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For example, have you ever noticed how intrigued kids are with caterpillars? Long before they turn into butterflies, these odd-looking, fuzzy creatures have already captured young people’s imaginations. Then, when they find out that these insects turn into beautiful butterflies, their fascination turns into admiration and fantasy. What was once a funny looking cross between a worm and an insect has turned into a thing of grace and beauty.
Part of the reason why caterpillars and butterflies are so appealing is the transformation they undergo. Once unattractive and bound to the earth, they turn into beautiful creatures that can fly with the wind. That’s probably why many parishes use the caterpillar as a symbol for the season of Lent. During this special season, the Church urges us to undergo a transformation of our own a transformation that frees us a little more from the ways of this world and unites us a little more closely to Jesus.
By Charonda Woods
If you think about it most of the day, can’t wait to see it, hear it, bask in it, please it or better yet gleefully obey it, then most likely it is or it is about to turn into a form of idolatrism. When studying some law books in the Old Testament, I found that God detested when the children of Israel worshipped other gods (Deuteronomy 6:14-15). The sins of Israel in Hosea were pagan idolatry, God even used the prophet Hosea by telling him to marry an idolater to illustrate how his children turned away from him. God detested Israel worshipping other gods. He is a jealous God and he did not want the children of Israel to worship anyone else but him (Exodus 34:14). Likewise the same holds true for Christians today God is still very much a jealous God and He wants to be first in a believer’s life (Mark 12:30). Since we don’t live in an age or culture where we worship graven images and wood carvings of gods, then what does contemporary idolatry look like? Whe
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1 Feb
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).
When speaking of atonement, it is important to understand that it is first and foremost, an act of God’s infinite love for us. He knew that there was no other way for man to restore the deep and intimate fellowship that was lost in Eden. Atonement addresses and answers the ultimate and universal problem of man, which is sin. Man’s sin resulted in the need for a Savior. From the book of Genesis, we read “the first gospel” – a promise looking forward to the One who would come to atone: