Sunday, May 2

Hi.

Reading for May 2
Judges 15:1-16:31
Samson was not the best example of a man of God. He led Israel for 20 years despite that fact. he slept with prostitutes, he lied, he had a temper - all in all he was - well, he was sinful. He was human. But he also had super human strength, so he was also a super hero.

When I was in my band, back in the early '00s I was obsessed with the word "Donkey" for a short time. One day I decided to write a song about donkeys in the Bible. The first thing I saw was Judges 15:15

¹⁵ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

 ¹⁶ Then Samson said,
       "With a donkey's jawbone
       I have made donkeys of them. ^[a]
       With a donkey's jawbone
       I have killed a thousand men."

Is that not ridiculous? He killed 1000 guys - by himself - with the jawbone of a donkey. 

After this he met Delilah - the story of Samson and Delilah is well known, or at least those two names are. Delilah was another Philistine girl and the Philistine government wanted Samson dead. So they bribed her to get Samson to tell her the secret of his power. He tricked her a few times by making up different things that would make him lose his strength, but eventually he told her it was his hair that was making him so strong.

So at night she cut off his hair and handed him over to the Philistines. They gouged out his eyes and put him in prison. He was brought out some time later to "entertain" a large group of Philistines. I'm not sure what it means but "entertain". Anyway, he is tied between two pillars and prays to God for one last burst of energy. God grants his request and Samson pushes both pillars over which collapses the building on thousands of people. Yay, murder!

John 2:1-25
It's very interesting reading the Gospels in order like this. You really get a sense of the different writing styles. John writes in a very descriptive manner. So far, everything that  has happened has been spelled out and leaves no room for interpretation. He also jumps around the timeline a lot - referencing the crucifixion before it happens in the story.

In this section, Jesus gains many followers through various miracles he performs. He also says this famous line:

"Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

When you first read that, it sounds like he's talking about the Jewish temple, but I thought - "no wait, he's probably talking about himself - referring to himself as a temple." But then John goes on to say this:

But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

You can also see there the time-jumps that John does. It's definitely a neat way of looking at it. That's the way my brain works too - I'm always jumping around and thinking about things from the present and the past. Very little of anything I do is linear.

I also need to find another adjective to use than "interesting". I'm very self conscious about my over-use of it. Sorry if it's bugging you. Send in suggestions for synonyms to "interesting"



Psalm 103:1-22
 ¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
       or repay us according to our iniquities.

I'm just thinking again about the idea of sin. If Christianity were a big sham and this whole thing was fake - we would need a compelling reason to believe it. I think I've mentioned this before, but if you don't believe you're a sinner then Jesus' sacrifice means absolutely nothing to you. If you're a generally good person who doesn't have any major infractions against you - and maybe the worst you've done in your life is tell white lies, what reason would you need Jesus.

The Bible adds these "cosmic sins" to make sure that everyone is in need of him. "Disobeying God" may have been very easy to see back in the OT, but how do you even know what God's orders are nowadays? You have to decipher abstract signs that may or may not be from God. So you may or may not actually be disobeying God - and by extension - you may or may not be sinning.

I don't know - it's just a bit disheartening to think that everyone has to be considered lower than dirt to have Christianity work. But I suppose we are also considered God's beloved children because he sent his son to die for us. But if we're not sinful it means nothing. But we are sinful...Someone help me out of this circle...

Proverbs 14:17-19
 ¹⁷ A quick-tempered man does foolish things,
       and a crafty man is hated.
 ¹⁸ The simple inherit folly,
       but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
 ¹⁹ Evil men will bow down in the presence of the good,
       and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

OK - goodnight friends.