Reading from Thursday, April 29

Hey ho. I fell asleep last night before I even got a chance to open my laptop. So once again, I'm playing catch up.

Reading for April 29
Judges 9:22-10:18
Again, this is an extremely hard section of text to follow. All of the old names of people and towns just bleed together and make it hard to focus on who's doing what with where and when. And also how.

The majority of this text focuses on a guy named Abilemech. He was the leader of Israel for a little while and then God made it so the citizens of Shechem didn't like him any more and wanted to rebel against him. So they came up with a plan to take him out but the governor of the Shechem was not about to let his people attack Abilemech, so he warned Abilemech about what was going on. This allowed him to launch a counter attack and forced them to flee the city.

Then Abilemech started looking for them and found them in these high towers. He set fire to the towers and killed them all. Before they were all killed though, a woman in the tower dropped a huge stone on Abilemech's head, fracturing his skull. Abilemech asked his servant to run him through with a sword so he wouldn't die at the hands of a woman.

Abilemech had 70 brothers which God murdered after all of this took place because of Abilemech's awfulness.

I'm sure I'm missing a huge amount of detail here, but that's the story of Abilemech as best as I can retell it.

Luke 24:13-53
This is the last chapter of Luke and his account has by far the most details about the resurrected Jesus.

The first story is about two men walking along a road to a town called Emmaus. As they were talking, a third man came and began talking with them. This was Jesus, but they didn't recognize him. They said something that I think is often over looked - in fact I have overlooked it this whole time:

²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

Since the fall of Adam, which we can agree is essentially the beginning of time, Israel has been mud in the eyes of God because of their sin. Generation after generation after generation they had hoped for a savior - someone to redeem them from their fallen nature. Then - "Woah, here's this Jesus guy and he fits a lot of the prophecy about the savior God promised us, could it be him?" All this hope was surrounding Jesus as the man who could finally make the Israelites right in the site of God.

Put yourself in that position for a minute. Imagine growing up with a God who demands absolute perfection all the time. Imagine being so afraid of messing up that you walk on eggshells with everything you do. And when you do mess up - as everyone will - you have to sacrifice animals to atone for your sins - in an extremely ritualistic fashion - and if you mess that up, well now it's double atonement.

Now a glimmer of hope - Jesus. All your hope is pinned on this one man saving you and your people. You may finally be free of the bindings of sin. And then - he dies. He dies the death of a lowlife criminal. The worst type of punishment one could receive - only given to the worst people in the world.

He is dead. Your hopes are gone.

I think those three days of uncertainty - or perhaps complete certainty that we're all doomed - are very often overlooked in the story of Jesus. It's always about his crucifixion on Friday and then his resurrection on Sunday, but we're never told about Saturday. The pain and anguish everyone must have been going through must have been impossible to deal with.

But then he is resurrected and the stories that are told in this last chapter of Luke are simply gorgeous.

Psalm 100:1-5
 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before him with joyful songs.
 ³ Know that the LORD is God.
       It is he who made us, and we are his ^[a] ;
       we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
       and his courts with praise;
       give thanks to him and praise his name.
 ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
       his faithfulness continues through all generations.


Proverbs 14:11-12
 ¹¹ The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
       but the tent of the upright will flourish.
 ¹² There is a way that seems right to a man,
       but in the end it leads to death.

Verse 12 is very interesting. My thoughts, and by extension, everyone's thoughts about the Bible and what is viewed as "wrong" may actually be right. Then again, this would be a pretty big cop-out way of just avoiding the responsibility of genocide...

Wednesday, April 28

Hey now. Playing catch up cuz I fell asleep right after I started this last night. Here we go.

Reading for April 28
Judges 8:18-9:21
This section is so confusing. There are too many names and I don't know who's who. Can someone who's smarter than me read it and summarize it for me in the comments? Just click the "Reading for April 28" thing above. Thanks.

Luke 23:44-24:12
So emphasizing what I said in yesterday's post about sin being the main villain of the Bible  - there is a scene here during Jesus' death that is pretty well known, but I think a lot of people overlook the significance of it. When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was torn in half. This curtain was there to keep God separate from people and only the highest of high priests was allowed beyond that curtain and only on specific days at specific times. The curtain tearing in half is EXTREMELY symbolic of the relationship between God and man. With the death of Jesus, God and man could finally co-exist again - something that hadn't happened since the beginning of time.

Imagine the joy God felt at this moment - he could finally be with his creation. Sin had been defeated and could no longer separate him from his beloved humans. Jesus' death is the manure truck of the Bible. Is that sacrilegious? You know what I mean right?

Also, can someone who's smart tell me if Joseph of Arimethea is Jesus' father?

Psalm 99:1-9
 ⁸ O LORD our God,
       you answered them;
       you were to Israel ^[a] a forgiving God,
       though you punished their misdeeds.

Here again we see the light and dark sides of God I mentioned a few nights ago. And I've given some thought to that as well and it's not as new of an idea as I thought. The reason we see the two different experiences with God is the dual nature of God - perfectly loving and perfectly just. We interpret the 'just' part as God being a jerk and not letting us do or have what we want. But this is simply instruction and correction to strengthen us for future events.

Does that make sense? Then, of course you run into conflict with this theory when babies start dying and innocent people die in earthquakes. Think think think...

Proverbs 14:9-10
 ⁹ Fools mock at making amends for sin,
       but goodwill is found among the upright.
 ¹⁰ Each heart knows its own bitterness,
       and no one else can share its joy.

I love verse 10 there. No one knows what its like to be me, and no one knows what its like to be you. So don't judge eachother, fools. 

 K - peace.

Tuesday, April 27

Hi now. How are you, friends? I had a nice little 3 mile walk with my babe this evening. But we walked to Dairy Queen and I got a Oreo/Cookie Dough Blizzard, so it probably canceled out.


OK - so I fell asleep last night when I was doing this. Let's catch up. I read all the content today so all I need to do now is write about it.

Reading for April 27
Judges 7:1-8:17
This section is exceptionally cool. The Israelites are getting ready to take back the land that was claimed by the Midianites. God doesn't want them to attack the Midianites using the full army because he doesn't want the Israelites to think it was by their own power that they won. He wanted it to be clear that he was their God and he alone was responsible for their victory over the Midianites. So God thins their numbers down to a certain amount - actually that certain amount is 300.

Shortly after the 300 were all selected they started doing situps and pushups like crazy. Then they all got sweet battle gear and put oil all over their bodies. Then God was all like "SPARTANS!" Then Gerard Butler was the new Judge of Israel and Frank Miller made a comic about him.

Wait...is that how it happened?

Anyway, the real story is the 300 men went to the Midianites camp late at night, made a lot of noise to scare the crap out of the Midianites and the Midianites fled. Yay Jews.

As I was reading this section today, I started thinking about "bad guys". Clearly in the Bible the Israelites are set up to be the "good guys" of the story, while it seems like every other nation is the bad guy. But then I thought, "well if the Midianites are the bad guy, I'm not getting that same sense of justice out of their defeat that I get like when Biff drives into the manure truck in Back to the Future." Right? I'm always so pumped when stupid Biff is covered in manure. "TAKE THAT BIFF!" I always yell. So why don't I feel that same thing when God leads Israel to a victory over a nation - here's what I realized:



The main villain of the Bible is not the other nations. The main villain of the Bible isn't even Satan. The main villain of the Bible is sin.


Put sin in an 80s movie and sin is that stupid sweater wearing jerk who steals the nice guy's girlfriend and tries to take her away in his boat but at the end the girl realizes he's a butthole and comes back to the nice guy. Then sin is covered in manure and says, "Manure! I hate manure!"

Kidding aside - that feeling of justice that's missing when I'm  reading about victories over various nations, is fully present when I read about Jesus' conquering sin once and for all through his sacrifice. "TAKE THAT SIN!" I yell.

Luke 23:13-43
This account of Jesus' crucifixion really goes into detail about Pilate's attempt to let Jesus go. He pleads with the crowd three times saying that he's found no crime to charge Jesus with, nor has Herod. Eventually he gives into the crowd's cries for Jesus' death, but washes his hands of the decision as we read about in other gospels.

What's interesting is that Pilate seems like the honorable, good guy in this story, while the religious leaders and the rest of the crowd are often demonized. But in actuality Pilate was working against God's plan here. Pilate was actually standing in the way of what God had planned to carry out for a long time, while the awful religious leaders who demanded blood were actually aiding Jesus in carrying out his ultimate goal.

There's a line somewhere in the Bible that says "What you intended for evil, God used for good." Just looked it up - it's in Genesis. Boom.

Psalm 97:1-98:9
Love this:

⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
      Let the mountains sing together for joy

Proverbs 14:7-8
 ⁷ Stay away from a foolish man,
       for you will not find knowledge on his lips.
 ⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways,
       but the folly of fools is deception.

Word up. 

 

Monday, April 26

Hey friends. Rainy day today, no? Pretty good all around though...

Reading for April 26
Judges 6:1-40
So again the people of Israel turn away from God and begin worshiping Baal. I need to do some research into a little more about who Baal was and what was so attractive about worshiping him. So because the Israelites turned away from him, God actually gives favor to none other than the Midianites. That's right - the very nation his people slaughtered so mericilessly has found favor in the lord. Perhaps its just favor by default because of the Israelites screw up, but its still favor nonetheless.

The Lord sends Gideon this time to remind the Israelites of where they came from and what they were doing. He tears down the altar to Baal and the people freak out and try to kill him. Josash, Gideon's father says this:

"Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar."

Pretty cool.

Luke 22:54-23:12
There's some interesting little details in this telling of the gospel. After Jesus is arrested he is brought before Pilate and the Pharisees accuse him of quite a few things - all of which are false. Pilate says "I don't see what he's guilty of." So then Jesus is brought to King Herod as Herod was the ruling king of the nation at that time. Herod was excited to see Jesus and was expecting to see a miracle or two. Herod kept asking Jesus questions but Jesus didn't say a word. Eventually he started mocking him along with the rest of the soldiers and sent Jesus back to Pilate.

It's funny that Herod was expecting a miracle, but thinking he didn't see one. If he only knew what would happen a couple days later...

Psalm 95:1-96:13
Dig it:

 ¹² let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
       Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;


I've always liked the idea of nature singing praise to God. It's like when Jesus said the rocks would cry out praise for him if his people could not.

Proverbs 14:5-6
 ⁵ A truthful witness does not deceive,
       but a false witness pours out lies.
 ⁶ The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none,
       but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

Alright, goodnight yo.

 

Sunday, April 25

Alright. Caught up.

By the way - here's the video of the song I sang for the Bennett's wedding day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM3Rv6CTYh8

Reading for April 25
Judges 4:1-5:31
So in this section a woman named Deborah rises up to lead Israel and she is completely badass. She drove a tent peg through the face of this evil guy. I can't type much more because my laptop's almost dead - click the "Reading" link above if you want to read it - it's a sweet story.

Luke 22:35-53
Jesus in the garden of Gastheneme. Great scene, read it. (6% battery left, sorry)

Psalm 94:1-23
 ¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
       your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Boom.

Proverbs 14:3-4
 ³ A fool's talk brings a rod to his back,
       but the lips of the wise protect them.
 ⁴ Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
       but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.

Sweet. 4% left. Goodnight.

 

Reading from Saturday, April 24

Hello. Just got back from a huge Italian dinner at a place called Sanducci's by my apartment. Delicious, but extremely filling. I have a tendency to overeat so I'm not feeling too great right now...ugh...

Reading for April 24
Judges 2:10-3:31
So, just based on what I've read so far - it seems like Judges is an extremely fast paced book - covering dozens of years in a single paragraph. So after the reign of Joshua ended, and all the people who lived with him died, the next generation turned away from God and began worshiping Baal. So, as God promised, they lost their favor with him and he did not help them when armies attacked. Eventually they began to cry out to him and God would send "judges" who would lead the people. These two chapters talk about several judges who rose up and led the Israelites to victory over their enemies.

One particularly interesting story is the story of Ehud the judge. Because of Israel's disobedience, God gave them over to the control of a king named Elgon. Elgon was fat and kind of a jerk. He was a fat jerk. So the Israelites cried out to God and he sentthem Ehud. Ehud went up to Elgon's chambers and told him he had to deliver a secret message - instead he took a 18" sword and shoved it through Elgon's belly - it says that even the handle plunged into the fat king's stomach. Ehud got away and the people were free - but then they turned away from God again, were given over to another nation - again - and God sent someone to bail them out...again.

Something else about the character of God - he is extremely patient and forgiving, at least it seems like he is starting to be. Then again, its a little easier to see here because this book is happening in fast forward so it describes his punishment, but then immediately shows his forgiveness. But there were many years in between the punishment and forgiveness.

Luke 22:14-34
So once again here is the last supper. Here's a neat little detail though. Right after Jesus describes that someone will betray him, he says this:

 ³¹"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you^[a] as wheat. ³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Again, a direct mention of Satan being an influence over the people of this world. Luke is the only gospel I'm aware of that makes Satan such a prevalent figure in the idea of faith. The other interesting thing is that Jesus uses Peter's original name of Simon as he addresses him. Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter after he decided to follow him. So him calling him by his original name is a reminder that he is a sinful man, just like everyone else, and that he too will betray Jesus by denying he knew him.

The last line though about turning back and strengthening your brothers - Simon Peter does just that as he is the foundation of the original Christian church.

Psalm 92:1-93:5
 ³ The seas have lifted up, O LORD,
       the seas have lifted up their voice;
       the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
 ⁴ Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
       mightier than the breakers of the sea—
       the LORD on high is mighty.

Nothin special to say about this - I just dig it.


Proverbs 14:1-2
 ¹ The wise woman builds her house,
       but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
 ² He whose walk is upright fears the LORD,
       but he whose ways are devious despises him.

So a little more about fearing God. It seems like the opposite of fear is hate in this case...so I can play a little reverse engineering and say that - in this case - fear = love or despise = not afraid. I would say fear = love...

Fear all the time.

Reading from Friday, April 23

Yes - so once again I'm way behind, thanks to one Tim Bennett's wedding. The wedding was absolutely incredible - the location, the decoration, the people, it was all unreal. I was asked to give a speech during the reception which I delivered in song form - I brought my guitar and we had a good ole call and response sing along...It's Bennett!...It's Bennett! I think someone videoed it so I'll post a youtube link when its up.

Alright - let's start the catch up.

Reading for April 23
Judges 1:1-2:9
This is really another summary of Joshua. I suppose when these books were written they weren't originally bound together and right next to eachother, but rather separate documents. So the summary of Joshua would be appropriate if that was the case. There really isn't any new information in these first two chapters so we can just move along.

Luke 21:29-22:13
All of the story components from this section have been written about in previous gospels, but there is one little detail that sticks out here:

¹Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ²and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. ³Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

This is the first account time we read that Judas was not acting of his own free will when he betrayed Jesus, but rather was possessed by a demon - specifically Satan. This is an issue with Christianity I used to think about a lot. There is a thought amongst many Christians that whenever they do something bad, or whenever something bad happens, that it is the devil or Satan at work. And while I believe there is a Satan and that he may have some influence over this world, I don't think it's smart to assign every inconvenience in our lives to him.

"Hey Babe, we're out of milk."
"Arg! It's the devil at work! Tryin to tear me down..."

The other thing that makes the example of Judas so interesting is something I've mentioned before: Jesus being given over to be killed led to his crucifixion, which was the plan from the beginning. Without Judas' betrayal, we wouldn't have been redeemed through Christ's sacrifice...right?

Psalm 90:1-91:16
Oh wow - this chapter starts "Book IV" of Psalms. And these are by Moses.

A really great line here:

¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
       for as many years as we have seen trouble.

This is very much in line with the rest of the pslams. There always seems to be this conflict between affliction and gladness - or trouble and peace. And I think - as I continue to read this same message over and over again - from multiple different Pslamists, this message of darkness and light is the very nature of God. The psalms give you a very condensed picture of this dichotomy of God's character, but as I'm seeing the larger picture of the Bible, this is exactly what he does. He does some things - as I'm reading now - that would make most people throw up with disgust, then he does some things that would make people throw up with joy. I've never "joy barfed" but I'm sure it happens...

There are some extremely awful times for people and there are some gloriously wonderful times for people. Think about Christ's crucifixion. Over the course of one weekend we see the whole character of God encapsulated. Through the terrible, awful disasters - he brings miracles. I would encourage you to consider this in your own life - if you're having a hard time right now, one thing I've learned to bee true is that God always delivers on his promises and that the hard times will pass away and yield towards wonderful times. The hard times may return, but know that it's cyclical.  

Proverbs 13:24-25

 ²⁴ He who spares the rod hates his son,
       but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
 ²⁵ The righteous eat to their hearts' content,
       but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

Verse 24 there is interesting in the light of the Old Testament awfulness that I've been reading. I know this is probably more geared towards the earthly father son relationship, but think about it from Godly father point of view. He punished Israel - and many other nations - for their disobedience. He did this not because he hated them, but because he loved them. Think about it - if a father sees his son playing  with a machine gun and says, "Ah, let the kid do what he wants" - the son would likely kill himself or someone else.

On the other hand, if he takes the gun away and disciplines him so the son learns to stay away from machine guns, that is the mark of a loving father. Now, its debatable that genocide is taking it too far in terms of disciplining - that would be like the father killing the son for playing with a machine gun. But with the larger "son" of humanity, sometimes it takes the death of a few...or a few hundred thousand for God's son "humanity" to learn...

It's a tough issue for sure, but let's give some thought to that, yeah?

Alright...love, friends.

 

Thursday, April 22

Oh yeah. Caught up on this piece. I got the rehearsal dinner tonight for my best friend, Benny - so I figured I would go ahead and do today's entry now before the night got too crazy.

Reading for April 22
Joshua 24:1-33
Ah - the last chapter in Joshua, and another book complete. Let's see what she says.

Wow - what a way to finish. This chapter is so rich with theology and details and heart. It starts with a retelling of everything that has happened so far - from Abraham to the present. This seems to be  something the authors of the OT tend to do pretty often - which I think is great.

After the summary, Joshua begins to once again instruct his people to serve God alone and no other.

The people reply, "Of course we will serve God."
Joshua says "I don't think you can - you've been so unfaithful before."
They reply, "No, we promise. This time its for real."

Joshua then says that they are a witness to their own demise essentially, because if they step out of line, they know exactly what will happen. The text does go on to say that Israel was faithful to God throughout the entire 'reign' of Joshua, which is pretty cool because Deuteronomy ended with Moses and God predicting Israel's betrayal - more evidence that God does not know the absolute future, but perhaps potential outcomes...that's a strange thing to think about. It's like knowing all the endings to a video game, but not knowing which one will end up happening.

Then the coolest capstone of a book so far closes out Joshua. Remember Joseph? Sold into slavery in Egypt? The reason Israel was enslaved in Egypt (debatable)? Joseph probably died (total guess) 500 years prior to this scene in Joshua. Well, the nation of Israel kept his bones for all these years and buried them in the promised land where they were living. Specifically they were buried at Shechum - which was purchased by - who? - Jacob all the way back in Genesis.

Full circle, indeed.

Luke 21:1-28
Dude - the signs of the end of the age are freaking intense.

Here, Jesus launches into one of the bigger - if not the biggest - lectures on the end of the world. The way he describes it is so vivid and palpable that it really rests in your mind after reading it. Especially these last few verses:

 ²⁵"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

At the same time, that last verse is almost comforting. It's like having the knowledge that the scary things that will happen are actually good provides a pretty good sense of ease about the whole thing. Plus its kinda like a call to arms too - "stand up and life your heads because your redemption is drawing near." sounds like the title of a turbo core song.

Psalm 89:38-52
Wow - this is freaking intense. So this is the second half of the psalm which I read last night that was all happy and praisy and I was all like "Hey I've never seen a psalm that was all good without any sort of dissonance in it. I like that." Well I didn't realize that the second half was that dissonance that seemed like it was missing - but man, what a way with words this guy has.

Verses 38-45 sound make this sound almost like someone we should all know pretty well by now:
 ³⁸ But you have rejected, you have spurned,
       you have been very angry with your anointed one.
 ³⁹ You have renounced the covenant with your servant
       and have defiled his crown in the dust.
 ⁴⁰ You have broken through all his walls
       and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
 ⁴¹ All who pass by have plundered him;
       he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
 ⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
       you have made all his enemies rejoice.
 ⁴³ You have turned back the edge of his sword
       and have not supported him in battle.
 ⁴⁴ You have put an end to his splendor
       and cast his throne to the ground.
 ⁴⁵ You have cut short the days of his youth;
       you have covered him with a mantle of shame.
       Selah

I think the psalmist is talking about himself here, but it does sound an awful lot like Jesus, no?

After this he goes into perhaps the most honest look at man vs God so far in the Bible:

 ⁴⁷ Remember how fleeting is my life.
       For what futility you have created all men!
 ⁴⁸ What man can live and not see death,
       or save himself from the power of the grave ?
       Selah
 ⁴⁹ O Lord, where is your former great love,
       which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

Check out that bolded line. 'For what futility you have created all men!' What a statement. This is the psalmist pondering the meaning of life, and finding nothing - calling it futile.

Let's say for a moment that everything in the Bible was made up. It's all false crap. What would the purpose of it be then? There doesn't seem to be any monetary gain to a specific place (tithing is debatable). It doesn't make you swear any allegiance to any nation or king, except God, but if it's all false that that's irrelevant. If this whole thing is a lie, I believe it was made up to give all of us a sense of meaning to our lives. I mean, this is the oldest question in the world - 'why am I here?' The Bible tries to answer that question by creating a God that created us and loves us and has a plan for our lives.

But then you see something like 'for what futility you have created all men' in a book that's supposed to be about the opposite of that, that really stands out. I'm not sure what to make of it, but its just such an honest, real human emotion.

I suppose if this psalm is in fact autobiographical, then it would make sense. He has been completely decimated, friends gone, power usurped, glory trodden over - who wouldn't feel worthless and insignificant at that point in one's life?

Proverbs 13:20-23
 ²⁰ He who walks with the wise grows wise,
       but a companion of fools suffers harm.
 ²¹ Misfortune pursues the sinner,
       but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.
 ²² A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children,
       but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
 ²³ A poor man's field may produce abundant food,
       but injustice sweeps it away.

Take from those what you will.

Now it's time for the wedding of the year! Love all the time, friends!
 

Reading from Wednesday, April 21

Hey hey. Feelin much better. Got my speech written for Benny's wedding on Friday, I'm all packed up. Work is...well work is gonna have to wait I guess. It's gonna be a ball storm when I get back. Ball storm.

Reading from April 21
Joshua 22:21-23:16
OK - so to finish the story about the people who built a new altar inside the land. Apparently they weren't building it for another God, but as a testimony to future generations about the closeness of man and God at that time. They were at peace and wanted a reminder for their descendants to see that there was peace if it ever got bad again...at least that's how I see it.

Chapter 23 focuses on Joshua sort of retiring from his position as leader. The Bible says he's very old at this point and is about to "go the way of all the earth" - which I suppose means "die." Just as Moses did, Joshua closes his time with the Israelites with a reminder to keep the laws of Moses and to faithfully worship and obey God. He reminds them that every single promise God had made so far had been fulfilled because they remained faithful - although just barely from where I'm sitting. Joshua also reminds his people of the consequences for not following God:

¹⁵ But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. ¹⁶If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."

Again, Israel was God's chosen nation, but they weren't immune from the wrath dished out on other nations. I suppose he was more patient with Israel, but if they stepped out of line, judgment was a-comin.

Luke 20:27-47
An interesting look at the idea of resurrection: (Jesus speaking)

³⁷But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'^{[a] 38}He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

So, is it possible that Jesus' resurrection isn't exactly a resurrection of his physical form? Is that what he's alluding to here? Jesus resurrection, if taken as fact, is possibly one of the greatest mysteries of all time. I think Jesus knew how mind boggling it would be and tried to explain it in human terms, but I'm not getting it. I'm sure some theologian out there knows exactly what JCs talkin about here...

Psalm 89:14-37
This psalm beautifully describes the duality of God's perfect love and perfect justice. The opening line sums it up perfectly:

 ¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
       love and faithfulness go before you.
 ¹⁵ Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
       who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

Then, towards the end, the psalmist does a great job explaining the internal battle of love and justice within God. 

³⁰ "If his sons forsake my law
       and do not follow my statutes,
 ³¹ if they violate my decrees
       and fail to keep my commands,
 ³² I will punish their sin with the rod,
       their iniquity with flogging;
 ³³ but I will not take my love from him,
       nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
 ³⁴ I will not violate my covenant
       or alter what my lips have uttered.

This caught my attention for two reasons, and both are in verse 33. First, seeing the language about fulfilling covenants and promises is relevant because of what I just read in Joshua, and second is the idea that even while the stuff like the Midianites was happening, God still loved his people. "I will not take my love from him." I guess with God, a loving but stern spanking results in millions killed.

Proverbs 13:17-19
 ¹⁷ A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
       but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
 ¹⁸ He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,
       but whoever heeds correction is honored.
 ¹⁹ A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
       but fools detest turning from evil.

Verse 19 there seems to be the antithesis of the one we read a few days ago: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." So the opposite would be "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul". I suppose God's longing to be with man was a hope that was derferred for a long time. But with Jesus' sacrifice, it was fulfilled and sweet to the soul of God.

Boom.

Joshua Study Guide

Hey friends. My friend, Chris posted this in the comments -
http://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/introduction-to-joshua.html

It's an in-depth look at the book of Joshua and the middle-ish of the webpage has a nice long discussion about the genocides committed by the Israelites in the time of the OT. I haven't gotten a chance to look at it in too much depth, but from what I've read, there are some great answers there. Check it out.

I've also started to think about how this blog will continue next year. I want to draw my own conclusions similar to what you see in the link above. I want to go all out with the maps and the in depth study of the Bible, where this year is just about getting a high level understanding of the Bible as a whole.

So as of right now, next year I'm going to try to do just the Old Testament in a year, but going much further in depth with everything. Charts and maps and all that. I will sit down and actually read through the genealogies and trace their progress. That's exciting, no?

Reading from Tuesday, April 20

Hey-O. Today was freaking insane. I had meetings all day along with other various production work I needed to complete. Plus I have other things that need to get done before my best friend's wedding this weekend. PLUS - I got a notice from the tax office that I owed them a thousand dollars - which I don't - so I had to work that out, too. When I get home I have cleaning the entire apartment to look forward to as well as finishing the work I couldn't do during the day because I was in freaking meetings.

Reading for April 20
Joshua 21:1-22:20
Wow. That sneaky land distribution. I forgot about the Levites. Chapter 21 is all about the distribution of land to the Levites, and once again, it's boring to a maddening degree. However, the end of this chapter does give a nice breath of fresh air to the book of Joshua - check it:

 ⁴³ So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. ⁴⁵ Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

The reason all of this text about the distribution of land exists is to show that God always delivers on his promises, as summarized here in the last few verses. So this is kinda 'the end justifies the means' I guess - God promised a certain piece of land to the Israelites, so to deliver on that promise he had them murder a large number of other people. Obviously from my point of view, the end does not justify the means. I know a few of you commented some new thoughts about the genocides which I haven't had a chance to look at and digest yet, but its obviously not something that has an easy answer.

Either way - this last paragraph sounds like a "OK - now you can rest. You have inherited the promised land, enjoy!" But - the very next chapter it shows a group of Israelites building an altar to another god right in the promised land! After all of the reminders to avoid this very thing, after multiple smites from God for people doing the same thing, after being told over and over and over to worship only God or they will be hell to pay - this group of morons goes ahead and sets up an altar to another God.

God either doesn't see it right away or simply doesn't react to it right away, but the entire nation of Israel comes to this group of people saying "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME SOMEONE DID THIS??! BOOM! DEAD TOWN! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED, DUMMIES!!"

Unfortunately, this is where the chapter ends, so we'll see what happens to them in the next reading.

Luke 20:1-26
Jesus was an extremely smooth talker. There's a scene that appears in the other Gospels, where the teachers of the law try to trick Jesus into saying that people shouldn't pay taxes. Here's how it played out:

²¹So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²²Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
 ²³He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"
 ²⁵"Caesar's," they replied.
      He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
 ²⁶They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Boom. Jesus'd. 

Psalm 89:1-13
This psalm is incredibly positive toward God. A complete psalm full of praising God for his goodness and love of humanity. It talks about his power and majesty over the entire earth. Where other psalms are full of despair and asking God where he is and hey he had abandoned the psalmist. Or sometimes, especially in the psalms of David, it starts with a statement of despair and then a turn towards praise. It's just nice to see a full psalm with all positive language about God and about life.

Proverbs 13:15-16
 ¹⁵ Good understanding wins favor,
       but the way of the unfaithful is hard. ^[a]
 16 Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,
       but a fool exposes his folly.

OK Great. I'm almost caught up. Sweet sweetness. 

 

Reading from Monday, April 19

OK - I'm still awake. Let's do another one.

Reading for April 19
Joshua 19:1-20:9
This section finishes up (thankfully) the allotment of land schtick. It concludes however, with revisiting the idea of the "refuge cities". These were planned for and mentioned many times by God in Leviticus and Deuteronomy when instructing Moses about the promised land - and again, these are in place for people who accidentally kill another person. They can flee to these cities so they are not killed by the "avenger of the victim" - and will have a chance to stand trial.

Apparently, people were accidentally killed a lot if God needed to set up a special provision for that...

Luke 19:28-48
The Triumphal Entry


So this is when Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem. He does so on a donkey and in a very "low budget" kind of way. This emphasizes his humility, but also the others' dissonance in their expectations and what they actually got - at least from the Pharisees. Many of Christ's followers were following him into the city and calling out praise for him. The Pharisees told Jesus to silence his people - here's how he responds:

 ⁴⁰"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

A God who needs to be praised.

Then he went on to say this:

 ⁴¹As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴²and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Clearly a God who once again loves his creation and laments over its demise - the same thing we saw way back in Genesis before he got all vengeful and angry. 


Psalm 88:1-18
This psalm is pretty dark and un-hopeful. It's all about how the psalmist (not sure who it is this time) feels that God took away his friends and now he is all alone.

⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
       and have made me repulsive to them.
       I am confined and cannot escape;

On the other hand, isn't it possible that this guy just acted like a jerk and lost a bunch of friends and it has nothing to do with God? I don't think assigning God to every action/reaction in this world is a realistic way to live. Plus then you get into all sorts of big spiritual dilemmas asking why God had you step in poo on the way out the door this morning. Does that make sense?

Proverbs 13:12-14
 ¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
       but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. 

This verse was used in the Easter sermon at my church, Outreach Red Bank.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick. That's a great one.

Reading from Sunday, April 18

So as I mentioned, I'm watching hockey again after a long hiatus. It's a weird kind of thing that goes on when you're invested in a team. If I wasn't watching these games I would have no dissapointment when the Devils lost, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have any excitement when they won. Unfortunately they've been losing a lot lately and it's been giving me this horrible anger and stress during the games that I wouldn't have had if I wasn't following it. Anyway - it's Bible time.

Reading for April 18
Joshua 16:1-18:28
So this continues the chronicling of the allotment of land to the Israelites. It is extremely boring. There is one little bit in here though that caught my attention. The Manassites were given a number of areas to occupy, but here's what happened:

¹² Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. ¹³ However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.

Instituting the ol' slave labor when the Israelites themselves were slaves - in fact many of the people there were alive when they were in Egypt as slaves - so they know what its like. It doesn't say how they treated the the Canaanites while they were enslaved, but it was probably not great - see that word "forced" up there? That means "against one's will".

Well, then again - this is when "an eye for an eye" was the MO of most actions.

Luke 19:1-27
There is a large emphasis on the tax collectors in Luke. Here in this text we see the story of Zacchaeus. A short little tax man who was interested in what Jesus was doing. He followed Jesus' teachings and gave away half of what he owned, and promised to pay back 4X any money he was dishonest with. Jesus says that he is redeemed and good to go!

The big deal about this, again, is that the tax collectors were among the most hated people of that time - universally despised among all people and religions. So when Jesus started hanging out with these people, others - especially the Pharisees - were offended that Jesus would even acknowledge them, much less hang out with them. It's almost like in high school - the risk of social suicide of sitting with the fat, foreign kid at lunch.

Psalm 87:1-7

Asaph references Zion here a bunch of times, which I always thought was another word for heaven, or the second coming of Christ. Turns out it's just another word for Jerusalem and Israel in general.

Proverbs 13:11
 ¹¹ Dishonest money dwindles away,
       but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.


Have that. Good night.
 

Reading from Saturday, April 17

Hey now. I'm drowning in work. It's out of control. And I'm behind on this. Crazy. Ugh. Bible time.

Reading for April 17
Joshua 15:1-63
This section continues the breakdown of the distribution of land among the Israelites - I'll be honest - it's incredibly boring. But looking a little deeper, this must have been incredibly rewarding for the Israelites. They were slaves, then they were nomads in the desert for forty years. During that time they suffered an immense amount of loss and struggles. Many of them were struck down by the hand of God for the unfaithfulness or disobedience. They were engaged in war after war where they were tasked with killing many people. I don't care who you are - killing people will mess you up. Now - finally they are at rest. And not only that, but they are being given immense tracts of land for their very own. God's grace finally poking its tiny little head out and making a brief appearance.

Luke 18:18-43
I just had an interesting thought. Jesus not only redeemed humanity through his life and death, but he also redeemed God himself. I guess, depending on how you look at it - you could say that it was God redeeming himself. Here is why I think this:

Jesus entered the city of Jericho as he was continuing his ministry. While he was in this city preaching the message, he healed a blind beggar who begged to be healed. If you remember, Jericho was one of the first cities that Joshua led an attack against when the Israelites inherited the promised land. Joshua led his people to brutally murder the people of Jericho so they could inhabit the land. Now here's Jesus coming back to this land and healing people and preaching a message of hope. Obviously, its not the same race of people living there, because they were all murdered, but the symbolism here I think is intentional. God is apologizing for his wrath against humanity. In a round about way I suppose...

Psalm 86:1-17

 ¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
       slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

You know, I've always heard that God is slow to anger, but I've never seen him be slow to anger. It always seems like he just reacts to disobedience fairly quickly. And his reactions are usually to murder everyone. Now eventually this got so bad that he had to take a different approach and sacrifice himself and his son to save everyone. Gettin sleepy...

Proverbs 13:9-10 
 ⁹ The light of the righteous shines brightly,
       but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
 ¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels,
       but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Good. Night.

 

Reading from Friday, April 16

So I've been getting back into hockey. So far I've watched the first three games of the playoffs and the Devils are down 2 games to 1 against the Flyers. I am not a big sports guy - I hardly even watch the Super Bowl, but there's something about hockey playoffs that is unbelievably exciting. It's also great that Jilly is into it as well and we've really enjoyed watching the games together. Anyway...Bible.

Reading for April 16
Joshua 13:1-14:15
This is fairly uninteresting. God promises to drive out more and more nations as the Israelites continue to grow their land and territory - which probably means more genocides. So now at this point, its clear that God has no discretion as to who he orders the Israelites to kill - just people that live in the land that the Israelites want. Bad form, God. Bad form.

The rest of this reading just talks about how the land they already owned was divided amongst the various tribes. Bo-ring.

Luke 18:1-17
There's a great parable here of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Tax collectors were considered awful people during these times. They were basically hired by the Roman government to collect the taxes, but were given permission to take as much as they wanted for themselves from the people they collected from. So everyone dreaded seeing them as most took advantage of this dishonest practice.

So in this parable, there is a tax collector - the scum of the earth - and a Pharisee - a well-to-do religious figurehead. They both go out to the synagogue to pray and they each offer different prayers. Here is the Pharisee's prayer:

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

Praising himself, mostly. Now here is the hated tax collector's prayer:

'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Jesus says that the tax collector left the synagogue justified before God, but the Pharisee did not. And guess who the audience was when Jesus was telling this story? Pharisees. Boom.


Psalm 85:1-13
This is a very hopeful psalm after all the death and destruction I've read about. With lines like:

 ² You forgave the iniquity of your people
       and covered all their sins.
       Selah
 ³ You set aside all your wrath
       and turned from your fierce anger.

And...

 ¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together;
       righteousness and peace kiss each other.
 ¹¹ Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
       and righteousness looks down from heaven.

Now that's a Bible I can get behind.

Proverbs 13:7-8
 ⁷ One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
       another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
 ⁸ A man's riches may ransom his life,
       but a poor man hears no threat.

It's like my man Puff used to say, 'mo money mo problems.'

Reading from Thursday, April 15

OK, so I didn't finish last night's post, and I'm extremely tired right now, so we'll see how much I can actually get through. Tomorrow Jilly is at a bachelorette party all day, so hopefully between chores and working, I'll be able to finally catch up on this thing.

Reading for April 15 - Tax Day Special
Joshua 11:1-12:24

Man oh man. I really can't get away from this slaughter. This section of the Bible just illustrates the Israelites as a nation of savage warriors who have no morality or sympathy for anything or anyone. Even the writing - there isn't the slightest tinge of regret or sadness about killing hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of people. In Genesis, when God flooded the earth and killed everyone there was a tangible feeling of remorse about his decision. Now it just seems like God is playing Risk with humanity, and God is totally winning. Where is his regret about his lost creation? Where is the humanity that once made me feel like I could somewhat relate to God and what he is going through?

So the text in these two chapters is exclusively Joshua and the Israeli army ruthlessly killing nation after nation. Chapter 12 is actually just a list of kings that he and his army had killed. Like it's some sort of competition. Does God have kings stuffed and mounted on his cloud walls? Do him and Satan trade huntin' stories?

All kidding aside, God's 'humanity' seems to have been completely drained from him. It doesn't even say what the victims of his rage were guilty of - if anything.

So again, I'm not gonna get upset about this, but I really hate reading stuff like this...

Luke 17:11-37

 ²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within^[b] you."

This is interesting - I don't think I've ever seen The Kingdom of God represented this way. I always thought of the Kingdom of God as when Jesus returns to earth and rules over the earth for all eternity. But here, Jesus says that it is within you. So what does that mean for me as a Christian? 

I think it means that I have the potential to bring the Kingdom of God to earth through my behavior and through my actions. Basically - if I follow everything Jesus says to do, I can bring the Kingdom. And I don't mean just me, but Christians as a whole.

Psalm 84:1-12
 ¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
       the LORD bestows favor and honor;
       no good thing does he withhold
       from those whose walk is blameless.

Here's a great example of something that could easily be taken out of context. There are many interpretations of God's chatacter, and one popular one, especially among televangelists, is that God wants you to be rich and if you give your life to him, everything will be great. And that's just not true.

However, if you read the first three lines of this verse, you would think, "Yeah, God sole responsibility is to give me nice things." But that last line is key - "from those whose walk is blameless". And as we all know - no one is blameless, except Jesus, and Jesus certainly did not have a life that most people would consider desirable, and yet he is the salvation of humanity. His awful, painful death was actually the single greatest action of all time. It kind of puts these things in a different perspective.

Proverbs 13:5-6
 ⁵ The righteous hate what is false,
       but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.
 ⁶ Righteousness guards the man of integrity,
       but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

Cool. Catch up tomorrow. Goodnight. 

 

Reading from Wednesday April 14 UPATED April 17

Hey. So I just got back from recording my first podcast. And by "recording my first podcast" I mean "told a story on someone else's podcast. " Nonetheless I had a great time. I am beat though so let's hit the book.

Reading for April 14
Joshua 9:3-10:43

⁴⁰ So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.

This is a summary of this whole, huge section. Joshua led Israel through about five or six more genocides. Killing probably millions in the process.  suppose freaking out over one single genocide was silly - I have a feeling there's gonna be many many more based on how it his progressing.

Luke 16:19-17:10
OK - there is an intense story here. It's extremely confusing so stick with me...

There is a rich man and a man named Lazarus. Lazarus sat outside the gate of the rich man's home. Lazarus was covered in sores but he wished he could eat at the rich man's table. Eventually both of these guys died. Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man goes to hell. Interesting note here: it says  

²²"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side."

Not really what I usually think about when I think about heaven, but its integral to the story. The rich man can see Lazarus and Abraham from where he is and he asks Abraham to let Lazarus help him. Here's how Abraham replies:

'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

So, realizing his situations is hopeless, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to his father's house to warn the rich man's family about what will happen to them if they die. Here's how it plays out:

 ²⁹"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
 ³⁰" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
 ³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

So here - in clear language - Jesus is doing two things: he is spelling out that belief in him is the only way into heaven, and he is hinting at the fact that he will raise from the dead, and even then it will be difficult for some to believe. However, he does all this in such an eloquent way. He uses this fictional parable about a man coming back from the dead to save a few people to illustrate that he, himself will do the same for the entirety of mankind.

In that last line there, he even goes so far as to predict the reaction that many will have to his resurrection. If they aren't convinced by what they see already, even someone raising from the dead will not convince them.

The other thing I think that needs to be addressed here is that Lazarus is actually documented in the other gospels as someone who Jesus raised from the dead. While I was reading this story here in Luke, I kept thinking if this is what happened while Lazarus was dead - like a rare insight into the afterlife. And if that's the case, what's the deal with Abraham being the God-figure? Was that just used as an illustration to make it easier for the people to grasp the idea of God? Like how in "Contact" the alien appeared as Jodie Foster's father.

Either way, there is immense amount of depth to this story - does anyone have any more insight into this? I'm so interested in this....


Psalm 83:1-18

 ² See how your enemies are astir,
       how your foes rear their heads. 

 ³ With cunning they conspire against your people;
       they plot against those you cherish.
 ⁴ "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
       that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
[...]

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
       as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
 ¹⁰ who perished at Endor
       and became like refuse on the ground.
 ¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
       all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
 ¹² who said, "Let us take possession
       of the pasturelands of God."

Oh man...don't go there. Asaph is praising what happened at Midian and forward throughout the reign of Joshua and his terrible massacres of the surrounding people.

I've been thinking about this immense issue of God's justice and how it's actually extremely unjust and just downright awful. A big question that has risen is "If God is all knowing, why would he create the earth and everyone in it, knowing he would have his "chosen people" wiping out other nations." And now that I think about it - I don't think it says anywhere that God is all knowing. A common verse people like to quote is Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future."

That is so often misinterpreted as "God knows all things and he will be giving me good things". But look at the operative word in that verse - plans. I could have plans to go skiing, but those plans could fall through. I could break my leg and would be unable to go.

Because think about it - if God is all knowing, why would he have started the whole thing in the first place? He would have known that Adam and Eve would screw up and his creation would be ruined. Remember the intense regret the Bible describes God having over humanity's error? If he knew it was going to happen, why would be be regretful?

My point is - I don't think God is all knowing. I think he knows what his ideal life for us is, and if we follow his commands, we will be walking in his "predicted future". But, if we stray from those plans at all, all bets are off.

Now - this also calls into question the perfect nature of God. Is is wrong to think that God made mistakes? What if God was so pissed off about his lost and damned creation that he just raged out and ordered the destruction of everyone he saw without thinking. I mean I know we're raised to believe that God is in all ways perfect, but then wouldn't his creations be perfect as well? If I was perfect and I wanted to make a model airplane, I would make sure that it was perfect.

But God chose to give man free will, because he didn't want us to be forced into loving him. But then, think about that, too. The people that are being massacred really don't have free will. It's either, believe in this God, or be brutally murdered.

I feel like I'm caught in this cosmic battle. The New Testament is so hopeful and inspiring and makes me proud of my faith, while the Old Testament makes me ashamed of my God. I am having two completely opposite reactions to each book. It's a weird place to be...


Proverbs 13:4
 ⁴ The sluggard craves and gets nothing,
       but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

There it is.

Reading from Tuesday, April 13

Hey o. So I think I unloaded enough thoughts today in the two "Thinking" blog posts. So let's just go right to the bible.

Reading for April 13
Joshua 7:16-9:2
Well, this isn't getting any easier to read. The section opens with an inquisition as to who stole plunder from the fallen city of Jericho after they were specifically instructed no to by God. It turns out that a guy named Achan took the gold and silver. He admitted it, showed the Israelites where it was and gave it back. But because his actions were direct disobedience to God, he had to be killed. The Israelites brough Achan out to a field and the entire nation of Israel stoned him to death for bringing God's horrible wrath upon them. It says that once Achan was killed, God's anger subsided.

That's just so backwards to me...

The second section here talks about, what do you know, another Genocide. Who's keeping score here? How many war crimes and crimes against humanity is that so far? 7? 10?

God commands Joshua to lead a particularly tricky militaristic strike against the nation of Ai. He causes a distraction with one group of soldiers which causes all of the Ai soldiers to chase them. The second group then sets fire to the city, kills all the remaining people in the city, and then finally kills the soldiers. Another race of people wiped off the face of the earth.

Ugh...it's not worth getting upset over at this point.

Luke 16:1-18
¹⁰"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. "

So I tried to do a pretty scummy thing a few days ago. Last weekend at the bachelor party, the external flash for my camera was dropped and broke, which I was really bummed about because Jilly got it for me for Christmas. So I devised a little plan. I decided I was going to email the company that sold it and tell them that it was a very late Christmas gift and when I opened it, it was smashed.

As I was writing the email to the company Jill asked what I was doing. I told her. She said "Isn't that extremely dishonest?" "...Yes" I replied and closed and deleted the email. I felt like a butthole, and I think this verse from Jesus is very poignant. If I had successfully pulled off the "flash swap", I would have had a taste for getting what I wanted through deceit and that could have led to a dark place. Anyway, I love my wife for convicting me to do the right thing.

Psalm 82:1-8
 ⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
       for all the nations are your inheritance.

Boom. All the nations. It says to judge the earth, and judge it he did. His reaction was to send his son to be brutally beaten is mutilated for our salvation. Yes.

Proverbs 13:2-3


 ² From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,
       but the unfaithful have a craving for violence.
 ³ He who guards his lips guards his life,
       but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

Hey, I'm feeling better. If you happened to pray for me, thanks. I know I needed it. 

Thinking Again...

So every night when I'm done with my reading, I post a status update to facebook to let everyone know that the new post is up. Last night, after reading about the genocide at Jericho I posted this:

"Who would have thought that reading the Bible every day would hurt my faith?"

My friend from work responded:

Reading the bible made me an atheist... It shouldn't be about 'faith' which is a euphemism for believing in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I wish more 'believers' would be like you and take more than 5 minutes out of their lifetimes to actually ask the difficult questions about what they have been brought up to believe and have ... See More probably never analyzed it in an objective way. As the old saying goes: faith is believing what you know ain't so...the more you question, the more the true answers will reveal themselves....a thought that I live by: don't question the answers, question the questioner. The quickest route to enlightenment. Follow that path and you will understand the bible for what it really is....

He has some great points.  And to be honest, there were times when I imagined that at the end of this project, I would end up with no faith left at all and indeed, become an atheist, or at least agnostic. I imagined that this blog would turn into a book called

"Faith Lost: How Reading the Bible Every Day Turned Me Into an Atheist"

Let me take his points one at a time.

1) When he said "Reading the Bible turned me into an Atheist" I was hit with a sense of dread that the same thing would happen to me. But then I thought,

"How could reading something which is designed to convince you - without a doubt - of the existence of God and the sacrifice of Jesus, convince you of the opposite?"

Indeed there have been many times, just in these three and a half months, that I have been on the brink of giving up on my faith altogether - as a direct result of reading the Bible. Last night was one of those times. My conclusion was this:

"If I am reading something designed to give me faith in God, and it is having the opposite effect, I am obviously not understanding it properly"

2) "Faith is believing in what you know ain't so"

I disagree with this definition. My definition of faith is believing in something that you can't emphatically prove exists. We can have faith that a loved one will pull through a serious illness. We can have faith that our children will grow up to be wonderful people. And we can have faith that if we work hard enough, we will be rewarded for our efforts.

I'm sure everyone has gone through at least one of these scenarios. And you can't say that you know its false that your kid will grow up to be awesome. You know its a distinct possibility and your belief in that exists as a strong desire within you. However, you can't prove that it will actually happen but you have faith that it will.

In the same way, I can't prove God exists. I can't. No one can. But based on my personal experiences, the way the world is structured, and the way my life has come together, I have faith that he is truly there.

3) "The more you question, the more the true answers will reveal themselves"

I couldn't agree with this more, but I think we are seeing it from opposing ends. I think coming across these tough questions and problems with my faith have been extremely enlightening to the overall story of Christianity. When I reach a conclusion that puts opposing facts together to reveal a new, beautiful fact about God it gives me a new sense of hope and strength in my faith.

As many times as I have hit something that makes me want to give up, I have had just as many experiences that reignite my faith and send a new understanding soaring into my heart. And that is what gives me the faith that I am following the right path for my life.

 

Thinking...

Ugh...let me do some back pedaling from my freak out last night. I got a comment from a friend who made me realize some things and got me thinking about this second God-sanctioned genocide in a different light.

So far, just off the top of my head, I can think of maybe five or six genocides that have occurred so far. That includes the "Earthicide" that happened during Noah's flood - that being, God killing every living thing on Earth. I would assume that since Noah and his family were they only ones saved, that means that random children and elderly people were also killed in the flood, not just the mass of evil people.

And yet I've never met anyone who had any sort of negative reaction to this story. Why? God killed everyone on the Earth, not just a single race of people. I think because in stories like the Midianites and the people of Jericho, the people are brutally murdered by people, in Noah's flood, people die because of a force of nature. There is a disconnect between God murdering people and people murdering people. When we hear that a person kills someone else for personal gain - which is what the Israelites did - we have a gut reaction of "that's wrong", "that's horrible", "the murderer must be punished" and so on.

But when things like a flood - or to put it in modern terms - Hurricane Katrina happens, we have no one to blame except God, and most people don't know how to react to that. You can't put God on trial, you can't accuse him of murder - but when a huge group of people are killed by what is legally referred to as an "Act of God" how are we supposed to react to him?

--- --- ---

So my friend, Pete said this in reaction to my last post:

If you can accept the Midianites, I don't see how Jericho would be a problem. Personally, I wonder what God would have to do to become unacceptable. 5 genocides, 500 genocides?

That's true. If I had come up with a justification of the Midianites slaughter, why would another genocide that occurred the same way make me change my mind?

I need to accept that there are some terrible things that happened in the Old Testament before God's grace could be poured out on humanity in the form of Jesus. As I've noticed and written about before, Jesus' teachings are often in direct contradiction to the laws of the Old Testament. I also need to remember that I'm a Christian, not a Jew and that my faith is based on the teachings of Jesus, not the teachings of Moses or the God of the Old Testament.

So while the majority of the laws of the Old Testament can be dismissed because of Jesus' sacrifice, it doesn't make the Old Testament any less important. If we didn't have the stories of history of the Old Testament, Christ's sacrifice would mean nothing. He would have died for people that did not need saving. The wedge between God and humanity that was created by Adam and Eve, and the inability of God to coexist with man forced God to pour out this unbelievable wrath on everyone.

Humanity was tied down by this massive burden of being born into a sinful nature, and Jesus took that burden away so we could be free.

Reading from Monday, April 12

Hey now. How's it goin there? Work has finally slowed down to a pace where I'm not drowning in my own tears, which is excellent, and now I'm about to watch me a little LOST. Oh yeah.

Reading for April 12
Joshua 5:1-7:15
Man...just when I'm starting to get over the Midianites, here comes the story of Jericho. So before I start freaking out - let me quickly summarize the story.

Joshua is visited by an angel of God who tells him the way to break down the walls surrounding the city of Jericho, which is part of the promised land. He tells Joshua to have all the Israelites march around the city for six days, once each day. Then on the seventh day, he is told to have everyone march around the city seven times while the priests are blowing trumpets. When they finish the seventh lap, they priests are to sound a loud blast on the trumpets, everyone is supposed to yell and the walls will fall. Well, that's exactly what happens. Bit by bit, the Israelites follow these instructions and the walls of Jericho collapse.

You know, this is difficult to say because of what happens next, but I think God was having fun here. He could have easily had the Israelites doing something cooler than marching around a city blowing trumpets. He could have had them waving swords around and making sweet, super intimidating dragon robots that could tear down the wall. But God instead had them do something totally weird and out of the ordinary to show their obedience to him.

So after the walls fall, the Israelites are ready to take over the city, but instead of just rousting the people from their homes, God commands them to kill everything. Men, women, children, elderly people, animals, plants - everything. Why the hell does he have to kill children?! Because they weren't worshiping him?! Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.


Here's what its like: A father promises his son that he will have a turn on the best swing at the park that day. But when they get there, there's another kid already on the swing. So the father tells his son to go over and push the other kid off the swing, and then kick him in the mouth after he falls. Then while the kid is bleeding and crying, take the toys he brought with him and break them in half. Then piss all over them and the kid. Then get on the swing and enjoy.

But if his son disobeys his father, then the father gets to kick his son in the mouth. WHAT KIND OF FATHER IS THAT?! A terrible one! Right?? What is that teaching his son? "You can have whatever you want as long as you're obeying me, and you should claim what I promised you through brutal violence"? NO! I can't get behind that!

Luke 15:1-32
Hm. I used the father analogy to express my anger about what happened in Jericho - only to see the parable of the prodigal son here in Luke. Here's a brief summary of that story:

There was a father with two sons. One of them decided he had enough of his life and asked his father for what would be his inheritance, basically saying 'you're dead to me'. He leaves and realizes that life isn't so great away from his father's house. So he comes home expecting his father to hate him, but instead he rushes out to greet him and throws a huge party because he has returned.

So we should feel that when we turn to God, or turn back to him after a long time, that he welcomes us with open arms.


I need to remember that God's character changes after Jesus' sacrifice...but I still can't get over a genocide...

Plus the fact that it would be very easy to discount the existence of God through these early history stories of the Israelites. They were a growing, fledgling nation of people and were trying to conquer new territory. They were mad with a thirst for power and decided to destroy everything in their way, and made up a God to justify their actions.

As I finished typing that last sentence, a big empty ball of nothingness hit me in the gut. What am I supposed to do with this anger?

Psalm 81:1-16
¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
       and their punishment would last forever.
 ¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
       with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Oh, so because one of my good friends is Hindu, and was raised Hindu, and his peaceful religion does not include my God, his punishment will last forever. But because I believe in this specific God, I will get honey from a rock. Wow. I am so much better than everyone else. 

Proverbs 13:1
 ¹ A wise son heeds his father's instruction,
       but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.

Whatever.

Reading from Sunday, April 11

Hey brahs. Tonight, Jilly and I worked on some cover songs for her 80s cover band. One of the songs we worked on was "Lose Your Love Tonight" by The Outfield. It's a really fun song, but I couldn't resist doing my own parody. Get a load of this:

"You just bought these gloves at a fancy store, and I know they're really special. I'm afraid I'll lose them on the dance floor, then try to find them when you're not looking. I don't want to lose your gloves tonight, but I'd like to use your gloves tonight."

Oh yeah. That's copyrighted material there, baby. Don't even try to steal it. Weird Al, I'm looking in your direction.

Reading for April 11
Joshua 3:1-4:24
Alright. Interesting story here. God asks for twelve men, one from each tribe to follow the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant. These twelve men follow the ark all the way to the Jordan river - the same Jordan river that stood between the Israelites and the promised land. Now when the twelve men reached the edge of the river, the water dried up - the same way it had in the Red Sea.

Now to commemorate this miracle, Joshua instructs these twelve men to each pick up one stone from the river bed. They do so and as soon as they stepped out of the river bed, the waters rushed back to their normal flow. These twelve men brought these twelve stones with them to a city called Gilgal, and it sounds like these stones were still there at the time this book was written.

I looked up these stones and it looks like some scholars believe that Joshua made this story up to explain why there were twelve stones sitting in a circle in the city of Gilgal. It would be like me writing a story about how God made me pick up 18 stones from England and make stonehenge. But then again - these stones had to  come from somewhere. A bunch of dudes grabbing them from a river isn't the most far fetched idea there could be. A bunch of lollypops breeding within these stones and starting a global pyramid scheme to bring down the imitation sweetner industry would be the most far fetched idea there could be.

Something else that I picked up on that I want to mention before I forget. Joshua refers to God in a unique way in this chapter. He calls him "The Lord of all the Earth" - which isn't at all an outside of the norm description of God, but Joshua goes out of his way to make sure we see that. He calls God by this name several times in this section. Could this have been Joshua trying to persuede God into loving all of humanity, and not just this group of people.

Luke 14:7-35
Uh oh...getting sleepy.


There's some great stuff in here. The first section talks about attending a banquet, although I think Jesus is also speaking in the parable form here too. He instructs the people around him to take the seat of lowest importance when attending a banquet, then they will be honored when the host asks them to move to a higher seat. But if they take the seat of highest importance, then they will be asked to move to a seat of lower importance and then be totally embarassed in front of everyone. Obviously God is the host of the party, and if we make an attempt to glorify ourselves, we will be humbled. Likewise, if we attempt to humble ourselves, we will be glorified.

As an addendum to that, Jesus adds:

"When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

That's such a neat idea. Cooking dinner and inviting the poor and needy instead of your friends. I don't know if Jilly and I have the courage to do that. If you do, please let me know and that will encourage me to do it. I can't think of a better thing to do with my time or money...I'm gonna add that to my goals.

Then Jesus talks about the cost of being a disciple. He opens with a very controvercial statement:

²⁶"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

So all disciples of Christ are wife beating, child neglecting losers? I don't think so. I don't think he means literally 'hate your children', but rather, if a man's wife and children are higher on his list of importance than Christ, that man cannot be a disciple. As of now, there are too many things that I love that are preventing me from being a disciple, and I'm not ready to give these things up, possibly ever. Though, I think there's a difference between being a disciple and being a Christian. I would love to be a disciple of Christ, but I feel like I'm a perfectly adequate Christian. And by perfectly adequate, I mean sinful failure like the rest of us. 


Psalm 80:1-19
Nothing really stands out in this one...

Proverbs 12:27-28
 ²⁸ In the way of righteousness there is life;
       along that path is immortality.

Goodnight, babies.