Reading from Wednesday, September 15

Hey guys. What's up?

Reading for September 15
Isaiah 19:1-21:17
There are prophesies against a few more nations in this reading, similar to the ones from yesterday's reading.

I was listening to this debate on NPR today about the validity of philosophy. One guy was a philosophy professor and the other guy was a scientist or something. The scientist believed that there is no point in studying philosophy and that it had no meaning. His argument was slightly flawed, but the way he was talking reminded me very much of Ecclesiastes, and then I started to see his point.

While I believe philosophy is important in helping to decide ethical and moral questions, just debating ideas or concepts that have no real bearing on our planet is meaningless in the end. Sure it exercises our minds and gets us thinking three-dimensionally, but what outcome does it produce?

I say all this because I was about to jump into a big statement about how God foretold all of these events of destruction but doesn't that interfere with free will and all that stuff, but what does it matter?

On that note - what's the point of doing this blog at all? Of trying to understand God and his word? What good will it do anyone if I figure out that God isn't all good all the time or that he doesn't just want us to be happy? If I believe in relative truth, then the person who believes in the God who is a wish granting vending machine would be just as valid as my theories about the "true God" after studying him for a year straight.

Pete Mitchell - if you're reading this...I know you're all over this topic.

Galatians 2:1-16
Two groups of friends...

I know that in the Christian sub-culture we can often run with two distinctly different groups of people. Our Christian friends and our secular friends. This is true for almost everyone I know. I am also aware of how most people act differently depending on which group of friends they're with, I am certainly guilty of it. When around our church friends we clean up our language a bit, maybe mention God a few times, maybe sit out that third beer - but we do just the opposite around the other group.

There is also a certain amount of shame on our parts between both groups. Have you ever downplayed your church activities to your secular friends or vice versa? I know I have. I know a few people who have made valiant efforts to merge these two groups - and while there have been some successes, I can certainly attest that it is not an easy thing to do.

Well, here in Galatians, Paul mentions a time when the apostle Peter had a similar circumstance.

¹²Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

So Peter was trying to hang with the Gentiles (non Jews) and share the message of Christ with them, but when these apparently more conservative men came he began to separate himself from this other group as to not lose his street cred.

I'm not sure what the lesson here is: don't be ashamed of your non-Christian friends when your Christian friends show up? Maybe.

Psalm 59:1-17
I think the most compelling thing about most of the Psalms is the sharp contrast that runs through them. This one is no exception. The first 15 verses are about how God is going to wreck these evildoers:

⁵ O LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel,
       rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
       show no mercy to wicked traitors.

But then at the end of the Psalms like this one, you have stuff like this:

¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength,
       in the morning I will sing of your love;
       for you are my fortress,
       my refuge in times of trouble.

The funny thing is, these "good" verses are the ones that most people pick out when quoting psalms. I mean, sure they're likely some of the most uplifting verses in the Bible, but I this is a perfect example of taking only the good side of God and ignoring the bad side - but again - that debate is meaningless.

Proverbs 23:13-14

 ¹³ Do not withhold discipline from a child;
       if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
 ¹⁴ Punish him with the rod
       and save his soul from death.

Spare the rod, spoil the child? Is that it?