Spent the day at home, doing a little work, relaxing, and packing my stuff for tomorrow. I'm going to be heading back to berkeley at around 1 or 2pm tomorrow with my dad, and we're giving ditha a ride too. My brother and I played the indoor-football throwing game with food punishments again today.

We've begun to call the game, "The Tahini Game", since Sesame Tahini was the first thing we used as a punishment for throwing poorly or dropping the pass. When the stakes are big (e.g. really nasty tasting shrimp brine), I don't throw the ball as well as I normally do. We've both gotten better at it as we've played the game more and more, though my brother seems to eat a lot more nasty stuff since he's the one that takes risks and throws the football crazily to try and make me drop it.

In the evening after dinner, my brother took some pre-made cookie dough and baked it. The cookies with white chocolate chunks turned out delicious.

Sometime this evening, one of our computers suddenly turned off without warning. We were afraid that we had lost everything on the computer, but after opening it up, cleaning it a little, and turning it back on, I discovered that the computer was fine, but the main fan wasn't. It had stopped spinning completely, and the computer probably overheated and turned itself off. We tried running the fan-less computer with the case open, but after a while that turned off too. Finally, we took a normal household electric fan and pointed it at the computer while it was on. It didn't shut down for the rest of the night.

I'm not sure how long we'll be using a household fan as a replacement, but hopefully I can figure out a better way to deal with that computer when I come back next weekend (frys maybe?).

Devotion time notes:

Romans 14

There were converted Jews in the Roman Church that were having a hard time casting aside the laws and traditions with which they had been trained in and raised up on. One of these things was the distinction between clean and unclean meats, which Paul understands to no longer exist. However, it is not a sin whether they ate the unclean meat or not, but he warns the church of the possible dangers of this difference in beliefs and faith.

To prevent unnecessary conflict in the church, he warns the Gentiles who have no qualms about eating certain meats against despising the Jews who continue to abstain from them. He also warns the Jews who cling to their traditions not to pass judgement on the Gentiles. What does faith have to do with eating meat?

An analogy: Suppose everyone back in those days was a skydiver, and the law was a weak and failed parachute full of holes that no longer had the ability to do what it was intended to do. Now God had given the people a new and improved parachute, salvation through faith, that was guaranteed to save. Those who had faith in God took this parachute alone and trusted in it, while those who had lesser faith tried to use both parachutes, trusting in the new parachute as their main one, and using the law as their backup. Though the new chute cannot fail, and the old one cannot save, their lack of faith causes them to hold on to both.

Now, if two people have the same measure of faith but a different belief on a certain matter, such has whether some days in the year are holier than others (the example given in this chapter), though one might be right and the other wrong, both are accepted by God, who looks at the heart. The one who holds the belief in the holiness of certain days, while he might be intellectually incorrect, holds this belief out of a love for God and observes it out of devotion for him. The other person does not hold this belief, but not out of disregard for God or animosity towards the other Christian, and continues to love and revere God. Both men are accepted by God, and therefore should not despise each other or stir up conflict due to their disagreement.

Notice: what this chapter is talking about are issues that are disputable, for which no clear command is given by God. Christians must be tolerant with one another regarding such matters. However, in issues that clearly contradict the moral law of God, Christians must not be tolerant or accepting, but are obligated to work to correct these sins in one other.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
Romans 14:13-16

Though certain things that we do are not sinful, they could be stumbling blocks that affect the faith of other brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, I must be careful of my actions, so that I do not out of ignorance hinder a fellow believer.

An example of this might be the issue of whether or not Christians should (legally) drink alcohol.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Romans 14:19

This chapter too can be summed up with, "love one another as yourselves".

It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
Romans 14:21

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Romans 14:22-23

The sin of lying cannot be easily defined as saying something that is not true. The fundamental issue is the heart, since you can lie in telling the truth and also not lie in saying something that is false. It is not the action itself, but the heart, that goes against God's moral law.

Similarly, if a person is not convinced that all foods are clean (as they are) and thinks that eating certain foods might cause them to dishonor and disobey God, yet eats them anyway despite these doubts, he is condemned for his actions, even though the action of eating the food itself is not sinful.

God sees the heart, so I must be mindful of it.