Reading from Thursday, April 15

OK, so I didn't finish last night's post, and I'm extremely tired right now, so we'll see how much I can actually get through. Tomorrow Jilly is at a bachelorette party all day, so hopefully between chores and working, I'll be able to finally catch up on this thing.

Reading for April 15 - Tax Day Special
Joshua 11:1-12:24

Man oh man. I really can't get away from this slaughter. This section of the Bible just illustrates the Israelites as a nation of savage warriors who have no morality or sympathy for anything or anyone. Even the writing - there isn't the slightest tinge of regret or sadness about killing hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of people. In Genesis, when God flooded the earth and killed everyone there was a tangible feeling of remorse about his decision. Now it just seems like God is playing Risk with humanity, and God is totally winning. Where is his regret about his lost creation? Where is the humanity that once made me feel like I could somewhat relate to God and what he is going through?

So the text in these two chapters is exclusively Joshua and the Israeli army ruthlessly killing nation after nation. Chapter 12 is actually just a list of kings that he and his army had killed. Like it's some sort of competition. Does God have kings stuffed and mounted on his cloud walls? Do him and Satan trade huntin' stories?

All kidding aside, God's 'humanity' seems to have been completely drained from him. It doesn't even say what the victims of his rage were guilty of - if anything.

So again, I'm not gonna get upset about this, but I really hate reading stuff like this...

Luke 17:11-37

 ²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within^[b] you."

This is interesting - I don't think I've ever seen The Kingdom of God represented this way. I always thought of the Kingdom of God as when Jesus returns to earth and rules over the earth for all eternity. But here, Jesus says that it is within you. So what does that mean for me as a Christian? 

I think it means that I have the potential to bring the Kingdom of God to earth through my behavior and through my actions. Basically - if I follow everything Jesus says to do, I can bring the Kingdom. And I don't mean just me, but Christians as a whole.

Psalm 84:1-12
 ¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
       the LORD bestows favor and honor;
       no good thing does he withhold
       from those whose walk is blameless.

Here's a great example of something that could easily be taken out of context. There are many interpretations of God's chatacter, and one popular one, especially among televangelists, is that God wants you to be rich and if you give your life to him, everything will be great. And that's just not true.

However, if you read the first three lines of this verse, you would think, "Yeah, God sole responsibility is to give me nice things." But that last line is key - "from those whose walk is blameless". And as we all know - no one is blameless, except Jesus, and Jesus certainly did not have a life that most people would consider desirable, and yet he is the salvation of humanity. His awful, painful death was actually the single greatest action of all time. It kind of puts these things in a different perspective.

Proverbs 13:5-6
 ⁵ The righteous hate what is false,
       but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.
 ⁶ Righteousness guards the man of integrity,
       but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

Cool. Catch up tomorrow. Goodnight.