Reading from Saturday, January 30

Well, I missed my first day of blogging, but definitely intend to catch up. I will do Saturday's entry now, and the reading for today, this evening.


I did miss the entry for good reason though: I was down visiting my friends from ORB. It was really great spending time with everyone again, and being at the ORB worship service this morning made me miss it so much. It just feels like home there. And while our new church, Metro, is great - we have just such strong ties at ORB. So Jilly and I were talking about going down to ORB Sunday service a little more often. I would really really like that, so we will see if we can make that happen and get up early enough on Sunday to do that.

Cool. So here's the reading for Saturday.

Reading for Saturday, January 30

Exodus 10:1-12:13
Right out of the gate here - its as though God heard my questions about his making the Egyptians stubborn, he further elaborates on his motives:

 ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn^[a] so I can display my miraculous signs among them. ² I’ve also done it so you can tell your children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them—and so you will know that I am the Lord.”

This still doesn't sound like a loving a graceful God - torturing one group of people to save another. This was, however, still under the 'eye for an eye' mentality.  When Jesus died on the cross, it took away God's need to seek retribution - hey look at me drawing conclusions!

OK - now see, this is making me angry again. Moses brings the plague of the locusts, and they devour every living plant in all of Egypt. Pharaoh is like "OK, seriously...I'm a jerk. I'm sorry to you and to your God. Your people may go." But then God 'hardens his heart' AGAIN! Pharaoh was ready to give in! He even confessed his sins to a God that wasn't part of the Egyptian custom and belief system.

Furthermore, what about all of the oppressed people in the world today? What plagues are being brought against their oppressors? What is God doing to set those people free? Maybe there are plagues of locusts in Tibet, and we're just not hearing about them...?

Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.

OK, I guess this makes more sense now. I had just spent some time reading through Acts before I started this whole Bible project, and there was a part where Peter had a dream that convinced him that everyone on Earth is worthy of God's love and compassion and message, while in the Old Testament, God was only focused on the Isrealites.

However, what God is referring to here is killing all of the firstborn sons of Egypt. Pretty heavy stuff. This also triggers the first passover. God told all the Israelites living in the land of Egypt to slaughter a young lamb with no defects, eat that lamb for dinner, and smear the blood of the lamb over their door. God was to come down that night and kill all of the first born of Egypt, but for those who had blood on their door, he would "pass over" their house. See what he did there.

The other interesting thing here is 'why would God need an indicator of which houses were Egyptian and which houses were Israeli?' I don't think he did need it - the blood over the door frame represents two things as I see it:

1) It was an act of obedience to God, and one that I would imagine would be pretty easy to follow. If I heard God was going to come and kill all the bulldogs in Westwood, I would do whatever he told me to do for him to not kill Kreacher. So he was giving the Israelites an exercise in obedience.

2) The slaughter of a lamb with no defects is fairly, if not blantantly, symbolic of Jesus - a blameless, defect free, lamb of God. And accepting Jesus' sacrifice and 'smearing his blood' over the door to our hearts will protect us from God's wrath and the pitfalls of being a human.

Chris De La Cruz - are these interpretations anywhere close to being right?
Pete Mitchell - what am I overlooking?
 
Matthew 20:1-28 
A cool parable, a prediction, and a good lesson about serving others
I've heard the parable of the landowner many times, and I've heard a few sermons on it. I think this parable is a direct revoking of the way God treated the Egyptians in the book of Exodus. Here's the parable in a nutshell:

There's a guy who owns land. Let's call him Gary. Gary goes out at 6AM to hire workers to work his land. He tells them that at the end of the day, he tells them that he will pay them whatever is fair. He goes out again at 9AM, 12 Noon, 3PM and 5PM and hired workers to work until the end of the work day which was 6PM. At 6PM, Gary calls all his workers to get paid. The workers who were hired at 5PM received their payment first, and they all recieved a full day's wage. The workers who started at 6AM saw that and said "oh man, if the people who only worked one hour, got a full day's wage, we'll probably get a lot more!" Well, they all got the same amount of money.

I think this represents (again) two things:
1) Whether you come to God early in life, or late in life we will all recieve equal blessings and God will love us all equally. By extension you should not feel entitled or "deserving" of anything based on what you've done for God. As if doing good deeds stores up credit for God's blessings.
2) Same thing as above, but all people on the earth are worthy of God's love, no matter who you are.

The rest of this reading focuses on Jesus once again predicting his arrest, torture and death - with remarkable details. He also speaks about himself in third person. I wonder if that was a psychological "crutch" because to say all these things are going to happen to "me" would be terrifying I think. Even to God himself.

Then he talks about serving others, with the ultimate message here saying "I came to serve others, not to be served." So we shouldn't focus on being a leader among eachother, but just to serve eachother. So do that - be good to eachother.

Psalm 25:1-15

 ¹² Who are those who fear the Lord?
      He will show them the path they should choose.
 ¹³ They will live in prosperity,
      and their children will inherit the land.
 ¹⁴ The Lord is a friend to those who fear him.
      He teaches them his covenant.
 ¹⁵ My eyes are always on the Lord,
      for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.

Still searching for answers on fearing God. These two verses show the result of fearing God, but not what it means to fear him. I still need to do more searching on this.

Proverbs 6:6-11
I should post this in my cubicle at work.

 ⁶ Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
      Learn from their ways and become wise!
 ⁷ Though they have no prince
      or governor or ruler to make them work,
 ⁸ they labor hard all summer,
      gathering food for the winter.
 ⁹ But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
      When will you wake up?
 ¹⁰ A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
      a little folding of the hands to rest—
 ¹¹ then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
      scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Alright! I seem to go a lot deeper into the interpretation when I'm not about to fall asleep. I need to start doing this earlier. I will do the reading for today later tonight.

Love all the time.

Friday, January 29

Goodest of evenings to you. It's pretty late, so I'm gonna get right to the point.


Reading for January 29

Exodus 8:1-9:35
So annoying!
The plagues continue here in an almost formulaic way. God tells Moses what to do, Moses does it, something really annoying happens to the Egyptians. It gets more and more serious each time, all the way up to the death of all the livestock the Egyptians owned.

What's frustrating here is the back and forth between Moses and Pharaoh. Every few plagues, Pharaoh says he's had enough, and begs Moses to call off the plagues. Moses prays to God and the current plague is removed. But then Pharaoh changes his mind and doesn't let the Israelites go. It's the old "Psyche!"

A few times, it says Pharaoh goes back on his word because he was stubborn. But then its repeated that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So God is intentionally dragging out the plague fest. WHY? If Pharaoh admitted defeat, said this God must be the God, and decided to let the Israelites, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU CHANGE HIS MIND FOR HIM??!! HE GETS IT! Ugh!

Matthew 19:13-30
Be like the boy...

Jesus encounters small children for the second time in Matthew. Here is how he reacts:

“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

 So, we are supposed to be like these children - but in what aspect? Obviously we shouldn't behave like children. I've heard a few sermons on this verse, and I think the consensus is that we must accept and believe in God with the tenacity of a child. I guess it's kind of the way we believed in Santa Clause when we were kids. Though he turned out to be fake, when I believed in him, I was always filled with a sense of wonder. I wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I was excited to talk about him and discuss him openly about the gifts he's given me - we, as adults, need to accept and believe in God in that way. I think that's what he's saying.

Psalm 24:1-10
God cares for everyone
 ¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
      The world and all its people belong to him.
 ² For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas
      and built it on the ocean depths.

Proverbs 6:1-5
This one is weird - it talks about asking for a way out of debt from a friend. Telling you to not procrastinate and do it now. I wonder if there's any connection to the parable of the king and debtor.

Tired. 2:00 AM. Going down south tomorrow to visit my old chums! ORB church on Sunday! Word. the bird is the word.

Thursday, January 28

Hey-ho. Welp, today was my birthday and I had a pretty good one! I played a ton of video games, actually BEAT Mario Bros Wii, gorged myself at Friendly's with my lovely wife, and then we came home and had a facebook battle - that's when we update eachother's statuses to make the other person look foolish. I made her be in love with Nickleback. Haha.


Lets-a Go! (Mexico)

Reading for January 28

Exodus 5:22-7:25
This begins the "let my people go" stand off. On one side we have God, Moses and Aaron - on the other we have the Pharaoh of Egypt. There is an answer to my question from yesterday here - the question was, "Why would God make Pharaoh's heart hard in the first place?" Here, God tells Moses,

³ But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

Basically, I will make it take longer so I can really show that I am God. Now that I think about it, that's a pretty crappy answer. Unless...hmm...let's look at this from God's point of view. If what I've been told is true, then God wants the best for us. So then, by "showing off" by performing a weeks worth of miracles, the Israelites would be more inclined to not only believe in God, but fear him. So believing in and fearing God is good for us. If what I was taught was true, then this isn't God trying to show off so he can have a lot of signatures in his yearbook at the end of the year, this is God trying to get his people on the right path, and he knows that the way to as Isrealites heart is through his miracle receptors.

Only problem is - the stuff he helps Moses do aren't miracles. Not these first two anyway....the first two acts are Moses turning his staff into a snake and turning water into blood. But the Egyptian magicians could do the same thing. Meaning these were likely slight of hand tricks...I know the later plagues can't be replicated by the magicians but why not start with a bang? Open with your big number?

Matthew 18:21-19:12
Parable of the unforgiving debtor
OK - as far as I know, this is the first parable Jesus tells that is an analogy to his life and sacrifice. Here it is in a nutshell.

There's a dude who owes a lot of money to a king. I've heard interpretations that say it would take this guys like 70,000 years to pay off this debt with an average salary. Anyway the dude obviously can't pay it back and begs for mercy from the king to whom he is indebted. The king takes pity on him and forgives him the entire debt.

Up until this point, we can easily see a clear parallel. We humans are the person in debt, the king is Jesus. We could never atone for the sins we've committed, so Jesus pardons all our sins by dying on the cross. But the parable doesn't stop there.

As soon as the dude (let's call him Steve) leaves the king's chambers, he sees another dude (let's call this dude Kyle) who owes Steve a very small amount of money. Kyle asks for another day, but Steve has him arrested and thrown in jail until he can pay up. The king hears about this and then re-instates the debt that Steve owed and he also throws Steve in jail to be totured until he can repay his debt. Which will never happen, because he is now being tortured for a living. Hell, get it?

The lesson here is forgive, because we have been forgiven everything.

The second half of  this reading focuses on marriage, and Jesus lays out some specific rules about divorce and marriage. This line is quoted a lot in weddings, but its still pretty cool:

⁶ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” 

Psalm 23:1-6
Ah, the most popular psalm of all. Now that I'm seeing it in the context of the other psalms, it doens't quite stand out as much. Maybe I'm just decensitized to it becuase its so popular. Anyway you know it. Good old GW Bush read it during one of his State of the Union addresses, or some public address.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And so on.

Proverbs 5:22-23 

²² An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
      they are ropes that catch and hold him.


I think I know what Solomon meant here, but reading this another way, you could say that this talks about mental disorders. That people who commit murders or rape women can't control themselves and are actually controlled by these desires. Now here's the million dollar question, why would God make people that way?

I do a lot of big talk about how I think Gays are OK in the sight of God. My argument is simple:
If God created man, and God is a good God, then he would not create something that is inherently against him and his will. That point can be debated if one believes homosexuality is a choice or a disease, but I'm not here to debate that. My point is, if gay people were born with these desires, they should be OK by God - but then a lot of serial murders say they were born with sick and twisted tendencies. Are murderers OK too then? Ah how the mind swims at 1:30 AM. 

Feel free to counter-point me on any of these topics in the comments below, on facebook or if you want to talk in person - I'm always down for that. I think discussions like these lead to more concrete conclusions.

Alrighty - have a good one, kids. And to any ORB folksies reading this - I might be making a surprise cameo at church on Sunday. :O!!!

K - nite.

Wednesday, January 27

Good evening. Work was a little better today, plus I took off tomorrow, so I am excited to relax and take my mind off work for a little while. It has really been nonstop for a few weeks now. But tomorrow I'll sleep in a little, play some video games, and then my lovely lady is taking me to Friendly's. Oh yeah!


Reading for January 27
Exodus 4:1-5:21
Wow, some serious stuff is goin on here. The scene with the burning bush continues, and God shows Moses that Moses himself is able to perform miracles with God's help. He tells him exactly what to say to Pharaoh and exactly what to do when he gets there. Moses continues to come up with excuses as to why he should not have been picked to do this, and eventually it says that God gets angry and basically says, "Fine, you're brother Aaron will do it then."

Just taking it back a little bit for a minute. There was something in this section that bothered me. God says,

“When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. ²² Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³ I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’"

This I don't understand. It seems like God has perfect control over the emotions of the Pharaoh at this point by saying that he will "harden his heart" - isn't that interfering with  his free will? Also, I am not one to question the motives of God, but I have a question about his motives here...Why would he want to influence someone into a decision that would lead to the death of a child? Why couldn't he soften Pharaoh's heart to make the whole process easier? No pain. No child bloodshed. God says "since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!" But Pharaoh didn't refuse, HE MADE THEM REFUSE! That would be like me saying "God, if you want me to go out and steal a car, please give me no sign...Since you gave me no sign, I will now go steal a car."

That is frustrating to read.

The rest of the reading shows Moses and Aaron speaking to Pharaoh and telling him everything God instructed them to tell them. Pharaoh replies by doubling the work the Israelites must do in a day and is ruthless about it. Now the Israelites start to turn on Moses and Aaron because they feel like its their fault for even bringing up this whole "let my people go" thing.

Oh, also. At one point, God does come down in human form, and tries to freaking kill Moses! He backed off when Moses' wife saw was about to happen and immediately circumcised their son. This leads me to two questions:

1) Uh...why?
2) If he wanted to kill him, why did he have to do it as a human? He can cause a plague and kill every boy in Egypt, but has to turn into a human to threaten the life of Moses?

Matthew 18:1-20
All over the place.

Jesus goes back and forth in this section between statements that are very narrow and scary, to very hopeful promises from God. These are perfect verses that people would take out of context - on both sides of the faith. At one point he says "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better enter Heaven with only one hand than to be thrown into eternal fire with both hands." But didn't he come and die and come back so we wouldn't have to do that? That being said, I've never met a Christian who cut off their own hand because it was causing them to sin. I believe if someone did that today, they would be sent straight to a mental hospital.

But then later, Jesus says, ¹⁹ “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you." So if me and my buddy agree that we want chicken sandwiches right now, God will do it for us? Also, I'm sure that a few more than two people would like the situation in Haiti to improve...

Psalm 22:19-31
This one is all praise. Nice to see. Something kind of cool in here - he says, "Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob! Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel!" Now I  know that the Christian faith has extended beyond the direct descendants of Jacob and Israel, but its kind of cool to be included in the "theoretical family tree". Although, who knows - I could be directly related to them...that would be really cool...

Proverbs 5:15-21
Scanalous...

Solomon - you're gettin a little graphic here, buddy.

¹⁸ Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you.
      Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
 ¹⁹ She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.
      Let her breasts satisfy you always.
      May you always be captivated by her love.
 ²⁰ Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman,
      or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?

I know its all giggly now (tee hee - 'breasts'...ok, sorry), but I imagine that this text cuts real deep for someone who actually is cheating on their wife. Again, simple advice - don't cheat on your wife. It seems like that's a hard one for a lot of people though. I am gonna quote verse 19 to Jill tomorrow morning though. Her reaction should be comedic.

Hey its 12:15! I'm now a 27 year old man! I guess its about time I stop giggling at the word 'breast'.

Tee hee.

OK that was the last time.

A Request to Follow

I was looking at the "how to make your blog successful" page and they suggest I ask you guys to 'follow' this blog. I have four followers right now but if you could that would be great! Not that I'm looking for success, but its really exciting to know that people are reading.

Additionally - a poll.  Respond in the comments if you have a stance either way.

Would you mind if I added advertising to this site if I promised to give any profit I get to church or charity?

- A. I don't want to see any stupid ads. Don't do it.
-or-
- B. I don't mind ads. Do it.

Thanks for your support everyone!

Tuesday, January 26

Good evening. Once again work was an oppressive beast today. I feel completely overwhelmed, but again am happy to have work to do, and to have an opportunity to give an example of God's love.

I am tired though - I almost decided to not do a post tonight. I didn't want to lose momentum though, so here we are.

Reading for January 26

Exodus 2:11-3:22
Moses Begins


Moses grows up and realizes that he is not Egyptian, but actually a member of the Israelites that were currently working under his government. One day, Moses went down to where they lived and was upset to see their living conditions. He was also upset to see that an Egyptian official was beating the heck out of an Israelite. Moses made sure no one was looking and then killed this guy...well someone was looking and eventually the Pharaoh found out about it. Moses decided to flee the land before he was killed.

While Moses was out in the wilderness he got a wife, new land and a message from God. The message from God is one of the most famous stories of the Bible - The burning bush. A bush close to Moses sets fire and God speaks to Moses, giving him instructions on how to free his people from slavery.

I find it interesting that at this point, God appears in such a strange, abstract way. In early Genesis, he would just come down to earth and chill out. Now he's in the form of a burning bush. Strange.

Anyway - at this point, God tells Moses that he will inflict a bunch of plagues on the Egyptian people until they release the Israelites from captivity and slavey and that's kind of where it ends.

So tired...

Matthew 17:10-27
Rebuking his disciples

I know I've heard explanations of this text before, but I forget what they were...

Basically someone comes to the disciples to have them heal his son. The disciples are unable to do it and Jesus almost mocks them.

“You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?"

What's the deal with that kind of attitude? I've never healed anyone, does that mean that Jesus is just "putting up with me"? Let me know what you think in the comments...

Psalm 22:1-18
A different tune

A few nights ago, I posted how David sounded cocky in that psalm. Now it appears he has been humbled:

 ⁶ But I am a worm and not a man.
      I am scorned and despised by all!
 ⁷ Everyone who sees me mocks me.
      They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
 ⁸ “Is this the one who relies on the Lord?
      Then let the Lord save him!
   If the Lord loves him so much,
      let the Lord rescue him!”

This is more in line with how I thought the bible would play out. 

Proverbs 5:7-14
More warnings against the adulterous woman. Solomon continues to describe what happens if you get caught up with a temptress and how it will ruin your life. He warns to not even get close to her house. Again, this could be applied to many addictive sins - don't even get in a situation where it might happen. That way you can avoid it all together.

Alright, I am so tired. I must sleep now. Good night dearest friends.

Book Report - Genesis

My first completed book of this project is Genesis. I can now clearly map the path from Adam and Eve to the Israelites ending up in Egypt.

Adam and Eve are created. They are living in paradise, but screw up and ruin the whole world. Also, they are apparently responsible for things like the Earthquake in Haiti. Way to go Adam and Eve. Anyway, they have some kids, and one of them kills another one. Things go downhill from here, until it gets so bad that God has to cancel humanity, except for one dude, Noah, and his family and 2 of every animal in the world. RESET.

Noah's family grows and repopulates the earth until Abraham comes around. Abraham is a good guy and followed God for his whole life. When he is super old, God comes down in human form (actually in the form of three human men) and promises Abraham and his wife a child. They have several children, one of which is Isaac. Isaac has a ton of kids too from various wives, but the two main ones are Jacob and Esau.

Jacob screws over Esau a few times and then runs away. He continues the Abraham lineage and also has a ton of kids. One of these kids is Joseph. Joseph is sold as a slave to the Egyptians, but he ends up saving the world from a hunger crisis. Then all of his family, the now Israelites settle in Egypt and live there and prosper for many years.

BOOM. GENESIS.

One of my pastors and great mentors from my old church, ORB, used to always say that God is the main character in the Old Testament. I definitely see God in a new way just after reading this one book. We are God's creation. We are something he spent time and thoughts and energy on, and I believe he continues to do so. God was way more present with his creation earlier on, then seemed to step back further and further as his great experiment took shape.

Nowadays, its hard to see God at all. There is a common thought about God that if he exists, he is absent from this world. And I can see how that would be easy to believe. I mean back then people got miracles and direct interaction with God. Now we're lucky if we can even figure out what he wants us to do with our lives.

I am fairly certain that God is not absent. He wouldn't spend so much time on creating us and so much pain dying for us, only to be like "ehh...screw it. I'm bored. When does God of War III come out?"

He. Loves. Us.

If you don't have kids, think about a dog or pet you've had. Even if they kept screwing up, would you just take them for a walk one day and then abandon them in the park? No way! You would do everything you could to keep that pet alive and happy. Maybe I'm biased cuz I love my little bulldog baby, but you know what I mean...

I believe God loves his creation. His creation being this world and everything in it. So should we love his creation. So, in short, love eachother - because there is someone who loves all of us.

Monday, January 25

Good evening friendly friends. The craziness at work continues, but I am taking off this week to celebrate my birthday so that should be excellent. Also, Jilly will be taking me to a very special birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Friendly's. That's right - Friendly's. I intend to get a sloppy grilled chicken sandwich and that ice cream sundae that looks like a clown.

Reading for January 25
Genesis 50:1 - Exodus 2:10
Genesis Complete!

Wow, I didn't even realize when I started reading tonight, but I just finished Genesis! That's so cool, I don't think I've ever done that. I think I'm going to write an additional entry for each book I finish to give a little summary about what I learned in reading that particular book.

Anyway - In the last few chapters of Genesis, Jacob dies then Joseph dies and its left with a vision of God's people, Abraham's descendants, inhabiting the land of Egypt and growing very large in number and becoming very prosperous.

What that leads into though is the book of Exodus. I always knew that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, but I never knew it was because of Joseph settling there. And that only happened because his brothers were jealous of him and sold him as a slave. And THAT only happened because Judah was the one who said "hey, I know we don't like Joseph - but we can't kill him!" It's just really amazing to me how one split second decision can have such an enormous impact on humanity and the course of history.

So, here we are in Egypt, several generations after Joseph dies. The current government of Egypt knows nothing about how Joseph helped the Egyptians in the past, and how the Isaelites were considered very special guests in their land. Now they feared their growing numbers and not only enslaved them, but ordered the murder of every Israelite boy born in Egypt. During this time, Moses is born and his mother does not want him killed (obviously). She keeps him hidden for three months and then puts him in the Nile River in a basket. He is found by the princess of Egypt and brought back to the castle. That's where this reading stops, but I know some cool things are about to happen.

Matthew 16:13-17:9
Jesus Goes Crazy!

This section of text is where the disciples must have thought Jesus was losing it. All the germs from the sick people he healed combined forces to make a super, brain eating bacteria that rotted away his sanity. That must have been what they thought was going on.

Jesus tests Simon by asking him who he thinks Jesus is. Simon says that he knows Jesus is the son of God, and the Messiah. Jesus says that Simon is greatly blessed because only God could reveal that wisdom to him, so Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter, meaning Rock, because the church would be built on Peter.

Moments later Jesus says that he will shortly be killed. Peter pulls Jesus aside to say "No way, man. No way would we let that happen to you."

Jesus says, "Get away from me, Satan!" Get. Away. From me. Satan. To the guy he just said is blessed and will build his church. I think what was actually happening here was Jesus was feeling the temptation to just bail on the whole thing. He was terrified! And Peter's comforting, loving message there, only tempted Jesus to bail even more. His guard was up.

Then comes one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible for me: The Transfiguration.

Jesus take three of his disciples up on a hill and transforms into Jesus, Moses and Elijah. And they all talk and have a great time.

WHAT?! He just transforms into three people??! Transfiguration is a class at Hogwarts, and Jesus is bustin it out no problem. Crazy, absolutely crazy. And not only that, but a huge cloud of light comes over all of them and God's voice comes out of it and tells the disciples that Jesus is his son, with whom he is pleased.  The Disciples' minds must have just shut off after this. I mean, Jesus turns into three dudes, and God comes down in cloud form and booms his support for his son right in your face? That's a lot to deal with.

Psalm 21:1-13
Psalm 21 part 2

In my last reading I noted how David was praying for the victory of a specific King. This one reveals that the king won the battle. Yet again this psalm is divided in half between praising God and damning the enemies of David. Nothing too new here, so we'll move on for now...

Proverbs 5:1-6
I think this could be applied to many, if not all carnal temptations in life:

 ³ For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
      and her mouth is smoother than oil.
 ⁴ But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
      as dangerous as a double-edged sword.

That will do it for me this evening. Thanks everyone for reading.  Good night!

Sunday, January 24

Good evening, friends. A nice, relaxing Sunday I had today. We got to visit our friend Jess to celebrate her engagement, and plus I had McDonalds for dinner. Yes!

Reading for January 24
Genesis 48:1-49:33
Again in this section, there is a lot of words, but not a lot of things going on. Three main things happen here:

1) Jacob blesses Jospeh's sons, and implies that the younger of his two sons will carry on the great lineage of Abraham.
2) Jacob blesses all of his sons and predicts (or tells them) where they will end up and what kind of people they will have in their respective towns. This effectively creates the 12 tribes of Israel.
3) Jacob dies.

Matthew 15:29-16:12
Here again there are three main things that happen:

1) Jesus heals a huge group of people
2) He feeds four thousand men with seven loaves of bread
3) He calls out the Pharisees and Saducees again.

As I'm reading this every day, I'm seeing that in almost every chapter Jesus has some harsh words for the Pharisees and Saducees. These, again, were the religious leaders of the day, obsessed with upholding the law, but neglecting to get the real message: Love God and love people. One thing I've learned is that the more often something happens in the Bible, the more important it is. Especially if Jesus is the one doing it. That's not to say we should be going out and finding people like this and yelling "Hypocrites!" in their face, rather to avoid that type of behavior - to actually focus on our relationship with God and setting our hearts on helping people. Yeah...

Psalm 20:1-9
This psalm is yet another praising type psalm. Beautiful imagery, but at the end its revealed that David is praying specifically for a king.

 ⁹ Give victory to our king, O Lord!
      Answer our cry for help.

Now that I look at it, its a little sketchy...There is a lot of language about how God will answer all of 'your' prayers and that he will give us anything 'you' desire.  I suppose, 'you' being the reader of the psalm. So hes kind of convincing himself, it seems like, that God will answer this specific prayer.

I know that God doesn't give us the desires of our heart if that's not what he wants for us. We have such limited sight and what we want may or may not be good for us. Context, son. All in context.

Proverbs 4:20-27
emo.

 ²³ Guard your heart above all else,
      for it determines the course of your life.

Alright, duders. Bedtime once again. I've been talking to a few people about this project recently and they have said that they enjoy reading my entries because its like a Cliffs Notes version of the Bible. I think thats great that you're reading this, but just remember that my interpretations are coming from a VERY uneducated standpoint, Biblically speaking. I would encourage all of you to read on your own. But, in the mean time, please use the comment fields below each entry to ask any questions or debate me on any points.

Love you, friends.
Brandon

Saturday, January 23

Good morning, chums and chumettes. I am psyched this morning because my friend Nick is coming up for the day to hang out. I haven't seen him in a few months, so I look forward to catching up with him and playing many a video game.

I got the pup snuggled up next to me, and I'm ready to read. And...go.

Reading for January 23
Genesis 46:1-47:31
Family Reunion

Jacob sets off with his sons and grandsons to Egypt. Did he not have a single girl? Did his sons only have sons? I think the Bible is leaving them out of the equation because later in the passage the author gives the total number of Jacob's descendants that went to live in Egypt - which was 70 - but said "not including his son's wives" - so I would assume that means the author left out the daughters as well.

An interesting note here that I never picked up on. This passage talks about how all of Jacob's sons are shepherds "as [their] ancestors had always done." All or most of God's people up until this point and going forward were shepherds. Which makes the analogy of Jesus being our shepherd that much more beautiful.

The rest of this reading focuses on how the famine continues to get worse and the people of Egypt begin to run out of money. When they run out of money, Joseph begins to accept their livestock as payment. When they run out of that, Joseph accepts all their land as payment. This continues until Joseph/the government owns everything in Egypt.

Then Jacob makes Joseph swear that when he dies that he will not bury him in Egypt, but he asks to be buried with his ancestors.

Matthew 15:1-28
Pharisees!

Those wacky Pharisees are at it again! This time they try to trap Jesus by asking him why his disciples break the traditions of the Jewish people by not washing their hands before they eat. Jesus comes back at them by saying they are dishonoring their parents by honoring God instead. Not with the intention of saying "it's one or the other" but just showing that focusing on all the rules will get you nowhere because some of the rules contradict. He quotes Isaiah here:

 ⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.
    ⁹ Their worship is a farce,
      for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’

This sounds like a certain man I know named Pat Robertson.

Interesting scene here. A Gentile woman - i.e. a woman who is not Jewish comes to Jesus asking for him to heal her daughter. Jesus says, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” Now eventually she shows great faith and persistence, and Jesus rewards her faith by in fact healing her daughter.

But, wait a minute. I've been instructed to tell everyone that Jesus came and died for everyone, not just Israel. Or are we all considered Israel? This brings up another question - there were obviously millions of other stories and lives going on during the stories of the Old Testament. Did God not care for the people outside of Israel and the direct lineage of Abraham? This is concerning me, and its slightly upsetting. Time to find some answers.

Psalm 19:1-14
This one is too beautiful to pretend I understand and make some snarky comment about. Here it is in its pure form. Enjoy.

 ¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
      The skies display his craftsmanship.
 ² Day after day they continue to speak;
      night after night they make him known.
 ³ They speak without a sound or word;
      their voice is never heard.^[a]
 4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
      and their words to all the world.

   God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
 ⁵ It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
      It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
 ⁶ The sun rises at one end of the heavens
      and follows its course to the other end.
      Nothing can hide from its heat.
 ⁷ The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
      reviving the soul.
   The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
      making wise the simple.
 ⁸ The commandments of the Lord are right,
      bringing joy to the heart.
   The commands of the Lord are clear,
      giving insight for living.
 ⁹ Reverence for the Lord is pure,
      lasting forever.
   The laws of the Lord are true;
      each one is fair.
 ¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold,
      even the finest gold.
   They are sweeter than honey,
      even honey dripping from the comb.
 ¹¹ They are a warning to your servant,
      a great reward for those who obey them.
 ¹² How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
      Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
 ¹³ Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
      Don’t let them control me.
   Then I will be free of guilt
      and innocent of great sin.
 ¹⁴ May the words of my mouth
      and the meditation of my heart
   be pleasing to you,
      O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Proverbs 4:14-19
The first proverb that isn't setting us up to be wise is a simple one. Don't be evil. Simple, and yet it evades so many...

 ¹⁴ Don’t do as the wicked do,
      and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
 ¹⁵ Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
      Turn away and keep moving.

Solomon says it four times, four different ways. But it boils down to "just don't be a jerk, ok?"

Alright - I started this post at 9AM Saturday and stopped about half way through the Genesis section. It is now 2:40 AM Sunday. Nick and I had a great time hanging out, though. We played the God of War III demo and it was absolute sweetness. Nick, if you're reading this brother - had a great time. Love you,  buddy.

Dear God. Thank you for the great day I had with Nick. I pray that you stay with him and bless and protect him this coming week and many weeks ahead. God I thank you for new baby Benjamin that Jill and I met today. He is a beautiful baby and I pray that you allow him to grow up strong and please bless him mightily as he grows up.

Please continue to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Please pour out your mighty blessings on the survivors and family members of the people who were hurt or killed. 


I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Friday, January 22

So completes probably the toughest week of work ever. I seriously worked nonstop and most nights this week. I am ready to call it a week and hit the hay - but I wanted to make sure I knocked out my reading for the day, so here it is.

Reading for January 22
Genesis 44:1-45:28
A whole lot of text - not a lot of story

Continuing the Joseph story. So him and his brothers have dinner, and he sends them on their way. He frames Benjamin by putting one of his silver cups in his sack. He does this so he can spend more time with them, I think. He reveals to them that he is in fact their brother, and he says something really cool:

"...don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives."

This is kind of one of those destiny things - like God's plan was "X" all along and trying to disrupt it, will only cause it. Kinda like LOST.

Anyway, he finds out that his father, Jacob is still alive and asks his brothers to return to Canaan and bring the whole family back to Egypt to live together. He gives them some sweet stuff and once again sends them on their way. Jacob is totally pumped to find out Joseph is alive.

Matthew 14:13-36
The famous miracles

This is when Jesus feeds five thousand men with just two fish and five loaves of bread. He blessed it and all of a sudden everyone was full, and there were twelve BASKETS of leftovers. That is insane.

Directly after this, the disciples were out in a boat during a storm and getting really worried about their safety. Jesus walks on water to meet them in the middle of the water. The disciples think its a ghost. The interesting thing I noticed is that the Bible says that this happened "around 3:00 in the morning". Based on all the paranormal movies and TV shows I watch, 3:00 AM is supposed to be when paranormal activity is at its strongest. "Dead Time" I think its called. Just interesting, that's all.

The other cool thing here that is often overlooked, is the fact that Peter walks on water too. It's brief, but it happens because he believes Jesus will support him. But he soon gets nervous and begins to sink. Jesus rebukes him saying "you have such little faith", but seriously? It takes a LOT of faith to believe you can walk on water. Give the guy a little credit.

Psalm 18:37-50
Same thing goin on here as before. Although, the cockiness, David...

 ⁴³ You gave me victory over my accusers.
      You appointed me ruler over nations;
      people I don’t even know now serve me.
 ⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
      foreign nations cringe before me.
 ⁴⁵ They all lose their courage
      and come trembling from their strongholds.

Well, now that I look at that again, it's not quite as cocky. It does start with "You gave me..." but still, David seems to be on a power trip. Again, it is important that I look at these as songs that capture the emotion of the moment he was in. David must have kicked a little booty this day...

Proverbs 4:11-13

 ¹³ Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
      Guard them, for they are the key to life.

Alright, Solomon. I'm ready. Tomorrow's reading better actually give me a proverb. Or I'm gonna throw a FIT!

Alrighty, it is now 1 AM. Bed timez. Thanks for reading, chums.

Dear God. Thank you for a week of work where I was needed and busy. I pray that I will always serve my clients with an attitude as if I was serving you. Lord, as I see more problems with Haiti, with the aftershock quake and tsunami, I just pray that you continue to bless and help the hurting and needy at this time. Your word says that you care for the poor and oppressed. Please care for these poor and oppressed people. 

Thank you again for great friends and family in my life. Thank you for the continued motivation to read your word. Thank you for today, and if you will it, thank you for tomorrow. 

I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thursday, January 21

End of the work day. I am in the purgutory between work and my intramural basketball game tonight. Everyone has left the office, and I thought "hey - this would be a great time to write the old blog entry." So I've got pandora rolling in the background - WITHOUT my headphones on - enjoying the music through my speakers. That's right! Don't tell me what to do!

So I'm almost two weeks into this project, and I think now would be a good time to assess if reading the Bible every day has affected the way I interact with people. Here's what I've noticed:

1) Everyone I tell about this project automatically perks up and asks one of their lingering questions about the Bible. I usually don't have an answer for them because I just started, but it has led to some great conversations.
2) I've felt "friendlier". I don't know, I have a stronger compulsion to smile and say hello to people as I pass them in the halls of my office.
3) My relationship with my wife, Jill is at one of its highest points I can remember. I feel like we've hit an extemely smooth patch and I love her more and more every day. And I haven't even got to the part in the Bible that focuses on marriage...weird.

For my friends and family who know me - have you noticed any changes in the past two weeks?

Alright, on to today's reading: (Poop - Jill asked me to add that)

Reading for January 21

Genesis 42:18-43:34
The Joseph story continues

So Joseph lets his brothers out of prison to return and get Benjamin. He says “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live."

He sells them the grain they came for but before sending them on their way back to Canaan to get Benjamin, he tells his workers to put the money they paid for the grain in the top of the sacks of grain they received. They find the money on the journey home and are terrified, asking "What has God done to us?"

Another example of fearing God only a few verses later. They must have thought they were being framed for taking the money, or surely that they would be accused of taking the money. They say that they are being punished for selling Joseph into slavery all those years ago (God's punishment takes time too, eh?)

Eventually, they returned to their father, Isaac's house and told them they needed to take Benjamin along with them back to Egypt. Isaac reluctantly agrees and they return to meet Joseph. Joseph still hasn't given away that he is actually their brother. He see Benjamin and has to retreat to a back room because he is so overcome with emotion. He composes himself and then has a huge feast with all of his brothers. His brothers are still kind of wary of what is going on, but are happy to not be in trouble for the whole money-in-the-bag thing.

Matthew 13:47-14:12
The parable of the fishing net

This is very similar to the parable of the wheat and weeds. Jesus says:

 ⁴⁷ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. ⁴⁸ When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. "

What I like about this is that "The Kingdom of God" includes all the people who he says will be thrown into Hell at judgment day. I think this ties back to the creation story to say that we are all God's people, and that he loves and cares for all of us, even if we don't know it. So while we are on Earth, we are ALL under the loving grace of God. Until judgment day - when Arnold Schwartenegger comes out and blows all the bad ones away. Oh wait...

Jesus comes home
Jesus returns to Nazareth, his hometown to preach the message. People are impressed, but then realize that they know his mother, father, bros and sisters - and they say "How could this guy possibly be this smart? His family is pretty ordinary..." So Jesus "only did a few miracles" and then left. I like how that's kinda just nonchalant. I'd like to do "only a few miracles" some time...

John the Baptist Decapitated
Here is another clear example of free-will working against God's will. Some babe did a dance for King Herod and he was happy with it, so he told her she could have anything she wanted. She wanted John the Baptist's head on a platter. And she got it. John the Baptist was clearly a Godly man, he was like the pre-Jesus. And then he goes out like that. Didn't someone else really Godly go out in a not so good way...oh...yeah...

Psalm 18:16-36
This one is purely praise and once again there is some beautiful imagery about God being a protector and helping us to do all things through Him.

²⁸ You light a lamp for me.
      The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
 ²⁹ In your strength I can crush an army;
      with my God I can scale any wall.

I imagine if I was an ultimate fighter, I would read this psalm before every fight.

Proverbs 4:7-10
OK - I get it...wisdom is awesome.

I suppose that it really must be important for God for us to learn if Solomon is putting this much emphasis on it.

Alright - goodnight.

Dear God. I have missed the prayer for the last two days, and I apologize for that. I ask that you give me strength to continue doing this project and let it affect the way I live. God I pray for your continued blessings on the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Please pour out your mercy on those suffering.


In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Wednesday, January 20

Good afternoon. Another stressful day at work - it is not letting up, but as I work I need to remember to do all things as if for Him like it says on my wrist.

I'd like to take a moment to say a special thank you to Chris De La Cruz who commented on the first 10 or so of my posts. I would suggest going back and reading them if you're interested, he brings up a lot of really good points. And I think he's a seminary student...is that true? Anyway - the kid's got serious wisdom, read his comments.

Alright, on to today's reading:

Reading for January 20
Genesis 41:17-42:17
Joseph's original dream comes true

So remember earlier when Joseph had a dream that all his brothers would bow down to him? Well that's exactly what happens at the end of this reading - some 20ish years later. (Sometimes God's promises take time, eh?)

So, through God, Joseph interprets the Pharaoh's dream to mean that there will be seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggests storing a portion of crops for the prosperous seven years so when the famine strikes, they will have stores of food to keep them alive.

Pharaoh is impressed. So impressed that he puts Joe in charge of that very initiative and becomes the #2 guy in Egypt. Pharaoh sets him up with a wife, they have a couple kids, he's got some sweet digs, he's been restored to his former blessed lifestyle.

So, just as God/Joseph predicted, the famine strikes, and it strikes hard. It impacts what the Bible calls "The whole world". Cue Jacob, Joseph's father. He and Josephs brothers are still living in Canaan and are starving. They hear that there is food available in Egypt and they make their way there, only to come to the man in charge of the food, Joseph himself. They bow down before him asking him for food. Prophecy complete.


Matthew 13:24-46
Parable City

This section of text features five parables. One right after the other. In the previous section, he told one parable and then explained it, and also explained why he spoke in parables. This one he tells five, and then explains only two of them to his disciples in private. Here are the parables and my brief interpretation of what they mean:

Parable of the Wheat and Weeds - The godly people and ungodly people will live together on the earth. On judgment day, the ungodly will be thrown into hell.
Parable of the Mustard Seed - Through small, individual works, God's kingdom will be huge.
Parable of the Yeast - Similar to the mustard seed, but more that a little faith and effort can have a massive impact on the whole world.
Parable of the Hidden Treasure - Once you truly see God, you will be compelled to give up everything you own to devote yourself to him.
Parable of the Pearl - Similar meaning.

This passage also mentions a prophecy about Jesus from the old testament - wow, from Psalms actually...

“I will speak to you in parables.
      I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.”

I didn't even know that the psalms got all that prophetical. We shall see, David. We shall see.


Psalm 18:1-15
A psalm divided


The first half of this psalm focuses exclusively on praising God. Giving beautiful imagery of God being a protector and a firm foundation on which we can rest. The second half focuses again on God smiting his enemies. This is very strange. I asked a question about this disparity on Papa Blog - let me see if it was answered...

HE ANSWERED! HE GOT MY LETTER. Read Pastor Sharkey's response HERE - the man knows his Bible.

The main thing he said was that these should be viewed as songs - just as songs of today feature the most raw human emotions, so did they back in David's time. Also that they are not an example of how to live, but a reminder of human emotions and that we can all go to God when we experience these things.

Proverbs 4:1-6
More praising of wisdom here. I think this is kind of cool. I know that most of Proverbs is set up with single bits of knowledge or wisdom. So Solomon is framing the wisdom that is coming by setting up the value of it before delving into it.

 ⁶ Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
      Love her, and she will guard you.

He also talks about learning from discipline and correction from 'your father'. I think this can be viewed in both the human and heavenly senses. Look for times when God is correcting you, and learn from them. But at the same time, honor your human father and learn from his lessons and correction.

Testing Out My iPhone Blogging App

Hey-o. Just seeing if this works. No landscape mode though. Boo. Well, now I have a way to blog on the go!

Tuesday, January 19

Another busy day at work...So here we go...

Reading for January 19

Genesis 39:1-41:16
Alright - this section focuses back on Joseph. Remember him? He was loved by his father but hated among his brothers and sold into slavery by his brothers?

Here we are shown what happens after he is sold into slavery. He has been given good favor by God and lives in the chief guard's home and is given access to anything he wants. The chief guard's wife begins to harbor a lust for Joseph. She continually tries to get him to sleep with her, and he continually denies her. One night she grabs him to try and force him into bed, but he escapes and leaves his cloak behind. She uses the cloak as evidence that he was in fact the one trying to sleep with her - presumably in a CYA fashion.

Joseph is put into prison and stays there for two years. He begins interpreting the dreams of his cell mates and is eventually summoned by the Pharaoh to interpret a very foreboding dream. Joseph says that he cannot interpret dreams, but that God will give him the answers that the Pharaoh is looking for. And today's reading stops there.

The lesson here for my life is to recognize the abilities that God has given me and give credit to him for that. Theoretically, that should be anything I am any way adept at. I don't think that needs to be an outward recognition - like every time someone says, "Hey great job" I would say "Wasn't me! It was God!" I think I'd be fired from my job if I did that. However, it should instill a sense of humility in me and help me avoid an attitude of ungratefulness.

Matthew 12:46-13:23
There are a couple cool things here. First, Jesus says that we (meaning everyone who follows God's will) are all his brothers, sisters and mothers. He left out the idea of any of us being his father, arguably because God is his father.

The next thing he does is tell the parable of the seed sower. This should be a very familiar parable if you've ever attended a youth retreat where you are encouraged to give your life to Christ for the first time. The parable addresses the fragility of the human faith. In the parable, a sower scatters seeds all around. Some land on rocks, some land among thorns, some land on a path and some land in soil.

On the rocks, the seeds grow quickly but wither quickly because they had no roots - many of us who came to faith in a radical way as kids/teenagers became verifiable "Jesus Freaks" for about a month and then gave it up. We fell among the rocks. We were told this parable in anticipation of us giving up once we returned to the "real world".

The rest of the parable is actually explained by Jesus, so me giving any further interpretation would do it some injustice. Interesting thing here, though, is this is the first time I am aware of that Jesus actually explains the meaning of his parables. Jesus explains why he speaks in parables, and I think the reason is that for those who choose to devote time to understanding will be given an even greater understanding. Rather than just saying it plainly, He is trying to put these celestial things in human terms.

Psalm 17:1-15
David's getting a little cocky here, prideful even...

 ³ Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,
       though you test me, you will find nothing;
       I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.
 ⁴ As for the deeds of men—
       by the word of your lips
       I have kept myself
       from the ways of the violent.
 ⁵ My steps have held to your paths;
       my feet have not slipped.

Again, "resolving that my mouth will not sin" is outlined as near impossible by Jesus early in the gospels. Again further proving my point that the psalms should not be followed to the letter or emulated, but rather studied to see what this kind of despair can do to a person, and how one would react in times of need.

Proverbs 3:33-35
Another interesting parallel between the two readings in Psalms and Proverbs:

 ³⁴ He mocks proud mockers
       but gives grace to the humble.

While David wasn't directly mocking anyone, I don't think anyone would say that David was being humble in the psalm above.

Revisitng Pat Robertson

Some of you may have heard Pat Robertson's commentary on what happened in Haiti. I wrote about this a few days ago, wondering if the message of a vengeful God was actually correct, if abhorrent. I found something really interesting today though...

There are several really cool benefits to reading the Bible online:

1) You can switch between versions on the fly
2) You can copy and paste text very easily
3) Each reading has a link to view an associated commentary on the given section of text.

#3 is where I have found a lot of benefit lately. Here is an interpretation of Jesus' many recent conversations with the Pharisees - the religious conservatives of the day.

Some culturally conservative churches today interpret the Bible the way the Pharisees in this passage do, building an ever tighter fence around the strictest interpretation of the law to keep from breaking it. Thus, for example, I have known firsthand of some that misconstrue Scripture to condemn all divorced people, women's wearing slacks to church, music relevant to youth, and anything else that violates their tradition.

Another thing that I have noticed is a strong resistance to the Gay community. Check out the compelling documentary "Fall From Grace" to see a church who's entire message is focused on hating gays and America.

Conservatives can dishonor God's Word through abuse and neglect just as liberals can dishonor it through neglect and rejection. Jesus instead pursued the point of biblical texts in the situation in which they were written (19:8). The principles of God's Word actually demand far more from us than extrapolated rules: they demand the absolute integrity of our hearts before God, summoning us to devote all our actions and thoughts to his glory (5:17-48). Perhaps some Christians take refuge primarily in legal debates because we lack the courage to pursue a genuine relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus Christ. This narrative illustrates various points about biblical interpretation.

This interpretation (and I realize this is only one interpretation) confirms the way I have been living out my Christianity. Not focusing on rules, but on people. Although, I feel like the only other type of interpretation would be the exact opposite.

Monday, January 18

Very busy day at work. Nice to come home and work on this while cooking a little din din.

Reading for January 18


Genesis 37:1-38:30
Alright, so there are two stories here. Both concerns sons of Jacob, who is the son of Isaac, who is the son of Abraham. The first story is about Joseph. This is again, another popular story in the Bible. There is a play about it which I have never seen called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Here is the actual story: Joseph is the youngest of all of Jacob's sons and Jacob loves him the most. Joseph begins to have dreams that signify that he will rule over his brothers and then ultimately, his mother and father as well. Jacob's other sons, who were tired of Joseph getting all the attention anyway, had enough when he started telling them about these dreams. So they plan to kill him, but fear the moral reprecussions, so they decide to sell him into slavery. That story stops there for a while and takes a turn to focus on Judah.

Judah has three sons. His first son, Er, is struck down by God for being 'wicked in the LORD's sight.' Doesn't give any more description beyond that. Er was supposed to marry a woman named Tamar, but died before that could happen. So Judah arranged for his second son, Onan to marry Tamar, but he didn't want to get Tamar pregnant with a child that wouldn't be his heir. So he 'spilled his semen on the ground' when he had sex with her. Kinda selfish, but not morally abhorrent. Well, God doesn't like this and takes out Onan as well.

What happened to the compassionate God who regretted humanity's maladies? This sounds like he's got his finger hovering over a "Kill Brandon" button waiting for me to screw up!

Well, Judah's third son Shelah isn't old enough to marry her, so Tamar is instructed to be a widow until Shelah is old enough. One day, Tamar goes into town and Judah mistakes her for a prostitute because she is covering her face. Judah sleeps with her and gets her pregnant. Tamar has twins, and I believe that one of those twins continues the lineage to Jesus. Born out of human depravity. And miracles.

Matthew 12:22-45
The only unforgivable sin

This is interesting. Jesus is talking about how every sin and blasphemous act can be forgiven. Even blasphemy against Jesus. So everything can be forgiven EXCEPT blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I'm not even sure how to do that. Hopefully I haven't been doing it my whole life...

Another thing of note here is talking about sin as well and how we should reform ourselves when repenting:

“When an evil^[c] spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. ⁴⁵ Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before."

I think this is something a lot of people can relate to. The point here is to focus on inward reform rather than just pushin sin out the door. So lets say you're trying to quit smoking. Not to say that smoking in a sin, but its an easy example. If you focus on the smoking aspect of it, you just think about it all day and that cigarette becomes more and more desirable.  Making it that much easier for it to return to your life and hurt you. Not only that, but it will welcome in other vices. But if you focus on the inside first and letting Jesus chaneg your heart, it will be easier to stay on course. At least that's what I think He's saying. I'm no Billy Graham over here! Ahem.

Psalm 16:1-11
Again, I am convinced that reading the psalms in order like this is shows how fickle we humans are. One Psalm, David is asking God why he has abandoned him. In this one he is talking about how great God is because his enemies have left him. I am starting to see the benefit of reading the Bible in its entirety and seeing things in context.

Proverbs 3:27-32
Some simple wisdom here.

 ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
      when it’s in your power to help them.
 ²⁸ If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,
      “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”
 ²⁹ Don’t plot harm against your neighbor,
      for those who live nearby trust you.
 ³⁰ Don’t pick a fight without reason,
      when no one has done you harm.
 ³¹ Don’t envy violent people
      or copy their ways.
 ³² Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord,
      but he offers his friendship to the godly.

I'm writing this while watching the latest on Haiti - there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti BEFORE the earthquake. Between 800 and 900 kids were in the process of being adopted by families in the US before the earthquake.

On the other end of this, I have heard some good things out of this. A Haitian being interviewed on NPR this morning said he thought the quake was a blessing in disguise. All the aid will allow them to rebuild the country, both physically and financially. God does take evil and use it for good. But at what cost? It is so painful to watch. And yet the faith of the Haitians seems unshaken. I don't know...

Dear God. Please pour out your unrelenting mercy on the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Please perform healing miracles and make yourself known through your faithful followers. God, please protect the children and orphans specifically. Your word says that you care for all the little children - please help and protect all these children who are now without parents. 

Thank you God. Amen.

January 17

Good evening. Today has been a nice relaxing day at home with the little lady. Relaxing barring the grocery store and pharmacy fiascos. But it's a rainy night, there is salsa chicken that in a crock pot that I'm about to devour, and I am in the mood for some movies and cuddlin with my wife.

Also, there is a new post on the Papa Blog - talking about the very thing I've been struggling with. Namely, the issue of Haiti in the midst of a loving God. Click that link above if you're interested, its a good read and makes a lot of good points.

Reading for January 17

Genesis 35:1-36:43


The action subsides in this section of reading. The two main things that happen are:
1) Jacob returns to Bethel and sees God again. God once again changes his name to Israel, but the text still addresses him as Jacob.

2) Jacob's wife Rachel dies giving birth to another son. Isaac also dies shortly after.

Then the rest of the text is a long list of names. I have to admit, I skipped most of it. I know this is going against my pursuit for knowledge, but I get so lost in the list of names. Maybe I'll dig more into the names my second time around reading the Bible. I mean, I think the main point of having the lineages in the Bible is to see the path to Jesus, right?

Matthew 12:1-21
There is a disagreement here between Jesus and the Pharisees - or the religious leaders of the time who were obsessed with the law and following it as closely as possible. Here's what happened: Jesus and his disciples were walking through a town on the Sabbath, a day when Jews are traditionally forbidden from working. The disciples get hungry and pick grain and begin to eat it (I didn't even know you could do that...). The Pharisees call them out saying that they're working on the sabbath by 'harvesting grain'.

Jesus quote a book of the Bible that I've never read - Hosea, saying

"‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’"

Then the whole group comes upon a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees try to trick Jesus into healing this guys hand on the sabbath so they can arrest him. Jesus says, "If one of your sheep fell down a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you work to get it out?" This is beautiful here - Jesus is comparing this man, and by extension all of humanity, to one of his sheep whom he cares for deeply and would work to get it back if it was lost. He heals the man's hand and then continues on. This is the last straw for the Pharisees and they begin the plot to kill him.

Psalm 15:1-5

 ¹ Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
      Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
 ² Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
      speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
 ³ Those who refuse to gossip
      or harm their neighbors
      or speak evil of their friends.
 ⁴ Those who despise flagrant sinners,
      and honor the faithful followers of the Lord,
      and keep their promises even when it hurts.
 ⁵ Those who lend money without charging interest,
      and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
   Such people will stand firm forever.

David seems to be drawing lines between "clean and unclean" or the "worthy and unworthy" of God's love. Again, I think the purpose of this is to show that very few (if any) people were worthy to worship in God's temple before Christ and his sacrifice. The phrase "blameless life" has only been applied to one man...I'll give you one guess who that is...


Proverbs 3:21-26

 ²¹ My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment.
      Hang on to them,
 ²² for they will refresh your soul.

It's interesting how this first part of Proverbs doesn't focus exclusively on Biblical knowledge and wisdom. This passage highlights good, plain old common sense. In other words, 'don't be an idiot.'Wise words to live by - I could have used them many a time...

Alright, that salsa chicken and blanket on the couch are calling my name. Thanks for reading, friends.

Dear God. Thank you for giving me the drive to search for answers as I dig into your word. The past week was difficult in trying to justify certain things in my mind, and while I am still not completely satisfied with an answer, the things I read on the Papa Blog were comforting to a degree. Dear God, I pray for a good week this week  for both myself and Jill - we both have a lot of work to do and I just pray that you would keep us both calm. 

I pray  these things in Jesus name. Amen.

January 16

Good morning. Let's hit it!

Also - haha! This is a one of a kind prayer accessory.  It's a MIRACLE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMUcMoe9FaQ&feature=related 


Reading for January 16


Genesis 32:13-34:31
And the action continues!

So last time, Jacob was freaking out that Esau was on his way to murder him and his entire family. Jacob continues to come up with ideas to soften Esau up and defend his family. He sends his servants ahead of him, one at a time, with a portion of his livestock, offering them to Esau so when they finally meet, Esau's heart will be softened enough to welcome Jacob.

The night before they meet, Jacob wrestles with "a man" for the entire night. Jacob never backs down and it turns out that the man he was wrestling was God. How did that start by the way? Did God come down and say "Hey YOU! I'm in a wrastling mood! LET'S WRASTLE!"

Anyway, God changes Jacob's name to Israel, which means "Wrestles with God". Get it?
The next morning, Jacob/Israel finally meets Esau and his 400 men, and Esau hugs him and they reconcile. Yay!

Then Jacob's family goes to a new land and one of his daughters gets raped by a local. Well this local falls in love with her and tries to marry her. Two of Jacob's sons, knowing this guy raped their sister, say they won't accept the marriage unless everyone in their town is circumcised. Well they all do it, and while they are recovering, these two sons of Jacob go into the town and murder everyone like crazy people. They take all the livestock and everything from the houses, including the women and children. Geez, louise! Jacob is like "What the heck were you thinking!? Now everyone's gonna hate me!" and they were all "no one treats our sister like that. Peace."

Matthew 11:7-30
Jesus talks here about how in some of the cities in which he performed miracles, the people have not changed their ways, or they haven't repented. He calls out specific cities, and talks about the day of judgment. Then He completely switches gears and starts telling people to come to him and learn from him, that he will provide rest for the weary and so on.

OK, right here. Here is a perfect example of something that I would take out of context and trumpet up and say, look how great Christianity is! Jesus just wants to provide rest to the sad people! And while that statement may be true, there is a lot of other stuff that goes along with that. These couple of verses are still beautiful, but I think a lot of people take them out of context.

Psalm 14:1-7
Interesting:

 ² The LORD looks down from heaven
       on the sons of men
       to see if there are any who understand,
       any who seek God.
 ³ All have turned aside,
       they have together become corrupt;
       there is no one who does good,
       not even one.

Is David including himself in that passage? And is this foreshadowing of the need for salvation through Christ? 

Proverbs 3:19-20
More of the wisdom jam, here - but it is put in a very cool context. He talks about the wisdom of God when creating the earth. Very cool:

 ¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations,
       by understanding he set the heavens in place;
 ²⁰ by his knowledge the deeps were divided,
       and the clouds let drop the dew.

Alright - that will do it for today. Nice way to start the day. Have a good day. Day. Everyone say "day"

Dear God, thank you again for your word this morning. I thank you for people reading this blog as well, it is an encouragement to me to keep reading and writing. I pray for your continued mercy to those suffering in Haiti, please provide them as much comfort and relief as you can. I pray that you watch over me today, and keep yourself and your word at the forefront of my mind as I go throughout my day. 

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

January 15

So I've been doing some thinking. I don't think it's fair of me to jump to these rash decisions about God just based on very small portions of books scattered amongst the Bible. If this project is to be effective, I need to read every word as unbiased as possible. The Earthquake in Haiti has certainly begun my negative skew, but I will try to read with a more fair approach to the text. I wouldn't watch 5 minutes from the beginning of the movie, 5 minutes from the end, and 5 minutes from the middle and say "this sucks" or "I don't get it." Of course I don't get it! I'm looking at random samples of a larger complex story.

Alright, fresh start:

Reading for January 15 
(link to the web version of the text if you'd like to read it on your own)

Genesis 31:17-32:12

OK - some pretty intense action here. So from the last reading we learn that Jacob tricks Laban and gets all of his livestock. In this reading, Jacob takes his whole family and everything he owns and leaves in the middle of the night. Laban finds out that he leaves and is furious. God warns Laban not to attack Jacob, so when he meets him, he pleads with him to return. He says that Jacob took away his daughters and grandchildren. So they make a covenant - Jacob promises not to harm Rachel or Leah and not to take any other wives, and Laban agrees to let them go.

Now Jacob is focused on reconciling with his brother Esau. Remember, the one he screwed over twice? So Jacob sends messengers ahead to Esau to tell him that he is planning on returning and to share Jacob's prosperity in the twenty some years since they last saw each other. The messengers return and tell Jacob that Esau is on his way to meet him, with an army of 400 men!

Jacob is understandably nervous and decides to divide up his family and livestock so that if one group is attacked, maybe the other will survive. He prays a very earnest prayer about how loving and merciful God has been to him.

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! ¹¹ O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. ¹² But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”

So God wasn't just brushing off Jacob's deceitful actions in the last chapter, he was being merciful and loving. I need to remember that God put a lot of hope in humanity and specifically, Abraham's lineage.


Matthew 10:24-11:6
Jesus continues to speak to his disciples here before sending them out to continue his work. He sets the context here for geting into heaven, and it basically boils down to acknowledging Jesus publicly on Earth. He says that his they will face intense persecution. At the time that was probably very true for the disciples, because the Jewish Conservatives were afraid of the status quo being shaken up. But here's my issue - if Modern Christianity is meant to be this giving, forgiving, inclusive type of thing - what problem would people have with that? Is this another one of those things we can dismiss as a cultural norm of the time? Well, I guess there's always people who have a problem with someone. But the way Jesus puts it here, it seems like it would be us against the world...

Psalm 13:1-6
So in the tradition of seeking wisdom as it was silver, I decided to do a litle research on David and these Psalms. I was hoping to find out what he was going through that is causing him all this grief, and what enemies he was specifically talking about. I couldn't find anything about that, but I did find a good analysis of this psalm. The analysis said its interesting that this psalm starts very negative and doubting God's plan and timely action, but ends with David ultimately trusting God.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
      I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

Maybe this psalm is a parallel of how my journey through the Bible will progress...

Proverbs 3:16-18
The author continues to highlight the power and value of knowledge in this passage:

 ¹⁸ Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
      happy are those who hold her tightly.

This seems to go against the general attitude of humility within the Bible, but I think its great. I think this encourages readers of the Bible to study it and get the whole story. Not to pick a small piece of it and follow only what they like. I feel like I've been doing the picking small piece thing, I've been picking the favorable things, but I am obviously still missing a lot of stuff.

There's also a kind of stigma with Christianity that we are ignorant to science and information. I don't think we should ignore things like evolution or other things that may challenge what we know, rather search for knowledge and try to make sense of them in our minds.

Alright - thanks for reading. Have a good night.

Dear God. Thank you for the continued motivation to read your word. Thank you for the wisdom to see that I can't jump to conclusions without getting the full story. God, please be with the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti. I know I can't understand why this happened, and while this is still very frustrating, but all I can do now is ask for you to help the people there. I thank you for the outpouring of donations and time and service that I have seen already, but it is just as heart wrenching to hear about mass graves and people missing loved ones. I know that this breaks your heart more than any person on earth. I know this because of your feelings toward humanity that I read in Genesis, and the regret you felt for humanity turning out so badly.

I pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.