Reading from Monday, July 12

George W. Bush was once being interviewed and was asked what one book he would bring with him if he was stranded on a desert island. His answer was "The Bible. Because it's the only book that I can read over and over again and it will continue to challenge me."

When I first heard that, I passed it off as political nonsense and simply Bush appealing to his Evangelical voters. But now after reading a little over half of this thing, I totally agree with him. I have already begun my second read through of Psalm and already I'm seeing new things. Many of the books and passages I'd read 100 times are now brand new to me because of the other things I've read in conjunction with them. The Bible is so unique because it can literally be viewed through thousands of lenses. I mean, how many denominations of Christianity are there? How many unrecognized "crazy" sects of Christianity are there? How many groups use the Bible as a tool to condemn gays? How many use it as a tool to love gays? There is no limit to what people can see in this story.

One of my main goals in this project is to really define myself. If at the end I still want to be a Christian, it will be how to define myself as a Christian. And to do that I want to have a completely unbiased or rather, uninfluenced view of this enormous book on which my faith is based. I don't want to be swayed by politics or activist groups or churches or doctrine or mission statement or anything else. I want this to be my interpretation and mine alone. I will not try to hold this view over anyone else, I will not try to convince people in my view of it. I want to have my own, personal relationship with the information and hopefully, with God. And in that, hopefully I will better be able to understand myself as a person.

Reading for July 12
1 Chronicles 12:19-14:17
There is a story in I believe 2 Samuel about David trying to return the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. Within the story, one of the men who is transporting the Ark named Uzzah accidentally touches it and because of that, he is killed by God. This story is retold here, but with one additional little detail:

⁹ When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. ¹⁰ The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.  ¹¹ Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

I don't remember that bit about David being mad about it. I was mad about that. So that means that David was a person just like me. Of course I'm not comparing myself to the greatest king of Israel, but on a human guttural level, we are both people. People who think that God was wrong sometimes. I'm not saying I think I'm justified in accusing God of being wrong, but the immediate reaction I get when hearing about a guy who was killed because of a mistake is "that's wrong." And apparently, David felt the same way.

Romans 1:1-17
Alright! Romans!! Now remember, Paul had just spent two years preaching to these people the good news of Jesus out of a house which he was renting, and which he could not leave. So this must be after he had left and been freed from house arrest, and he is writing to them to remind them of the things he spoke about.

There's a couple lines that really jump off the screen at me:

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

I love this. It's like a proud parent who hearing great things about their child from someone else.  Paul spent a good amount of time with these people, and now he hears that the message has stuck and that they are living the life Paul outlined for them. I can just imagine the ear-to-ear smile on Paul's face as he writes that opening line.

¹¹I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹²that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

What a great reason to want to see someone. Notice he's not saying "I need to get there because you're all acting like buttholes" or "I need to come out there to show you how to be a Christian" No.

He wants to encourage them, but wants to receive encouragement from them just as much - mutual encouragement. What a great idea. See if you can mutually encourage someone today.


Psalm 9:13-20
This is a terrifying passage:

 ¹⁹ Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
       let the nations be judged in your presence.
 ²⁰ Strike them with terror, O LORD;
       let the nations know they are but men.
       Selah

Let's uh...let's forget about that one for a while. It's not so great for God's re-election campaign. We don't want his opponent to get a hold of this for a smear ad. 

Proverbs 19:4-5
 ⁴ Wealth brings many friends,
       but a poor man's friend deserts him.
 ⁵ A false witness will not go unpunished,
       and he who pours out lies will not go free.

I'm a bit confused about verse 4. Isn't the intention to tell people to not be rich? This looks like a benefit of money. Unless, it's a summary downside sort of thing...Like - you will live a much better life apart from money, but rich people will have more friends. But don't let that stop you, I'm just warning you that you might not have as many facebook friends as the Benningtons.

I think that's what Solomon was trying to say.