Cosmic Hole In A Donut©-flash fiction

Cosmic Hole In A Donut

‘I know where you can get the best donut in town.’ My friend who had come visiting took me on and we left our wives to their shopping and we came out and I led him to a small lane where not much really happened except a straggling knot of men to which we silently joined. A hole in a wall where nothing by way of a menu in display, but a notice scrawled on the wall:
Berliner/Donut for one euro.
When our turn came I made the order. I knew my friend’s incredulous stare behind me as I collected donut for two and held out his share. Silently we sampled our treat, his deferential treatment of his fare was a nod. Of course he was pleased. As we walked to join our spouses in their shopping spree I said, “It is the only time a cosmic hole made sense to me.”
“Knowing you as I do you shall make a story as well, Right?”
I said, yes- more determined to keep my reputation as a story-teller in tact. We both had silently regressed into our school days and I was in form. I said,
“When Brahma first got an elephant He took Vishnu and Siva along The Elephant was docile and knew exactly what was expected of him. Vishnu the preserver said, “Oh creator God, excellent idea!” But as days went by the elephant let out heaps of turd and somewhere along a dung beetle got in and would not go. Faster the animal walked the beetle shrieked and shrieked. Brahma said, “The animal is a bit nervous, never mind.” Siva the destroyer asked in irritation, You create a beast and now the beetle is loath to let go all that shit.” The other two gods held silence. Shiva asked, “With permission I will put an end this instant.” Vishnu sad, Oh please, no,” Siva in high dudgeon said, “Either he gets his wish or I lose my head.” Brahma asked Siva to let off his steam a little.
Shiva opened his third eye and in next instant the heap of turd was vaporized! Vishnu a picture of woe looked about and the beetle was no more to be seen. Rest of the trip the trimurti were silent. At one place they broke journey and tying the elephant to a tree each went to attend to his business but when they came back the animal was no more to be seen. Brahma in a dither asked other gods where he had tethered the animal. Shiva silently held out a seed and said, “Just watch this”. Yes immediately the disembodied trunk of the beast took the seed and swallowed it..
Nothing happened. Next moment a gargantuan fart of the elephant. A Big Bang it was. With so much energy going free the tree glowed and before their eyes growing out many universes and in front of it stood the elephant!
Was Brahma delighted? Oh boy he got on the back and would have rode along but a shriek at which all the three gods looked in alarm. There was the dead dung beetle alive and in a shriek, “You brought me back to life alright, No thanks you will get from me!” This was followed with a shriek like a pneumatic drill going on a rampage,” But where is my dung?
When we joined our wives we were our sober selves, and going back in time an aberration not worth mentioning.
And I had a bite into the comic hole in every donut. That was different.
The End

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Significance of memorial in the Scripture:

When we consider the glory of man it is often compared to grass that fades away. Similarly when we consider our golden youth before we can make a song and dance about it we need to pause, for with a body breaking down it will not carry conviction. So any memorial we erect can only be termed as a memorial to vanity.
Be that as it may a memorial is very much an important feature we find in the scripture.
God instituted it as worship for the nation of Israel. Uzkara in Hebrew refers to a handful of meal which is also known as memorial offering.(Lev.2:2,9,16) Part of the beaten corn mixed with oil and the priest was to burn it along with frankincense. Each element has a symbolic meaning and taken all together its significance has much more than its individual parts carry. When burnt together smoke from it rises and ‘it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord(2:16)’. Like prayer it has a direction that defines our standing before our Maker.
It is in this context we read of the word of God referring the prayer of a Roman centurion as having gone up before God (Ac.10:4). So memorial has to do with the nature of God and also it is a commentary on the part of man. So relationship between God and man is established by symbols. Similarly when we observe Holy Communion we are recalling the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ-‘Do this in remembrance of me'(1 Co.11:24-25). Memorial in true sense of the word for a Christian shall carry an aspect of Jesus Christ.
Now let us look at heaven where we have a memorial of ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world(Re.13.8)’ A memorial is established between God and man where the nature of God is the greater of the two. Naturally when prayers go up and blessings come down- and this direction shall never be superseded, is it not then logical to take heaven and the earth as one entity?
In John 3:16 we read “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,…” Let us now consider quote from the Book of the Revelation. The Slain Lamb is an emblem, symbolical reference to God, the Son. Man endowed with free will would need help in their need so it is clear acknowledgement of Divine Nature-Love and Mercy.
God is Love. In heaven we have it as a symbol,- a memorial. When John the Baptist pointed out Jesus of Nazareth and declared,”Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world(Jn.1:29-34)’ how did he make the connection but by the Spirit in the form of a dove alighting upon his cousin? God is a Spirit. Symbols of Lamb and dove are the means to make significance of matters which we may say as abstract. So relationship between God and man is made clearer by a memorial: God Man and the Spirit (symbol). A three fold cord is not quickly broken (Eccle.4:12).
Benny

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Role of Prophecy in the Scripture

News is made everyday from all around the world. Man biting a dog catches the headlines in a National while the pit bull of the neighbor mauling a child is consigned to a column buried in some corner. If the pit bull carried rabies the news would be given more importance in a local daily. Financial pages carry trends of commodities and value of stocks that are of particular interest to those who move their money around and make some quick money.
Prophecy is more like trends of events that must be set in course by some other events. If there is a war declared resultant scarcity of produce is foreseen and fluctuation in prices would reflect to it. It is a certain knowledge derived by careful study of past trends and experience is very much at the heart of it. Experience of human nature gives foreknowledge how man would respond given certain conditions. Prophecy given in the Scripture man derives foreknowledge from God so when Prophet Isaiah speaks about the birth of Jesus, it is an event that is proved from God as fulfilled. Harold Camping some years ago predicted a doomsday but it did not take place. So he revised it to another day. So a prophet is either from God or one who wants others to think he has God as his consultant. Here who consider only the former.
The Scripture is a narrative where God has determined certain result and How it is fulfilled provided us a Father-Son relationship. God is a Spirit and we speak of God the Son in human terms as not created but begotten of God. So Jesus when came to the world he was the image of the Invisible God. The Jews do not believe in trinity but they however look for the coming of Messiah who shall restore all things and his Millennial Reign they believe was foretold in the Book of Isaiah.
The time element of the Scripture is God’s Time. What does that signify? When Isaiah predicts of the sign a virgin giving birth it refers to the first advent of Jesus Christ. Further on there is prophecy considering Millennial Reign which is at the end times. The same God the Son as the Servant-King and as Messiah-King placed side by side because the Spirit recast both narratives from the Father and Son in a timeframe which is God’s Time. The eternalGod is omnipotent and omnipresent so He has no need for time or space. The Spirit uses a time frame for our understanding.
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The eternal God therefore looks to the immediate as well as in keeping with his eternal Mind. What is the quintessence of it? Justice Mercy, Love are characteristics that He shall never deny. His gifts are irrevocable but if such a gift brings harm upon man for instance Samson, only he is to blame. Similarly for nations. The prophesies are not intended solely for Judah or Israel but also for the Gentile nations. His promise to Abraham shall never be laid aside but in Time brought to fulfillment. So prophecies carry a time element beyond human comprehension. Babylon is judged and the place is consigned to oblivion not fit for human habitation. Is that the end of it? In one place it is a stand in for Jerusalem(Re.11:8). It is how the Spirit delineates God’s will. God’s Time with which he narrates the eternal word shall render Babylon a byword for rampant wickedness equally valid even though historically it is past. Thus we see it mentioned as Babylon the great in the Book of Revelation.(Ch.18:2)
Prophecy is intended for reproof. Basis for this naturally would be the word of God. Statecraft of nations (with which the Gentiles negotiate with one another) cannot be the basis since the aim is material advantage and glory. It is also intended for correction as Jonah was sent to preach to Nineveh. But without removing the problem of sin prophecies cannot be isolated from the sweep of divine Mind and apply them for specific crisis. The problem of sin was at the destruction of the cities of the plains and also in the time of Noah. God judged both and means of punishment were in each case different.
In the time of Isaiah the envy of Samaria finds in Syria an ally so according the manner of gentile nations what Judah can do but find an equally formidable ally to scare off the league of Samaria? Had Israel relied on God who delivered from the might of Pharaoh they would not have run to Assyria for help. Righteousness imputed to the nation of Israel does not mean God would save them from their foolish strategies. David was a man after His heart but his adultery with Bathsheba and consequently death of Uriah had to be punished. So till Israel learnt to worship God in spirit and truth prophecies of Isaiah or any other would carry elements that are valid till the end times.
Israel were scattered from their land under Assyria and Babylon respectively. God’s Judgment is pronounced but are they the end? No. For this reason Israel shall be scattered again and again and their enemies in each case would seem a clone of Rezin or Tiglath-Pilser. Consider the present powers-that-be prevailing over the Middle East politics. Hisbollah backed Syria at the present and Iran are names not minted by will of man. In place of Rezin there shall be so many other names found. “Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, —for out of the root serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent(Is.14:29).” In Hebraic usage a cockatrice is serpent and fiery serpents in modern times may be sidewinders and stingers air to air missiles familiar to anyone who is interested modern weaponry. What we need to understand is that the same old conflicts triggered by unresolved sin but with change of names here and there.
This leads to the most crucial point for prophecies is not either Israel or the gentile nations but God the Son who is the heir of all things whether in heaven or on the earth. He came into his own but his own did not receive him. Israel merely bought time by rejecting the Son of man whose second advent and his Millennial Reign form the core value of prophecy.
While we discussed Moab we referred to the significance of David entrusting his pares under the king of Moab. What was the purpose of the Spirit to include this detail? Our instruction in righteousness must be on the basis of the spirit for the Lord God is a Spirit. Thus how Jesus Christ transferred on his disciple John the care of his mother was on the spiritual basis. For this reason the Millennial Reign shall be a period of spiritual awakening so Israel shall blossom forth as fig tree (Matt.24:32-35). The context in which he said this parable also is very significant. Enmity of the nations with one other shall find resolution when Israel learns to worship God in spirit and truth.
Benny

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