Ch 18 Just and upright

In this chapter by Getz, we are reminded that we really are inferior in our love and effort to love so that our justness, our righteousness must come from God--it is God who justifies us through the death of His Son. And by the ressurrection of His Son we are given the Spirit of God to comfort us and guide us and empower us into a just behaviour. So by Jesus life and death are we forgiven and by his ressurrection and Spirit are we quickened. If we accept Him as our Justness then we will behave in an upright and just manner. This is made possible by the presence of the Holy Spirit in a perceptive and willing soul. This Spirit then guides us into the work and sacrifice that God would have us to do and when we realize we really are not able of ourselves to do it, then His power will be made manifest in His willing and faithful servant to finish just what He wants done. So being just and upright involves being in touch with God, communicative and still, just enough, to be mobile, yet sensitive to that which has no flesh nor bone, and yet can be so overwhelming as to move mountains into the sea. When we can rely on God in this manner then we can open ourselves up to those who are in need and lend God's wisdom to their plight and allow God to manifest through kind word and gentle encouragement. This will offer light and life to that which has hidden in darkness and decay, and is wreaking havoc upon its bearer, allowing them to enter into the truly satisfying fellowship which only God can and does offer. So as we become just and upright so others are brought to justness and uprightness.

Ch 17 Loving God Wholeheartedly(loving what is good)

Getz does a good job of setting this table with the example of a 500 ton 747 climbing into the air--Gravity/aerodynamics. Adam and Eve set a 500 ton stone on the opening to our tomb while Jesus removed the stone and placed wings on our shoulders. Adam and Eve gave us sin and death while Jesus gave us forgiveness and life. If we love the aspects of our worldly existance more than the fellowship of God and the benefits of His character, then we refuse life and light and step into dark and death. Getz sets a good descriptive contrast of loving pleasure and self and money and hating good with loving God and loving people and doing God's will. Getz involves other letters by Paul here to underline and define and to clarify what the law of sin and death means and how God has given to us the Word of light and life. He gives us as the key to balance the love of God.

Why Fatherhood is not dpendent upon correct spellingness...

This is the only spot I have found a misspelled word, I think. The word is atheisy as refers to Freud on pg 186 of chapter 16. This being the most egregious error of Getz entire book, gives me the opportunity to comment upon his unit on fatherhood. I like that he says an elder doesn't have to be married or have children to be an elder, he just needs to act as if he might be or might one day be. This tends to fall into the harmony of fidelity. When you consider fidelity and its commencement, I feel it is possible to hear that perhaps it began during the tune-up, or in the dressing room or at home in the tub, or maybe at that point in time when music was created as a concept. Does fidelity have a beginning or an end?
Maybe the question should be, "Does Fidelity have a beginning or an end?"
So a father must be good and loving and honorable toward his wife, the mother of his children and concerning his children equitable which involves individual and personal and self sacrificing.
If God is our primary example of a father when we see His Fatherhood toward us, then our fatherhood involves many foster and adopted children as well as our blood descendants if any.

Since our position as father is a result of world inhabitance then we can accept that our performance as fathers is sometimes flawed and even if not, probably in need of some sort of ameliorative example to our children as to the (mis?)manifestation of our love and intent toward them. Sometimes we must swallow the poison pill of pride, that they might grow into that more fully capable emulation of ourselves(that they have in mind), partly as an extension of ourselves but mostly as independant actors in a play begun in part by us but largely just handed down by us and many other contributors as they may have the circumstance and destiny to encounter. Our role then is to exemplify Godliness to them and receive them back home as we find their need.