Never give up on people
Author: newlifenarrabri
Today’s Bike Ride
Great ride this morning along Yarrie Lake Rd.
Quote for the Day
God is all-present within His universe, with the whole of His being. There is no place within the created order from which God is excluded—not in heaven, on the earth, or below it. Steven Lawson
I will dwell in God’s house
Ephesians 5:32-33
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 5:32-33. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au
Ephesians 5:32-33
“This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.”
These verses serve a summary of what has gone before in terms of marital relationships and the mutual submission of husband and wife.
The unity between a man and a wife (“one flesh”) is a great mystery, Paul writes. A mystery is something hidden but now revealed. To understand the relationship of a husband and wife needs the illumination of Christ’s relationship with the Church.
These two things, the human marital relationship and the relationship of Christ to His Body, illuminate and explain each other . It is not surprising that the Church is described as the Bride of Christ (see for example Revelation 19).
Christ is the Head of His church and He exercises that by first dying for it. The headship of a husband with respect to his wife starts with the husband laying his life down, and only then can he exercise leadership in a loving relationship.
When we see the deep love and united vision of a husband and a wife, our eyes are opened to the unity that exists between Christ and the church.
This interplay between the two realities is shown by the way Paul freely changes from one to the other in this entire section.
So Paul concludes with the exhortation for each man to love his wife and for each wife to respect her husband.
Though Paul uses different words – love and respect- the illustration of Christ and the church shows that they are the same idea in practice.
Christ died for his church; but the church dies to Christ in order to be born again. Both husband and wife lay down everything for the other.
Paul again uses the word agape as the love that husbands should have for their wives. This is the love that God shows towards us, his people. It is the unfailing love that gives regardless of the worthiness of the recipient. Husbands must seek to love their wives with the agape love of God.
Wives are to respect their husbands. The word here is phobos . It literally means fear. This is not the terror kind of fear, but the kind of fear with which we are told we should fear God and those in authority over us. It is the respect that is given because of the status of the person.
In any event, to love a wife includes respect. Respect for a husband also involves loving them.
Key points in this verse:
- The unity of husband and wife reflect the love between Christ and His church
- Headship comes from a place of self sacrifice
- The love and respect which husbands and wives are exhorted to show overlap and become the same thing.
The Voluntary Euthanasia Band Wagon
The NSW Parliament is considering a law to allow euthanasia to be legalised.
The Bill has been referred to a Legislative Council inquiry and so will not proceed for a few months.
There are always very emotive stories of how somebody suffered horrendously in the last few months of their life. Palliative Care specialist Dr David van Gent argues these things should not happen in Australia with its access to good pain control medications.
Empty Hands
SCIENCE: Warming Not Due To Carbon Dioxide
This is a pretty technical article, but the bottom line is this. Nearly all of the warming seen this century is due to a reduction in cloud cover NOT by carbon dioxide or other human causes. Of course, the renewable energy and emissions reductions band wagon was never about science.
From Watts Up With That:
2001-2019 Warming Driven By Increases In Absorbed Solar Radiation, Not Human Emissions
7 hours agoGuest Blogger94 Comments
Reposted from the NoTricksZone
By Kenneth Richard on 18. October 2021
Three new studies affirm the increase in absorbed solar radiation associated with decreased reflection by clouds (albedo) has been the “root cause” of the positive Earth Energy Imbalance and global warming since the early 2000s.
Scientists (Loeb et al., 2021) have determined the rather uncertain positive trend in Earth’s Energy Imbalance (EEI) from 2005 to 2019, 0.5 W/m² ±0.47 W/m² per decade−1, is “primarily due to an increase in absorbed solar radiation associated with decreased reflection by clouds.”
CERES satellite data indicate clouds and surface albedo account for 89% of the absorbed solar radiation trend in the 21st century, whereas anthropogenic greenhouse gases account for but a tiny fraction of the trends in combined absorbed solar radiation and greenhouse effect forcing (reductions in emitted thermal radiation) during this period.
This very small human emissions/greenhouse gas impact is represented by the red “Other” (“trace gases”) bars in the graph below. In emitted thermal radiation, graph (e) shows the greenhouse gas impact is effectively offset by the cloud influence; both factors are cancelled out by temperature changes. This leaves the increase in absorbed solar radiation shown in graph (d) due to natural variations in clouds and surface albedo (SFC) as the primary driver(s) of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) flux forcing during the last two decades.
Image Source: Loeb et al., 2021
Other scientists (Dübal and Vahrenholt, 2021) have also concluded that the positive TOA net flux (+1.42 W/m²) from increasing downwelling shortwave (SW) facilitated by a drop in cloudiness has been the “major driving effect,” “dominating influence,” and “major heating cause” explaining the 2001-2019 ocean heat content increase (240 ZJ).
The authors note these CERES satellite observations “conflict with the assumption further global warming originates mainly from the LW [longwave] radiation capture caused by greenhouse gases, i.e., a decline in outgoing LW.” In fact, the LW or greenhouse effect impact has been negative; it has contributed a net cooling influence (-1.1 W/m²) over the last two decades.
Image Source: Dübal and Vahrenholt, 2021
The summarizing text from another new study (Ollila, 2021) bluntly asserts the substantial increase in downwelling SW radiation from 2000-2019 demonstrates “there are natural climate drivers that have rapid and significant temperature impacts exceeding the anthropogenic drivers,” and that any temperature increase since 2015-’16 “cannot be due to anthropogenic reasons.”
Read the full article here
Today’s Bike Ride
A lovely morning. A breeze made riding more challenging, but it wasn’t too bad.
Quote for the Day
People do not have the power to disturb God. They cannot make Him more joyful or upset. Steven Lawson
