Reading from Saturday, May 29

Yo.

Reading for May 29
2 Samuel 14:1-15:22
So let's remember what happened last time. Amnon raped his half sister Tamar. Absalom, Tamar's full brother, finds out and kills Amnon. David is furious and banishes Absalom from Israel. OK, so now a woman comes to David saying that one of her sons killed the other, and that everyone is wanting to take revenge him by stoning him to death. The woman pleads with David, stating she is a widow and that it would be catastrophic for her to lose both sons after losing her husband. David feels for this woman and says that her son will be granted "immunity" - essentially - if he returns to Israel and comes out of exile. The woman reveals that she was talking about Absalom the whole time and that David can't go back  on his word. By the way, that's the second time someone tricked David like that. Gullible guy. Anyway, David agrees to let Absalom come back, but orders that he never see him. A

So Abs does come back and avoids seeing David for two years. Eventually he tries to figure out why he is back in Israel and feels that it would be better for him where  he was in exile. He demands to see King David, his father, and says "If he finds me guilty of anything may he put me to death." when David sees Absalom he kisses him. Forgiving him I suppose.

Abs soon gets a taste for power and wishes to become judge of Israel. He David asks permission to go to a land called Hebron to worship God there, all the while planning to become King of that land and then overthrow Israel. David hears of Absalom's plans and orders and evacuation of his palace - thousands of people fled Israel on that day.

And that's pretty much it. Not too much to interpolate here.

John 18:1-24
Jesus is arrested in this scene, but there is a strange omission here - there is no mention of the Garden of Gastheneme. The G of G is one of the most famous scenes in Jesus' life and it's one where we see him as profoundly human - knowing the pain about to be inflicted upon him, knowing the stakes and being totally petrified about the whole thing. Earnestly praying to God if there is any other way, to let it happen. It's so strange that none of those details are in John.

Then again, John stands out as the gospel with the most unique stories and interpretations of events. As I mentioned before, there is no mention of Jesus telling parables, many of the stories have significantly more or significantly less detail - it's a gospel that stands on it's own. I don't know what that says about its validity or if that makes it more or less accurate than the others, but I think it completes the picture of Jesus. You see almost the super-hero side of him, and yet that same side is humble and kind and generous - John paints the most flattering picture of Jesus - maybe the author and Jesus were besties...

Psalm 119:97-112
This whole psalm, where each line of every stanza starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is entirely focused on the goodness of God's laws and decrees. Every line, beautifully expressed through artful language is about following God's rules and being ever so joyful about it. It would be like someone in law school writing a 10 page poem about how much he loves real estate investment law. Why would someone go to such trouble to write an elaborately artful poem about laws?

I think it's because God's laws were created out of love for human kind. They are divine and perfect and designed to give us a fuller, richer life. Now I say that in the most optimistic sense. There are some laws in the OT that I thoroughly disagree with, but I think everything God has done for humanity has come from a place of love.

Proverbs 16:8-9
 ⁸ Better a little with righteousness
       than much gain with injustice.
 ⁹ In his heart a man plans his course,
       but the LORD determines his steps.

One of my newest goals through this project is to be able to quote the Bible as readily as the Simpsons. I think I would like to start with Proverbs. To be able  to bust out something like verse 8 in the flow of a conversation would be so sweet. It would  also probably make me look totally pompous. I need to do it from a place of humility and not try to lord that knowledge over people. Hopefully that will come from reading the Bible and letting it humble me. 

 

Reading from Friday, May 28

Hey now. So the other day I was talking politics with Jilly (a very rare occurrence) and we were talking about how her parents and most of her family tend to vote republican. Myself identifying and relating more toward the democratic side of things thought she was the same way. She never really participates in voting or political conversations and generally tries to avoid it. But I was like "well, you are democrat right?" and she said "No. I'm a socialist." Now if you know Jill, you'll know that could have easily been taken as a joke, as she just as easily could have said "No. I'm a vampire." But she was serious. She identifies with the way things were done back in Biblical times - everything was equally shared amongst everyone, which is - I think - the  on paper definition of Socialism. Obviously Socialism carries a pretty negative connnotationg because it was implemented by a bad man, but I think on paper its a fantastic idea. If everyone was equal, there would really be nothing to fight about - or at least less to fight about.

I just thought that was interesting because in American culture today, its so two-sided. Everything makes it seem like you have to choose one side or the other. It wasn't until that conversation with Jilly that I realized that I could be something completely different. Now, do I believe Socialism would work in America? No. Absolutely not. But, there are certain things like Universal Healthcare that I think lend themselves to that mindset. I'm not trying to alienate any readers as I know a few are hardcore GOPers, nor do I think the healthcare bill is perfect, but I think that Capitalism (which is a main pillar in both parties) creates such a stark contrast between the rich and the poor - the haves and the have nots. God calls us to care for the poor, the oppressed and to love one another - why shouldn't that command extend to our government as well?

Anyway, I'm not  the  most political guy in the world, and I'm sure most of you could poke holes in all of my arguments, or totally pwn me in a political debate, but I just wanted to introduce the idea that you don't have to identify with one party or the other if neither of them speak to the way you see the world. Karl Marx 4 Life!

Reading for May 28
2 Samuel 13:1-39
This is like Shakesperian tragedy goin on here. So by this time, David has several wives and a ton of kids. One of his sons - Amnon - falls in love with one of his daughters - Tamar. I think they came from different mothers, so they were technically half siblings, but still - gross.

So, Amnon pretends to be sick and demands that Tamar cook food for him and serve him. She does, and as she goes to feed him, he grabs her hand and asks her to have  sex with him. When she refuses, he rapes her, taking her virginity - a very important trait in a woman back in those times. After he rapes her, they are laying in the bed together and the text says that his love turns to hatred for her. He kicks her out of the bed and demands that they never see each other again.

Well, Amnon's full brother, Absalom hears about this and freaks out and sets out to kill Amnon. Two years after the rape takes place there is a banquet where everyone is drinking and having a good time. Absalom orders his men to wait until Amnon is nice and drunk and then to run him through. Hiss men follow Absalom's orders and now David is down another son.

A couple things to point out. As I mentioned in the previous post, it is striking how similar these people are to people of today. I think we all get this sense that humanity changes every decade and that we're all so radically different, but think about it - this story happens every day in America. I mean, I think I saw three episodes of Law and Order: SVU tonight that followed that exact same plotline. Our perception is that because clothing styles change and because technology advances, that humanity ges through these huge changes, but really, we're all  the same as the people even thousands of years ago.

The second thing I want to point out is that Jesus came from David's lineage. Out of this f-ed up, ruined family, and by extension, out of the larger screw up family of the  Jews, came the savior of the world. Proverbs 16:4

 ⁴ The LORD works out everything for his own ends—
       even the wicked for a day of disaster.

John 17:1-26
Wow. This section is absolutely beautiful. Please read the quote below - it's a long one, but it shows the love Jesus has for you.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

 ⁶"I have revealed you^[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. ¹³"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷Sanctify^[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

 ²⁰"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ²⁵"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Like, I'm not one to "evangelize" or try to convert people, but in plain language that is Jesus showing how much he loves people. As if he is saying "God, I came down to check these guys out, and it turns out they're not so bad. In fact, they're pretty awesome." He even compares himself to the people - to you and me. I don't know, but that's pretty incredible - even if you don't buy Jesus' divinity and resurrection, you gotta respect the guy, and to be  considered on the same level as him is pretty boss. 

Psalm 119:81-96
 ⁹² If your law had not been my delight,
       I would have perished in my affliction.
 ⁹³ I will never forget your precepts,
       for by them you have preserved my life.

I think this again specifically refers to the idea of considering suffering to be joy. He's saying here that if he had not been in that mindset, he would have died. I also think that this is David writing this, and from what we've seen so far from his life. I would have  to agree. He's got the death of a man and a baby on his conscience, not to mentions thousands of other people from surrounding nations, the dude saw some hard times.  And yet he praises God throughout. Good man.

Proverbs 16:6-7
YES! Finally some clarity. 

 ⁶ Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
       through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.
 ⁷ When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD,
       he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

Verse 6 is something I can really get behind. I can defintiely sign up for a religion were love and faithfulness atone one of sins instead of sacrifice and torment. Also this sheds a huge amount of light on the concept of fearing God. You can atone for your sins through love and faithfulness, but fearing God will help you avoid sinning in the first place. I love it - that is so simple and yet so profound. I think I have an answer as to what it means to fear God, or wait, no...It's clear now why I should fear him. I still don't know what fearing God would look like. Well at least I know what I'm working towards.

Reading from Thursday, May 27

Hey there.

Reading for May 27
2 Samuel 12:1-31
So this scene is after David sleeps with Bathsheba, gets her pregnant and then has her husband killed. A prophet comes to David and gives a parable about how there were two men. One was rich and had all sorts of livestock, while the other was poor and has only one lamb. When the rich man had a banquet he took the poor man's only lamb instead of taking from his own wealth and plenty. David ordered that the rich man be severely punished only to find out that the prophet was talking about him all along.

So, instead of punishing David, God punishes the son that came from the David/Bathsheba affair. He strikes the child with an illness. During this time, David fasts and prays all day - the child is sick for seven days and then he dies. David then cleans himself up and begins eating again, saying "What's the point of fasting if he's already dead? Nothing I can do can bring him back."

OK, so a couple of things about this story. First - why would God punish the child for David's wrongdoing? Sure I can see how it would bring him more pain, but that's pretty sadistic stuff. I mean that's the kind of stuff that happens in horror movies where the murderer kills the other people first to make the other character watch and suffer the loss. But even then, if it was to punish David in that way, he dragged it out for seven days. For seven days this child suffered some illness that was likely very painful. If the child had to die for whatever lesson he was trying to teach, why not just take him peacefully?

Second thing - I think David's reaction to the child's ultimate death is one of those profoundly human moments in the Bible. I have been lucky enough so far to have never experienced such a heavy loss, but I can imagine that a lot of people just lose all faith and give up on whatever they were doing before. I don't think that part of the story is in there to show David as being a bad guy, I think its in there to show us how relatable he is to our modern day lives.

John 16:1-33
Here, Jesus is trying to convey to his disciples what will happen to him in the next couple of days. It's obvious what he's talking about now, because we know how the story ends, but here the disciples are completely perplexed by his language. So we see, for maybe the third or fourth time, Jesus breaking down what he's saying for the disciples. In plain language he told them that he was going to die, but that it was OK and it was for their benefit, and that he would return soon. I love this last section:

²⁹Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."

 ³¹"You believe at last!"^[b] Jesus answered. ³²"But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
 ³³"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

There's something about that "You believe at last" line that just jumps off the screen at me. It seems as it was spoken with such kindness and relief and gratitude at the disciples finally understanding and believing everything Jesus had been telling them since the beginning. Also, that last line is awesome, another candidate for the cube wall...

Psalm 119:65-80
 ⁷¹ It was good for me to be afflicted
       so that I might learn your decrees.

This line made me think back to the parable that says Fear of God is the root of all wisdom, or something like that. Just for the sake of argument, let's replace "Fear" with "An understanding".

So in this line, the psalmist states that it is good for him to be facing hard times. There is a lot of language in the Bible about suffering and letting it mold and shape you and to consider  it joy to suffer in the name of Christ. So, for those who don't understand God, they will suffer and not see the benefit of suffering. They will just be pissed and not use it as a growth opportunity.

Proverbs 16:4-5
 ⁴ The LORD works out everything for his own ends—
       even the wicked for a day of disaster.
 ⁵ The LORD detests all the proud of heart.
       Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

Verse 4 goes back to the idea of the Jews being the roundabout good guys in the story of Christ. Through their misdeeds, God redeemed the world.

Sorry for the day behind action. Crazy days, crazy days.

Wednesday, May 26

Um...hey.

Reading for May 26
2 Samuel 9:1-11:27
So this section talks about a well known story from the Bible - David and Bathsheba. However, before it gets there, there is a chapter devoted to David being overly generous and kind. As you may remember, Saul and David didn't really get along - in the Saul-kept-trying-to-kill-David kind of way. So after Saul's death, there was still violence between David's supporters and Saul's supporters. However, in this scene, David is asking around to see if anyone is left alive in Saul's family.  It turns out Saul's grandson, Jonathan's son, is still around. David is extremely kind to this guy - he gives him back all the land that belonged to Saul during his reign as king and also said that he had an open invitation to eat with him whenever he wanted.

After that, Israel defeats the Ammonites, but David wants to show kindness to the son of the king, because the king was kind to David many years back when he was hiding from Saul. He sends a few guys to give their condolences to Hanun, the son of the king. Hanun's posse thinks that David's messengers are there to spy on them. So the Ammonites capture David's messengers and shave off their beards and cut the butt off their cloaks - a pretty humiliating thing I would think. Imagine how sweet those dude's beards were.

Anyway, this sets David off and a war breaks out against a group of people called the Arameans - a hired army by the Ammonites. During this war, David who is resting comfortably in his palace, goes up on his roof. He sees some babe named Bathsheeba taking a bath. That's a little predictable don't you think? Do you think Bathsheba's friends were always like "Oh there she is, taking a bath again!" Anyway, David sends for this woman, they do it and she gets pregnant. Also she's already married. Whoopsie.

OK, so at this point, David has done something pretty awful. But he acted on impulse and passion and that can often be forgiven. Not saying it's right at all, but most people would allow him a second chance for a mistake. Well, David freaks out at hearing of Bath's pregnancy. Now, her husband was in David's army so David asked for him to be taken from the battle, and he tells him to go home and be with Bathsheba for the night - obviously hoping that he will do her, and then everyone will think the baby was his. Well, he doesn't go home. David then tries to get him drunk so he will go home. Again he doesn't. Then David says "screw it" and sends this poor guy onto the front lines of the battle where he would surely be killed. And he is killed. And then David takes Bathsheba as his wife. Way to go, douche. Great line at the end though:

But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

Finally, my morals and God's morals line up. This did make me think of something. I am always so outraged at what God does in the Old Testament, but look how awful his people are. It really is a tragedy when you look at it from where God intended it to be to where it was at this point. People were being unbelievably awful and God was letting them know it. It was a hate-hate, lose-lose relationship.

John 15:1-27
You know what I just realized? I don't think there's any parables in John. Interesting. Anyway, there is a light parable here where Jesus compares the relationship between him and people as the relationship between a branch and a vine. My pastor, Christian gave a great sermon on this a couple of weeks ago - where he said that that relationship is a living relationship. Both the vine and the branch are required to be active participants in the relationship. Which means we need to actively be seeking relationship with Jesus and communing with him and reading the Bible. By comparison to the Old Testament (and my 'lose-lose' statement above) this relationship is win-win. Both parties are benefiting, both parties are happy and both parties are producing something productive and helpful to the world around them. Here, just read this:

¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Verse 2 is especially compelling. It gives a reason to suffering. Being 'pruned', which may be painful, is necessary to produce better things in the future. For example, I went to the dentist today and it sucked big ones cuz I have super sensitive gums that hurt really bad when he scrapes them with that freaking needle-drill. But this was a necessary pain so I don't lose my teeth, get it?

Then, for the third time in three chapters, Jesus commands us to love one another:

¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

What an incredible section of text. Jesus calls us his friends. Wow. So even if you think of it as a favor for dying for us, maybe we should follow this command of Jesus. Love each other.  Love each other.

I've really been trying to do this lately - at work especially. I've been going out of my way to be extra nice to people. Not like corny, fake nice. But just looking for people who need help and offering to help. Or saying hey to someone that looks lonely. It not only effects those around you, but it puts you in a better mood overall. Try it. Love each other.


Psalm 119:49-64
 ⁶⁴ The earth is filled with your love, O LORD;
       teach me your decrees.

I like this. There seems to be a direct relationship between the earth being filled with God's love, and learning God's laws. Interesting the author uses God's love and not his rules or power or justice.  His love is what is most prevalent across the entire world. So because of that, teach me your decress...Hmm...I got nothin. But I still like how it sounds.

Proverbs 16:1-3
 ¹ To man belong the plans of the heart,
       but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
 ² All a man's ways seem innocent to him,
       but motives are weighed by the LORD.
 ³ Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
       and your plans will succeed.

This should be submitted for the debate of "Is God Good?" Our understanding of what is good is not always God's understanding. So something that may seem like the right way to do things to us, may be something God sees as awful. Or vice versa. I've mentioned a couple times how the Jews are often viewed as the villains of the Jesus story, but really they're the catalyst for what our entire religion is based on. God's plan was for that evil nature to carry out this masterpiece of a plan to redeem the whole world through the actions of people who were perceived to be evil. God made it possible for the Jews to capture Jesus, beat him, humiliate him and crucify him. He moves in mysterious ways. 

Thinking About God in the Old Testament

So I have been flip flopping back and forth between whether or not God was accurately described in the Old Testament. There is a theory that the scribes of the Old Testament "got God wrong". They misinterpreted his commands, or twisted his words to fit their own goals. I've been thinking about this a lot recently, and I think if I'm going to trust in the Bible as a document of how I should live my life, I have to accept that these things actually happened and that God was involved in the way it says he was.

As I've mentioned before, I think that Christ's sacrifice not only redeemed mankind with their God but redeemed God to humanity as well. The whole point of the overarching story of the Bible is the redemption that takes place between God and his people, so to dilute the anger and sometimes shocking actions of God in the Old Testament is to dilute the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. Let me see if I can put it another way...

Let's say that every thing that we find shocking and awful about God in the Old Testament actually didn't take place. There was no anger against humanity and sin really didn't tarnish the relationship between God and man the way the Bible makes it look. What then, does Christ's sacrifice mean? It would mean nothing because there would be no need for it.

Ah, OK here it is! This is good:

God, being powerful enough to create the entire world and precise enough to bless a single person, saw that the world he created was broken. He realized that he was doling out punishment after punishment and no one was changing or reacting to the punishment the way God hoped they would. The first time he realized that his world had become non-repairable, he killed the entire world in the flood. The second time, he sacrificed his son. Even though it was our fault for being terrible, he said "There's no other way to do this - I have to sacrifice my only son."

At the very least, the narrative wouldn't make sense if we disregard the nasty things God did in the Old Testament. In the highest spiritual sense, the sacrifice of Christ would mean nothing to us. While I think it meant most to those Jews who lived during Christ's life and saw the change in their own lifetime, we can be thankful that we no longer have to relate to God in such a severe way.

Tuesday, May 25

Yo dogs.

Reading for May 25
2 Samuel 7:1-8:18
Pretty great stuff here. God makes a promise to David that his offspring will produce great people, specifically, one of the people in the line of David is Jesus. God says:

'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.

Pretty crazy how this was planned already - likely somewhere around 1000 years before Jesus came into existence. So God is knowing of certain future events such as who will be born and how many people will be born in a specific family tree. But perhaps he can't know what those people will do or who they will become because we have free will.

The next section gives specific details about the different armies and nations that were defeated under David's leadership of Israel.  One of these was cited in that scene from God on Trial - when the Moabites were defeated, David made them lie facedown on the ground and selected two to die and one to live on to be enslaved by the Jews. The Rabbi in that scene from God on Trial likened that action to the situation they were in at Auschwitz where some had been selected to live to work for the Nazis while others would be killed.

This brings me back to the issue I can't seem to escape - is God good? Surely looking at a scene where someone who is appointed by God chooses to murder two people for every one he enslaves does not put a tick mark in the "yes" column to that question. But thinking back to some of the worst atrocities in the Old Testament so far, specifically the genocide of the Midianites, God was not involved at all. The direction to be so ruthless against Israel's enemies came from Moses and Samuel and other Judges. Many times God isn't involved at all. Other times, however, he is involved and still other times he is fully responsible for the devastation and pain caused.

OK - let me ask this question to see if  I am completely off base. And please respond in the comments to this: If the New Testament did not exist, and you were not Jewish, what impression would you get of God in reading the Old Testament? (New thing - if I'm looking for a response to a specific question in the comments, it will appear in orange)

John 14:15-31
Jesus here promises to give his followers the Holy Spirit to watch over them after he dies. So that begs the question "what is the Holy Spirit?" Did it exist before the death of Jesus? Is the Spirit even of Jesus? Does it look like a ghost with two eye holes cut out?

There is also a double mention of the idea that if you love Jesus, you will follow his commands. It's not if you love me, you should follow or it will be easier to follow - It's you will follow his commands. And I think that is pretty telling of what it means to love Jesus. Loving him involves taking action. Loving him includes following a set of rules - but not because you have to or even want to, but when you love Jesus you are mentally compelled to follow his teachings. It's not something you think about or cross off a checklist - it's something that becomes a natural part of who you are. It's a cool concept, no doubt.

Psalm 119:33-48
Here's a nice little tie-in to what Jesus was saying:
 ⁴⁶ I will speak of your statutes before kings
       and will not be put to shame,
 ⁴⁷ for I delight in your commands
       because I love them.
 ⁴⁸ I lift up my hands to ^[b] your commands, which I love,
       and I meditate on your decrees.

This guy loves to follow God's commands. It's like his favorite thing to do. Like:

"Hey man, you wanna come over later and follow some of God's commands?"
"Why don't you come over my place? I just got a couple new commands we could follow together?"
"Sweet! Which ones? What color did you get??"

By the way, looking at that conversation now, it looks completely sexual, which wasn't my intention. My intention was the idea that people can get really excited about the law of the  Old Testament.

Proverbs 15:33
³³ The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, ^[a]
       and humility comes before honor.

Tired. night.

Reading from Monday, May 24

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I got some great news that I will hopefully be able to share here soon, Jilly and I are in a really good place in our relationship right now, and overall it was just a fantastically great day. Hooray.

Reading for May 24
2 Samuel 4:1-6:23
This is pretty interesting. The first major scene in this section is David and the Israeli army invading the city of Jerusalem - the first city we all probably think of when we think of 'Bible places', and yet it was not part of the kingdom of Israel at this time. So David was expanding the land and kingdom of Israel. In doing so, he was also exposing new people to God - for better or worse. Either way, this could be seen as the first time that Israel started expanding instead of staying in one spot. As violent as this expansion was, it must have been pleasing to God. Remember that he foiled the plans to build the tower of Babel because he did not want his people settling in one place for all eternity.

Then the Ark of the Covenant is brought back into the story. It's really intriguing how the ark is regarded as almost this cursed object. Like so much other folk lore and fantasy about items and objects that carry so much weight and power and good or evil that just being around it or touching it can have a profound impact on someone's life. This is certainly the case here. There is a scene where there is some poor schlub responsible for retrieving and bringing the ark to David. The donkey this guy is riding on trips, the ark is jostled loose and he reaches out to grab it so it doesn't touch the ground. Well, because of this obviously grave injustice, God strikes this man dead for touching the ark.

I find it somewhat ironic that there is such an emphasis on avoiding witchcraft and idolatry and magic and stuff like that, and yet this ark is almost idolized. If I were writing the story with the image of God I believe in - or was given through years of church and youth group - the ark would only be the physical representation of God for the people to latch on to, but in reality God could care less about some wood and gold put together to form a box. Then again, this could also be a placebo effect. The people's perceived holiness and 'magic' around this ark would make them fear the item as much as God himself. Their understanding was that if they saw God's face or spoke his name that they would freaking blow up and die. So touching something that they believed God was so much a part of could simply make them think that was a one way ticket to death town, and this is how it was told generation after generation and this was how it was written down.

Is it wrong to think that some of the stuff in the Old Testament was simply misinterpreted when it was written? I mean, I know I'm supposed to believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, but none of God's other creations are inerrant. I mean look at people - we suck!

John 13:31-14:14
Incredibly hopeful and redemptive stuff going on here.

First point - Yes! Finally! This is the religion I belong to. This is the God I follow.

³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

A command from our LORD to love one another as he has loved us. Sacrificial love, washing the feet of your friends, and also your enemies. Laying down your own pride and desires to make the lives of those around you easier. And while Christ dying for everyone was a unique situation which will likely not need to be repeated, think of that love he had for humanity and let that guide your love for others. If we could love one another in 1/1,000,000th of a degree of that level of love, as hacky as it sounds, this world would be a better place.

Then, Jesus goes on to say that he is, in fact, God. Not a god or God's son, but he is actually God.

⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.

So as was mentioned last week in the discussion about "Is God Good?" Jesus is the best lens through which we can see God. So if he is the same as the God in the Old Testament - the only explanation would be that the scribes of those books got it wrong. They were not describing the God in his full love for humanity, and because they were obsessed with gaining new land and taking over other nations, they made up aspects of God to make him fit their needs at the time. This is still done today in politics and government issues. Cherry picking aspects of God to fit a political agenda. Then you get things like the slaughter of the Midianites. People in these positions of power often claim what God wants - and often those things are beneficial to America, but likely detrimental to other countries, and sometimes its detrimental to America too, we just can't see it yet. Remember that this very same God called us to love one another in the same way that he has loved us - sacrificially.


Psalm 119:17-32
Love this:

¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see
       wonderful things in your law.

 ¹⁹ I am a stranger on earth;
       do not hide your commands from me.
 ²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing
       for your laws at all times.

It's fantastic to see such an earnest love for God's laws. Most people, including myself, often see them as a burden. But to think about the fact that these laws are in place because God loves us really does put it in perspective. It's like being a kid and being all upset at your Mom for not letting you play in the street, but as you grow up, you see that she didn't want you playing in the street because she loved you and doesn't want you to get hurt.

In the same way, God's laws are designed around his love for us. Which is where we 'may see wonderful things in [his] law'.



Proverbs 15:31-32
 ³¹ He who listens to a life-giving rebuke
       will be at home among the wise.
 ³² He who ignores discipline despises himself,
       but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.

Word up, yo. Word up. 

Wednesday, May 19 - Sunday, May 23

Yeah, so being 5 days behind is a little overwhelming. I'm still crapped out on the couch and spent the entire day in bed yesterday. I have been reading my daily readings, but just haven't had the strength to open up the laptop and type. So I'm going to summarize everything I've read over the past five days in hopes of keeping my head above water.

Also - the LOST finale was totally stupid.

Reading for May 19 - May 23
1 Samuel 24 - 31

So Saul continues to pursue David in hopes of killing him, but David is always one step ahead. David has multiple opportunities to kill Saul, but doesn't. Each time though, he lets Saul know that he could have - and didn't. The reason David gave each time was because Saul was God's anointed. So it wasn't so much out of respect for Saul as it was for God's choice.

It does eventually get bad enough that David decides to go and live with the Philistines - to stay out of Israel and out of the grasp of Saul. The Philistines then began an attack against Israel and Saul was afraid because of the size of their army. He asked God for guidance, but got no answer - so he went to a spirit medium. This spirit medium channeled the spirit of Samuel to give answers to Saul.

Now, I was planning on getting on my high horse about this and being all like "Eugh...this invalidates the Old Testament because they are showing silly witchcraft working and not making the practitioners of the witchcraft look like fools...wahh..."But you know what? If I believe in a big deity in the sky who created mankind and an immaculate conception and resurrection after death - I can't draw the line there and say - "Nope! That's as far as anything supernatural goes. Anything else is hogwash." That wouldn't be fair, would it?

The end of 1 Samuel shows Saul taking his own life after being critically wounded in battle. He wanted to die heroically, instead of being shamed by his attackers. So that's what he did.  He ran himself through with his sword and did himself in real nice.

2 Samuel 1-3
2 Samuel starts off with David mourning over the death of Saul and then he is anointed king of Israel. A new war began between David's house and Saul's house. David's house was totally destroying Saul's house by the way. But there is a poignant line here in the middle of the battle:

"Must the sword devour forever? Don't you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?"

Does this speak to the larger question of the violent nature of the Israelites? A call to end their overall tendency towards bloodshed? Probably not - but it would be nice if it was, no?

John 10:22 - 13:30
There is some fantastic detail in here about the story of Lazarus. Remember that Lazarus is the man that Jesus raised from the dead. Well, in the previous account of this story, it gives very few details about who this guy was and his condition and all that. It's revealed here that Jesus was somewhat of a family friend to Lazarus and his sisters. Jesus showed real emotion when dealing with the death of Lazarus, likely in part because it was reflective of his own death, but the emotion was there for his friend too.

It's also revealed that Lazarus had been dead for four days, and he had already started to smell and decompose. So he was absolutely dead when Jesus brought him back. After he is raised, Jesus tells his sisters:

"Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

This seems to be a recurring thing after Jesus heals someone. He tells them to take whatever physical thing that was representative of their illness, and to go. Kind of like a "hey throw those crutches away, you don't need them anymore." I suppose.

There's also a pretty famous scene where Mary Magdelene pours perfume on Jesus feet. It's well known that the disciples say "hey, she could have sold that and given the money to the poor!" But john reveals that Judas is the one who said that, and not because he wanted to give the money to the poor, but because he was in charge of the "poor people fund" and would often steal from it. Stealing from the poor and betraying the savior. Two pretty dick moves if you ask me...

Then the Last Supper. There's a scene here where Jesus washes the feet of all the disciples. A humbling thing, I would imagine. Jesus then says that he did that to set an example - to be a servant to everyone you meet - no matter how great or small - serve one another in love. Pretty great, that Jesus was.

Psalm 116 - 119

Wow, lots of modern-ish songs were taken from these.
 ²⁴ This is the day the LORD has made;
       let us rejoice and be glad in it.
 ²² The stone the builders rejected
       has become the capstone;

 ²⁹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.

Psalm 119 starts what is called an acrostic poem where in the verses of each stanza begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I would love to hear those read in the original Hebrew - I bet it's beautiful.

Proverbs 15:20-30

Just some nice, simple advice
 ²² Plans fail for lack of counsel,
       but with many advisers they succeed.
 ²³ A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—
       and how good is a timely word!

Alright, epic post. Back to work tomorrow after 5 days of being mega sick. Gimmie those prayers if you're the praying type - it's gonna be a rough week.

Love.

Update

Hey dudes. I'm not giving up, I've just been really sick the past couple days. 103 Fever, yo. Hope to try to get back into it tomorrow.

Love.

Portal Ending

By the way - here is the ending of Portal. This is the game I mentioned where the final boss has these different personality cores. This is currently how I imagine God. Minus, perhaps, the turrets and dimension hopping.

Tuesday, May 18

Giving more thought to this idea of God being good or not. One of the commenters on the original post about this topic had a theory. This theory was that the Israelites were misinterpreting the messages from God, or even just acting of their own free will and saying that God instructed them to do certain things like kill entire nations and destroy cities. This would certainly make a lot of sense - a fledgling race of people trying to make a name for themselves in the world would defintiely have a lot to gain by imagining that God told them to kill everyone else so they could become powerful. But that still doesn't explain the actions and miracles attributed directly to God. The flood, the first passover, and so on.

I don't know, I'm still in the camp of God changing between testaments. Perhaps the definition of "change" needs to be looked at, but there are clear differences between then and now.

Reading for May 18
1 Samuel 22:1-23:29
I don't have a lot of battery left on my laptop, so this may be a short one.

Saul searches for David to kill him. He is unable to locate him.

John 10:1-21
Jesus is the good shepherd.

Psalm 115:1-18
 ² Why do the nations say,
       "Where is their God?"
 ³ Our God is in heaven;
       he does whatever pleases him.

mmmmmhmmm.


Proverbs 15:18-19
 ¹⁸ A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
       but a patient man calms a quarrel.
 ¹⁹ The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,
       but the path of the upright is a highway.

Those Tylenol PMs are kicking in right about now. I am once again sick and need the sleep.

Goodnight, friends.

Reading from Monday, May 17

Here is that scene from the movie "God on Trial" that has started all of this discussion. It's one of those convenient movies where the Jews and Germans all have a nice, polite British accent, but it doesn't make the content any less interesting. This is somewhat late in the movie, so it will have a stronger impact if you watch the whole thing, but this scene is incredible...





I think the whole thing is parsed out in 9 pieces on youtube as well if you want to see it from the beginning. If you have Netflix though, it's on Instant.


Reading for May 17
1 Samuel 20:1-21:15
There is a lot of detail an repetitive text in this section, but basically it boils down to this:
David tells Jonathan that Saul is trying to kill him. Jonathan doesn't believe him at first, but eventually finds this to be true and goes to confirm it with David. It's clear that David and Jonathan had a close relationship and were great friends. As Jonathan admitted that Saul was trying to kill David, they wept together for a long time.

David then fled to another city where he was recognized as the King of Israel, but pretended to be insane as to not arouse suspicion.

That's pretty much it.

John 9:1-41
Wow, there's a lot going on here, but I think there's something that's really relevant to the discussion going on right now about whether God is actually good, or if he changed when Christ came.

 ¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

 ³"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

This is an answer to the problem of evil. It may not be the answer, but it's an answer. So there is a common belief amongst the Jews of that time that bad things happened as a direct result of sin. Direct cause and effect - you sin, you get divinely punished by God. Jesus again refutes this by saying that the man's blindness is not a result of anyone's sin, but is an act of God, so his glory can be displayed through him.

This is actually one of the more common responses to the problem of evil. Evil exists in the world, so God's love can be displayed through his believers. I don't like that though...I think it was N.T. Wright who said something along the lines of "To think that God sets up little puppet shows for us to respond to is abhorrent." Imagine if God sent the Earthquake to Haiti so his love could be shown to the world.

While there were many miraculous stories of hope and charity that came out of the Haitian earthquake - again put yourself in the shoes of someone who lost everything. For dramatic purposes, let's say your a single mother who lost two children - probably a common case. Let's say you believe in God and that you believe that evil or pain exists so Christians can respond to it and show his love. What would your impression of God be? You would hate him for taking your children.

I think this theory works for people removed from the tragedy. Americans who are watching the drama unfold on TV may see this horrific act of God and then see some giving and loving Christians and choose to put their faith in God. But for the afflicted, I think it would have the opposite effect.

Wow, I'm way off topic now...let's think about it from another way - again looking at OT God and NT God as different.

In the Old Testament, God shows his power through destruction. "...so they will know that I am God" is a common phrase he said after telling the Jews what catastrophic event he will bring to a neighboring nation. Now, here in the gospels, we see God displaying his love through charity, mercy and sacrifice. In this case, a man healed of an awful affliction spreads the news about how wonderful God is. Is it possible that sacrifice and pain is a part of God's plan to win over his world? This is indeed a hairy topic.

I would like to talk to someone who believes this theory, but has also had something terrible happen to them. I would like to see how many people in those situations kept their faith and how many ended up hating God. I know that's an extremely common occurrence - someone loses faith because of a terrible tragedy in their own life.

Psalm 113:1-114:8
Nothing really stands out here.

Proverbs 15:15-17
 ¹⁵ All the days of the oppressed are wretched,
       but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
 ¹⁶ Better a little with the fear of the LORD
       than great wealth with turmoil.
 ¹⁷ Better a meal of vegetables where there is love
       than a fattened calf with hatred.

Yes sir. 

 

Did God Change between the New Testament and Old Testament?

I've gotten some great feedback from my last post - specifically regarding the idea of God "changing" in the New Testament. Both commenters agreed that God remained unchanged throughout all time. One of the arguments was that the Israelites misinterpreted God's instructions in the Old Testament. While this is definitely possible, I don't think it clears some of the atrocities committed directly by God. You know, it's offensive to hear about all of the first born children killed in Egypt from our point of view, but think about it from the point of view of the mothers of those children. I know I mentioned this as a quote from the movie in the last post, but think about it...

You're a person who does not love the Hebrew God because that's not how you were raised, and because you did not love him, he is going to kill your first born child. Dead. What would your response to that God be? Would you then love him? Would you think he was a good God?

It would be like an abusive partner beating a spouse because they didn't love them. You can't beat love out of someone.

I think the idea with God changing could be looked at from a different angle. I will admit that its possible that God did not change, but rather the vector to give love to humanity did not exist - and could not exist - prior to Jesus. Our relationship to sin changed. Before Christ, sin was something that we could not avoid and could not wash away. Even some of God's mightiest warriors or most holy and righteous men were susceptible to it, and then susceptible to his wrath. Then with Jesus' sacrifice, God was able to give us the love he's always wanted to give us.

So God did not change. Man did not change. Sin did not change. But the relationship of those three things is what changed. 


However, the other thing to think about, and this was mentioned in one of the comments, is that Jesus is the best lens through which we should view God. But again, so many things conflict. Jesus refutes many of the directly spoken words of God that appear in the OT. 'Eye for an eye' becomes 'turn the other cheek', 'Kill everyone who's not you' becomes 'love your neighbor as yourself', 'follow the law or be stoned to death by fellow villagers' becomes 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone'. These are not interpretations of God's word, if the Bible is to be taken as infallible, these are the actual words of God. No room for interpretation or screw ups from people. In fact, we see people getting punished for not following these commands. And all of this occurred before Jesus was killed and sin was defeated. So if we're to believe that Jesus represents the same God as the Old Testament, how then would it be logical to believe that God did not change?

Furthermore, in the book of Acts, it is instructed to Peter that he should extend the message of God's love to everyone, not just Jews. While in the Old Testament, God cared for only the Jews, and gave no grace to the rest of the world. I think we can all admit that was a change. Whether or not it reflects a change in God's character and thinking is debatable, but its still something to think about.

What say you?

Sunday, May 16

Hey. So I just watched a movie called "God on Trial". The story is about a group of Jews at Auschwitz during WWII, who decide - rightfully - that their situation is so despicable that they must put God on trial. They decided to determine whether or not the covenant that God made with the Jews was broken - was God in breach of contract, basically.

The movie plays out like a debate and about 90% of it takes place in the bunks the Jews are housed in. The main argument against God was that he promised to protect the Jews if they followed his commands - well they did, but now they're stuck in this horrific place. He promised to strike down the enemies of the Jews, but why is Hitler living and flourishing?

The argument for God was that it was the Jews who were at fault for their situation. One man quotes many of the scenarios in the OT (or the Torah in this case) where Israel disobeyed God and suffered for it. Another argument in God's favor was that they were suffering as martyrs so they could carry on the legacy of the Jews.

The debate carried on for a while, and then towards the end, a Rabbi - who had remained silent for the whole movie - spoke up. He began talking about how God struck down the first born child in Egypt. How God ordered the complete obliteration of the Amalekites by Saul. And when Saul tried to be generous with the plunder from the battle by giving the livestock to his people, God punished him for it. He concluded that it was now the Jews time to feel the pain and suffering that God had inflicted on all the other nations. He said, "now we may know what it feels like to be an Egyptian mother during the first passover." Finally, he concluded his impromptu sermon with this message - shouted from the  bottom of his lungs:

"God is NOT good!"

I have to say - if it weren't for Jesus, I would agree with him. I've already concluded that God is most likely not all knowing, and perhaps not even all powerful, why not ruin the whole image and throw the idea that maybe he isn't loving in there too? I mean, where does it say that he is all loving? Is that something Jews and Christians made up so it was more palatable to serve him? God's actions in the Old Testament are certainly not the actions of a loving, gracious, good God. He is ruthless, he is angry, he is abusive, he is frightening, he is murderous...but he is not good. It's strange that in the New Testament then that we see so little of God himself, and yet we see so much of him at the same time. Jesus is believed to be God in human form - but he is absolutely not the same God who killed every first born child of Egypt.

Maybe there are different emotional parts of God - a loving part, a wisdom part and a powerful part. Perhaps that is what the holy trinity is. Has anyone ever played the game Portal? The final boss is this sentient, self-aware machine that has different emotional cores - an anger core, a kindness core, one that prevents it from making mistakes and one that is a recipe for cake (I don't think that one has any relevance here...) Maybe God is made up of these emotional cores - and maybe the kindness core layed dormant for thousands of years. And maybe after God's anger core had been raging out on his people generation after generation, the kindness core (Jesus) took over. Maybe Jesus took over to save human kind. To save humanity from it's God.

Reading for May 16
1 Samuel 18:5-19:24
So here, we start to see David's popularity and power increase, while Saul's decreases. Saul tries to kill David several times - a couple times he tries to directly murder him with a spear, while others he just sends David into war hoping he will be killed in battle.

There's an interesting parallel here between David and Jesus as Saul is trying to kill David - an innocent man:

⁴ Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, "Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. ⁵ He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?"

Now, no one really spoke up for Jesus like this when the Pharisees were trying to kill him, but this is the same principal.

Again, Saul tries to kill David and David escapes. David's wife - who happens to be Saul's daughter - arranges David's escape and creates a decoy so he can get away. David fled to Samuel and told him everything that happened. Eventually, Saul figured out where David was and went to go and kill him but when he got there, it says:

²³ So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. ²⁴ He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night.

I'm not sure what it means when it says "prophesying" - it's obviously preventing him from killing David, but is it something he has control over? It doesn't sound like it...

John 8:31-59
This is a pretty tense scene. Jesus is talking with the Jews - it just says Jews, not Pharisees or anything like that.

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

 ³³They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants^[a] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

 ³⁴Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

What I want to examine here is the idea of slavery. I'm sure you've heard the term "slaves to sin" before, but I've never really thought about it. A slave is someone who is wholly owned by a master. Someone who must obey what the master says or face punishment. A slave is someone who works in horrific working conditions for no more reward than basic requirement to stay alive to continue working.

So if someone is a slave to sin, that means that sin is their master. They must obey sin - or perhaps a vice in their life. By obeying sin, the person is only giving themselves just enough to stay alive so they can continue to live in sin the next day. I think that's they key here - being a slave to sin, and living apart from Christ is not real life, you are merely sustaining yourself just enough to keep going.  Whereas being free through Christ will give you the freedom to live your life to the fullest - to live it in a way that it was meant to be lived. And this way that we were meant to live is the way God wanted us to live from the beginning with Adam and Eve. God had designed a life for us to live that was beautiful and satisfying, and sin stepped in and ruined it.

Now, through Christ, we can have the life we were meant to have from the beginning. Free from our awful master of sin. And the only reason we can experience that freedom is because Jesus took it upon himself to suffer on our behalf. He took everything of God that was "NOT good!" and absorbed that hatred, that anger, that jealousy that God poured out on mankind time and time again - Jesus took every last bit of anger God had, and he did that for us. It's as if Jesus absorbed God's anger core, so now God can be the loving, good God he wants to be.

I'm gonna call it there for the night - its a lot to think about.

Psalm 112:1-10


Proverbs 15:12-14
 ¹² A mocker resents correction;
       he will not consult the wise.
 ¹³ A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
       but heartache crushes the spirit.
 ¹⁴ The discerning heart seeks knowledge,
       but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

I would love to discuss this stuff with you - any of you. Please comment below, email me (brandonamurray@gmail.com), or call me. I love discussing and debating this stuff. Also, I would really recommend that movie - it's a great conversation starter.
 

Saturday, May 15

OK - I don't have much to say. Goin down to ORB tomorrow for the first time in a while. Excited about that. I guess it's Bible time.

Reading for May 15
1 Samuel 17:1-18:4
Oh snap. It's David and Goliath time, yo.

Damn. This is not the children's story I remember. Sure the main points are there - little dude takes out big dude with a sling shot. But there are some seriously deep things going on here. First of all the language David uses is soaking in:
A) Confidence and
B) Things God delights in


Here's a little of his confidence:

Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

And here's a little of that stuff God must have loved:

"You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

For so long it seems like the lesson in the OT has been that the Israelites would pervert a task from God for their own benefit - this kind of stuff still happens today. But what David says and how he  approaches this situation is exactly what God would have told him to say and exactly how God would have wanted David to approach it. This must have been one of God's proudest moments in humanity.

Also, my impression of this story up until like 10 minutes ago was that David knocked out Goliath with the stone and "won" over him, but that Goliath lived. No no. That is not the case. It says, first of all the the stone "sank into his head". There's something about the word sank that's so macabre here. Anyway - the stone killed Goliath, and after he died, David went over, took Goliath's sword and cut his freaking head off. Boom. Graphic violence. In the Bible. Lay off of Halo. 


John 8:21-30
A really thought provoking thing Jesus says here:

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

This really does put some separation between Jesus and us. Not like the God/human separation, but there is a clear distinction. I don't think that's meant to spiritually separate us from him, but rather allow us to understand that Jesus is perfect and holy by design, and we are sinful by nature, and therefore can rely on him to be holy and perfect for us. 

Psalm 111:1-10
 ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
       all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
       To him belongs eternal praise.

This idea of fear of God and wisdom being tied together is one I've already read in the Bible. I think it was one of the first proverbs. I didn't really understand what Solomon meant by that in proverbs and I'm not sure if I have any more of a clue now.

So if I don't have a fear  of God, but I become really smart otherwise, it's not true wisdom. Like building a house without a foundation. Maybe it's like becoming wise without the fear of the Lord will create an arrogance in you, while fearing the Lord first and then seeking knowledge will make you humble in your brain power.

Proverbs 15:11
 ¹¹ Death and Destruction ^[a] lie open before the LORD—
       how much more the hearts of men!

With that - my laptop's about to die. Goodnight, friends. Love all the time.
 

Friday, May 14

W'alright. That's short for "well, all right" but it's really fun to say. Try it. Right now - out loud.

W'alright!

Say it to your friends. They'll think you're great.

Reading for May 14
1 Samuel 15:1-16:23
OK, some really compelling stuff here. We have yet another God sanctioned genocide. This time its the Amalekites. I need to look past it though to get some of the other messages here. God orders Saul to kill every one of the Amalekites - every living thing in their land must be destroyed. Saul had almost everything killed, but took their king alive and also kept a lot of the best livestock for himself and the other soldiers.

Now, his intentions were apparently good for this livestock - he intended to use them sacrificially for God. Here's how God responds to that though:

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
       as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
       To obey is better than sacrifice,
       and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Actually, that was Samuel speaking,  but its basically the same here, I think. What I take this to mean though is that God cares more about obeying and loving him than rituals and routines. I had a conversations a few years ago with a roommate of mine who had given up meat for lent, but was complaining about not being able to have it. Huh; that sounds a lot like the Israelites. Anyway - I told her I don't believe it really matters if she ate meat or not at that point. God just want to know you love him - keeping up a ritual that arguable doesn't mean anything to you is only hurting the relationship with him.

So the story continues from there. God removes Saul from power and puts some sort of awful curse on him because he didn't follow his commands. He tells Samuel to go and find a son of Jesse - that he will be the new leader of Israel. This happens to be David. He does not become the leader at first, he comes to play the harp for Saul which helps to alleviate the pain from the curse God laid upon him.

John 8:1-20
This is the story of the adulterous woman. You know the whole "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" bit. Again this is another example of a time when you see the old laws of God becoming invalid - here is what the crowd says:

"Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?""Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

Jesus did not outright declare the law invalid, but what he does say makes it so stonings and unnecessary killings like this don't have to take place anymore. 

Psalm 110:1-7
Nothing really stands out in this one.

Proverbs 15:8-10
 ⁸ The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
       but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
 ⁹ The LORD detests the way of the wicked
       but he loves those who pursue righteousness.
 ¹⁰ Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path;
       he who hates correction will die.

Alright yo's. Goodnight.

 

New Reactions Available

I have refined those "Reactions" buttons down below each post. You now have the option to tell me whether you though a post was:

Funny
Interesting
Helped My Faith
Hurt My Faith or
This Sucks

Thanks to Chris Dela for those two faith suggestions!

And these are anonymous, believe me I tried to see who clicked what, but I cannot - so please don't be bashful about clicking those buttons. Especially the "this sucks" button. I want to know when it sucks. 

Thursday, May 13

Alright, in the city today and feeling like crap. Feelin good about the Bible though. I've been thinking about a lot of different things today. One of them is my irrational fear of going to prison. Yes, I have a fear that one day, I will be charged for something I didn't do and spend a large amount of time in jail. So I began thinking about the issue of prayer and the placebo effect and how that would look in jail. If you know me, you know that I am not what most would consider to be a "tough guy". I cry at Sweet Home Alabama every time its on. So the instant I got put in the slammer, I would likely break down into a blubbering whale - which I've heard is like pouring blood into a tank of sharks. I would be terrified and prayer would become a necessary part of my life.

My point is that I think God becomes a lot more valid in a person's life when everything else is taken away. When you live a comfortable life without much trouble - you always have a meal on the table, you have a group of friends, and something for your hands to do each day, it's very easy to ignore the existence of anything supernatural. But if you lose your job, lose a friend or family member, or even go to jail, God becomes a lot more necessary in your life, I would imagine.

Reading for May 13
1 Samuel 14:1-52
Good God, ya'll. 

The fruits of having a king in Israel have come to pass. The clear message here is that Saul led his people into battle over and over again. While there was certainly war and bloodshed prior to having a king, it always occurred in waves - there was war time, then there was a time of peace. With Saul in charge, Israel is at war for his entire reign. He also makes some terrible choices - I even made a picture about one of them:

Saul Makes a Ridiculous Command

So Israel loses a battle against the Philistines and Saul must regain his ego. He commands his army that they are not to eat anything until they defeat the Philistines - and if they do eat anything they will be put to death. Obviously a fairly bonehead move because soldiers need to eat to fight. So unsurprisingly, the army grew weak, but Saul's son, Jonathan did not hear this decree and while walking through the woods, took some honey from the ground. Saul finds out and tries to put him to death but the other soldiers confront Saul with his outrageous demand that his son die for eating.

John 7:31-53
There is an image in here of Jesus speaking to the people on the last day of "The Feast". There was a sermon on this that Christian gave a few months back. Have a listen, it's got some great historical information and some killer analysis, along with Christian's delicious humor: SERMON

I'll let the sermon speak for itself, as I would just bastardize the beautiful message. I sincerely encourage you to listen to it.

Psalm 109:1-31
David is pissed. Check it:

He's talking about someone specifically who is being a jerk to him. He would like God to smite this mean man, but he is pretty brutal:

 ⁹ May his children be fatherless
       and his wife a widow.
 ¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
       may they be driven ^[d] from their ruined homes.
 ¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
       may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
 ¹² May no one extend kindness to him
       or take pity on his fatherless children.

Damn, son.

Proverbs 15:5-7
 ⁵ A fool spurns his father's discipline,
       but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
 ⁶ The house of the righteous contains great treasure,
       but the income of the wicked brings them trouble.
 ⁷ The lips of the wise spread knowledge;
       not so the hearts of fools.

I like the distinction between treasure and income there in verse 6. Treasure meaning non-material things here, while income represents the material. One more for a socialist society!

 

Wednesday, May 12

Yo. My illness continues - and yet I must work. I have to be in the city early tomorrow, so I will likely get no reprieve from this feeling. Maybe the Bible will save me.

On a quick side note - one downside of doing this blog is that all my other pursuits and hobbies have taken a back seat because most of the free time I have is dedicated to this project. Specifically my video game playing has gone down significantly. I would usually play games after Jilly goes to sleep. That time is now dedicated to the blog. This is probably a good thing though - I think it's much better for me to be reading the Bible every day than playing Final Fantasy.

The other hobby that has fallen by the wayside is  photography, and this is a little more upsetting. It's one of my only "artsy" pursuits since I've stopped playing guitar. Although, I suppose that my writing has naturally improved by writing every day. For the regular readers - do you think my writing has improved since I started this thing?

Reading for May 12





1 Samuel 12:1-13:23
So I found the pictures I made for the Saul talk I gave at ORB a few years back. Here are a few:

 

Our Main Characters

Saul cuts the oxen in pieces

So in this section of the story, Samuel officially hangs up the judge role by giving his farewell speech to the Israelites. He warns them again about the error of asking for a King, and that they will likely get what's coming to them if they continue to ignore and disobey God. There is a compelling line in here though. The people realize their mistake and then ask Samuel to pray for them because not only are they sinners, but they have essentially spat in the face of their true king, God. Here is how Samuel replies:

"You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. ²¹ Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ²² For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

 The thing that strikes me about this is the fact that the worst possible thing someone could do - based on this message - is worship something other than God. Also, doesn't it seem a little backwards that God's prime motivator to restore his people is "for the sake of his great name"? I mean, I would suppose that we should be thankful for whatever reason God chooses to save us, but shouldn't it be out of love and not self glorification?

OK so then there are these two groups of soldiers - one led by Saul and the other led by his son Jonathan. Now, Jonathan attacked an area belonging to the Philistines, but because Saul was king, the action was attributed to him. A message went out across the land saying "Saul attacked Philistine".

This leads to a whole "we're screwed" scenario where the Israelites are outnumbers, Saul ignores a command from God, and then the entire army is without weapons. This is either a set up for God's greatest victory, or Israel's biggest failure.

 John 7:1-30
There is a lot of text in here about how the Jews want Jesus dead. If the Bible is nothing else, it is a collection of stories of God's people misinterpreting, or outright ignoring God's instructions and continually ruining things for themselves. Yet, as I've mentioned before, Jesus' death is completely necessary for Christianity to take hold and for God's love to finally be able to once again be part of everyone's life.

So this may make you say that God is all knowing. As you know, I have recently theorized that he is in fact not all knowing. If you have a group of people who continuously screw everything up, it's a safe bet that they'd screw up the savior of the world, or at least act in a way that would seem like screwing up. I think God just bet on the fact that the Jews would not accept Jesus and try to murder him. Jesus' betrayal and murder was prophesied and written about in many of the latter books of the Old Testament, so it was a long time coming.

This paradox does stick in my mind though. The evil thing that was done to Jesus was actually the most beautiful thing that occurred in human history.

Psalm 108:1-13
¹² Give us aid against the enemy,
       for the help of man is worthless.
 ¹³ With God we will gain the victory,
       and he will trample down our enemies.

Very interesting here. As you know, I often theorize the "what if" situation of this whole thing being phony. So, the psalmists belief is that the help of man is completely worthless, but the help of God is what they need to succeed. So again, let's pretend that God doesn't actually exist. Well, the psalmist's idea of God being essential to victory must have come from experience.  So maybe in the past they prayed to God and subsequently won a battle, but as I've theorized in the "what if files" before - prayer could simply be a placebo effect. Something happens because you believe with all your mind that it will happen. Mind over matter kind of stuff. My belief is still in God, but I'm just trying to look at it from all angles.

Proverbs 15:4
 ⁴ The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,
       but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

Great. And with that, it is 7:40 PM and I am probably going to sleep. I feel like absolute crap and I need to catch a 7AM train tomorrow morning. Thanks friends.