John 1

I've heard of people saying that in John 1, when it says, "and the word was God", that because, in the Greek, the "the" before God is left out, it should say in the English, "and the word was a god." Basically saying that Jesus is a god, rather than Jesus being fully God and fully man.

We actually talked about this a little bit in the Greek class I am taking at church and here's the tricky part; the way it's written could be interpreted that way, but it could also be interpreted the way it is written as well, but we know based on context that we are speaking of the one any only God. We learned that in Greek the subject of the sentence is given the "the."

John 1:
1 ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. 2 οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

ὁ λόγος (ho logos) - the word
τὸν θεόν (ton Theon) - the God

Notice, in the portion, "καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος" there is no "the" before θεὸς (Theos - God), the kai is a conjuction (and). But, that is because the author wanted the subject to be, "the word" not "God" or else we would read the sentence, God is the word. That would mean that God is Jesus or God equals Jesus, that they are one in the same and equal in all ways. This is not the case, that is the problem with trying to do a direct word-for-word translation, it just doesn't work. We know that Jesus will sit on the throne at the right hand of God. You could think of it as saying that, everything that God is, The Word (Jesus) is also. Notice verse 2, "οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν", He was with God in the Beginning, and this time God has the "τὸν" in front of it... it is Jesus who is fully God yet fully man not the other way around. In the context we know that the author, John, is speaking of the one and only God, not just any god. Jesus is fully God, He was with God in the Beginning and through Him all things were created. God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They each act separately and perform different functions, yet all make up God. The word became flesh and lived among us. All that was in God was put into human form to live among us as the word. Very symbolic.

My Week 6 Predictions

Chicago over Atlanta: Atlanta has been looking decent, but I think that Chicago has a defense that will hold Atlanta's running game to a minimum and give the Bears a victory.
Miami over Houston: I think Miami has a few easy games ahead of them and with their recent victories over two hard teams have gained some momentum.
Indianapolis over Baltimore: Indi needs to pick it up and win this one.
Minnesota over Detroit: Minnesota should dominate a broken Detroit team.
New Orleans over Oakland: Oakland will hopefully have some new life after a bye week with their interim coach, but I don't think it'll be enough to win.
NY Jets over Cincinnati: Cinci is just bad.
Carolina over Tampa Bay: Carolina should win this one, they are looking pretty good so far.
Washington over STL: The Redskins look great this year, and the St Louis Rams look horrendous.
Denver over Jacksonville: Despite the good D of Jacksonville Denver has shown they can prosper over good defensive teams.
Dallas over Arizona: Dallas should win this one, as long as they stick with the run game.
Philly over San Fransisco: The 49ers look really weak despite being 2nd in the division.
Green Bay over Seattle: Seattle looks bad, and Green Bay should take this one easily, but I also thought that about their matchup versus Atlanta... and I was wrong.
New England over San Diego: This should be a fairly tough game that the Chargers really have to step up for, and the Pats aren't in last years form, but they should win.
NY Giants over Cleveland: Giants will dominate this game against a pathetic Browns team.

Okay, so only the Titans and Giants are still undefeated

So, I was right about:
The Titans winning,
Carolina beating the Chiefs,
the Bears running all over the Lions,
the Atlanta-GB game being close (although the Pack did not win),
the Colts pulling off the W,
I was right about the Giants,
the Skins over the Eagles,
Denver pulling off another win,
the Cowboys, the Pats, and
I was completely right about the Steelers game,
and the Vikings.

However, I was wrong about the Chargers and Dolphins (although I did say I liked Miami and I wanted them to win), wrong about thinking Green Bay would beat Atlanta, wrong about saying that the Bills would defeat Arizona.

That makes me 11-3 for week 5. Not too shabby.

Titans, Bills, and Giants will remain undefeated

There are three undefeated teams in the NFL right now, the Titans, Bills, and Giants. However, both the Titans and the Bills have beaten 4 teams with combined records of 3-12 and 4-11, respectively. They just haven't played anyone that great yet. Don't get me wrong the Titans have proven they have a great defense and can win games. The Bills barely beat Oakland and had to come back to beat St. Louis. But they won, and looking ahead at their schedules, I think that they can still remain Playoff bound in their divisions.

The Giants have only played 3 games so far, 2 of them against the winless Bengals and Rams, and have at least 3 more easy games before facing some harder opposition. They will have a hard time in their division this year with both the Cowboys and Redskins playing tough, along with the Eagles' strong defense rearing the NFC East at 2-2. They all have tough match-ups and I am favoring the Cowboys right now to be the contenders for the top spot again.

As far as this week goes... I think the standings won't change too much.

Titans at Baltimore: Titans will win this hard fought battle
Chiefs at Carolina: The Panthers will take this one, even though the Chiefs have some life in them.
Bears at Detroit: I think that the Bears will run all over the Lions.
Falcons at Green Bay: This might be close, but I'm going with Green Bay.
Colts at Houston: Neither team looking too great, but I expect the Colts to come out the gates playing and pull off a Victory.
San Diego at Miami: I actually like Miami and want them to win. Their pass defense is not that great and Phillip Rivers can throw it deep. And Miami won't be able to get away with the stunts they pulled off against New England. San Diego will most likely win this one.
Seahawks at NY Giants: I fully expect the Giants to take this game even with Seattle finally getting 2 of their injured receivers back (although for my fantasy team's sake, I hope Engram gets the ball in the End Zone).
Redskins at Philadelphia:This is a tough match-up to call. Both these teams have been playing great lately, but with Westbrooks injury, I think the Redskins can pull this one off, as long as they can stop Buckhalter like the Bears stopped him last week.
Bucs at Denver: The Broncos were looking good this year until that defeat by the abysmal Chiefs, but I think that they can come back to form against the Buccaneers. I don't expect them to make a lot of stops against the Bucs, but with the offensive numbers they've been putting up they should pull this one off.
Bills at Arizona: This shouldn't be that hard of a match-up for the Bills. I expect them to take home the win.
Bengals at Dallas: As poorly as the Bengals are playing this year, I don't see how they can beat the Cowboys.
Patriots at San Fran: Despite the 49ers being my team, they just don't have what it takes to beat the Patriots, even a Patriots team that doesn't have Tom Brady.
Steelers at Jacksonville: This will be one tough game, and probably the most difficult for me to decide. The steelers don't have Willie Parker, Big Ben is all banged up, but they have a great defense. Jacksonville as has a great defense, and I see this as another battle of the D's which Pittsburgh will pull off.
Vikings at New Orleans: Despite the Vikings 1-2 record and New Orleans 2-0 record at home this season. Despite, Drew Brees lighting it up through the air. I don't think this game will go down this way. I believe the Vikings will win this game.

Wow! Week 3 had a bunch of close games and surprises

I had some predictions yesterday, and it here's the results... one more to go:

1) Falcons over the Chiefs... Correct.
2) Bills over the Raiders... Correct, but closer than I thought.
3) Bears over Bucs... Wrong, but a close game.
4) Vikings over Panthers... Correct.
5) Patriots over Dolphins... Wrong... an upset... not even close.
6) Giants over Bengals... Correct, but surprisingly close.
7) Titans over Texans... Correct.
8) Cardinals over the Redskins... Wrong.
9) 49ers over Lions... Correct.
10) Seahawks over Rams ... Correct... they got their first win.
11) Broncos over Saints ... Correct, and got close toward the end.
12) Steelers over the Eagles... Wrong, and it was hard fought and low scoring.
13) Colts over the Jags... Wrong... thought the colts had it, but lost it by a FG.
14) Browns over Ravens ... Wrong... wasn't really an upset, but unexpected.
15) Cowboys over the Packers ... Correct... keeping the Cowboys at the top of my rankings.
16) And on Monday Night, I think the Chargers will finally pull off a win. The Jets will probably lose this one, but it will probably be high scoring and hard fought.... and We'll see. (And, I was right)

9-5 this week. (10-5)

Week 2 in the NFL

My predictions this week:
1) Falcons over the Chiefs... Chief's backup QB Thigpen is in their offense hasn't been clicking, despite the Falcons losing pretty badly last week their RB's are looking good and the Chiefs have a horrible run defense.
2) Bills over the Raiders... Raiders' Jamarcuss Russel not looking so hot, so all they do is run. With Fargus out and their back-up McFadden banged up... it's not looking too good. Bills' Marshawn Lynch will run all over the Raiders in this game.
3) Bears over Bucs... The Bears looked good against the Colts, although Peyton Manning wasn't up to par in that game, I think they have what it takes to take down the bucs.
4) Vikings over Panthers... okay so the veteran Gus Ferotte is stepping in for Jackson and Peterson is banged up, but can the Panthers really keep this facade of greatness by winning with slim margins.
5) Patriots over Dolphins... yes, the Patriots are a great team and I want the Dolphins to win won, but I'm not sure they can against the Pats.
6) Giants over Bengals... the Bengals, Carson Palmer, the O-Line, and Ocho-cinco are looking horrendous, and the Giants look like Super Bowl Defenders.
7) Titans over Texans... Texans don't look to good and despite injuries the Titans have they are looking rather good in this matchup.
8) Cardinals over the Redskins... The Card's are on a great 2-0 start with Kurt Warner in his super bowl glory days and MVP form... with the Cardinals? I think they can do it. The Redskins offense is finally starting to click with their new system, but we'll see.
9) 49ers over Lions... not just because the Niners are my team, but because the Lions are just that bad.
10) Seahawks over Rams ... Hopefully a win for the Seahawks here... if they lose this one, they'll take my position at number 32 overall where the Rams now lie in my Rankings.
11) Broncos over Saints ... The Bronco's, despite controversial victory last week are scoring machines, and with Brandon Marshall back have a lot more targets for Cutler.
12) Steelers over the Eagles... yep, the 2-0 Steelers will probably beat the 1-1 Eagles, despite a healthy Donovan McNabb and a hurting Ben Roethlisburger the Steelers will pound this one out.
13) Colts over the Jags... the Colts just have to win this one. David Girrard isn't looking so hot and Peyton Mannings coming back to form.
14) Browns over Ravens ... the 0-2 Browns put up a fight against the Steelers last week, if Braylon Edwards can wipe the grease off his hands they should win this one.
15) Cowboys over the Packers ... despite the Pack looking good so far, they've beaten two lackluster teams, while TO and Romo have been putting up some strong numbers. Rodgers isn't too bad himself, but they're missing some firepower and have some banged up starters and won't have enough to pull this one off.
16) And on Monday Night, I think the Chargers will finally pull off a win. The Jets will probably lose this one, but it will probably be high scoring and hard fought.

Football Season

Today, is the day I get to watch some football. For some odd reason I was really looking forward to the Jets/Dolphins game, and it didn't disappoint. At first I just thought that Miami didn't have much of a chance, but in the final 6 minutes Chad Pennington really brought the heat and made a game out of it. Another exciting drive that I got to see was Delhomme in his final 2 minutes 5 points down against San Diego, and wow, it amazes me the way the ball made it through two defenders to his receiver and pull off the win as time expired off the clock. Now, I'm watching Indi against the bears, and it's turning to be an exciting season already. Too bad, both my Fantasy teams aren't doing well.