Roses are Red?

My parents were telling me once upon a time that rose colors actually have a great deal of meaning; cool! Here is a helpful list of what roses mean.

Red – Love, Beauty, Courage and Respect, Romantic Love, Congratulations, "I Love You", "Job Well Done", Sincere Love, Respect, Courage & Passion          

Red (Dark) – Unconscious beauty

Red (Single) – “I Love You"

Deep Burgundy – Unconscious Beauty

White – Purity, Innocence, Silence, Secrecy, Reverence, Humility, Youthfulness,

"I am worthy of you", Heavenly

White (Bridal) – Happy love

Pink – Appreciation, "Thank you", Grace, Perfect Happiness, Admiration, Gentleness, "Please Believe Me"

Dark Pink – Appreciation, Gratitude, "Thank You"

Light Pink – Admiration, Sympathy, Gentleness, Grace, Gladness, Joy, Sweetness

Yellow – Joy, Gladness, Friendship, Delight, Promise of a new beginning, Welcome Back, Remember Me,  Jealousy, "I care"

Yellow with Red Tip – Friendship, Falling in Love

Orange – Desire, Enthusiasm

Red and White – Given together, these signify unity

Red and Yellow – Jovial and Happy Feelings

Peach – Appreciation, Closing the deal, Let's get together, Sincerity, Gratitude

Pale Peach – Modesty

Coral – Desire

Lavender – Love at first sight, Enchantment

Orange – Enthusiasm, Desire, Fascination

Black – Death, Farewell

Blue – The unattainable, the impossible

Single - any color – Simplicity, Gratitude

Red Rosebud – Symbolic of purity and loveliness

White Rosebud – Symbolic of girlhood

Thorn-less Rose – "Love at first sight"

Roses by the Numbers

A single rose of any colour depicts utmost devotion

Two roses entwined together communicate "Marry me"

Six Roses signify a need to be loved or cherished

Eleven roses assure the recipient they are truly and deeply loved

Thirteen roses indicate a secret admirer

(Taken from:http://www.rkdn.org/roses/colors.asp)

Consistency

"This is the reason that we see such ridicule in the lives of many people. Many people are strict when it comes to times and places of devotion, but when the service and the church is over, they life like those that seldom or never come there. In their way of life, their manner of spending their time and money, in their cares and fears, in their pleasure and indulgences, in their labors and diversions, they are like the rest of the world. This leads the world to make light of those who are devout because they see their devotion goes no further than their prayers. When their prayers are over, they stop living unto God until the next time they pray. In between they live with the same attitudes and desires as other people. This is the reason why they are scoffed at by worldly people, not because they are really devoted to God, but because they appear to have no other devotion than their occasional prayers." (William Law)

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill." and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe  - and sudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works , and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is also dead.

- James 2:14-26

Am I going to Heaven?

This weekend I was at the Northwest Roundup and Exhibition in Swan River MB. One of the first things I saw upon entering the fair grounds was a booth with a sign that asked, "Are you going to heaven? Take our FREE two question survey to find out!" My friends and I kind of chuckled and carried on. Later we were bored so we decided to go and talk to the people at the booth. They asked the question, do you know if you are going to heaven, and of course we all answered yes. The discussion continued on and was both humorous and thought provoking. I spent the better part of the rest of the day thinking about the experience.

It seems that I have many times been asked if I know if I am going to heaven, and the question has never sat right with me. Here is why; I don't think we can ever have 100% epistemic certainty about matters of faith. The very definition of faith is putting your belief in something that you aren't completely certain of. So to claim knowledge in regards to a matter of faith like going to heaven. Basically I reject this question as being ill-conceived and generally ignorant. We cannot know, we can only believe, we can even believe with a high degree of certainty, in fact, it is only smart to believe in things that we have reasonable evidence to believe, but that does not mean we have stumbled upon complete certainty. So for the sake of reasonable faith, let's leave such ignorant guilt-bearing questions behind us.