Wednesday, August 18

Have you heard of iTunes U? My friend from work turned me on to it. You can download free podcasts of lectures from college courses. One of the featured ones I found today was a theology class from a college in the UK. The professor was a Protestant Christian but was defending Darwinism within Christianity. I didn't quite follow his whole argument, but he did have one really interesting thing to say that stuck with me.

He was talking about how fundamentalism, creationism and literalism is actually destructive to the faith and in fact counter to how we should be living as Christians. He said that The Bible is a place to base and develop your faith - not a place to make your home in. That it is something that should inspire you and encourage conversation and debate and discussion - not to just read it once and say "That's that".

There are so many things in the Bible that are confusing or troubling, and I think it's our job as Christians to not just blindly accept what is there, but explore it. Really dig deep and talk with others and determine what it means for you. That's what I'm trying to do with this blog and hopefully that's coming across.

Reading for August 18
Esther 1:1-3:15
New book!

This is a great change up from the last few books. This is a story revolving around one person - Esther. At this time the king of all the nations was King Xerxes. He had a disobedient wife so he got rid of her and sent out a decree to all the virgins in his kingdom to determine who his new queen would be. The girls had to go through a twelve month beauty treatment before even walking in to meet Xerxes. Finally, Esther came to meet him and he fell in love with her and instantly made her the queen of his kingdom.

Now Esther was a orphaned Jew, raised by a man named Mordecai. Mordecai told her to keep her heritage a secret because the Jews were not very well liked at that time. Soon after she became queen, Xerxes' chief of staff informed him that there was a group of people who were refusing to bow down to him and breaking many of the king's laws. So Xerxes approved a decree to seek out and kill all the Jews in the world. And that's how this chapter ends.

Pretty intense.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34
In this section, Paul talks about the Lord's Supper. While I believe that much of Paul's teachings can apply to anyone, Christian or not, this is pretty specific to Christianity. He is saying that if you partake in communion - as its known today - you must first examine yourself and make sure that Jesus is present within you.

The crazy thing is that how communion is taken and how often it is taken is one of the main issues that divides churches. I attended a Catholic mass a few weeks ago, and as a Protestant I didn't know any of the rituals or songs or call and response things. But I knew communion - that was the same - save for much less tasty bread. After the service my mother in law asked me how I could have taken communion without going to confession. This was a completely foreign idea to me. As a Protestant, I don't confess my sins to other people, but rather directly to God, and it was very strange to me that someone would be excluded from what represents the most inclusive gift of all time.

I think the important thing is to take communion only if you accept Christ's death and resurrection as occurring for you and for everyone you love and everyone you hate. If this is a truth in your heart, I believe you are eligible to take communion. Eligible isn't the right word. I believe everyone is eligible, but if you don't meet the criteria laid out above, it would mean nothing to you. I don't think it would be blasphemy to do it, unless you were doing it mocklingly, but it's definitely something I believe everyone should be welcomed to.

Psalm 35:17-28
Hope.

 ²² O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.
       Do not be far from me, O Lord.
 ²³ Awake, and rise to my defense!
       Contend for me, my God and Lord.

  
Proverbs 21:19-20
 ¹⁹ Better to live in a desert
       than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
 ²⁰ In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil,
       but a foolish man devours all he has.

Goodnight.