under a different parable. This parable speaks to those to whom we Christians consider lost causes, despicable humans of the worst sort, but to whom God looks at and simply says "that's because they're not working for me yet" and hires them at the same wage. This brings us to point two.

Point two: It's not fair! This comes up A LOT in the Bible, which is funny because it still comes up today, even as it is dealt with over and over again. Here again we have humans complaining it's not fair. It is fair, it is eminently fair for necessarily one reason alone, and that's It's His Money. It's God's to do with what He will. How you would spend God's money doesn't even factor into the equation. It's just not yours to spend. I can hazard a guess using my corruptible sense of fairness, which obviously falls short of God's. I could say that we are not being paid for the time worked in the Vineyard because time is relative and is a poor measure of infinite qualities such as God has. Rather, we are paid by the only thing that stands the test of time, which is our decision to work at all, before we leave this mortal coil.

Point three: God's "money" belongs to God, and a person's money belongs to a person, to do what they will with. As a Christian, I have made my choice that my "money" (material and spiritual) belongs to God, in fact have decided that it was His all along. But I will respect the choice of others to do with their money what they will, even when I think "it's not fair." After all, their money is passing, while God's currency is eternal. If they don't want to take advantage of the best currency market of all time, it's their loss. But I also want to keep trying to hire them into God's Vineyard, and I'm going to tell them the wage will be the same as mine, though I have been here longer (which really just means I'm aware of more of my sins, so, actually feeling less qualified!).