Reading from Saturday, November 20

Hey hey.

So last night, Jilly and I watched a documentary called Bloodline. It was a sort of real-life follow up to the DaVinci Code. The main idea of the story in the DaVinci Code was that Jesus had in fact married Mary Magdalene and had actually fathered children with her, which isn't very controversial. The controversy comes from the assertion that these things took place after his supposed "death" and that the crucifixion was somehow staged and Jesus and Mary Mag escaped to Europe to live out the rest of their days together. That's the bit that would challenge someone's faith in Christ. If that is the case, then that means that Jesus was in fact just a man with some really great ideas. Not divine. Not God incarnate. Just a really great dude.

I started to think about the possibility of that being real, and what it would mean for my faith. I've already concluded that if I ever come to a place where I no longer believe in God, or that its proven that this whole bit with Jesus and Mary is actually true, I would probably still live my life according to the Bible, and even though it would be slightly absurd, I would probably still label myself as a Christian. I would still want to follow the teachings of Christ and attempt to live my life in a way that would be - or would have been pleasing to him.

As of now, I still believe that Jesus is real and divine and rose from the dead and the whole thing. I'm just sort of planning ahead in case that turns out to be false. Wow. That's kind of depressing when I think about it.

Reading for November 20
Ezekiel 40:28-41:26
NO! I thought I was done with this!

As you may remember earlier in the Old Testament we went through two extremely detailed chunks of text that described the Temple of God - from the measurements of the walls to the building materials used, we were privy to the exciting blueprints in print form. Well, in the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem, that Temple which the authors went to so much trouble to detail, was destroyed. Burnt to the ground.

Ezekiel here has a vision from God of the New Temple which will be built. There are some significant things in this prophecy that I have only begun to research. But apparently the measurements given of the New Temple are larger than the entire original city of Jerusalem and ten miles north of the original location. If anyone knows more about this so called "Millenial Temple" please let me know, I'm really very interested.

I think in the same way that the Biblical authors conveyed the importance of the original Temple by laying out every detail for the reader, Ezekiel is trying to convey the same level of importance of his vision of this New Temple, and I would certainly agree that there is a huge symbolic importance to this new temple. The first one was God's home and he hired out its destruction, effectively abandoning Israel. And now he is coming back - the Israelites must have been incredibly excited to hear Ezekiel's prophecy. Their father was coming home and returning them to his protection and blessings.

James 4:1-17
There is a significant amount of wisdom in this reading, but it all boils down to the last verse:

¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

If this is true, I am extremely guilty. So many times I have been in a situation where I could be charitable or good with what I have and have decided to spend that time or money or talent on myself. There are a few times I can think on that make me proud, but many more that I wish I could forget about. I have walked past more homeless people than I care to count. I have known that people needed someone to talk to and I chose to sit and play video games instead of reaching out and giving them a call.

I hope to do better in this area, and I hope everyone hopes the same for themselves.

Psalm 118:19-29
I'm starting to dislike the Psalms. So many of them are the same and really offer no ideas on how to deal with life. They are songs of praise. Candy. James is meat and potatoes. Psalms are nice things to put on a plaque and hang in your office.

Needless to say, I didn't find interesting in this one...

Proverbs 28:3-5
 ³ A ruler who oppresses the poor
   is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
 ⁴ Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
   but those who heed it resist them.
 ⁵ Evildoers do not understand what is right,
   but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.

Verse 3 sounds very familiar. Ahem. Recession. Ahem.