Category: Something New in the Bible
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A gloomier perspective
It struck me this afternoon that I have never heard anyone quote Job 3 in connection with the issue of abortion. Though it’s as much a part of the Bible as Jeremiah 1:5 or Psalm 139:14. Images: Albert Anker, “Ältere Frau in der Bibel lesend,” 1904 public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; “Job” by Andreas Neumann-Nochten,…
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Over Explaining
It finally dawned on me that when Romans 1:26-27 is read as “an explanation of same-sex behavior” it fails, because it massively over-predicts the incidence of the relevant dependent variable. Took long enough. Image: “Ältere Frau in der Bibel lesend,” Albert Anker, 1904, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Yikes! Jesus Really Means This
Metaphorically, I hope. Jesus repeats the instruction about cutting off your hand, or gouging out your eye. Here’s Matthew 5:29-30: If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into…
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Conditions for Communication
If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space. There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who…
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Good news for someone
A wise man scales the city of the mightyand brings down the stronghold in which they trust. Proverbs 21:22
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Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
It’s not fall break yet, but a lot of people were travelling or nursing injuries, so our little congregation looked even littler than usual. The missing included a number of people from the choir. We could definitely have used a few more voices to make the day’s anthem sound more like music, and less like…
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“You First …”
Talk about “throwing someone under the bus,” here are the People of Israel to Moses: So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of YHWH our God any longer, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of…
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Obviously Good Rules
Moses tells the Israelites that the Torah will be RECOGNIZABLY good, to outsiders, because “the peoples, … when they hear all these statutes, will say ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’” (Deuteronomy 4:6) That is, the Torah will recommend itself. In context, this self-recommendation seems to depend on the practice of…
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Rumor Control
On the long slog through Exodus, this jumped out: You must not pass along false rumors. Exodus 23:1 (NLT) That would probably cut the fake Russian news and the out-of-context viral videos and the conspiracy theories of whichever side down to manageable proportions. Not clear on whether this implies that it’s OK to go ahead…
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Third Sunday After Epiphany
When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of…
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Wise Up
Is this the Bible warning us not to listen to “yes men”? Or, “alternative facts”? Maybe. The story is in 2 Chronicles 18 (and 1 Kings 22). King Jehoshaphat of Judah (one of the “good kings”) says “That’s not the way a king should talk! Let’s hear what he has to say” (New Living Translation).…
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David the Political Campaigner
More Bible politics! (Because, there is a lot of fascinating politics in the Bible.) David sounds pious in 1 Chronicles 13:3 “It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.” And I’m not saying he’s not, but … it would be smart for a…
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Choose the Life that Really is Life
Where does the choice between life and death lie? What is the way to life? People have to decide about this! In 2 Kings 18, “King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them” (2 Kings 18:13, NLT) and moves on to besiege Jerusalem. He sends a trio of…
Matters of Interpretation 