I've been thinking about starting a new blog. Don't worry, I'm not cheating on my two readers of this blog, this new one would be in addition to the Bible Adventure. The idea is this: I have a ton of video games that I've never beaten. My goal would be to go through all of them one at a time and beat each one, and write a post every time I do. Obviously I wouldn't be posting every day, or even every week depending on the game I'm playing. As a side goal, I would create a rule for myself that I couldn't buy any new games until I finished everything I own. What do you think of that idea? Would you read it? Or should I keep my self indulgent pandering to myself?
Reading for June 13
1 Kings 11:1-12:19
Solomon blows it.
So as Solomon got on in years, he began to take more and more wives. It says he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. A concubine is a woman who is in a committed relationship (I would assume sexual in nature) but cannot be married to the man because of differing social status. So if this is to be believed, Solomon then had over 1000 sexual partners. That is unbelievable. Maybe its examples like this that made Jesus preach on monogamy.
However the majority of Solomon's wives were from other nations, and God had warned Sol not to get involved with women from these specific nations because they would lead him astray and lead his heart away from God. Well, that's exactly what happens. Solomon lets his wives convince him to start worshiping the gods of their countries and he falls away from the God of Israel. Because of this, God rises up enemies against Solomon and says that the power promised to him and his lineage would be stripped from them because of Sol's infidelity. That's an interesting parallel - Solomon was in a relationship with so many women in a polygamous relationship and ended up in a polygamous relationship with other gods. I wonder if that is speaking against polygamy or if its just a coincidence...
Anyway, God says that because of David and how beloved he was by God, that he would not take the power from Solomon in his lifetime because he had promised David that his son would inherit the throne. So God takes the power away from Solomon's son who takes the throne after him. And even then, God allows Solomon's son to still reign over one tribe - Judah, while the other eleven tribes are rules by a new king - Jeroboam.
Have you picked up on the irony yet? Jesus' lineage is from Judah and from the line of David. Out of the shamed kings of Israel, the guys who were, after all, just regular guys. People like you and me with faults and vices and issues. But through these fallen people, God brought to earth the king of kings. That's pretty awesome.
Oh. Also, Solomon ruled for forty years.
Acts 9:1-25
Saul's conversion.
Every story needs a bad guy, and Saul so far was the bad guy for the new Christians, or members of "The Way" as it is called here in Acts. He constantly persecuted the Christians and was there when Stephen was killed, giving his blessing. One day, Saul was out doing his daily persecutin' and Jesus stopped him dead in his tracks. He ordered him to stop persecuting the Christians. Saul immediately became blind at that moment. He was brought the house of one of the followers of Christ, who prayed for him and Saul could see once again. He then joined the disciples and became one of their most active members. The chief priests were pretty pissed at this and tried to kill him, but the disciples kept Saul well guarded.
It's pretty interesting that the chief priests just tried to kill anything and anyone that didn't match up to their belief system. We still see this going on today. Islamic extremists killing people because they do not fall into their moral code. Even on a lighter side, Christians berating and belittling people for not believing the way they believe. They're not killing them, but they're certainly doing their damage. Let's also not forget the crusades and the witch trials and all the other horrible things Christians have done in the name of God.
Psalm 131:1-3
1 My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
Kinda sounds like the guy is just giving up. I am not what most people would call an intellectual, but I am very concerned with 'things too wonderful for me'. I have a desire to know and learn and experience these things that the Bible seems to hide from people. While there is wisdom in knowing that you cannot know everything, the wonder and excitement about learning these things is where I really grow, I think. Don't just say, "Meh, it's too big to understand." At least try, you may get part of it and that may set your heart on fire.
Proverbs 17:4-5
Love v 5
4 A wicked man listens to evil lips;
a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.
5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.
Alright yo. Don't forget you can submit prayer requests either in the comments below or to my email: brandonamurray@gmail.com
Please don't be shy about doing this. It will give me something to pray about as I often just forget or don't feel like it. Thanks yo.
That sounds like a cool blog idea, but I just wonder the direction. Would it just be reviews? Would there be something you'd be looking for? Relating it to?
ReplyDeleteI thought of another idea, although this is sorta the exact opposite of your idea. I think of all the games that I played as a child and have tons of sentimental value to -- played with friends, loved the story, etc. And I wonder what playing them now would be like. Would you have the same feelings attached? Is it as hard or as easy as you remembered it? Does it totally blow now?
The playing new games might be more interesting for a general audience. But getting nostaglic/criticizing old games you've loved when you were younger interests me more, I guess, because you can talk about your old memories, all the old secrets you remember, etc. Like I get super nostalgic thinking about Final Fantasy 7, but I wonder if I would still like it now.
Just thoughts.