關於 righteous eats ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

The Souvenir

A broken porcelain cup that has been glued back together would be considered by most people as trash to be tossed out.

However, to the couple who bought it in Italy during a honeymoon trip together, it can be one of the most valuable items in the world.

The key difference is that for a stranger, the cup has no significance, but to the couple, the cup triggers a memory of an important event in their lives.

Likewise, when the world sees Christians partaking of a piece of bread and a small sip of juice, they don’t see the significance. To them, it probably just seems like a weird ritual.

However, to us who know the significance, the Lord’s Supper triggers our imagination to return to the time where Jesus was suspended on the cross.

Looking at the broken bread, we think of the flesh on Jesus’ back being cruelly broken by the Roman flagellum. Then, turning to the juice (or wine), we picture Jesus’ blood flowing down the crucifix, flowing like a stream.

These internal pictures help us to focus on the truths that Jesus was wounded for our healing and that He bled so that we could be redeemed and receive forgiveness of sins.

Jesus has given us the Lord’s Supper as a holy souvenir to remember His death at the cross. Through the communion elements, our faith awakens and we are reminded how righteous we are now in Christ—not how sinful we are.

“For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:23-30‬ ‭WEB‬)

Two wrong ways to partake of the Lord’s Supper:

1. Rushing through it by just quickly stuffing the elements in your mouth without pausing to discern the Lord’s body (bread is the broken body and wine is the shed blood of Christ).
2. Being sin conscious, acting as though Jesus’ finished work at the cross is not able to keep you cleansed from the penalty of all your lifetime of sins.

Partake of the Lord’s Supper often, and when doing so, don’t rush through it as though you are popping a common pill. Take time to contemplate, seeing yourself as healthy and n healed through Jesus’ body that was broken for you, and that you are forgiven and blessed because Jesus shed His blood for you.

Enjoy this special souvenir which Jesus gave you to remember Him by. It’s not just for sentimental value. When you partake of the Lord’s supper, you are proclaiming Jesus’ death at the cross, and in turn, you experiential the full benefits which He died to give you. That is, the total redemption from the effects of sin, death, and the curse!

The Lord’s Supper is one of the mighty spiritual weapons that aids us in spiritual warfare against every trick of the enemy. Learn to use your full arsenal of weapons here: https://bit.ly/silencing-the-serpent

2016/2017

The consensus among most of my friends seems to be that 2016 was a terrible year, and the beginning of a long decline into something we don’t even want to imagine.

2016 was indeed a pretty rough year, but I wonder if it’s the end - not the beginning - of a long decline. Or at least the beginning of the end….for I think we’ve been in decline for about 40 years, enduring a slow process of de-civilisation, but not really quite noticing it until now. I’m reminded of that thing about the frog placed in a pan of slowly heating water…

This decline includes the transition from secure employment to precarious employment, the destruction of unions and the shrinkage of workers’ rights, zero hour contracts, the dismantling of local government, a health service falling apart, an underfunded education system ruled by meaningless exam results and league tables, the increasingly acceptable stigmatisation of immigrants, knee-jerk nationalism, and the concentration of prejudice enabled by social media and the internet.

This process of decivilisation grew out of an ideology which sneered at social generosity and championed a sort of righteous selfishness. (Thatcher: “Poverty is a personality defect”. Ayn Rand: “Altruism is evil”). The emphasis on unrestrained individualism has had two effects: the creation of a huge amount of wealth, and the funnelling of it into fewer and fewer hands. Right now the 62 richest people in the world are as wealthy as the bottom half of its population combined. The Thatcher/Reagan fantasy that all this wealth would ‘trickle down’ and enrich everybody else simply hasn’t transpired. In fact the reverse has happened: the real wages of most people have been in decline for at least two decades, while at the same time their prospects - and the prospects for their children - look dimmer and dimmer. No wonder people are angry, and turning away from business-as-usual government for solutions. When governments pay most attention to whoever has most money, the huge wealth inequalities we now see make a mockery of the idea of democracy. As George Monbiot said: “The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the purse is mightier than the pen”.

Last year people started waking up to this. A lot of them, in their anger, grabbed the nearest Trump-like object and hit the Establishment over the head with it. But those were just the most conspicuous, media-tasty awakenings. Meanwhile there’s been a quieter but equally powerful stirring: people are rethinking what democracy means, what society means and what we need to do to make them work again. People are thinking hard, and, most importantly, thinking out loud, together. I think we underwent a mass disillusionment in 2016, and finally realised it’s time to jump out of the saucepan.

This is the start of something big. It will involve engagement: not just tweets and likes and swipes, but thoughtful and creative social and political action too. It will involve realising that some things we’ve taken for granted - some semblance of truth in reporting, for example - can no longer be expected for free. If we want good reporting and good analysis, we’ll have to pay for it. That means MONEY: direct financial support for the publications and websites struggling to tell the non-corporate, non-establishment side of the story. In the same way if we want happy and creative children we need to take charge of education, not leave it to ideologues and bottom-liners. If we want social generosity, then we must pay our taxes and get rid of our tax havens. And if we want thoughtful politicians, we should stop supporting merely charismatic ones.

Inequality eats away at the heart of a society, breeding disdain, resentment, envy, suspicion, bullying, arrogance and callousness. If we want any decent kind of future we have to push away from that, and I think we’re starting to.

There’s so much to do, so many possibilities. 2017 should be a surprising year.

- Brian