Thursday, February 18

Hi there. I think I'm finally awake enough to write a competent entry. I had a great small group meeting tonight with my friend Alex. It's kind of cool, we met each other at our church ORB in central Jersey, but then we both moved separately up to north Jersey and within 10 minutes of each other. So we try to get together once a week to talk about our lives and what's goin on and what we can pray for each other about. Before I started this project, Alex and I were keeping each other accountable for reading the Bible at least once or twice a week. It's a great relationship and I'm really glad we have one another to pray for and just talk to about stuff that's on our minds. I would encourage everyone to find a relationship with someone you trust and set aside time every week to meet and talk with that person. It really is a healthy thing to do, and I really enjoy the time we spend together.

Reading for February 18
Leviticus 6:1-7:27

Would you believe I actually just remembered that Leviticus is the book of straight laws? Well, its true. Leviticus is the book that contains the controversial statements about homosexuality and women in the priesthood and stuff. If I had trouble with some of the things I've been reading, I think this book may pose a serious problem...well, let's see...

OK - so the rules around sacrificial offerings continue here. One thing I learned though is that the sacrificial offering was not just to atone for sins - no. There are actually several different types of offerings: Burnt, Grain, Sin, Trespass, Peace - with that last one being the most interesting. God outlines a plan here for people to be able to sacrifice an animal for the sake of God any time they want. God says you can use this as an offering of Thanksgiving to Him. I've never heard of that before, when you think sacrificial animal offering, you're thinking trying to fix something that made God angry, not "Thank you God, my cat had babies - let me sacrifice one of them." That's so weird...

The instructions for some of the other ones, like the burnt offering are strangely specific and confusing. Check it:

‘This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. ¹⁰ And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body, and take up the ashes of the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. ¹¹ Then he shall take off his garments, put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. ¹² And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. ¹³ A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.

Like, why does it have to be those specific things? What about this is appeasing God? Does he just love details and making people follow strict and strange rules? This seems like something the Pharisees would love.

Mark 3:7-30
OK, again a lot of repeated information here, but told in such a punchier way. Jesus steps away from the multitude of people for a while to confirm his twelve disciples. Then at the end of this passage we have the idea of the only sin that can't be forgiven is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Which is hard to know if you are doing when you have no idea what the Holy Spirit is. On the plus side, my pastor, Christian is currently giving a series of sermons regarding the very topic of the Holy Spirit. I need to add this to my running questions: "What in the world is the Holy Spirit?"

On the other hand, I think that statement that I'm overlooking here is this one:

²⁸ “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter


This goes back to my book report on Matthew. Jesus died so every sin committed by every man will be forgiven. Not can - will be forgiven. It's this type of grace and forgiveness that I think is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

Psalm 37:1-11
This psalm seems to focus on not getting upset when other non-Jew/Christian people around you do well or receive blessings, when you are not getting anything. And also how believing and trusting in God will "give you the desires of your heart." Which is a dangerous statement.

I think the important thing here is the distinction between Jew/Christian and "evildoer. Obviously God is not going to give someone evil the evil desires of their heart, so the idea here is that trusting in God will change one's desires to be more in line with the desires of God. Right? I think that makes sense...

Proverbs 10:3-4
This is more in line with my understanding of what Proverbs was - simple 1-2 line nuggets of wisdom.

³ The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish,
      But He casts away the desire of the wicked.
       ⁴ He who has a slack hand becomes poor,
      But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Obviously I could debate these things to death based on the evidence of the real world, but the thought here is nice. In face the second half really has nothing to do with God at all - it says be lazy and you'll be poor, work hard and you'll be rich. Maybe not in today's society where people seemingly get rich by falling out of bed, but still - this is excellent advice, especially for me. I tend to get lazy from time to time. And by "from time to time" I mean "all the time."

Thanks buderinos. Goodnight.