A couple of Fridays ago, Pastor Daniel Im gave a bible study on the reformation instated by Josiah. The reform, described in 2 Kings 22-23, comprehensively wiped out idol worship that had infiltrated their worship practices and reintroduced worship as God has originally intended. Interested in what God desired, Josiah (seems to have accidentally) found the book of the law and responded by humbling himself and letting his heart be moved. This personal repentance amplified into a reform that spread across the nation of Judah.
Today, we are also in need of reform. We suffer from a similar syncretism, where worship of God as God intends is diluted by other factors. During the bible study, we listened to the first chapter of David Platt’s “Radical: Taking back your faith from the American dream.” He challenged us: Have we redefined Christianity to make Jesus look middle-class, someone who wants us to be balanced, loves us just as we are, brings comfort and prosperity and is okay with materialism? Have we molded Jesus to look like ourselves? Are we really following Jesus? The first call of discipleship, as described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is to abandon attachments of this world. However, the cost of non-discipleship is to miss out on gaining the pearl of greatest worth (Matthew 13:46).
In response to the bible study, we’re going to be reading David Platt’s book together. Read with us! Check out the Radical Experiment on Facebook too.
New grad student to UCLA? Did you know that your BOL e-mail address can help you sign up for a free 1-year subscription to Amazon Prime? Make the most of your grad school year(s).
Looking for a good tool to help your Bible verse memorization? Here’s a very useful software that I found.
This software is called Memorize His Word and so far it’s the best one I found in the little time I spent looking.
Some of the features that I really find useful are:
- helpful review methods (Review, Recite, and Test)
- good scheduling and reminder system (both daily and periodic)
- ease of adding and categorizing your verses
- unlimited user accounts for your roommates or families (for Home Edition only, not for Online Edition)
- good upgrade policy and group discounts
Unfortunately it’s not free but you are given a 30 day trial period so try it out. I think it’s definitely worth it for the small cost.
See it for yourself here:
http://www.memorizehisword.com/
Recently, I got an e-mail describing how effective immediately the UCLA bookstores (Ackerman, Lu Valle, Health Sciences) are offering pricematching. Its simple: You buy the book from UCLA bookstore for $$$, but online the same book is only being sold for $. Simply bring the print-out of the ad you found online describing the cheaper price ($), and viola!, UCLA will give you back the difference. Of course, there are some restrictions – pricematching for online stores are limited to those in the US, and exclude auction / marketplace sites (e.g. eBay, half.com). My undergrad bookstore offered this same deal (with the same set of restrictions), and here are some online vendors I used regularly for this purpose during the undergrad days:
www.ecampus.com
www.walmart.com
www.amazon.com
Check out the full details from UCLA’s bookstore.
Tim posted on Sep 19, 2008 to
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