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The Spirit and the Wind

The Spirit and the Wind

Last updated on: November 16, 2021 at 10:51 pm by Chris A. Longobardo

The Spirit and the Wind 2021-11-16T22:51:41-06:00 Chris A. Longobardo

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I can hear the wind, but I don’t always know where it is coming from, or where it is going. My ideas are different. A good idea is a revelation of truth and beauty. You can let me know what you think in the comments.

5 Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

6 What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.

7 Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’

8 The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”*

** [3:8] Wind: the Greek word pneuma (as well as the Hebrew rûah) means both “wind” and “spirit.” In the play on the double meaning, “wind” is primary.*

John 3: 5-8

When Jesus of Nazareth, the man-Jesus, says the Spirit of God is like the wind, he is introducing us to a good idea. Human beings are troubled by the truth of God’s existence sometimes, so it helps to have an everyday, practical example. Wind is something all animals have experience with.

It was useful to Jesus when he said it. To use “the wind” as a comparison for the direction God wants us to go was useful to Jesus when he said it, and it was useful to the editors of the Bible when they wrote it. I would like to use a good idea itself as a revelation of God himself.

We know more about the direction the wind is going, and where the wind it is coming from now, in the 21st century. A good idea is a revelation in truth and beauty, and a lightbulb over my head is a meme of a good idea.

I like to talk about what things have in common. Water and flesh is part matter and part spirit. Even though water flows, it does not go where it wants. Water goes where humans tell it to go up until a certain point. Then there is gravity and the tides. Humans do not control the gravitational constant of the universe yet. If water tried to gang up on us, we would call it the ocean.

I said all animals have experience with the wind; but all animals do not have dominion over the wind, do they? Humans can know the science/ or data of the wind. We can even try to stop hurricanes from forming. Jesus Christ is my Lord and personal savior. Lordship and dominion mean the same thing here, but supreme power, domination, and control have negative meaning these days. Domination and control are certainly opposed to freedom.

God, as a good idea, directs us where to go. It’s kind of like how I try to direct water, but water is a force of nature. It will do things I cannot control, much like human beings, but not exactly. Human beings are sentient and rational, and water is not.

When I come up with a good idea, it is good in the sense that it creates a way for me. The good idea benefits me somehow. When I come up with good ideas for someone else, it will benefit them somehow. I can think/ come up with the good idea, or you can think/ come up the good idea; it doesn’t matter who does it. It’s a product of “brainstorming.” Two heads are better than one.

As per usual, I am using “good” as it pertains to God, and sin and immorality would pertain to an absence of goodness. A good idea is a revelation in truth and beauty, and a good idea wouldn’t be false or ugly, because then it wouldn’t be good.

A good idea itself is a revelation of the good, true, and beautiful. Everyone will agree that a good idea is good. The good idea itself has a purpose, and the purpose is to benefit creation somehow.

Everybody has good ideas, but everybody does not point to God as the source. Everyone has good ideas, but they can be subjective or relative good, not objective good. I suppose I am talking about the objective/ universal good.

People get into trouble every day. When people ask for help [how do I get out of trouble], they are responding to actual grace in their lives. That grace is part of God’s life. People do not always know how to get out of trouble. I suppose that people either do not know (the trouble they are in, or how to get out of it), or they do not desire it (I’m good just the way I am).

People will phone a friend for help. Our friends are like lifelines. Some of us poll the audience. I can search, “how to get out of trouble,” on the internet.

I look up to God, as God has been revealed to me by the Church and the Holy Bible, like people look up things on the internet. Where am I looking when I look up? I am looking into my memory/ gift of knowledge. I say gift of knowledge because I cannot always explain how I know what I know. Sometimes knowledge is a gift, and sometimes it is acquired.

When people get into trouble, and they don’t know what to do, a creative friend with a good idea is helpful to them. Oh, you are a lifesaver! That’s how I operate. I don’t know if it is a gift of nature (my body), or a gift of God (spirit), but it is a gift I didn’t necessarily ask for.

To be born of the Spirit means to have the Holy Spirit make your soul his dwelling place.

My body, mind, spirit, and soul is “me” added together to make my “self.”

I am a composite being made up of many parts. To be one with the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity) means God has made me his habitat. It’s like a monkey at the zoo. God has taken me and put me in captivity, or I have devoted myself to the life in Christ. I am well taken care of at the zoo of my life.

A monkey, chimpanzee, or great ape is smart enough, up until a certain point, to escape from the zoo. I am a Christian, and I have freely chosen to let God direct my life. I don’t pretend not know which way the wind is blowing now, but there was a time when I looked up today’s weather and I didn’t know if 10mph north by northwest winds meant the wind was coming from the NNW, or it was going to the NNW.

A good idea itself is a revelation of the good, true, and beautiful. The greatest idea that anyone has ever had regarding the truth of God’s existence, is relating this philosophy to the purpose of religion.

Jesus Christ is the head of the body, [the body of Christ is] also known as the church. Two people discussing ideas quickly, hoping for a good idea, are brainstorming. This is what leads me to believe goodness, God, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same; but we have to agree on the definition and meaning of the word good, first.

15 “If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.*
16 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.*

Matthew 18:15-17

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