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First John chapter 4 is our text for tonight. We are going to enter into the joy of the Lord by learning this passage. John says, "These things I write unto you that your joy may be full," back in chapter 1 verse 4. And understanding the last section of 1 John 4 certainly contributes to our joy. It's a section about perfect love. It's going to take us, I think, a couple of weeks to work our way through it even though some of its truths are familiar to us.
Let me begin a long way, if I might, from 1 John. By way of introduction and setting our minds in the proper perspective to embrace this text, let me take you way, way back to the sixth day of creation. "On the sixth day of creation, God said, 'Let us make man in Our own image.'" Genesis 1:26. Now since God is the eternal spirit, being made in God's image is not physical. It has to do with the immaterial part of us. The root of the Hebrew word for image, tselem, seems to mean to carve out. Let us carve out man, let us shape man to Our image, literally. In other words, let's replicate ourselves in man. Let's shape him and form him to be reflective of us. Man then was created in an exalted fashion. Man was created to be like God.
And what does that mean primarily? Primarily that means man was created for inter-personal relationships. The Trinity was always a Trinity, is always a Trinity, will always be a Trinity. God by nature exists in fellowship and relationship within the Trinity. Let's make man, God said, with a capacity for relationship because as 1 Corinthians 11:7 says, "Man is the image and glory of God." This is not true of anything else in the creation. No other creature that God made did He make in His image. In the entire time/space universe this is true only of humanity. We know that man shares biological features with animals and even plants, with cellular structure, with even the element of atomic particles. And while we share in the biology with the rest of the creatures since they were all designed by God to live in a common environment physically. We are not like them. Man cannot ascend from them. He is not a highly evolved ape. He was at the very outset the first man made, made transcendent to all the rest of the biological creation because he was made in the image of God, he was made for something no other life in the universe was made for, and that is relationships.
When you talk about man created in the image of God and what makes up relationships, you talk about self-consciousness which only man possesses. Man has the capacity to understand himself. Man has the capacity to think abstractly because that's necessary in relationships, to appreciate beauty, to feel emotion, to be morally conscious, to reason, to acquire wisdom. All of that so as to have the ability to personally connect, personally relate to other people and especially to relate to God, to be able to love others and to love God. The core then of the image of God can be summed up with the words "personal relationship." Man is made with a capacity to love, to love others and to love God. And within the frame of that love there is fellowship, care, sharing of thoughts and attitudes and experiences that makes love the richest of all human experiences. The image of God then is the capacity for personal relationships which come down to giving and receiving love.
God Himself has never existed in a single lonely solitary fashion. He has never existed in isolation, He has never existed in some cut off form. He's always existed in the fullness of a family-like reality; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Father has never been without the Son, the Son never without the Father, neither ever without the Spirit, the Spirit never without either. The amazing mystery of the origin of the amagio dei(??), the human personality is the Trinitarian essence or substance or reality of God. And God so designed that He would develop man not only to be able to relate to his fellow man but to be able to relate to Him. This still resides in the human heart, all these millennia after creation, we still long to love and be loved in all human relationships as well as the relationship with God.
In fact, as you probably are aware, the human heart cries for love more than anything else. It's the theme of more songs, more plays, more books, more films, more...more literature in general, more poems than any other thing. We long to love and be loved. We long to find that perfect love. All the forms of human discourse tell us that because we have been made in the image of God for that. We want so much that perfect love relationship. And that understanding draws us all the way from Genesis into 1 John 4. In 1 John 4:7 through 21 which is the rest of this wonderful chapter, John presents for us a study of perfect love. It is not hard to understand, it unfolds with beauty and simplicity and yet with depth. We're going to work our way through it and be enriched greatly by it.
But let's just kind of pick up the themes that are here. Perfect love is the theme. Verse 12 ends, "His love is perfected in us." Verse 17, "By this love is perfected with us." Verse 18, "Perfect love casts out fear." End of the verse, "The one who fears is not perfected in love." Four times here in those three verses we read about perfect or perfected love. This is what everybody is looking for, everybody is longing for and no one will ever find outside a relationship with God.
I think this adjective sort of tops my list, this adjective "perfect." The Bible talks about brotherly love, it talks about unfeigned love which is love without hypocrisy. It talks about abounding love. It talks about serving love, and a number of others. But I think the best of all is that the Bible presents to us perfect love.
Now how are we to understand that word "perfect"? Well it is from the verb teleioowhich simply means complete, whole. It basically means to carry out something to the max. That word is used by Jesus when He was dying on the cross and had come to the end, and said, "It is finished," He used a form of teleioo, te telosti, same verb, to say it's complete. And what He was saying was, "What I've just done can't be added to. What I've just done can't be improved on." And that's the kind of love we're talking about. It's a love that cannot be added to. It is a love that cannot be improved on. It is the perfected love with all the completeness that can only come from God. It is that kind of love, and this is another time and another sermon, but that kind of love that is defined and laid out for us in that wonderful chapter called 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. What is here pledged to the true Christian is perfect love, that is the experience of the love of God in all its fullness, all its completeness, experiencing a love to which nothing can ever be added. The fullness of God's love is available to us. And that's what John is telling us here. Perfect love is the legacy that God has left to His children.
In Paul's epistle to the Romans, he says in chapter 5 and verse 5, "The love of God has been poured out," the idea is fullness, lavishness, "within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." When you were saved, a floodgate was opened and the love of God was poured out into your heart. The fullest expression of that love granted to us comes when we are obedient to the Lord, chapter 5 of 1 John verse 3, "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments." We know and experience the full richness of that love in obedience. Go back to chapter 2, 1 John 2:5, "Whoever keeps His Word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected." The perfect love of God comes to us as a gushing stream, the perfect love of God is then perfected in us as we keep His Word. You want perfect love, it's only available from God through Christ. You want to experience the perfection of that perfect love in your life, it's only available through obedience to His Word.
We're here not talking about then a love that is attached to mystical experience. That's so important. We're not talking about a love that is attached to emotional sentimentality. We're talking about a love that's connected directly to salvation and sanctification, a love that is connected directly to knowing Christ and obeying Christ. Knowing Christ grants us that love, obeying Christ allows us to enjoy the fullness of it. That's what we're talking about when we talk about perfect love.
Now the details of how perfect love works in the Christian are given here in the text of 1 John. You can look again at chapter 4. Here we find the details of how perfect love functions or operates in the Christian and why it is so important. Now if you've been with us in our study of 1 John now for these many, many months, you know that this is not the first time John has talked about love. In fact, it is really the third time that he's actually gone into a rather significant treatise on the subject of love. Back, for example, in chapter 2 verses 7 through 11, the theme there was love. "Beloved, I'm not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment which you've had from the beginning. The old commandment which is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. The one who says he's in the light yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there's no cause of stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and doesn't know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
There John discussed love as a proof of true fellowship. If you're really in the light, really in the fellowship, it will be proven by your love. It's evidence of being in the fellowship.
Then over in chapter 3 you'll notice verses 10 to 14. "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who doesn't practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who doesn't love his brother. For this is the message which we've heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He lay down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. We shall know by this that we are of the truth and shall assure our heart before Him." A whole section on love.
First, love is the proof that we're in the fellowship. Second, love is the evidence of our sonship. Now we come back again in chapter 4 to the third time that John discusses love, as he recycles back through it, this time he identifies it as that perfect love which is not just a proof of fellowship, not just an evidence of sonship, but a manifestation of the presence of God in us. First time he's saying it means you belong to the community of believers. Second time it means you belong to the family of God Himself. Third time it means God dwells in you. And so, typical of John in this epistle, cycling back through the same great moral proofs and doctrinal proofs of salvation, but always with a richer and deeper purpose. And so John comes for the last time to this theme, with greater depth, greater breadth, greater insight. The chapter 2 section was a few verses, the chapter 3 a little more, and the chapter 4, more yet.
And again I remind you that what John does throughout this epistle is give tests by which we can know we are truly saved. This whole epistle was written so that we might know we are truly saved. Some of the tests are doctrinal. What is your view of sin? What is your view of Jesus Christ? Some of the tests are moral. The moral tests have to do with obedience and love. Those are the evidences and they come together. If you love, you obey. If you obey, you demonstrate love.
So with that sort of as a background, and the reminder that John never gets enough of love, we turn to this section of Scripture. Verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another." Orthodox doctrine is not sufficient to prove true salvation. Orthodox doctrine is not sufficient evidence of conversion. True salvation will demonstrate itself in love. Beloved, he says, "Let us love one another." Verse 11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." Verse 21, "This commandment we have from Him that the one who loves God should love his brother also." This is both a test and an exhortation. We love but we're to love more. We have been given the love, it's been literally poured out, the sluice gates of God's love have been opened and gushing into our lives has come this capacity to love and we need to take that opportunity, that capacity in the strength of the Holy Spirit and love to perfection.
He's talking to believers here as indicated by the opening designation "beloved," agapetos, divinely loved ones. Those whom God loves, let us love one another. Habitually here the verb agape, agapaois the love of the will. It's not the love of emotion. It's not physical love, friendship love, it's the love of the will. It's the highest and noblest. And it's habitual. We've heard this injunction already from John, we hear it again. We are to love one another. We are commanded to do that with a love of the will. And we're going to see as this unfolds all that this means, but let me just remind you that this level of love is the love of self-sacrificing service. It's a love basically that is granted to someone who needs to be loved, not to someone who somehow is attracting that love. It is love that chooses to love because there is a need to be loved, no matter how unattractive the person might be. Who chooses out of that love sacrificial service because there is a need for that service and an opportunity for that sacrifice.
Now, we are then to love. This is consistent with who we are. John has already said it is proof that we're in the fellowship. It is evidence that we are sons of God. And here he's going to say it is a manifestation of the life of God in us. And John's going to give us six reasons why we should love. And the first one hits the issue right on target. Six reasons why we are to love.
Reason number one, because love is the essence of God. Love is the essence of God. And he is clear about the transition. "Let us love one another...verse 7...for love is from God and every one who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love, does not know God for God is love." Love is from God, verse 7. God is love, verse 8. What he is simply saying is let us who are the beloved of God who belong to God love because that is consistent with who God is.
In chapter 1 verse 5 we learned that the essence of the nature of God is light. And also that God is life. That is reiterated again in the third chapter, verse 1 and following. God is light. We can talk about that light as manifest truth. And it is also manifest life as we pointed out when we went through that section. God is light and God is life. And here we find out God is also love. If we then know God, if the life of God is in us and the light of God is in us, then the love of God is in us. If we walk in the light, if we possess the life, we have received the love. And it's very clear, "Let us love one another, for love is from God." Clement of Alexandria said, one of the early church fathers, simple statement, very profound, "The Christian practices being God." We are to bear the reflection of God. We are to adorn the teaching of God. We are God's children manifesting His nature. We manifest His light, His life, His love. We literally reflect God.
Wasn't it Alexander the Great who had a soldier who bore his name who was unfaithful in duty and demonstrated cowardice? And Alexander called him in and said, "Either change your behavior or change your name." And I think that, in a sense, is what John is saying here. If you're going to call yourself a Christian, if you're going to say you are God's and you belong to God and you truly are His, then conduct yourself as He would, with love.
He goes on to say, "Everyone who loves is born of love." We're not talking about human love. We're not talking about temporal love. We're not talking about sexual love, or human affection. We're talking here about this transcendent love known only to those who are His, about this perfect love, love to the max which the world never, never, never knows. You are to love because He is the giver of that love. And to everyone born of God is granted that love. If you are born of God and you know God, then you have this love. God is the source, isn't He? He is the giver. Everyone...go back to verse 7 for a minute...Everyone who loves is born of God, has been begotten, perfect tense, past action with continuous results, of course. Everyone who loves is giving evidence that they've been born of God. To be born of someone means to share their nature. If you have been born of God, then the love of God will be demonstrated through you. If you know God in that intimate way, if you possess the life of God, if you've been born of God, you have the capacity to love, you do love, you will love and the injunction is to love perfectly, as perfectly as possible.
And the reverse in verse 8, "The one who does not love doesn't know God, for God is love." If you don't love, it's evidence that you don't know God. I mean, look at your life. The Gnostics, the religionists of Jesus' day and the days of the Apostles in the New Testament, they knew a lot about God but they didn't know Him. And you could look at their theology and say they couldn't truly know God because their theology was wrong, but you could also look at their lives and say they don't know God, they don't have that love that comes only from Him. God by nature, end of verse 8, is love.
It's more than God loves, it's God is love. It's so important to understand this. God and love are interchangeable in one sense, and yet in another sense they're not. And I want to point that out. There are people who have said, "Love is king." There are people who have said, "Love is the only god I worship." That's not what this is saying. In the Greek, God has the article, love does not. THE God is love. That is the definite emphasis on God is love. It does not mean love is God, you can't go back and forth. Love does not define God, God defines love.
The human view of love is imposed on God all the time. You hear people say, "Well, if God is really a God of love, how can this and that...and this and that...be the way they are?" But God defines what love is. He's not subject to human definition. God is love. That even explains creation. Why would God create a world which brings Him so much trouble? Answer: if God is love, God does not desire to exist in Trinitarian aloneness. He creates objects to love and by whom He will be loved. It even explains human volition, human choice. God has designed that sinners love God not apart from their will, though by His power. Men are not robots, they are pled with to love Him. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And so God is love by the highest and loftiest expressions of the human will, obviously supernaturally aided by Him.
The love of God, the fact that God is love explains providence. Because God is love, He fills this world with evidences of that love in all the wonder and beauty of life. And, of course, it explains redemption. If God was only Law, He would leave me to the consequence of their sin. The moral law would operate, the soul would die, eternal justice would damn the soul. But God is love and so He seeks and saves and provides a remedy for sin. The fact that God is love explains life after death. God doesn't force His presence on those who don't love Him. He provides it for those who do. And those who enter into the presence of God forever, to enjoy His presence, will be those who desire that above everything. God is love.
I know that's hard to understand for some people. But your view of love can't define God. God says He's love and God defines what that love is. One writer said, "Look at the world around us. History has its long tale of man's inhumanity to man. Spain had its inquisition. Britain, it's Atlantic slave trade. Germany, it's gas chambers. Russia it's Siberian labor camps. The world is still swept by fear and lust and greed and tension. Nature too seems twisted. Babies are born deformed. They inherit diseases and tendencies to insanity. Ours is a world of preying animals, parasites, viruses and deadly bacteria. The Bible itself raises the question, it records tyranny, cruelty, mutilation, eyes gouged out, hands lopped off, deceit, licentiousness, war. Not only war, but God-sent war. Even Assyria, one of the cruelest nations of history is called the rod of God's anger. Is God love? Easy answers...he says...could not possibly be right. We must realize we're all children, we are fools, we are self-conceited, stiff-necked rebels who will get everything wrong unless we are willing to give up telling God what He should be like and what He should do," end quote. He's right.
God is love, that is what the Scripture says. That is what is true. And God defines what love is. He defines it by His kindness, His generosity, His goodness and His redemptive grace. All that those difficulties tell us is what sin has done and they provide a background for us to understand the greatness of God's love. God is called the God of love.
When you think about God's love, you can think about it in a general sense. I wrote the book called The God Who Lovesand it's been a whole book kind of describing God's love, so I won't go into all of that. But there is a universal love of God. There is a sort of unconditional indiscriminate unlimited love of God which is extended over the world. Titus 3:4 speaks of God's love for mankind. In Matthew 5 Jesus said, "Love your enemies as your heavenly Father does." There is a love that God has for the world. He is, as Paul says, "The Savior of all men, especially those who believe." But there's a sense in which He shows love even to the unregenerate, even to those who ultimately will go out of His presence forever.
How is that love manifest? Common grace. The world is a beautiful place. The sun shines on the just and the unjust, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. God's goodness pervades the world in which we live.
There's another way God manifests His love on a temporal, physical level and that is compassion. God expresses throughout history pity and compassion and tender-heartedness toward man that causes Him to withhold judgment. Every sinner should die at the strike of the first sin, right? "The wages of sin is death." Common grace, compassion indicate the general unconditional love of God.
A third way in which it's expressed is the myriad of warnings that are given to sinners. The Bible is filled with them..filled with them, warning about what is coming. All the warnings of the Bible are evidences of the compassion of God. God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
And fourthly, by extending the gospel offered to the ends of the earth. The light that lights every man that comes into the world, the truth of God which can be known by every man so that if they don't live up to the truth that they've been given, they're without excuse, Romans 1. And then He sends His ministers over the face of the earth to tell the story of the gospel to every creature.
You look at common grace, you look at the compassion of God, you look at the warnings in the Bible, you look at the extensive way in which God has mandated the gospel, "Go to the ends of the earth and be preached to every creature," and you see the all-encompassing general universal love of God for man. That's the expression of His nature. He is by nature a loving God. That love has its limits in the sense that it doesn't transcend this life.
There's another kind of love in which God loves His own, this is a marvelous love. Turn to John 13, it needs to be understood as distinct and this is a wonderful parallel to John's epistle. John 13:1, "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father," Jesus is aware now, this is the passion week, this is the upper room, this is the night that Judas goes out to betray Him. He knows all that. But the next part of verse 1 says, "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them." And then it says, "To the end." Probably not the best translation. "To the uttermost, eternally." Really, the best eis telos, same word as teleioo, perfect love, He loved them perfectly...He loved them perfectly. The God who is perfect love, loves His own perfectly and perfect love then is defined as that eternal love which God lavishes upon us. He loved us, literally, into perfection. The song says, "The love of Jesus, what it is, none but His loved ones know."
And so, God is love, back to 1 John 4:8. It's His nature to love the world in a limited sense, I say unlimited in the sense that He loves all the world the same way, but limited in its effect. He loves the world through...demonstrated through common grace, compassion, warnings and gospel opportunity. That love is temporary. It is temporal, earthly and only for this life. And in the next life, there will be the judgment and wrath of God. On top of that though, His love for His own is that perfect love, that forgiving love, that blessing love, that life-giving love, that perfect love. That is the love that is celebrated in the epistles of the New Testament. For example, in Ephesians 2, "God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us." It is that great love that caused us when we were dead in our transgressions to be made alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The love that He has for humanity He shows them while they are here. The love that He has for us, He shows us while we're here and when we enter into eternity and forever. This is the God of love. He is our God. He dwells within us.
"Let us then...John says...love one another. Love is from God and if we have been born of God," and that is to say His life is now in us, and if we know God in this intimate way, then we will demonstrate that love. "The one who doesn't, doesn't know God." Because God is by nature love. We're going to know a love that God has for His own. And that's why we are commanded to love one another. Beloved, inside the fellowship, inside the family, among those who know God's presence in their lives, we are to be characterized by love.
So the first reason that we are to have this love is because it is the nature of God whose life we possess. Second reason, we are to love with this perfect love not only because it is the nature of God to love, but because this love was manifest by Christ. This love was manifest by Christ. John moves into verses 9 and 10 and says, "By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Obviously great salvation verses, probably committed to memory by many of you.
God who is by nature love, God who has taken up residence in us and flooded us with His love is the God who expressed that love so magnificently, so gloriously in Christ. God's love became supremely visible in Jesus Christ. Let us love, he says then on the one hand, because we share the love of God in sharing the life of God, and let us love because of what we've seen God do in expressing His love. "By this," verse 9, "the love of God was manifested in us that He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him." If God was so disposed to manifest His love that way in Christ, should we not manifest the love that He's given us to others in the same spirit of sacrifice?
There have been many manifestations of the love of God, of course. But the preeminent one is the gift of the Son of God, that God sent His only begotten, His monogenes, His unique Son. No greater gift, this is God's unspeakable gift, sent Him into the world in the incarnation so that we might live through Him, so that we might be the recipients of eternal life. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He sent Him to cover our sins. God's free spontaneous love in sacrificing His Son is the model of love for us. God gave His Son for our sins. What he's saying here is, you've not only been given the love, you've been given the model of how that love functions in selfless sacrifice.
Now we could go through all the details of the doctrines of salvation, but you're familiar with them. God with me, for a moment, to the word "propitiation," in verse 10, "propitiation." This word was used back in chapter 2 and verse 2, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins." We already made a rather extensive study of that word. If you want to dig a little deeper, you ca get the tape on that message. This is an interesting and important term.
In pagan writings this term, hilasmos, was used of appeasing an angry God. It's a term that means to placate, to appease, to satisfy. A related term, by the way, used in Romans 3:24 to 28 refers to the Mercy Seat in the Old Testament where on the day of atonement the high priest went in and poured the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat and appeased God, satisfied God. To propitiate God means to placate God, to satisfy, to appease His holy just requirement for sin. God said, "I will accept blood shed and poured out on the Mercy Seat as a substitute, as a satisfaction for sin," because it pictured the final ultimate and only satisfaction, Jesus Christ. And so when they poured out the blood on the Mercy Seat, the Mercy Seat became the place of propitiation, the place of satisfaction. It was one and the same as propitiation. Jesus became the propitiation, the final and complete and full propitiation, God sending His Son, taking the life of His Son to satisfy His just requirement, to appease Him, to placate His holy wrath against us for our sins. God does bear wrath against sin. That wrath can only be satisfied in the death of Jesus. He then is the Mercy Seat. He is the atonement. He is the propitiation for our sins.
And that is the message in the Old Testament of Isaiah chapter 53 that is so hard for the Jews to understand. Isaiah 53, "He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed." Verse 6 then, this wonderful verse, "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each one of us is turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." The Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief, rendering Him as a guilt offering because it was His own good pleasure. Second Corinthians 5:21, "He who knew no sin became sin for us." Galatians 3:13, "He was made a curse for us." First Peter, "The just for the unjust." And so, God makes the extreme sacrifice, sending His Son in our place. You've seen the example of what love is, that's it.
Verse 11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought...what?...to love one another." We are called to this love because we have been given the capacity to love by the very nature of God dwelling in us. We have been called to this love, having that capacity because we've seen the model of that love. Greater love has no man than this, said Jesus, that a man would lay down his...what?...life for his friends. This love is about sacrifice. This is so missing in Christianity in our day. It's all about me, me, me, me, me, fix me, make me happy, make me satisfied. It's not about Christ and it's not about others. Beloved, we have seen the model, we have seen the example. You never need to ask the question...what does it mean to love somebody else? It means to make the sacrifice.
Go back to chapter 3 verse 16. "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." That's it. No one who has truly been to the cross, no one who has really stood there and seen God's love displayed in which God would take His holy, beloved Son and slaughter Him, as it were, under the fury of His wrath under the weight and the guilt of all the sins of all who had ever believed, no one has ever stood there and comprehended that kind of sacrifice and truly possessed the life of God and then gone back to a life of selfishness. If you have, you don't know God. You are not begotten of Him. Our ability to love comes from the life of God in us. Our duty to love is demanded by the immensity of the sacrifice of the Father in the giving of His Son. That love is our standard and we understand the cross because we couldn't experience salvation without understanding it.
Listen to what Ephesians 5:1 and 2 says, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love." You want to know how to love? Imitate God. And then he goes on to say, "And imitate Christ, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for you." God gave up His Son and His Son gave up His own life.
There you have it. The model of love is sacrifice. So we are to love one another because God is the source of love and we bear His nature and thus we have literally been flooded with that love. And we are to love one another because Christ is the manifestation of the Father's love and Himself the great example of self-giving love.
Let me just give you a third reason briefly. We are also to love because love is our testimony...love is our testimony. Look at verse 12. "No one has beheld God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us." No one has beheld God at any time. No one has ever seen God. Why is he saying that here? Why is he bringing that up. He's simply pointing up the fact that nobody can see God, so how are people going to know of His power and His glory if we love one another? God abides in us, He's perfecting His love in us and thus He's putting Himself on display. That's the point. If we love one another, God is on display. By this, Jesus said in John 13:34 and 35, shall men know that you're My disciples if you have...what?...love for one another. Don't go out and witness about Christ unless you are manifestly loving one another. The unseen God becomes seen in the love of believers. When we love, as we should, when His love is perfected in us, we reveal that He abides in us. Our love is evidence of His indwelling presence and it becomes the revelation of that presence to others.
God didn't just give us love, He gave us an example of love. And then He made love the way in which He discloses Himself to those who could never see Him. You, if you are a true Christian, have the capacity to love, you have the example to love, and you have the responsibility to love, cause that's how you prove you belong to God. That's how you express His love in sacrificial service to others and that's how you witness to the watching world. Love then becomes core to our Christian experience.
And if you're looking at your own life and you're wondering whether you are a Christian, do an inventory on expressions of love, sacrificial love, on behalf of others and manifest love seen and recognized and known by a watching unbelieving world. There are three more and we'll save those for next time.
You know, going through the epistles of John is such a rich challenge, but in some ways it's so frustrating for the preacher because the Apostle Paul has all this very sequential linear reasoning and you stick with him. John keeps introducing these vast subjects and circling back around them and it provides almost limitless opportunities for tangents, to go back off and pick up things and you sort of have to resist that. Just the uniqueness of John, but in the end what he says is so simple and so clear and so straightforward and so enriching to us. More next time.
Father, we know that Your perfect love is in us, but not yet perfected in us. It can be perfected in us, it can be brought to some maturity, some completeness when we love one another, when we love one another manifestly by sacrificial service to other believers and when that love is visible to a world that otherwise can't see You. How can we say that You live in us if our lives are not transcendently manifesting Your love? May we put it on display everywhere that we might enjoy that perfect love which You've given to us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
Dolphins with Smiling Faces
No other animal is as pleasant and friendly towards human beings as are dolphins. Their docility and friendly manners are obvious from their faces.
During delivery, first the tail, then the body and finally the head of the baby dolphin appear. In order to feed it, the mother dolphin contracts and loosens her milk glands, thereby spraying her milk into its mouth. You can compare this to squeezing a plastic bottle with your hands to spurt out the milk it contains.
Mammals do not need this spraying system to nurse their young. However, such a method is essential in water. Could the mother dolphin herself think up and develop such a system? Could it be possible that she felt the necessity for such a system and supplemented her milk glands with muscles? As you can imagine, this is implausible! As we stressed earlier, Allah created the body of the mother dolphin in a manner that is extraordinarily suitable for the baby dolphin's needs.
The respiratory system of the dolphin is also similar to that of human beings. Yet, unlike human beings, its nostrils are not in the middle of its face but on the top of its head. Like human beings, dolphins, too, inhale air before they dive under water and they retain it in their lungs and then dive. While they rise from deep underwater, just a few metres before they surface, they will breathe this air out forcefully through their blowhole.
You have probably seen on TV how effortlessly dolphins swim in water and even race with ships. They are perfect swimmers. Their smooth slippery skin is the most important reason why they are able to swim so perfectly. These features help them to glide through water and swim very fast. Another feature enabling the dolphin to swim fast is its nose, which is called a snout. A dolphin's snout has the most appropriate shape for fast swimming and has even served as a model for the design of ships. Thanks to this feature, our ships sail faster today than previously.
Do you know that dolphins are bereft of a sense of smell and that they are blind? However, Allah has granted them a very advanced sense of hearing. Dolphins can hear sounds from kilometres away. In addition to that, by means of a system existing in their body that resembles an apparatus used in submarines called "sonar", they can easily find their way and determine their prey's location. This system operates as follows: The sounds produced by the dolphin, which are inaudible to the human ear, spread in the form of underwater sound waves. When these sound waves meet a barrier, they hit it and bounce back. The time taken for the sound to strike a fish or a rock and bounce back shows the distance of the prey or the barrier. This system of dolphins inspired scientists to develop the sonar systems used in submarines.
The dolphin's strong sense of hearing protects it from falling prey to other fish in the ocean.

subset: commoncrawl


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Arts & Events
Yes to "No"! The True Story of How a PR Campaign Ousted a Dictatorship Opens March 8 at the Shattuck Landmark Threaters
The first thought an audience is likely to have as Pablo Larrain's exceptional Chilean docudrama begins to screen is: "What kind of cheap, low-budget production is this?"
The film looks amateurish — the colors are off and the images frequently look washed-out and overexposed, like they were shot on an old-fashioned home-movie camera. Turns out, there's a reason for this look — and it's a good one. We'll get to that in a minute.
Directed by Chilean-born Larrain, No tells the alternatively harrowing and hilarious story of how a small team of upstart media-geeks-turned-political-players, went up against impossible odds with an improbable script and wound up changing history and saving lives in the process. You could think of it as a Latin American Argo.
The story unfolds in 1988, 15 years into the US-backed Chilean dictatorship that put an end to the democratically elected administration of Socialist Salvador Allende. Under the direction of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the US dispatched a team of 400 CIA agents to help further the junta's "reforms" — i.e., suspending the constitution, arresting union members, banning political opponents and seizing total control of the media.
In just the first 14 weeks of the coup, at least 1,213 pro-Allede politicians and activists were seized, murdered or "disappeared." (In 1991, a national Truth Commission set the number of victims of "political violence" at 3,172.) No makes it chillingly clear that, even after 15 years under the rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, fear of "the generals" was still palpable — and for good reason. The social fabric had become so bloodstained, torn and tenuous that people were even hesitant to even use the word "communist" in private conversations.
A 'Plebiscite' to Legitimate the Coup
After 15 years of tyranny, the political and social situation became so appalling that global concern over Pinochet's iron fist forced the junta to accept calls for a "plebiscite" to give Chileans an opportunity to vote on their political future. Like many international attempts to impose outside solutions, the plebiscite was seen as little more than a face-saving gesture — a bit of political theater to cloak (rather than condemn) Pinochet's coup.
A coalition of 16 political parties united in a Quixotic campaign to unseat Pinochet. The rules of the plebiscite underscored its fraudulent nature. Because the junta controlled the mass media, Pinochet's opponents were only allowed to broadcast their political message for one 15-minute period a day. The campaign was limited to 27 days and the mini-broadcasts were scheduled for 11:30 in the evening when most people were expected to be asleep.
Adding to the skewed odds, the Pinochet campaign was able to outspend its opposition by a factor of 30-to-1 and the government dispatched spies and politic agents to follow members of the NO campaign.
'Everyone Just Wants to Be Happy'
Mexican-born Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Rene Saavedra, a young advertising savant whose outlier personality is telegraphed as soon as we see him commuting to work… on a skateboard. (Pretty rebellious for an ad exec circa 1988.)
Saavedra (a composite of two Chilean ad men) is an unlikely hero. He's a hot-shot at crafting bouncy TV ads but he's got cold feet when it comes to taking political risks. (In a nice, twisted touch, Larrain cast the two ad-men in cameos as members of Pinochet's political machine.)
When Saavedra reluctantly accepts an invited to a screening of the opposition's ads, however, he gets the itch to put on his game shoes. "This doesn't sell," he sniffs. Drop the downer ads listing the junta's atrocities, Saavedra insists. Citing the number of dead and disappeared will only further intimidate voters and strengthen the dictatorship.
"Everyone wants to be happy," Saavedra argues. So the campaign message has to be: "Happiness is coming if you vote NO!" Saavedra's suggestions trigger bitter anger and walkouts from several coalition members who feel his approach is a betrayal of the coup's victims and survivors. But Saavedra prevails and soon is hiring scores of good-looking dancers, singers, and models to prance in front of his cameras singing upbeat jingles about a future Chile that doesn't exist… but just might.
In Larrain's reenactments, we see the ad team sketching and testing ideas and catchphrases on notepads until someone hits on a concept SO simple that it turns out to be, well…. (as they say in the advertising biz) "revolutionary."
The campaign wanted to sound a positive note but they also needed the people to vote against the generals. The solution: The word "NO" followed by a plus sign.
"NO +" turned out to be especially powerful because it not only put a positive spin on the idea of opposition (by adding the promise of something more), but it was also a cheeky visual code for the phrase "No Mas!" (An established, but rarely voiced, cry of the opposition.) This added up to a perfect coded message that, in today's parlance, "went viral." In addition to acknowledging the power of positive messaging, No demonstrates the genius of simplicity. "NO+" was a powerfully charged message that could be chalked on any wall in a matter of seconds.
With a winning sense of irreverence, the opposition dubbed their 15-minute broadcasts NO-ticias (a pun on the Spanish word for "news"). As history records, the campaign caught on.
No's Special 'Look': Truth in Advertising
Now, as to the strange "look" of the film. It is a special gift of Larrain's movie that accounts for the special look. Larrain acquired hours of actually news footage from the 1988 campaign and — even better — he decided to incorporate the actual TV ads the No+ team crafted to challenge the dictatorship.
In order to avoid the visual conflict that would arise from the use this dated footage, Larrain made the decision to shoot the new footage to match the historical footage. In order to integrate the original broadcast ads, Larrian managed to locate and rehabilitate a U-matic camera from 1983.
As Larrain explained, using this antique film equipment allowed him to create "a seamless combination of time, space and material generated with Ikegami tube cameras from 1983." The extra effort was worth it: A quarter-century after-the-fact, the ads — shot like Coca-Cola commercials, filled with color, sunshine, beautiful young people and catchy music — are still irresistible.
Selling Democracy's Sizzle
Surprised by the growing success of the opposition's feel-good ads, the government's campaign team desperately tries (and fails) to echo the youthful enthusiasm and satirical jibes of the No+ campaign. Saavedra knows the stakes have been raised one night when he discovers threatening messages painted on the window of his home and steps onto his porch to discover government soldiers watching over the house from inside armored vehicles.
In a fascinating twist, Rene's boss at the ad agency not only serves as a one of Pinochet's top advisors, he also winds up heading the general's pro-junta advertising campaign. Because of a shared respect, both men continue to work with each other as uneasy colleagues during the day (with occasional bouts of verbal sparring about the upcoming vote). After hours, however, the gloves come off.
"Anyone can be rich," a cynical pro-coup advertising exec snickers at a government campaign strategy meeting. He pauses only briefly before adding the critical qualifier: "Just not everyone."
The myth of becoming a member of the aspiring middle class or the rich elite is simply a trick — like horse races, TV talent competitions and state lotteries — used to keep the poor content. As long as they believe they might someday become one of the "anyones," they won't pose a threat to the "system." This poisonous false-promise of hope also enforces the convenient mental mind-set that sets the individual against "everyone" else.
In the last days of the month-long TV ad war, the NO campaign even ran a number of NOticias ads featuring American film stars. In several of these 25-year-old clips we can see Jane Fonda, Christopher Reeves and Richard Dreyfuss (speaking in Brooklyn-inflected Spanish) all appealing to voters to help topple the dictators.
When voting day came, 97% of eligible Chileans flocked to voting booths. It was an unprecedented turnout. And in an unprecedented turnabout, the NO+ team won nearly 56 percent of the vote. When Pinochet lost the plebiscite with only 44 percent of the ballot, it was hailed as the first time in history that a dictator had been driven from power through a popular vote.
A year later, in Chile's first open election since the coup, Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin scored a landslide victory with 55 of the votes. (But Pinochet stayed on as Chief of the Armed Forces.)
In a cynical, yet honest, closing scene, we see Rene Saavedra reverting to type — perched atop a high-rise and directing a commercial featuring a bevy of high-fashion models being visually seduced by a well-dressed gentleman hovering above them in a helicopter — just another ready servant of the manipulative, capitalist marketplace.
The Other 9/11
BBC World News


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Matt York / Associated Press
Matt York / Associated Press
What went right: Not a lot. The Buffs did a decent job on defense against the run, and hit some big plays through the air, that's about it.
What went wrong: A plethora of mistakes plagued the Buffs all night. Turnovers, a blocked punt, costly penalties all added up to a blowout loss.
Turning point: Late in the first quarter, the Buffs trailed 14-7, but had just picked off an ASU pass. The offense couldn't capitalize, though, and punted. ASU blocked the punt and got the ball at the CU 11. Four plays later, the Sun Devils kicked a field goal, took a 17-7 lead and never looked back.
CU player of the game: Phillip Lindsay didn't get many touches, but made the most of the ones he got, rushing for 48 yards and two touchdowns on his 10 carries.
Bottom line: For the first time this year, the Buffs were out of a game by the fourth quarter. It was another in a long line of Pac-12 blowout losses, and it extended CU's conference losing streak to 13 games.
TEMPE, Ariz. – For years, the Colorado Buffaloes have been the Pac-12 punching bag.
This year, the team beating up on the Buffs the most is the Buffs.
On Saturday night, Colorado piled up one mistake after another during a 48-23 loss to Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium.
"We cannot shoot ourselves in the foot and expect to win a Pac-12 football game," head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "We've go to stop doing that."
CU (3-3, 0-2 Pac-12) extended its Pac-12 losing streak to 13 games and fell to 1-19 in conference games under head coach Mike MacIntyre. The Buffs have lost 13 consecutive Pac-12 road games.
Credit Arizona State (4-2, 2-1) for its role in this rout.
Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici threw for 260 yards and a career-high-tying five touchdowns.
The ASU defense also did its part, racking up eight sacks and holding the Buffs to 49 rushing yards. Sack yards are count against rushing totals, but even without that, CU tailbacks were held to 83 yards on 18 carries.
"Really the story tonight was controlling the line of scrimmages," ASU head coach Todd Graham said.
While ASU was the better team in the trenches, the Buffs will forever kick themselves for all the plays it failed to make, and all the bounces that went against them.
It started early.
Less than four minutes into the game, CU's defense stripped the ball from running back Demario Richard. But, it squirted right to ASU tight end Kody Kohl, who scooped it up and went 28 yards untouched for a touchdown.
Three plays later, CU quarterback Sefo Liufau was hit by an ASU defender as he threw, and had the ball picked off and returned 30 yards to the CU 15. ASU scored another touchdown, to take a 14-0 lead, just five plays later.
"We didn't execute, we didn't come out like we were supposed to come out, we didn't come out fast," CU running back Phillip Lindsay said. "We came out flat."
It was a tough start, but the miscues never really stopped.
Later in the first, the Buffs had a punt blocked to set up an ASU field goal.
In the second quarter, the defense stopped ASU, but got flagged for roughing the punter to keep that drive alive.
In the third quarter, Ahkello Witherspoon deflected a deep pass by Bercovici, but rather than the ball falling to the ground, it floated into the arms of ASU receiver Tim White, who caught the pass, broke two tackles and scored on a 45-yard touchdown.
Five plays later, Liufau was sacked – again – and fumbled. The Sun Devils turned that into a touchdown, too.
"I think we're doing too many self inflicted things, especially on offense and it hurts us overall, and it puts us in a big hole to try to climb out of," Liufau said.
That's been the story in all three of the Buffs' losses.
The Buffs have committed nine turnovers this season, eight of them coming in their three losses. Liufau has now been sacked 17 times – all of them coming in the three defeats.
CU has also had two punts blocked, and another that was deflected. Those all happened in defeat.
"We have to stay more in-tuned, we have to be disciplined," Lindsay said of eliminating mistakes. "We have to focus more and play our game."
On Saturday, the Buffs failed to do that and it resulted in the continuation of their Pac-12 woes.
"We have to coach smarter and play smarter and take care of the football," MacIntyre said. "We can beat anybody we play in the Pac-12 – anybody – if we take care of the football.
"If they don't turn the ball over, they'll win football games. Bottom line. Bottom. Line. We have to make sure they do that."
Contact staff writer Brian Howell at email@example.com or twitter.com/BrianHowell33.


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While Panicale has probably been inhabited since Etruscan times, it was a medieval castle built on the peak of the hill that formed the village we see today. One of the most beautiful towns in Italy, along with Paciano, they have both been crowned 'I Borghi piu belli d'Italia', the Italian equivalent to the Plus Beaux Villages of France — small villages throughout their respective countries that are considered to be the most beautiful. These two idyllic Italian villages, Paciano and Panicale, although intact medieval microcosms, are also living towns, where increasing numbers of people are returning to live. Increasing numbers of visitors have also recently become more interested in learning about these two villages, finding the atmosphere, local customs, traditions and way of life, one that is worth savouring with all five senses. And it's with this passion that we've come to Panicale on this gloriously sunny day, in search of one of Italy's most famous painters, Pietro Vannuci, known as Il Perugino, and Lillo Tatini, one of the culinary artisans of Panicale — but more on that later.
An ancient Medieval covered walkway leading to Piazza San Michele
The origins of Panicale date back to the Etruscans who inhabited the area in the 7th-century BC. The town became a secure refuge for the Roman soldiers who survived the battle of Lake Trasimeno, won by Hannibal and the Carthaginians. In 1037, after the fall of the Roman Empire and after the end of the Longobard domination, Panicale became one of the first Italian communes to declare itself independent with its own autonomous government. Considered one of Italys most important and fortified towns, the walled castle town of Panicale resisted all attempts to being captured until 1643, when the armies of Florence conquered it during the war between the Papal State and the Duchy of Parma. Panicale finally fell under the Churchs domain, until the Kingdom of Italy was founded in 1861. Not surprisingly, art is everywhere in Panicale.
The beautiful 15th-century travertine fountain in Piazza Umberto I
Entering the town through the Perugia Gate is the 15th-century fountain made of travertine marble. This used to be the town's ancient water well and extended underneath the whole square. It was later turned into a fountain in the early 1900s. From the same spot, the rear walls of the impressive Collegiate Church of Saint Michael the Archangel can be seen. The Church, dating back to the 11th-century has a typical Baroque interior design. In the apse is "The Annunciation" fresco attributed to Tommasino Fini, known as Masolino, and on the rear left side, "The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gianbattista Caporali, a student of Il Perugino.
Collegiata di San Sebastiano in Piazza San Michele
Bronze sculpture of St. Michael the Archangel in a niche outside San Sebastiano
Unfamiliar with the story of St Michael the Archangel, I soon learned that he is the patron saint of warriors. The bronze sculpture outside San Sebastiano is a depiction of St Michael waging battle against the forces of darkness. In 1884, after supposedly seeing a frightening vision, Pope Leo XIII wrote 'The Saint Michael Prayer':
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the Divine Power of God,
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
The stately stone entry of 11th-century San Sebastiano
The interior, sumptuously decorated in the Baroque style
The 15th-centry "Annunciation of the Virgin" by Masolino da Panicale
"The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gianbattista Caporali, a student of Il Perugino
An enchanting ceramic tile map of Panicale sits under the gated arch of Porto Perugino, and gave us a good idea where to find The Church of St. Sebastian, home to Perugino's famous "Martyrdom of St. Sebastion". Walking uphill along Via Pietro Vannucci, we arrived at the church, only to find that it was closed! A sign on the door said it was only open by appointment through the Sistema Turistico Locale del Trasimeno, the local tourist office, just around the corner.
A lovely ceramic tile map of Panicale is under Porto Perugia
Not be be outdone, we went in search of the elusive "master of the keys" and found him hiding in a tiny office in Piazza dell'Ospedale. We were informed that he did have the keys to the church, as well as all of the other museums and churches in Panicale, but due to a lack of funding, he was the only person who was permitted to escort tourists interested in visiting Panicale's historic sites. Being off-season in Umbria, we were the first visitors he'd had that day, and were going to get a private guided tour of St. Sebastian's precious Perugino and Raphael frescoes! We couldn't believe our good fortune.
Our guide opening Chiesa di San Sebastiano just for us!
Chiesa di San Sebastiano was built between the 14th and 15th-centuries, and later remodelled in 1623. The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, a fresco painted by Perugino in 1505, is considered to be one of the artist's most important works in Umbria. Designed to decorate the back wall of the Oratory of San Sebastiano, the martyrdom is conceived as an abstract composition of geometrical figures. The central pyramid depicts four archers that seem to dance around the saint, who appear calm as he is pierced by the arrows. In the background is a bucolic landscape of gentle rolling hills, which was actually modelled on the view from outside the church looking towards Lago Trasimeno and the Valdichiana valley.
"Il Martirio di San Sebastiano" by Perugino
Pietro Perugino painted 'The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian' in the Church of Saint Sebastian as a fresco, on wet plaster, so it had to be painted quickly, in stages over a period of time. Having completed the fresco, the city didn't have the money to pay Perugino, so he departed in search of other commissions, and returned a year later. A consortium of businessmen had since raised the funds to pay the artist, but they had terms — they wanted to be painted into the fresco. On the far left and right of the painting are two faint groups of men — the backers. Perugino tried to explain that he couldn't 'paint' them into the fresco, as the plaster had already dried and wouldn't absorb the pigment, but they wouldn't listen. So Perugino added the figures a secco, on dry plaster, which does not last. So according to our guide, "Justice was done." The businessmen had tried to strong-arm Perugino, and they are now slowly disappearing from the fresco!
A serene San Sebastiano
Close up detail of Perugino's fresco
An archer preparing his bow, about to slay St. Sebastian
A small corner of Perugino's fresco where you can actually see the brushwork
In the same church there was also the breathtaking fresco depicting the 'Madonna in trono con Angeli musicanti', which has only recently been attributed to Raphael. It was taken from the St. Augustine Church in 1884, and is now being preserved in the Church of Saint Sebastian. Painted by students of Perugino, one of the startling revelations has been that four of the figures in the fresco, the Musical Angels, were all painted by Raphael, at age 12. It was an extraordinary experience to be able to get so close to these works of art, in private, and in total quiet. No tourists. No noise. It was ethereal.
The detached fresco "Madonna in Trono", or Madonna and Musical Angels, by Raphael
Detail of the Raphael
Figures painted by Raphael when he was a 12-year old student of Perugino
Having had our private guided tour, the church was locked again for the day
Overwhelmed with our good fortune to have just been 'up close and personal' with two of the most important artists in the history of Italian art, and having had the unique opportunity of enjoying the frescoes in the privacy of our own company, was such a special gift that we'll treasure for a long time to come, and truly one of the highlights of our trip to Umbria. Fortified with the art of Perugino, it was time to fortify our bodies with the special Umbian cuisine of Lillo Tatini, a lovely little restaurant on Piazza Umberto I.
Lillo Tatini perched at the top of Piazza Umberto I
L'Umbria a Tavola — Umbria on the table — serving traditional cuisine from the area
Patrizia, her husband Vittorio and the chefs
The wonderfully charming interior
The sideboard with a wrapped prosciutto locked in its slicing stand
Colourful jacquard napkins laid at every place setting
The new Lillo Tatini menu made with suede and handmade paper
and fastened together with a silk cord
A wonderful aperitif — bright orange Aperol with Prosecco and a slice of blood orange
Our new signature summer drink
Fresh warm bread and homemade scones nestled in a wicker basket
and wrapped in an locally embroidered cloth
A small pot of addictive anchovy and caper butter
Fagiolino del Trasimeno con extravergine olio
Lillo Tatini's divine Crema di Ceci e Baccala alle Prugne
Zuppa di Ceci e Costagna con pane tostata
Carbonara del Perugino: Ravioli ripini con uovo quaglia saltati in padella con pancetta
di Cinta Sense e ricotta stagionata di Norcia
A close up of the extraordinary ravioli, each stuffed with a little quail's egg
Polpine di Cinghiale speziale e cipolline in agrodolce
Spntino al Poggia: Coratina di Agnello in corrido con verdure cotta di stagione
Ristorante Lillotatini
Piazza Umberto I - 13
Panicale, Umbria
Walking back uphill to our car after our decadent, but delicious lunch
The beautiful old wooden doors to Palazzo del Podesta
A view overlooking the valley below
Leaving Panicale through the Florentine Gate, is the former 16th-century Saint Augustine Church, which since 2001 has housed the Museo del Tulle. Inside the church there are remains of antique frescoes attributed to Perugino's school and a precious 14th-century altar made by Giambattista di Cristoforo from Cortona. The museum highlights embroidery pieces that are typical of the Panicale needlework technique known as 'Ars panicalensis'. This handmade embroidery on tulle was revived in the early 1900s by Anita Belleschi Grifoni, to whom the museum is dedicated.
Panicale's Medieval Florentine Gate
At the age of forty, inspired by the records of the original practitioners, Anita Belleschi Grifoni decided to keep the art of embroidery on tulle alive. The ancient practice had its origins in many of the local churches, principally from the Collegiate Church of St. Michael Archangel, which is considered to be the birthplace of Ars Panicalensis. Anita's designs, in accordance with the art style of the 19th century, are mainly composed of flowers, spirals and scallops, love knots, ribbons, swallows and country decorations. Enormously popular, her designs are now shipped all around the world. Of course, the Museum was closed — you have to talk to our friend, 'the master of the keys' in the Sistema Turistico Locale del Trasimeno, to let you in! Buon fortunato.
The Tulle Embroidery Museum


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Law School Discussion
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Cardozo vs Temple
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Cardozo vs Temple
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Cardozo vs Temple
March 26, 2014, 05:17:57 PM »
So I'm trying to decide between temple and Cardozo. I have instate tuition at temple and they also gave me a $10,000 scholarship. Cardozo gave me a $28,000 scholarship but will still be much more expensive than temple (my tuition at temple will be 9,000 a year). The thing is I really want to practice law in NYC. Any advice or opinions that anyone has would be extremely appreciated, I have no idea what to do. I got a 160 on the LSAT and have a 3.6 GPA.
Accepted: St John's Brooklyn Cardozo Temple Villanova Pitt American Catholic Univ. Of South Carolina
Waitlisted: Fordham
Haven't heard: GW
Re: Cardozo vs Temple
Reply #1 on:
March 28, 2014, 05:45:35 PM »
First remember anything you read on this board or others is coming from anonymous internet posters and should be taken with a grain of salt, my post included.
With that said I think any law student should consider the following factors when choosing a law school (1) Location; (2) Cost; (3) Personal Feelings about the School; (4) Understanding the reality of legal education; (5) Last and least U.S. News Rankings.
I will apply these factors to your situation.
(1) Location:
This is the most important factor by far when choosing a law school and it looks like all your applications except for South Carolina reflect a desire to live in an urban environment on the east coast, and you specifically say you want to end up in New York City.
Remember that law school does not exist in a vacuum and wherever you attend law school is where you will be spending three years of the prime of your life. Although, you will be busy particularly first year there will be time to have fun and enjoy the City you are living in.
Additionally, during your law school career you will make friends, likely enter a serious relationship, and get an apartment/house you are comfortable living in. You will also make connections near your school.
If your certain you want to be in New York then attending d law school in New York will allow you to experience the City for all three years of law school. You will make connections in N.Y. and you will prepare for the New York Bar Exam.
(2) Cost:
This is certainly something to consider and a definite plus in favor of Temple. However, one thing to be careful of with scholarships are the conditions. Typically they will require you to maintain a 3.0 GPA or rank in a certain percentage. Every law student goes in certain they will finish in the top 10% of the class and thinks there is no way they will get below a 3.0 GPA.
Law school, however is a different animal and there is a strict curve that typically allows only 35% of the class to maintain a 3.0 GPA, which means your scholarship can be gone for years two and three. This article does a better job explaining the system than I can.
Also do not be afraid to negotiate for more money with any of these schools. You have all the bargaining power as a 0L, but you lose it all once you enroll do not be afraid to ask for another 5-15k. Worst thing that will happen is they will say no.
(3) Personal Feelings about the school:
Each school has a culture to it and whether you like it or hate that culture is something only you can answer. I strongly encourage you to visit Cardozo, Temple, and any other school you are considering and talk to students, professors, admins, walk around the campus, walk around the neighborhood surrounding the campus and see how you feel.
There will be schools you like and schools you don't and your gut will tell you. Visit the schools and you will come away with a feeling and that feeling is something you should really listen to.
(4) Understanding Legal Education:
No matter what ABA school you attend you will learn the same thing. Your first year will consist of (1) Torts; (2) Contracts: (3) Civil Procedure: (4) Property; and LRW. In these courses you will read supreme court cases and learn bluebook citation.
Both Temple and Cardozo will provide you with a solid legal education as well any of the other schools you have applied to.
(5) U.S. News Rankings:
Remember this is a for-profit unregulated magazine offering an opinion nothing more nothing less. It should not be the basis of a life altering decision such as where to spend three years of your life, $100,000 of your money, and develop the foundation of your legal career.
Realize U.S. News ranks more than law schools Albuquerque, New Mexico is the best place to live according to U.S. News.
. I imagine you will not be moving to New Mexico based on this ranking and use the same logic when choosing a law school.
You can certainly use it as a tie breaker, but this should be the last factor in your decision.
Neither I or anyone else can possibly know what the best decision for "you" is. The reality is you will never know what the "right" decision is. When making the choice of what law school to attend there will always be a "what if" factor. Making a commitment is difficult, but that is the first step to becoming a lawyer.
It is a tough decision as location definitely favors Cardozo, but costs favors Temple. I encourage you to negotiate more scholarship money and visit the schools to see what you come away with financially and from your visits.
Good luck.
Re: Cardozo vs Temple
Reply #2 on:
March 29, 2014, 08:38:06 AM »
Cardozo COA: $235kish.
Cardozo COA after scholarship:
Temple COA: $130kish
Temple COA after scholarship:
That means the difference is about $50kish. Not that this is an insignificant figure, but it is, in the long term, workable. I do strongly believe you can negotiate for more money out of Cardozo. Even if you don't get any more, though, since you want to work in NY, Cardozo is the place to go given your current situation.
Good luck!
Re: Cardozo vs Temple
Reply #3 on:
March 30, 2014, 01:07:13 PM »
Thank you both for your responses it has helped me organize my thoughts a little more. I guess my biggest question is, if I choose to go to temple for financial reasons, will I be shutting myself out of the New York City legal market? Or will it be plausible for me to get a job there when I graduate. I know most firms recruit regionally unless you go to a top 20 school, but Philly is pretty close to New York. Also, I already negotiated more money out of Cardozo, they originally offered me $20k but was able to get them to increase to $28k. My other thought was to just tell them that I'm going to have to commit to Temple and see if they give me more money last minute. Thoughts?
Re: Cardozo vs Temple
Reply #4 on:
March 30, 2014, 05:42:01 PM »
You will not be shutting yourself off completely, it is certainly possible to get a job in New York from Temple, but it will be much harder to get a job in New York if your attending school in Philly. When the stress of actually finding a job choosing where to take the bar etc becomes real and it will during 3L the odds are if your at Temple you will get a job in Philly and take the PA Bar. If your in New York you will likely get a job in NY and take the NY Bar.
As for additional money keep pushing for it. It seems like the only thing really stopping you from choosing Cardozo is the money and let them know that and even give them a financial breakdown. You already got more by asking, but keeping asking for more. Be a pest and get the best possible deal for yourself this is a 3 year $100,000 commitment and you should pull out all the stops.
Also visit both schools and really see how you feel about them. Talking to the profs, seeing the campus, etc will give you a lot of insight.
With all that there is no right answer no matter what school you attend there will a "what if", but that is part of the selection process. I know making the commitment is very stressful I did it years ago and it drove me crazy, but once you finally make the choice it is relieving and realistically you can make anything happen if you put your mind to it.
Good luck.
Pages: [
Law School Discussion
Deciding Where to Go
Choosing the Right Law School
Cardozo vs Temple


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The world of Cleopatra VII, lost to the sand and sea for over 2,000 years, will be brought back to life through the exhibition of 150 artifacts from the smallest gold pieces to colossal statues at the Milwaukee Public Museum. The exhibition, Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt, will open on October 14, 2011 and extend into the spring 0f 2012, only the third stop in the entire world and second in the nation.
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Comet 252P/LINEAR (April 4, 2016 - 18:25 UT)
Comet 252P/LINEAR
At the time of the Hubble observations on April 4, 2016, Comet 252P/LINEAR was 0.093 astronomical unit (8.6 million miles or 14 million kilometers) from Earth. The sun-comet distance on that date was 1.037 astronomical units (96 million miles or 155 million kilometers). At closest approach on March 21, 2016, the comet was 0.036 astronomical unit (3.3 million miles or 5.4 million kilometers) from Earth.
The images were created from Hubble data from proposal 14103: J.-Y. Li and N. Samarasinha (Planetary Science Institute), M. Kelley (University of Maryland), M. Mutchler (STScI), and D. Farnocchia (Jet Propulsion Laboratory).
F625W (SDSS r)
This image was originally black and white and recorded only overall brightness. These brightness values were translated into a range of bluish hues. Such color "maps" can be useful in helping to distinguish subtly varying brightness in an image.


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If you want Jim Harbaugh to show some emotion, don't ask about his brother or his parents.
Ask about his son.
While the Brother vs. Brother matchup dominated storylines leading up to Sunday's Super Bowl, John and Jim aren't the only Harbaughs involved. Jim Harbaugh's oldest son, Jay, is part of John's staff with the Baltimore Ravens. After serving as a graduate assistant at Oregon State, Jay went to Baltimore, where he's a coaching intern.
``I'm really, really thankful and proud at the same time that Jay is doing what he loves to do. That's a real blessing,'' Jim said Friday. ``And he's doing it with the Baltimore Ravens, a tremendous organization with great coaches around to mentor him and teach him, especially John being there. I hear he's doing a phenomenal job, which I'm really, really proud of.''
As he continued talking, the terse coach sounded like any other father.
``This week is tough,'' Jim Harbaugh said. ``I haven't been talking to him or calling him. I've sent him a few texts just letting him know how I feel about him - I don't want to give reason for people to think I'm talking to him.
``I'm really proud of what he's doing. I've heard he's done a great job and that means the world.''
- Nancy Armour -http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour
EDITOR'S NOTE - ``Super Bowl Watch'' shows you the Super Bowl and the events surrounding the game through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across New Orleans and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.


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Campus Corner
Five observations from KU's open basketball scrimmage
Its now eight days until Kansas opens its exhibition schedule with a game against Pittsburg State on Oct. 29 at Allen Fieldhouse. After watching Kansas practice on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday during a public scrimmage, here are five thoughts on Naadir Tharpe, Andrew Wiggins and the young Jayhawks and five bits of video highlights if you missed Saturdays early morning scrimmage:1. Andrew White III is making a case for reserve minutes in the backcourt.
The question of whether White, a sophomore guard, is a candidate to redshirt should be put to rest for now. White ran with KUs blue team the top seven or eight players during Fridays practice and at the beginning of Saturdays scrimmage.
White played sparingly last season, but he is a natural marksman with good size at 6 feet 6. Self likes his ability to rebound and get the ball to the right spot on offense. And while White still appears to lack some lateral quickness on defense, his straight-line speed has improved, Self says.
It appears that a core group of six or seven players has emerged during the first month of practice: Junior guard Naadir Tharpe, freshmen wings Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins, sophomore forward Perry Ellis, senior forward Tarik Black, sophomore forward Jamari Traylor and freshman center Joel Embiid.
For now, it seems White is right on the cusp of that core. After Saturdays scrimmage, Self said he expects freshmen guards Frank Mason, Conner Frankamp and Brannen Greene to all make strides over the next few weeks. So the final spots in the rotation are still in flux. But if White continues to play well, the final guard spot could belong to whoever can best serve as a back-up point guard for Tharpe.
Disclaimer: With six freshman, the rotation could look a lot different in January than its looking right now.
Some action from Saturdays scrimmage:
Its not all that surprising, of course. Tharpe and senior Tarik Black have emerged as the teams primary leaders, and KU will definitely need some stability and leadership during a tough non-conference slate.3. Andrew Wiggins can wreak havoc on defense, but it may take some time.
Its easy to focus on Wiggins offensive skill-set, but while visiting practice on Friday, former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundywas impressed with Wiggins defensive potential
. Wiggins length and quickness is a scary combination, and KU will need a lockdown perimeter defender to emerge after losing senior guard Travis Releford.4. Could we see any four-guard sets?
While speaking at Selfs annual coaches clinic on Friday, Van Gundy told a story about how Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra decided to play small with the Miami Heat. The short version of the story: Spoelstra saw that playing three smaller players with LeBron James and spreading the floor with shooters allowed James the space to maximize his potential.
For a 6-foot-8 swingman, Wiggins has the potential to be a solid rebounder. He can also get to the basket and set up for others. Itll be interesting to see if Self experiments playing Wiggins alongside a group that features Selden, Tharpe, another shooter, and either Joel Embiid or Tarik Black.
KU, of course, will need sophomore power forward Perry Ellis on the floor. But an occasional small-ball lineup could cause matchup nightmares.
Some more action from Saturday's scrimmage:
Last season, Self liked to remind people that Traylor had only played competitive basketball for two season before arriving at KU. His shooting and offensive skills still need some work, but he could slot in as a quality fourth big man for KU.


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All Bakeware Sale
Sur La Table Platinum Professional Loaf Pan, 8½" x 4½"
Seattle-based Sur La Table has kept its finger on the pulse of Americas cooks since opening its doors in 1972 at Seattles historic Pike Place Market. Since then, chefs and home cooks with a taste for adventure have flocked to the culinary mecca. A destination for iconic chefs such as Julia Child...
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Pickled Cauliflower (with a few assorted veggies)
These can be made spicy, if you like, or leave the red pepper flakes out altogether. The other spices, along with apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and a touch of sugar, still pack a wallop of flavor. (Toasting the whole spices makes a big difference.)
This crunchy pickled vegetable mixture is great on an antipasti platter, eaten with cheese & crackers, served with hummus, or chopped up a bit and eaten on a burger.
This makes a nice big batch, but you'll be glad you made a big batch when you taste it.
NOTE: Ground turmeric gives the brine a slight yellowish tint and can make it a tiny bit cloudy sometimes too. If you want a perfectly clear brine, omit the ground turmeric. The pickled veggies will still be delicious, but the flavor will be a bit less complex.
Yield: 3 or 4 quarts, or approx 7 pints. (Amount varies due to size of vegetables used.)
- 1 head cauliflower - cored, then broken into 1 to 2-inch florets
- 6 carrots - peeled and sliced diagonally 1/2 inch thick
- 1 red bell pepper - cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 yellow onion - peeled, then sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoons mustard seeds (brown or yellow or a mixture)
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 6 cups apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups water
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 TBS sea or kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional, see note above)
- 1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1.) Layer the cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper and sliced onions in a large glass container or jar, or several smaller jars*.
2.) Toast the whole seeds (cumin, coriander and mustard) over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until fragrant and slightly darkened, about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar, water, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, peppercorns, turmeric, red pepper flakes, to the toasted spices. Bring to a boil, stirring, long enough to dissolve sugar and salt. Turn off heat and let brine cool to room temperature.
7.) Remove jars from canner and let sit on the counter for 24 hours. Store in a cool dark place, and be sure to refrigerate after opening.
*If planning on processing in a Boiling Water Bath for shelf-stability, you'll want to use canning jars.


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Information collected centrally in respect of hearings is published quarterly on:
Today the following has been published:-
Now that I am retired having been many years a magistrate with a long awareness of the declining freedoms enjoyed by the ordinary citizen and a corresponding fear of the big brother state`s ever increasing encroachment on civil liberties I hope that my personal observations within these general parameters will be of interest to those with an open mind. Having been blogging with this title for many years against the rules of the Ministry of Justice my new found freedom should allow me to be less inhibited in these observations.
Comments are usually moderated. However, I do not accept any legal responsibility for the content of any comment. If any comment seems submitted just to advertise a website it will not be published.


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Metal tree of life with birds and flowers colored, handmade of recycled oil drums in Haiti. Size 60cm (24").
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text: Hi, I'm new here but have often benefited from the forum while lurking. I have a few questions about a Christmas wish list I'm developing. I've posted a similar request on a few of the other knife forums. 1) What would be the best 240mm Wa-Gyuto currently available for under $400? I am leaning toward Blue #2/Aogami steel. I have the same question for a Nakiri. I know the answer to the above depends on the user, so let me tell you something about my general skill level and background. I'm a 49-year-old avid home cook with good knife skills. I cook mostly French and Chinese. My current knives are a mixture of Wüsthofs and a few Western style, thin-bladed Japanese chef knives that I bought at the Tsukiji fish market. I also have a 240mm Masahiro Virgin Carbon. I'm a fairly good free-hand sharpener and have stones (Bester, King) ranging from 800-1000-4000, plus a Kitiyama 8000. I would have no problem with the additional care a carbon blade would require. 2) I'm thinking one of these knives should be a "laser" type, as none of my existing ones really have that quality. The Masahiro is the only one that comes close, but even with it fine vegetable prep and push cutting are still a bit of a chore. Should I go for the laser quality in the Nakiri and let the Gyuto be a more all-round knife, or vice-versa? 3) I love the Edgepro Apex for my existing knives. Should I also use it on a traditional Japanese knife like a Gyuto or a Nagiri, or do them freehand? Opinions about this seem to be all over the map. 4) Are Takedas as good as their cult following would suggest, or has their acclaim led to a slight dropoff in quality? Thank you very much for your advice!


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MIKE/CAROL WILLIAMS has not received any gifts yet
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Tag Archives: distractions
Dreams, Distractions and Serenity
[Ed. note: reprinted from '10 holiday newsletter.] It's been kind of weird year so I figured now's a good time as any to ruminate on some crackpot ideas that have been rattling around in the old noggin'. Can't say they … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy Tagged Brave New World, Catcher In the Rye, distractions, reading, shelfari Comments Off on Dreams, Distractions and Serenity


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HARRISBURG - Even with above-average salaries and benefits, the state's 253 legislators actually account for only a small portion of the total cost of running the General Assembly.
The real expense comes from its support staff, which numbers nearly 3,000, the largest legislative staff in the nation. Its 2,918 employees outnumber the next two largest, New York at 2,751 and Texas with 2,388, even though the latter states have much larger populations.
The numbers are drawn from a 2009 analysis, the latest available, by the National Conference of State Legislatures. They do not reflect recent changes, like California's much-publicized staff cutbacks caused by its fiscal problems and the poor economy.
But Pennsylvania's legislature has not seen that kind of trimming.
Drew Compton, a top aide to Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-25, Jefferson County, disputes the NCSL's numbers because they include some agencies that are counted in other states as part of the executive branch.
He cited the Legislative Reference Bureau as one example. Despite its title, the agency drafts bills and does legal research for all three branches of state government and edits agency regulations for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
The LRB has 83 employees and a $7.5 million budget.
The dispute aside, staffers who rise through the ranks and gain seniority can actually earn far more than their bosses. At least 182 staffers, 100 in the Senate and 82 in the House, make more than the legislators' base salary of $78,314.
Edward Nolan, the Republican executive director of the House Appropriations Committee, for example, makes $188,807 a year. Anthony Aliano, chief of staff for the House minority leader, is paid $173,330 a year.
As with the senators, Senate staffers contribute one percent of their salary to health insurance, which covers medical, dental, vision and prescription costs. House staffers get their medical insurance fully paid, as do their bosses.
They also participate in the state government's defined pension plan, which in their case is calculated on the number of years of employment, the average of the three highest years salary paid with a 2.5 percent multiplier and other prior qualified service. Staffers are vested in their pensions after five years, although they cannot collect on them until age 60.
While the number of lawmakers was set at 253 four decades ago, the legislative staff has consistently grown from 532 when the legislature was part-time to 1,700 in the 1980s to skirting 3,000 by 2003, according to NCSL statistics.
The build-up came as the Legislature transformed itself into a full-time body, boosting its appropriations committee which analyzes budgets and standing committees which hold public hearings on issues and first debate on bills.
Lawmakers opened district offices to serve constituents. About half of the Democratic staffers, for instance, work in district offices. House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-116, Hazleton, has five employees in his Hazleton office to serve constituents.
"People don't come into our district office on their best day," he said, speaking to the importance of a local office and how most people come to him seeking help. "It's the loss of a home, the closing of a plant."
There is another side to the story, however. Critics contend the offices are self-serving, allowing legislators to maintain a community presence and help with re-election while providing services that should be available through other state agencies.
The Legislature organizes its staff to support leaders, committees and members in the four party caucuses, all of which are run by their own rules, which helps make the General Assembly at times seem like a bureaucratic nightmare.
Several non-partisan service agencies serve both chambers, like the Legislative Reference Bureau, and the Legislative Budget and Study commission, which produces reports on programs and issues upon a chamber's request.
In the House, rank-and-file lawmakers generally have one staffer in the Capitol office and one or two in their district office. But staff increases with more leadership responsibilities, ranging from a staff of half a dozen for lower-rung posts to a dozen for the House majority leader.
Senate staffs are generally larger, since each senator also chairs a committee, either in a minority or majority role. Otherwise personal staffs range from half a dozen to lower-rung leadership positions to 10 for the Senate president pro tem.
Majority and minority leaders in both chambers also supervise many caucus employees.
The different practices between caucuses often makes it difficult to determine exactly who does what or what an employee's responsibilities might be. Titles differ, the way information is handled differs and responsibilities often overlap.
The communications offices run by the four caucuses provide a good example. At least 100 employees are assigned to offices that prepare press releases, TV and radio broadcasts, web content and videos.
Employee lists provided by the House and Senate chief clerk's office make it difficult to actually count the number of public relations employees. Lisa Scullen, spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-22, Peckville, for instance, has the job title of "legislative support" and a salary of $68,175.
The House Democratic Communications office has a staff of 26. The House Republican Public Relations Office employs 47. The Senate Democratic Communications Office has a staff of 13 and the Senate Republican Communications Office employs 23.
Plenty of room exists for consolidation, said Tim Potts, founder of Democracy Rising, a legislative reform group. For example, there is no reason, he argued, why each caucus needs its own legislative research office. In all, 44 employees work in the four offices, analyzing various bills and researching policy issues.
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Guttering Repairs in Lancaster
No matter the size of the guttering job in Lancaster, residential or commercial, GutteringRepairs.com can help. For guttering repairs, gutter cleaning, roof gutter replacements or concrete gutter repairs in Lancaster, give us a call or request a call back from one of our friendly advisors.
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