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--- jn_en_2019_07_15 [2019/07/15 18:43] – potthast
+++ jn_en_2019_07_15 [2019/07/15 19:40] (current) – potthast
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ====== Basics of Life ... ======
-Monday, July 15, 2019.
+Monday, July 15, 2019. The beginning of the gospel of John is one of the most
+prominent and most fascinating texts of the bible. It is about Jesus, who is also called
+the word. The gospel introduces its main topic in its first verses, telling
+us what is important and why.
 {{2019:2019_07_15.jpg }}
-** Decisions ... **
+** Beginning ... **
+The biblical story is about life as a whole. It is about creation. It is about humans.
+It is about insight and the principles which govern our actions. Thus it is also about
+conscience, about reason, about emotions, about decisions.
+Let us read the beginning of the gospel of John. Look into the original, the
+biblical text, full of images, full of insight and wisdom, full of power:
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@@ Line 23: / Line 31: @@
 He was in the beginning with God.
 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
-In him was life,1 and the life was the light of men.
+In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
 </color>(from John 1)
+Let us briefly explore the text here, the various dimensions of life which are
+touched by this biblical lines.
+First, it talks about the beginning. This is not about the beginning of time alone,
+about the big bang or the development of our physical world in the first nano seconds.
+It is about what was before, about creation before it started, then about the
+creation of the physical world itself. The laws which govern the world, all the energy
+and matter and space constituting the world ... all that is created. All things
+were made through him - through the word. Nothing was made without him. Christ Jesus
+-- the word -- is the beginning of all what is. The claim formulated in the
+gospel of John could not be reaching further into the origin of creation!
+But this introduction of the gospel of John does not only talk about the
+physical world. It also talks about humans ...
 {{ 2019:2019_07_15_2.jpg}}
-**  ... **
+** Principles of Action ... **
+"In him was life, and the life was the light of man ...". Life is surrounding
+us. Life is in plants, in micro-organisms, in animals, in humans. Life is the
+most fascinating thing we know on this planet. We are part of it, we ARE
+life ourselves.
+When we hear that life was in him, the statement is beyond the simple
+fact that God lives, that the world lives. The life which is meant here
+is the original life, the eternal life. It is the life which cannot die.
+It refers to something beyond the life we know on our planet. It is a life
+which is God's life, which is God's character, his being, original life.
+These few lines already bear deep meaning of life beyond measure. They
+imply the life of love, the life of the spirit, eternal life. And this life
+has been the light of man, ever since. It has been the light of man at the
+beginning of creation. It has been this light throughout the history
+which is reflected in the Old Testament. And it has been the light in Jesus
+and his followers since 2000 years ago.
+The original light of life shines in the darkness. We need to understand
+what darkness means. Darkness in the biblical sense is life which does
+not see, which is separated from God, which is not filled by the Holy Spirit.
+But the light of Jesus shines through this darkness. He came to save. He
+came with mercy. He came to bring you and me back into the community of
+life. And darkness has not overcome this message. You can still hear it.
+You can still listen, you can turn, you can trust, you can see. The door
+is open, as it has been for centuries, for you and for me. There is light
+to see, light to live, light to trust! Yesterday, today and tomorrow ...
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]