Listen to him

I almost skipped today's lectionary schedule and went with a simple message of Love your neighbor. 
The message of "Love your neighbor" is simple. The act of loving your neighbor can be more difficult. In the end, the message part goes well with this week's text, so here it is.

Mark 9:2-9

The transfiguration is a pretty familiar story to most followers of Jesus. Jesus takes a few select disciples to an isolated place and is transfigured into some glowing type of spirit being. Then two icons from Israel's past appear with him -- Moses, who represents the Law, and Elijah, who represents the prophets. Then a voice speaks from a cloud and tells the disciples that Jesus is his beloved son and they are to listen to him.

As faithful Hebrews, they have been taught that God speaks through the Law and the prophets. Now God is telling them that he speaks through his son. 
Jesus would tell us that he didn't come to do away with the Law. Nor did he come to contradict the prophets. Maybe God was telling us that Jesus would help us to understand the purpose of the Law and the prophets. Maybe this was God's way of saying, "Let me simplify things for you. Listen to Jesus."

Well then, what did Jesus teach?
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
What if we show our love for God by how we love our neighbor?
I'm pretty sure that is the case. I don't think you can actually love God and not love your neighbor -- and yeah, Jesus teaches that, too.

Here's some bad news: Loving your neighbor is hard.
Nobody said it would be easy.

I chose my coffee mug for this morning's post. Groucho the cat is also enjoying the fireplace.

John

Recognizing Authority

This week's gospel reading in the lectionary schedule is Mark 1:21-28.
This is one of those passages that always amazes me. Jesus encounters a demon or demons, they recognize him as the Son of God, they always obey his command.

It's weird, isn't it.
Followers of Jesus say they recognize him as the Son of God -- as God Incarnate, but so often refuse to obey his simple commands. I know the "love your neighbor" thing is tough, especially when Jesus considers everybody to be your neighbor. 
Feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, welcoming the stranger, taking care of the sick -- why do we as a "Christian nation" oppose these things?

It would be one thing if the secular side of the nation opposed these Christian acts, but it is too often the party that professes to be the Christian party that is so against helping those in need. I know it doesn't sound right for the one sharing the gospel message to drop an F-bomb, but I can't help but say, "WTF?"

I like to try to differentiate between what I call Christianism -- believing in the church and doctrinal stuff of Christianity, and actual Christianity -- actually following the teaching and commands of Jesus. The Christian nationalism of today is very much like the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus's day. It just seems too weird that the demons are the actual followers of his instruction.

As one who has been demonized by the evangelical church of today, maybe it isn't too weird after all.
It's just sad that actually following Jesus means going against the organized churches that are supposed to be teaching us how to follow Jesus. 
But, I've said it before -- Church leaders teach us to follow church leaders, not Jesus. They have no control of people that follow Jesus. They only have control over people that follow them.

If you know who Jesus is
If you believe he is the Son of God
What are you doing to...
    feed the hungry?
    clothe the needy?
    welcome the stranger?
    help the sick?
    Love your neighbor?

John

Leadership vs Followship

Yeah, I know -- followship isn't really a word. It's not even a concept that is considered, but maybe it should be.

This week's lectionary text is from Mark 1:14-20. Read it and then come back.
It's a pretty familiar story -- Jesus calling the brothers Peter and Andrew, and brothers James and John. I don't know what pastors and preachers will be talking about on Sunday. I imagine many will talk about the willingness of the men to leave their nets and businesses and begin to follow Jesus.

But I wonder what Jesus saw in them. These men would eventually become leaders in the movement of following Jesus, but I don't think that Jesus was looking for leaders. In truth, I don't think Jesus is looking for leaders today.
Jesus is still looking for followers.
Churches look for leaders.
Churches control followers.
Church followers worship church leaders.
Yeah, I know -- I'm way too cynical, at least where churches are concerned.

I really don't know what compelled those men to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. Even with what we know about Jesus 2000 years later, the thought of setting everything aside to follow him is an incredible thing. I struggle to follow Jesus and his teachings. I struggle to be less of John and more of Jesus. I don't want to be thought of as some kind of religious leader. I would love to be thought of as a Jesus follower. 
Maybe some day.

In any case, don't follow me. Follow Jesus.
Don't follow your church leaders, either. Follow Jesus.
And for God's sake, don't idolize your church leaders. They aren't worthy of your worship.

I may have to rethink this Thursday Theology thing that follows the lectionary. I don't want it to be a negative thing and when it comes to churches and preachers/pastors in general, I may be a little jaded. I know that's because the preachers/pastors that seem to get the most attention are the ones that work hard to make themselves the center of attention.
The ones that I've really grown to love are the ones that quietly and tirelessly work out the Matthew 25 version of following Jesus. These are the ones I watch. These are the men and women that show me who Jesus is. They expect no praise. They expect no worship. They appreciate those of us that work alongside them to show our neighbors who Jesus is and that God truly loves them.

I know that leadership has its place. Leaders in business, in government, even on sports teams are vital to success. But I think churches would do better to seek after those that model followship. Don't you?

John

"Come and see."

This Sunday's gospel reading is from John's gospel and is found at John 1:43-51.
Go ahead, click the link, read the passage, and then come back here.

The former evangelist in me loves this simple passage. I'm sure there are plenty of good, deep, sound theological lessons to be explored in this passage, but the one that stands out to me is Philip's statement at the end of the 46th verse. He says to his skeptical friend Nathanael, "Come and see."

The same call is used in the fourth chapter of John's gospel when Jesus stops at a well in Samaria. The woman that encountered Jesus at the well goes into town and declares, "Come and see a man that told me all about myself. Could this be the Messiah?"

Today's evangelicals are more likely to help you find Jesus by shoving a Bible down your throat and expecting the ingestion of the Word will make you a Christian. It turns out that there is a sizable difference between professing to be a Christian and actually acting Christlike.

I get that the whole "Come and see" approach to evangelism was very different for Philip and the woman at the well when they could actually bring their friends to Jesus. But we can still show our friends Jesus by acting in a Christ-like manner. 
I know it's not easy, but I think the "Come and see" approach is pretty effective if we can show them what Jesus is like.

"Come and see" is a good invitation to discuss Jesus, God, philosophy, faith, or whatever. It can be a discussion with you, your pastor, or others that might shed some light on the character and teaching of Jesus. Teaching what Jesus taught isn't as tough as you might think. Start with the love God, love your neighbor bit and never get too far from that.
I mean if you're going to use the "Come and see" approach to introduce people to Jesus, you are going to have to produce a Jesus at some point. Just make sure it is God's son Jesus and not some Jesus of your own design.

What are the things you think about when you read this passage?

John

Monday Meditation

I was reading in the Bible -- Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount -- and I have some questions.

First of all -- a disclaimer or warning:
I am a follower of Jesus. Much of my life's philosophy and perspective is taken from the teachings of Jesus. I also read other perspectives and I am sure that those thoughts (and philosophical truths) will find their way into my Monday Meditations, but most thoughts will be based on my philosophies of life that were formed in my Christian upbringing.

Back to the Sermon on the Mount --
Towards the end of this story, Jesus says that not everyone that calls him Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one that does the will of the Father who is in heaven.

Later, in the 21st chapter, Matthew records Jesus's teaching of The Parable of Two Sons. Here, a father tells one son to go work in the vineyard and the son says, "No," but later goes and does his work. The father tells a second son to go work in the vineyard and the son agrees to do that, but never shows up.
Which one does the will of his father? 

What is Jesus teaching in these two lessons?
I would think that evangelicals would wrestle greatly with these passages. A simple, bare bones explanation of their teaching is to pray this magic prayer, ask Jesus into your heart, and be saved. But don't these teachings of Jesus contradict that?
What about that person that never walks an aisle, responds to an invitation, or prays the magic prayer yet does the things that Jesus teaches (the second son)?
What about the person that goes to church and professes to be a Christian, but doesn't take care of the oppressed, poor, sick, imprisoned, etc.?

I think these things are worth understanding -- but not to apply to others. We need to understand these things for ourselves.
Another teaching from the end of the Sermon on the Mount is that we don't judge others. Jesus says that the way we judge others is the way we will be judged, and the measure we use is the same that will be used for us.
It seems that most religious people want to use the Bible as a standard for others to measure up to, rather than as a guide to live by for themselves.

These are my thoughts in self examination today.
Am I living according to what I claim to believe?
Or do my actions show that I truly believe something other than the faith I profess?

What about you?
Are you who you claim to be?
What do your actions say about your true beliefs?

John

Wednesday Wisdom

 Context matters

John

Class Dismissed!

The 10-week group Reading the Bible as a Storybook has come to an end.
YAY!

It was good for me. Not only did it allow me to share my perspectives on the Bible and on several bible stories, but it got me back to some critical examination of the Bible. 
I probably should have kept better notes on the stories we covered and questions that were asked and discussed. While doing so would make a repeat class or a follow-up class easier, I'm not sure that I really want to be the person to lead another class. Most of the time I felt like I was struggling to find a place somewhere between teacher and facilitator.
It wasn't pretty.
Giving up control made me feel unprepared as a teacher, and I've never felt very comfortable as a facilitator. It's not really my thing. It was, however, nice to make some personal connections to The Venues. It's been a while.

This morning's meditative time is reflecting on where and how I best connect to God. Looking out at the gathering clouds on this last day of May and hoping for a little of the forecasted rain is a thread that weaves through the tapestry of connection to the world around me and to The Creator. 

This moth was resting on the front window this morning. Such a beautiful little creature!

And the walk out to the front porch to take the pic led me to this beautiful sunrise pic...

"...thy kingdom come...
...on earth as it is in heaven."

I really believe that the story of the Bible is the story of God (through Jesus) bringing heaven to earth. 
I really believe that our story continues to be a story of connecting God to the people around us -- by the way we live and the way we love. 

John

Today's Contemplation (it's kind of sad)

I'm not sure what to make of spring so far this year. The temps have remained cool enough that we've still had to run our furnace on and off through April. This final week of the month and the beginning of May still has daytime highs in the mid 60s (17-18c) and nighttime temps down around 40 (5c).
I think we are past a freeze point and hope to get some more flowers planted this coming week. I also hope that some of the ones that I've already planted will start to grow.

I think I'm only doing a few vegetables this year and will have to rely on the grocery stores and farmers markets (like most of the US) for my fresh produce. While I enjoy the homegrown stuff, I'm really not very good at tending to it as it grows. We finally got a little bit of rain yesterday. We seem to miss a lot of the area rainfall. Even while neighboring communities are getting rain, we seem to just miss it. Keeping seeds and seedlings damp can be quite a chore with several spread out flower beds. I suppose I should be thankful for the daily activity.

I know there are those that really love the cooler days and are fine with wearing sweatshirts and long pants. I'm more of a t-shirt, shorts, and barefoot kind of person and will happily sweat my ass off during the mid 90s (35c) of summer. I know that I'm not going to be running or working too hard in the hot part of the day, so that doesn't really come into play for me. Sitting in the shade of the deck with a ceiling fan on and a cold drink is not a bad way to spend an afternoon, even if it is 95 degrees (35c) outside.
I still think I need to get a pool. I really don't think I want to spend the money for an in-ground pool, but  I'd be okay with an above ground pool to lounge in on warm sunny days. I'm sure that I can contemplate life while soaking in a pool as easily as from on the deck. Smoking a cigar might be a little trickier, but I'm sure I'd find a way.
Hmmm...

Speaking of contemplating life...
I'm halfway through the 10 week Reading the Bible as a Storybook group and I am enjoying it more than I expected. I am pleased with the group's perspective and questions as we look through different stories. We started in Genesis and have barely made it into The Promised Land. I hadn't planned on going through in a chronological order, nor on covering the Bible in a survey kind of undertaking. I think this week I'll just tell a story and let them tell me what they think it means -- both for the people of ancient Israel and for us.

It's an interesting exercise, even for me. My own perspective of God has changed greatly over the past decade or more. As my understanding of God grows, my perspective of those old bible stories changes. In many cases, they hold less meaning or importance as lessons in living, but give me a much greater understanding of how ancient humans perceived God and the things they couldn't understand. That also helps me to understand people today as they react to things that are new and that they don't understand. It is a sad situation that humanity has developed so little in several millennia that our initial reaction is still fear rather than curiosity.

Why haven't we learned that our survival no longer depends on our eliminating those which are different or weak?
Why haven't we recognized that we can care for each other and still thrive?
Or leave each other alone and we will be okay?
Very few of us (humans) are in situations where we have to compete for food or resources to survive. Why are we still acting like that is the case? Why do we still feel it is necessary to hoard resources and deny others what they need to live well?
Has our intellect and instinct developed so little that we are still thinking and acting like ancient tribal peoples of the past?

Damn
That's pretty sad.

I should probably stop this line on contemplation this morning. It's too depressing. I think I'll go dig in the dirt and absorb some of that good earth energy into my being. You should do that too. You'll feel better for it.

John

Storytime

It is weird having to get prepared for a weekly class/small group, but here I am again. 
This is week 3 of Reading the Bible as a Storybook. 
I'm honestly not sure how it's going. Week 1 was well attended. Week 2 was about half that (I understand this isn't unusual). I guess we'll see how tonight goes.

Week 1 was just a basic introduction to the class to lay out what to expect. I did have a little time at the end and gave a short story summary of the short story of Ruth from the Old Testament.

Week 2 was some non-Bible sourced information on Abraham and the story of the blood covenant found in Genesis 15.

Tonight we will stay in Genesis and look at Abraham's grandson, Jacob (Israel) and his dysfunctional family that becomes the nation of Israel. It will be interesting to see if we can name all 12 sons of Jacob. I think everyone can get Judah and Joseph, but wonder about Naphtali, Gad, Issacar, and Zebulun.
What about the daughter's name?
And why does the coveted birthright fall from the oldest son down to the fourth born son? 
The Bible has some crazy stories. Maybe this one is here to give hope to anyone with a truly messed up family.

There really is some messed up stuff in this book. You should read it sometime.

John

Storytime with John

Tonight's the night that the small group study Reading the Bible as a Storybook begins.
I have to admit that I am entering it with some mixed feelings and mixed expectations.

Part of the mixed expectations comes from the fact that I haven't really planned out the entire 10 weeks of classes and materials. I did that purposefully so that the group could have some input into how the study actually goes. I have tonight's introduction meeting setup to be just that -- an introduction to me and to what I am expecting, as well as a time for each person to briefly introduce themselves and what they are expecting or hoping to get out of our time together. 

I have week two planned out with an Old Testament story (really more of a story behind the story) and week three is a bit of a blend of an Old Testament/New Testament kind of story -- sort of a linking of the two.
Beyond that I'd like to take on some of the favorite stories of the group or perhaps (big maybe as I'm not too keen on giving away that kind of group control) allow others to share their favorites in their own ways. Whether I continue to choose stories to share on my own or examine bible stories of their choosing, there is more than enough material to cover the 10 week session. 

I plan on keeping good notes just in case the class goes well enough that it is run again with a different group or calls for another session to continue what is started in this one. I don't know if that is a fear or a hope when it comes to expectations. I'm just considering the possibilities.

It's weird how something that was once very familiar and comfortable has become something that holds a little anxiety and doubt. It has been a while and The Venues ain't your daddy's church!

John

Changing Routines and Getting Back to Teaching

I don't lead a very structured life. Other than my morning coffee and quiet time, I really can't say that I have much of a routine going throughout each day. But I may be wrong about that. I think that doing nothing or having no routine has become a routine of its own.

I say that because I've noticed that I really seem off when I've worked the night (or a couple of nights) at the shelter. It seems to take me longer to readjust to my normal hours than it used to. I don't know if it's due to age or maybe it's just so different from what I've become used to doing. In any case, I am pretty much back to my daily routine of having nothing planned and doing just that.

It looks like I will be adding teaching a weekly class to my routine in about a month. 
I'm going to be leading a small group study on the Bible as a storybook. I think that I'll be looking at taking stories from different sections of the Bible -- law, history, wisdom, prophets (major and minor), and the New Testament -- and examining them from a fresh perspective. It will only be a ten week class. I don't yet know if I will plan on doing just one story per class and little insight into the Bible itself, or maybe do two or three stories per night. I have a few weeks to figure that out and want to be sensitive to adapting to class expectations, as well.

It has been a while since I've done much teaching or preaching and I have a feeling doing the prep work for each session will be a challenge. I was looking for recordings of my few times speaking at The Venues at 425 (previously known as Barchurch), but only found one still in the archives. We had been studying the effects of change -- how changing our minds affects our brains, the actual physiological changes to our brains and our bodies. My message was on changing our religion or perspective on how we see God.

If you have 30 minutes to spare and want to hear it you can find it here. My part begins about the 27 minute mark.

Storytelling from the Bible is my style, but I don't want this class to turn into a preaching kind of thing and will have to take care that it doesn't. I do hope that people will be encouraged to read the Bible and to find a connection to God and to one another through its stories. I hope that we all have open minds and are willing to change our perspectives to get a better view of what is true.

John

The Bible as a Storybook

I was recently asked about teaching a small group at our church. I was told that I could pick the topic, time length, and place. I'm not sure if I'm going to do this, but I was thinking -- If I did, what would I teach?

There are a number of reasons not to do this. First of all, teaching in a small group forum really isn't my thing. I'm not a teacher. Moderating or leading a book study isn't my thing, either. Writing my own curriculum for a class most definitely is not my thing. And I'm not really much of an expert on any given subject, especially in matters of theology or churchy stuff.

But...
I've been thinking.
What if I were to examine The Bible from a storybook perspective?
What if we were to look at the stories of The Bible from the perspectives of history(why they were written when they were written) and what they can teach us (if anything) today?

Personally, I love the stories of The Bible. And naturally, I have my favorites. I have my favorite stories that I like to hear, and I have my favorite stories to tell. I also have my favorites based on what they have to teach us, or at least - what they have to teach me. 

What are your favorite stories to read, hear, or tell?
What stories do you think I should include in a class of teaching The Bible as a Storybook?
And why should I include them?
They can be well known stories or they can be stories that are obscure or often overlooked.

Whether or not I teach such a class is still a pretty big question, but I do think I'd like to write about the topic and include some of my favorites as well as a few of your favorites. 

What do you think?
Would that kind of teaching interest you?
Just wondering...

John

Bible things that make you go, Hmmm...?

One of the things that I am looking for as I read through the gospels are the things that Jesus commands us to do. Towards the end of John's gospel, Jesus says that if we love him, we'll do the things he's told us (commanded us) to do. So I figured to maybe highlight the dos and don'ts as I go along.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5, 6, and 7) there are several do nots and a few dos, but in between those are three things that Jesus just assumes that we are doing. Jesus doesn't command us to give to the poor. Instead he says, "When you give..."
Neither does he tell us to pray, but says, "When you pray..."
And finally, "When you fast..." 

Giving, praying, and fasting were such parts of the culture that there was no need to tell people to do those things. Jesus simply gave instructions on how to do them better or more correctly. 
While regular fasting isn't really a part of western culture today, it still exists as a physically cleansing or purification ritual for much of the world. Jesus doesn't give instructions on how to fast because nobody needed it. They already included fasting as a part of their culture and practice. 

I wonder how he would address these three things if Jesus were to speak to a US crowd today or maybe give a TEDtalk in the western world.
Would he say, "You need to be generous and give..."
                       "You need to pray..."
                       "You need to fast..."
Are these things really necessary for us today or were they just things that were culturally relevant to the people of the time and place?

Hmmm...
I wonder.

John

Weird thoughts on the Bible

I began re-reading the gospels this week and as you might have guessed, I started in Matthew's gospel. His Jesus story begins with the ancestry of Jesus going back to Abraham - 14 generations from Abraham to King David, 14 generations from David until the Babylonian captivity, and 14 more generations to the birth of Jesus. Forty-two generations in all.

I was thinking - How did Matthew (or whoever actually wrote the Gospel According to Matthew) come up with that?

I have a few friends that are pretty deep into the ancestry stuff. I have a few family members that have traced our family history back a few generations. Even with the internet and access to old records, each generation back in time is more difficult to determine based on written records. Going back just a few hundred years is quite a task - today!

Matthew following the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham would be like one of us tracing the genealogy of a friend back to the time of Jesus' birth nearly 2000 years ago!
And without the internet, without a lot of written records, and after the Jewish dispersion of around 70 CE.
That's quite a task!

I suppose once you make it back to King David the rest is pretty easy, but still...

Then I saw this meme yesterday. 
At least it's not complicated, right?

Just weird stuff I think about.

John

Sunday morning message

Might be my favorite...

John

Conversations on Church, Faith, Religion, etc.

I've pretty much hung up my ministerial collar, so to speak.
But in the past two weeks I have preached a couple of times, served as a volunteer chaplain at a rural hospital, and was honored to share a few words at the interment of a friend at The Missouri Veteran's Cemetery.

I've also had several conversations with different people on the subjects of religion in general, changes in church life, and living out our faith as Christians in 2022 in the USA.
One pastor/chaplain, one pastor, and one lay person in personal conversations, plus a few social media exchanges. All-in-all, I have talked more about faith in the past week than I have in the past year. 
I've also been doing some reading along those lines.

The weird thing is that other than preaching those two Sundays, I really haven't been to an in person church service/gathering much for quite some time. I really haven't felt distanced from God. If anything, I feel very good about my faith and connection to God. I know all the standard church arguments for going to church, assembling with other believers, blah, blah, blah. Today I'd probably say it's just bullshit they tell you so that you'll show up and give them some money.

I'm not sure what's brought on this current aversion to church or church organizations, but it is something that I should probably consider.
I have enjoyed talking about the Bible and Bible stories. I've enjoyed Facebook responses to favorite stories or hard questions. And I would like to engage in more of that, but most of that didn't happen at church.
I imagine I'll get it figured out.

In the mean time...
Who is your favorite obscure Bible character?
Someone that doesn't get much mention, but holds some attraction to you.
One of mine is an unnamed Hebrew slave girl that speaks up to tell her captor how he might be healed of his leprosy. I think that she was a brave and bold young girl to speak up about her God to her captors.
You can read the story here.

Now it's your turn.

John

Unusual Week

Tomorrow will be the third morning this week that I am out of my normal routine.
Typically I sleep until I'm finished and then have my coffee and quiet time on the deck before doing anything else, even if that something else is doing nothing.

Tuesday was a morning call to visit the hospital (it's my week of Chaplain duties). Today was time with my sister who overnighted here on her way to see Mom. And tomorrow will be a morning coffee meet with a friend to catch up on what is going on in each other's lives, followed by the noon interment of a friend's ashes at MO Veterans' Cemetery.

Those are all fine and good things to come out of routine for. It's just a little weird for it to happen in the same week and I feel a little discombobulated. Nothing bad, just a little out of rhythm. 
Between preaching the past two Sundays, chaplaining this week, and serving as minister at the interment tomorrow, I'd say it's time to re-evaluate and get back to the full time retirement gig!
I've about exceeded my annual quota of people-ing and it's only September 1st!

It won't be too long before cold weather shelter time is upon us, so I may have to expand my people-ing time in the coming months.

     *****     *****     *****

New subject
In an earlier post I asked about favorite Bible stories, but only received a handful of responses. I'm kind of hoping for a similar response to today's question.

What are your hard questions when considering the Bible?
God of judgment and destruction vs. God of love and mercy?
Is Genesis for real and how old is the earth?
Are miracles real?
What about angels?

What are your "shake your head" or "I just don't get it" parts of the Bible?

John




 

Summer is Waning

As the summer gets closer to its end and fall draws near, I notice the morning sun now shining onto the deck. As the sun moves southward towards its winter course, we get more sun on the deck. It works out nicely. With our mostly southern facing deck, we get sun in the colder winter months and shade throughout the summer.
*sigh*
I am not one of those "looking forward to fall" kind of people.

In recent years, I've found another reason to dislike winters. As hard as SWMO summers can be on our unsheltered population, the winters can be brutal--even deadly. I know that there is more that our communities can do to help solve most of the problems faced by our unsheltered friends, but I also know that this Bible belt community isn't all that charitable towards the people that Jesus commanded we help--you know, the poor, the hungry, the sick, etc.
Ugh!
It's embarrassing that Christian people can be so ugly and that only a handful of churches seem to care.

On Sunday morning I'll be sharing a simple lesson I learned from one of my favorite Bible stories.
I'm curious.
What's your favorite story from the Bible?
And why?

I'll be at a small country church in a rural community. They don't have an online feed, so I can't invite you to join that way. But if you are local to Christian county and feel like making the trip to Sparta, I'll be at Sparta Christian again. Church is at 11.

John

PS  Please comment and share you favorite Bible stories and what they teach you

Things that make you go, "Hmmm..." (in the Bible)

I haven't kept up with the thinking-about-the-Bible posts, but I have been thinking about some of the weird stuff found in its pages. Before I continue with weird stuff from Genesis, what are some of the weird things that you've read or heard about from the Bible or from the Bible lessons you've been taught?
To be fair, much of the stuff I just accepted as a kid or even as a learning adult. You make this assumption that the people teaching know what they're talking about, but really they just know what somebody else that didn't know jack shit taught them. 
Conservative Christians are in this culture (emphasis on cult) that doesn't allow for questioning the content or counters questions with some "That's just what I've been taught," bullshit.

In Genesis 6 we find that the sons of God see that the daughters of men are pretty hot and decided to rape them at will. The offspring are basically giants and things on earth are going to hell in a hand-basket. This apparently catches our omnipotent and omniscient God by surprise. God regrets ever having created man and decides to wipe out humanity. Not being much of an animal rights activist, killing all the wildlife is just collateral damage, but God decides to preserve each species by saving a few to reproduce and repopulate the earth. 
God finds one family of humans that aren't totally corrupt and uses them to accomplish the goal of saving the animals and restarting the human population, as well. Man, talk about your shallow gene pool! 

The whole idea of spiritual beings taking on human form and raping women to birth some kind of super beings that corrupt the earth is bizarre enough without the part about God tossing up his hands and destroying all of (well, most of) creation. 
Seriously, wouldn't you scrap the whole thing and start over--new heaven, new earth, new beings. I'd probably skip the snake part of creation and I'd reconsider that idea of putting knowledge and eternal life in fruit trees, for sure!
And yet conservative literalists will insist that it happened just so and the universe is only a few thousand years old, science be damned!

I guess the thing I don't get is this--
If you are going to make up a creation story, wouldn't you come up with something better than a bumbling god that doesn't know what he's doing and can't keep control of his cosmic experiment?
If you ask me, this whole Judeo/Christian Old Testament is pretty much a power grab for control of humanity. It makes a base that's difficult to overcome with the idea of a New Testament savior. 

Reconciling evangelical deconstruction is difficult at best. Trying to figure out the stories of a book that are obviously not infallible nor inerrant is torture for a mere layperson like me.

What makes you pause and go "Hmmm...?"
Maybe we can figure some of it out together.

John

Thoughts from the Bible

 

I wrote this a few days ago. My thought was to read through the Bible and just write down what thoughts I have as I'm reading, maybe use them in a daily devotional at some point or something. It's not like I'm ever going to need them for sermon notes.

From recent activities and posts on Twitter and Facebook that have followed, it appears that a lot of people are struggling through some anger and dark times. Maybe this will help. Maybe not.

It's not really fleshed out. It's just what I wrote after reading the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. I have to admit--the Bible isn't the same book I once used to preach from. It no longer holds that "infallible, inerrant, Holy Spirit written Word of God" status that it once held. I view it more as the history, stories, and lessons learned and taught by a nation of people that lived several thousand years ago.

Some of the stories are real. Some are told to teach. Some are written as subversive and secret messages to an oppressed people. They are stories of how this people found a connection to God (religion), and how we can also find a connection to God through Jesus, his son.

I realize it ends kind of abruptly. Like I said, it's just something I wrote after reading. That said, I'm interested in your thoughts.

Here it is:

Genesis 1

Interesting observation that darkness wasn’t created. Light was created. God existed in darkness before creation--at least according to the Genesis story.
God created the Earth and the heavens in the dark. Then God created light, separated it from the darkness, named day (light) and night (darkness) and that was the first day.

It’s weird that God didn’t create light first. I wonder why.
I get that it’s not like God needed the light to see to start creating in the great cosmic workshop, but since the Bible is written as a story from the perspective of humankind--well, I would have turned on the lights first.

It probably doesn’t mean anything, but it is possible there is something for us in the simple order of this version of creation. Maybe it is important for us to know that God exists in the darkness.
The Earth was without form and existed in the darkness. And the Spirit of God was there, hovering in the darkness. Could it be that knowing that God exists in the darkness is an important thing for us to know? It may be that when we are in our darkest places, we can be comforted in knowing that yes, God is there, too.

If we were physically in a dark place, we would use our other senses to know what was around us. We’d listen. We might sniff the air. We would move slowly with outstretched arms. I wonder why we don’t do the same when we are spiritually or emotionally in a dark place. I believe we have more of a tendency to shut down and to fear the loneliness rather than to use our other senses to find God, to find love, to find anyone that can help us to realize we are not alone in the dark.

*****

I have to say that I like God’s work ethic. I can get behind doing a little bit in the morning and then knocking off for the rest of the day. It’s been my same approach to doing yardwork.
God does get after it as the week rolls on. By Day 3 (I wonder if God already used “Tuesday '' for the third day or if it was like being retired and it didn’t really matter what day it was) God is flat stepping out and creates all of the vegetation and fruit on the Earth. That’s a very productive day! (See what I did there?)

What lesson(s) do you find in this first account of creation?

John