Reading from Saturday, July 31

Hey yo. I got a new computer for work as we are all being forced to upgrade to Vista. I gotta say I like the look and feel of Vista, but haven't spent enough time with it to truly hate it as I know I one day will.

The computer itself is sweet though. It's even got a little lamp on top of the screen to light up the keyboard.

Anyway, let's get to some Bible'n.

Reading for July 31
2 Chronicles 29:1-36
This is a pretty short reading for the OT portion of my daily jim jam, and honestly, it's a pretty uneventful 36 verses. We have this new king, Hezekiah, who restores honor and goodness to the kingdom of Judah, and is also in good favor with God. One of the main things that pleases God so much about Hezekiah is his determination to rebuild the temple. He does indeed rebuild the temple and then he offers hundreds and hundreds of sacrifices within the temple to appease the God who had been so angry with his people for so long. God doesn't really make an appearance here other than the text saying that he was pleased.

There isn't too much to extract from this reading - it's pretty black and white. The only thing I think that is kind of interesting is how often the Temple is destroyed and rebuilt and how much of an effort goes into rebuilding it. Which is why it's so shocking when Jesus says that he will destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days.

Romans 14:1-23
This is really interesting stuff in here - Paul is basically saying that everyone has their own way of worshiping God. As long as those ways are founded within a strong faith, they are perfectly fine to worship how they want. You should not judge anyone else for the way they do things.

I think this could easily be taken out of context to make it seem like all religions are accepted, but what I think Paul is referring to specifically is each person's own specific customs around Christianity. Likely, this arose out of the various places that Christians came from. Many Jews who had converted, likely stuck to the old laws of Leviticus around cleanliness and things like that.

Looking at it from the "I'm OK, you're OK" stance though, Jilly and I were talking about that very topic on the way home from work tonight. Her theory is this:

The writers of all religious texts all heard the same story and then got together one night for a campfire and all told the story a little differently, got mad at each other over the differences and went off and wrote their own version of events.

Ignoring the fact that the Bible was written by dozens of people over centuries of time, I agreed with her. Most of the major religions have the same basic message. I do believe that there are false religions out there, designed to exploit the mentally and emotionally weak, but I believe that all the major ones are valid. I once heard someone say that if a religion doesn't have love as it's central message, then that is a false religion, and I believe that's true.

I'm not going to pretend I know anything at all about Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, but I know that the central message of Islam is not what the extremists are practicing, just as Christianity isn't about what Christian extremists are practicing.  I know that Hinduism has a heavy focus on Karma, which entices goodness in the darkest of characters.

For me, Christianity makes sense. It has shaped who I am and guides who I continue to be. For others, their own religion guides them to nearly the same outcomes. Who am I to say that they're wrong?

I'll close my tirade with this line from what I just read:

¹⁹Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Psalm 24:1-10
See, now there are things that are in direct conflict with what I just said:

³ Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
       Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
       who does not lift up his soul to an idol
       or swear by what is false.

The Bible explicitly says that it is right and everything else is wrong. And maybe that's the case, but that's the problem with religion - no one can know for sure who is right or wrong until we die. 

Proverbs 20:12
 ¹² Ears that hear and eyes that see—
       the LORD has made them both.

OK great. Have a good night.