Vision Glorious

For the last few weeks on Vision Glorious, our posting schedule has been a bit slow and sporadic. One of the main reasons for that is because of the work that I’ve been doing over at a new blog called From Israel to Italy.

I2I as we call it has a different focus & setup than Vision Glorious. I2I is a co-authored blog with a close friend of mine and partner in our Church, Roberto Battistuzzi. Its focus is more of revealing Roman culture & Catholicism in the light of a Biblical worldview from the vantage point of living in Italy & seeing it close-up. So, our motto for that blog is Revealing the Jesus of Jerusalem by Exposing the jesus of Rome.  Jesus is from Jerusalem and we believe that Rome presents another Christ altogether. We have noticed that many Christians don’t know or don’t see the workings of Rome. You’ll have to check it out!

We’re still steaming ahead here at VG. Roberto and I realized that we were coming across so many insights into the Italian culture, Romanism, & the Messiah from Nazareth that we wanted to write those out and share those in a different context — so as not to confuse the mission here at Vision Glorious.

We’re still digging into True Christian Community. We know it’s a huge topic. Honestly, I thought we would have shifted our writing topic by now and returned to TCC later. But the juices keep flowing and I don’t want to miss these valuable principles before moving on. So, stick with us and we’ll keep striving to open the treasure troves of what Christ desires to do in & through His Church.

Cain, in his sin, shirks God’s probe for his brother Abel.
           "Am I my brother’s keeper?" Genesis 4:9

I believe the opposite holds true: 
           Cain, outside of his sin, is his brother’s keeper — and he knows it.

James 2:8-10 teaches so strongly that between you and God stands your neighbor. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we are mutually responsible for one another. We are responsible for our brother’s spiritual, emotional, and social welfare. Here’s a tough Christian responsibility to ponder in our shallow-commitment-society: We are also responsible for our brother’s shortcomings, his/her speech, & restititution from the damage of sin.

"A dramatic story illustrative of this point has been passed down from talmudic times. The tale is about three men in a boat. Suddenly one of the men begins to drill a hole beneath his seat. When his friends immediately plead with him to stop, he replies, What are you worrying about? I’m only drilling under my seat." The moral drawn by the rabbis has been repeated again and again: ‘We’re all in the same boat’."¹

1. Wilson, Marvin R. Our Father Abraham, Eerdmans p. 188-189 [back]