Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas Readings from the Old and New Testaments
This will most likely be my last post for 2012, and since it is Christmas Eve, I want to share some Christmas related readings from the Old and New Testament. I want to share a reading from Micah 5 and from John 1 from the Revised Standard Version Bible. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year as well. Thanks for reading and spread the word about this blog if you enjoy reading it, thanks! Below are the two readings:
Micah 5:2-5
"[2] But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
[3] Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in travail has brought forth;
then the rest of his brethren shall return
to the people of Israel.
[4] And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
[5] And this shall be peace..."
John 1:1-14
"[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] He was in the beginning with God;
[3] all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
[4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
[5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[6] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
[7] He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
[8] He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
[9] The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
[10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
[11] He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
[12] But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;
[13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
[14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."
Reference:
RSV Bible (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/r/rsv/).
Micah 5:2-5
"[2] But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
[3] Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in travail has brought forth;
then the rest of his brethren shall return
to the people of Israel.
[4] And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
[5] And this shall be peace..."
John 1:1-14
"[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] He was in the beginning with God;
[3] all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
[4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
[5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[6] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
[7] He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
[8] He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
[9] The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
[10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
[11] He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
[12] But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;
[13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
[14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."
Reference:
RSV Bible (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/r/rsv/).
Download Readings and Homily from Church of Our Saviour
Now you can download recordings from the “Readings and Homily" of the Church of Our Saviour in NYC. I highly recommend that you download an MP3 today. I always enjoy hearing Fr. Rutler and others! Below is the link you need to follow:
http://www.oursaviournyc.org/multimedia/audio/recordings-from-2012
http://www.oursaviournyc.org/multimedia/audio/recordings-from-2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
What Is This Word? Sermon at the Eucharist on Christmas Morning 2005 by N. T. Wright
What Is This Word?
John 1.1–14
Sermon at the Eucharist on Christmas Morning 2005
in the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin, and St Cuthbert of Durham
the Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. Wright
One of the greatest journalists of the last generation, the late Bernard Levin, described how, when he was a small boy, a great celebrity came to visit his school. The headmaster, thinking perhaps to impress, called the young Levin to the platform in front of the whole school. The celebrity, thinking perhaps to be kind, asked the little boy what he’d had for breakfast.
That was easy, or so it seemed. ‘Matzobrei’, replied Levin. It’s a typical central European Jewish dish, made of egg fried with matzo wafers, brown sugar and cinnamon; Levin’s immigrant mother had continued to make it even after years of living in London. It was, to him, a perfectly ordinary word for a perfectly ordinary meal.
The celebrity, ignorant of such cuisine, thinks he must have misheard; he asks the question again. Young Bernard, puzzled now and anxious, gives the same answer. The celebrity looks concerned, and glances at the headmaster. What is this word he’s saying? The headmaster, adopting a there-there-little-man tone, asks him once more what he had for breakfast. Now dismayed, not knowing what he’s done wrong, and wanting to burst into tears, the boy says once more the only thing he can say, since it’s the truth: ‘Matzobrei’. An exchange of strange glances on the platform, and the now terrified little boy is sent back to his place. The incident is never referred to again, but it stays in his memory as a horrible ordeal.
The Jewish word spoken to an incomprehending world; the child’s word spoken to incomprehending adults; the word for food of which the others know nothing . . . it all feels very Johannine. What is this Word? ‘In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was made flesh.’ We are so used to it, to the great cadences, the solemn but glad message of the incarnation; and we risk skipping over the incomprehensibility, the oddness, the almost embarrassing strangeness, of the Word. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness didn’t comprehend it; the world was made through him but the world didn’t know him; he came to his own, and his own didn’t receive him. John is saying two things simultaneously in his Prologue (well, two hundred actually, but let’s concentrate on two): first, that the incarnation of the eternal Word is the event for which the whole creation has been on tiptoe all along; second, that the whole creation, and even the carefully prepared people of God themselves, are quite unready for this event. Jew and Gentile alike, hearing this strange Word, are casting anxious glances at one another, like the celebrity and the headmaster faced with a little boy telling the truth in a language they don’t understand.
That is the puzzle of Christmas. And, to get to its heart, see how it works out in the rest of John’s gospel. John’s Prologue is designed to stay in the mind and heart throughout the subsequent story. Never again is Jesus himself referred to as the Word; but we are meant to look at each scene, from the call of the first disciples and the changing of water into wine right through to the confrontation with Pilate and the crucifixion and resurrection, and think to ourselves, this is what it looks like when the Word becomes flesh. Or, if you like, look at this man of flesh and learn to see the living God. But watch what happens as it all plays out. He comes to his own and his own don’t receive him. The light shines in the darkness, and though the darkness can’t overcome it it has a jolly good try. He speaks the truth, the plain and simple words, like the little boy saying what he had for breakfast, and Caiaphas and Pilate, incomprehending, can’t decide whether he’s mad or wicked or both, and send him off to his fate.
But, though Jesus is never again referred to as the Word of God, we find the theme transposed, with endless variations. The Living Word speaks living words, and the reaction is the same. ‘This is a hard word,’ say his followers when he tells them that he is the bread come down from heaven (6.60). ‘What is this word?’, asks the puzzled crowd in Jerusalem (7.36). ‘My word finds no place in you,’ says Jesus, ‘because you can’t hear it’ (8.37, 43). ‘The word I spoke will be their judge on the last day’, he insists (12.48) as the crowds reject him and he knows his hour has come. When Pilate hears the word, says John, he is the more afraid, since the word in question is Jesus’ reported claim to be the Son of God (19.8). Unless we recognise this strange, dark strand running through the gospel we will domesticate John’s masterpiece (just as we’re always in danger of domesticating Christmas), and think it’s only about comfort and joy, not also about incomprehension and rejection and darkness and denial and stopping the ears and judgment. Christmas is not about the living God coming to tell us everything’s all right. John’s gospel isn’t about Jesus speaking the truth and everyone saying ‘Of course! Why didn’t we realise it before?’ It is about God shining his clear, bright torch into the darkness of our world, our lives, our hearts, our imaginations, and the darkness not comprehending it. It’s about God, God-as-a-little-child, speaking the word of truth, and nobody knowing what he’s talking about.
There may be somebody here this morning who is aware of that puzzlement, that incomprehension, that sense of a word being spoken which seems as though it ought to mean something but which remains opaque to you. If that’s where you are, the good news is that along with this theme of incomprehension and rejection there goes the parallel theme of people hearing and receiving Jesus’ words, believing them and discovering, as he says, that they are spirit and life (6.63), breathing into the dry, dead fabric of our being and producing new life, new birth, new creation. ‘As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, who were born not of human will or flesh, but of God’. ‘If you abide in my words, you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free’ (8.31f.). ‘If anyone keeps my words, that person will never see death’ (8.51). ‘You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you’ (15.3). Don’t imagine that the world divides naturally into those who can understand what Jesus is saying that those who can’t. By ourselves, we none of us can. Jesus is born into a world where everyone is deaf and blind to him and what he’s saying; but some, in fear and trembling, allow his words to challenge, rescue, heal and transform them. That is what’s on offer at Christmas; not a better focussed religion for those who already like that sort of thing, but a Word which is incomprehensible in our language but which, when we learn to hear, understand and believe it, will transform our whole selves with its judgment and mercy.
Out of the thousand things which follow directly from this reading of John, I choose three as particularly urgent.
First, John’s view of the incarnation, of the Word becoming flesh, strikes at the very root of that liberal denial which characterised mainstream theology thirty years ago and whose long-term effects are with us still. I grew up hearing lectures and sermons which declared that the idea of God becoming human was a category mistake. No human being could actually be divine; Jesus must therefore have been simply a human being, albeit no doubt (the wonderful patronizing pat on the head of the headmaster to the little boy) a very brilliant one. Phew; that’s all right then; he points to God but he isn’t actually God. And a generation later, but growing straight out of that school of thought, I have had a clergyman writing to me this week to say that the church doesn’t know anything for certain, so what’s all the fuss about? Remove the enfleshed and speaking Word from the centre of your theology, and gradually the whole thing will unravel until all you’re left with is the theological equivalent of the grin on the Cheshire Cat, a relativism whose only moral principle is that there are no moral principles; no words of judgment because nothing is really wrong except saying that things are wrong, no words of mercy because, if you’re all right as you are, you don’t need mercy, merely ‘affirmation’.
That’s where we are right now; and John’s Christmas message issues a sharp and timely reminder to re-learn the difference between mercy and affirmation, between a Jesus who both embodies and speaks God’s word of judgment and grace and a home-made Jesus (a Da Vinci Code Jesus, if you like) who gives us good advice about discovering who we really are. No wonder John’s gospel has been so unfashionable in many circles. There is a fashion in some quarters for speaking about a ‘theology of incarnation’ and meaning that our task is to discern what God is doing in the world and do it with him. But that is only half the truth, and the wrong half to start with. John’s theology of the incarnation is about God’s word coming as light into darkness, as a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces, as the fresh word of judgment and mercy. You might as well say that an incarnational missiology is all about discovering what God is saying No to today, and finding out how to say it with him. That was the lesson Barth and Bonhoeffer had to teach in Germany in the 1930s, and it’s all too relevant as today’s world becomes simultaneously, and at the same points, more liberal and more totalitarian. This Christmas, let’s get real, let’s get Johannine, and let’s listen again to the strange words spoken by the Word made flesh.
Second, John’s Prologue by its very structure reaffirms the order of creation at the point where it is being challenged today. John is consciously echoing the first chapter of Genesis: In the beginning God made heaven and earth; in the beginning was the Word. When the Word becomes flesh, heaven and earth are joined together at last, as God always intended. But the creation story which begins with the bipolarity of heaven and earth reaches its climax in in the bipolarity of male and female; and when heaven and earth are joined together in Jesus Christ, the glorious intention for the whole creation is unveiled, reaffirming the creation of male and female in God’s image. There is something about the enfleshment of the Word, the point in John 1 which stands in parallel to Genesis 1.26–8, which speaks of creation fulfilled; and in that other great Johannine writing, the Book of Revelation, we see what’s going on: Jesus Christ has come as the Bridegroom, the one for whom the Bride has been waiting.
Allow that insight to work its way out. Not for nothing does Jesus’ first ‘sign’ transform a wedding from disaster to triumph. Not for nothing do we find a man and a woman at the foot of the cross. The same incipient gnosticism which says that true religion is about ‘discovering who we really are’ is all too ready to say that ‘who we really are’ may have nothing much to do with the way we have been physically created as male or female. Christian ethics, you see, is not about stating, or for that matter bending, a few somewhat arbitrary rules. It is about the redemption of God’s good world, his wonderful creation, so that it can be the glorious thing it was made to be. This word is strange, even incomprehensible, in today’s culture; but if you have ears, then hear it.
Third, and finally, we return to the meal, the food whose very name is strange, forbidding, even incomprehensible to those outside, but the most natural thing to those who know it. The little child comes out to the front this morning, and speaks to us of the food which he offers us: himself, his own body and blood. It is a hard saying, and those of us who know it well may need to remind ourselves just how hard it is, lest we be dulled by familiarity into supposing that it’s easy and undemanding. It isn’t. It is the word which judges the world and saves the world, the word now turned into flesh, into matzo, passover bread, the bread which is the flesh of the Christchild, given for the life of the world because this flesh is the place where the living Word of God has come to dwell. Listen, this morning, for the incomprehensible word the Child speaks to you. Don’t patronize it; don’t reject it; don’t sentimentalize it; learn the language within which it makes sense. And come to the table to enjoy the breakfast, the breakfast which is himself, the Word made flesh, the life which is our life, our light, our glory.
Source:
http://ntwrightpage.com/sermons/Christmas05.htm
John 1.1–14
Sermon at the Eucharist on Christmas Morning 2005
in the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin, and St Cuthbert of Durham
the Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. Wright
One of the greatest journalists of the last generation, the late Bernard Levin, described how, when he was a small boy, a great celebrity came to visit his school. The headmaster, thinking perhaps to impress, called the young Levin to the platform in front of the whole school. The celebrity, thinking perhaps to be kind, asked the little boy what he’d had for breakfast.
That was easy, or so it seemed. ‘Matzobrei’, replied Levin. It’s a typical central European Jewish dish, made of egg fried with matzo wafers, brown sugar and cinnamon; Levin’s immigrant mother had continued to make it even after years of living in London. It was, to him, a perfectly ordinary word for a perfectly ordinary meal.
The celebrity, ignorant of such cuisine, thinks he must have misheard; he asks the question again. Young Bernard, puzzled now and anxious, gives the same answer. The celebrity looks concerned, and glances at the headmaster. What is this word he’s saying? The headmaster, adopting a there-there-little-man tone, asks him once more what he had for breakfast. Now dismayed, not knowing what he’s done wrong, and wanting to burst into tears, the boy says once more the only thing he can say, since it’s the truth: ‘Matzobrei’. An exchange of strange glances on the platform, and the now terrified little boy is sent back to his place. The incident is never referred to again, but it stays in his memory as a horrible ordeal.
The Jewish word spoken to an incomprehending world; the child’s word spoken to incomprehending adults; the word for food of which the others know nothing . . . it all feels very Johannine. What is this Word? ‘In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was made flesh.’ We are so used to it, to the great cadences, the solemn but glad message of the incarnation; and we risk skipping over the incomprehensibility, the oddness, the almost embarrassing strangeness, of the Word. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness didn’t comprehend it; the world was made through him but the world didn’t know him; he came to his own, and his own didn’t receive him. John is saying two things simultaneously in his Prologue (well, two hundred actually, but let’s concentrate on two): first, that the incarnation of the eternal Word is the event for which the whole creation has been on tiptoe all along; second, that the whole creation, and even the carefully prepared people of God themselves, are quite unready for this event. Jew and Gentile alike, hearing this strange Word, are casting anxious glances at one another, like the celebrity and the headmaster faced with a little boy telling the truth in a language they don’t understand.
That is the puzzle of Christmas. And, to get to its heart, see how it works out in the rest of John’s gospel. John’s Prologue is designed to stay in the mind and heart throughout the subsequent story. Never again is Jesus himself referred to as the Word; but we are meant to look at each scene, from the call of the first disciples and the changing of water into wine right through to the confrontation with Pilate and the crucifixion and resurrection, and think to ourselves, this is what it looks like when the Word becomes flesh. Or, if you like, look at this man of flesh and learn to see the living God. But watch what happens as it all plays out. He comes to his own and his own don’t receive him. The light shines in the darkness, and though the darkness can’t overcome it it has a jolly good try. He speaks the truth, the plain and simple words, like the little boy saying what he had for breakfast, and Caiaphas and Pilate, incomprehending, can’t decide whether he’s mad or wicked or both, and send him off to his fate.
But, though Jesus is never again referred to as the Word of God, we find the theme transposed, with endless variations. The Living Word speaks living words, and the reaction is the same. ‘This is a hard word,’ say his followers when he tells them that he is the bread come down from heaven (6.60). ‘What is this word?’, asks the puzzled crowd in Jerusalem (7.36). ‘My word finds no place in you,’ says Jesus, ‘because you can’t hear it’ (8.37, 43). ‘The word I spoke will be their judge on the last day’, he insists (12.48) as the crowds reject him and he knows his hour has come. When Pilate hears the word, says John, he is the more afraid, since the word in question is Jesus’ reported claim to be the Son of God (19.8). Unless we recognise this strange, dark strand running through the gospel we will domesticate John’s masterpiece (just as we’re always in danger of domesticating Christmas), and think it’s only about comfort and joy, not also about incomprehension and rejection and darkness and denial and stopping the ears and judgment. Christmas is not about the living God coming to tell us everything’s all right. John’s gospel isn’t about Jesus speaking the truth and everyone saying ‘Of course! Why didn’t we realise it before?’ It is about God shining his clear, bright torch into the darkness of our world, our lives, our hearts, our imaginations, and the darkness not comprehending it. It’s about God, God-as-a-little-child, speaking the word of truth, and nobody knowing what he’s talking about.
There may be somebody here this morning who is aware of that puzzlement, that incomprehension, that sense of a word being spoken which seems as though it ought to mean something but which remains opaque to you. If that’s where you are, the good news is that along with this theme of incomprehension and rejection there goes the parallel theme of people hearing and receiving Jesus’ words, believing them and discovering, as he says, that they are spirit and life (6.63), breathing into the dry, dead fabric of our being and producing new life, new birth, new creation. ‘As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, who were born not of human will or flesh, but of God’. ‘If you abide in my words, you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free’ (8.31f.). ‘If anyone keeps my words, that person will never see death’ (8.51). ‘You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you’ (15.3). Don’t imagine that the world divides naturally into those who can understand what Jesus is saying that those who can’t. By ourselves, we none of us can. Jesus is born into a world where everyone is deaf and blind to him and what he’s saying; but some, in fear and trembling, allow his words to challenge, rescue, heal and transform them. That is what’s on offer at Christmas; not a better focussed religion for those who already like that sort of thing, but a Word which is incomprehensible in our language but which, when we learn to hear, understand and believe it, will transform our whole selves with its judgment and mercy.
Out of the thousand things which follow directly from this reading of John, I choose three as particularly urgent.
First, John’s view of the incarnation, of the Word becoming flesh, strikes at the very root of that liberal denial which characterised mainstream theology thirty years ago and whose long-term effects are with us still. I grew up hearing lectures and sermons which declared that the idea of God becoming human was a category mistake. No human being could actually be divine; Jesus must therefore have been simply a human being, albeit no doubt (the wonderful patronizing pat on the head of the headmaster to the little boy) a very brilliant one. Phew; that’s all right then; he points to God but he isn’t actually God. And a generation later, but growing straight out of that school of thought, I have had a clergyman writing to me this week to say that the church doesn’t know anything for certain, so what’s all the fuss about? Remove the enfleshed and speaking Word from the centre of your theology, and gradually the whole thing will unravel until all you’re left with is the theological equivalent of the grin on the Cheshire Cat, a relativism whose only moral principle is that there are no moral principles; no words of judgment because nothing is really wrong except saying that things are wrong, no words of mercy because, if you’re all right as you are, you don’t need mercy, merely ‘affirmation’.
That’s where we are right now; and John’s Christmas message issues a sharp and timely reminder to re-learn the difference between mercy and affirmation, between a Jesus who both embodies and speaks God’s word of judgment and grace and a home-made Jesus (a Da Vinci Code Jesus, if you like) who gives us good advice about discovering who we really are. No wonder John’s gospel has been so unfashionable in many circles. There is a fashion in some quarters for speaking about a ‘theology of incarnation’ and meaning that our task is to discern what God is doing in the world and do it with him. But that is only half the truth, and the wrong half to start with. John’s theology of the incarnation is about God’s word coming as light into darkness, as a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces, as the fresh word of judgment and mercy. You might as well say that an incarnational missiology is all about discovering what God is saying No to today, and finding out how to say it with him. That was the lesson Barth and Bonhoeffer had to teach in Germany in the 1930s, and it’s all too relevant as today’s world becomes simultaneously, and at the same points, more liberal and more totalitarian. This Christmas, let’s get real, let’s get Johannine, and let’s listen again to the strange words spoken by the Word made flesh.
Second, John’s Prologue by its very structure reaffirms the order of creation at the point where it is being challenged today. John is consciously echoing the first chapter of Genesis: In the beginning God made heaven and earth; in the beginning was the Word. When the Word becomes flesh, heaven and earth are joined together at last, as God always intended. But the creation story which begins with the bipolarity of heaven and earth reaches its climax in in the bipolarity of male and female; and when heaven and earth are joined together in Jesus Christ, the glorious intention for the whole creation is unveiled, reaffirming the creation of male and female in God’s image. There is something about the enfleshment of the Word, the point in John 1 which stands in parallel to Genesis 1.26–8, which speaks of creation fulfilled; and in that other great Johannine writing, the Book of Revelation, we see what’s going on: Jesus Christ has come as the Bridegroom, the one for whom the Bride has been waiting.
Allow that insight to work its way out. Not for nothing does Jesus’ first ‘sign’ transform a wedding from disaster to triumph. Not for nothing do we find a man and a woman at the foot of the cross. The same incipient gnosticism which says that true religion is about ‘discovering who we really are’ is all too ready to say that ‘who we really are’ may have nothing much to do with the way we have been physically created as male or female. Christian ethics, you see, is not about stating, or for that matter bending, a few somewhat arbitrary rules. It is about the redemption of God’s good world, his wonderful creation, so that it can be the glorious thing it was made to be. This word is strange, even incomprehensible, in today’s culture; but if you have ears, then hear it.
Third, and finally, we return to the meal, the food whose very name is strange, forbidding, even incomprehensible to those outside, but the most natural thing to those who know it. The little child comes out to the front this morning, and speaks to us of the food which he offers us: himself, his own body and blood. It is a hard saying, and those of us who know it well may need to remind ourselves just how hard it is, lest we be dulled by familiarity into supposing that it’s easy and undemanding. It isn’t. It is the word which judges the world and saves the world, the word now turned into flesh, into matzo, passover bread, the bread which is the flesh of the Christchild, given for the life of the world because this flesh is the place where the living Word of God has come to dwell. Listen, this morning, for the incomprehensible word the Child speaks to you. Don’t patronize it; don’t reject it; don’t sentimentalize it; learn the language within which it makes sense. And come to the table to enjoy the breakfast, the breakfast which is himself, the Word made flesh, the life which is our life, our light, our glory.
Source:
http://ntwrightpage.com/sermons/Christmas05.htm
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thoughts on Christianity and Perhaps Judaism and Perhaps Vice Versa
The following thoughts and comments that I will make should not be misunderstood because I do not subscribe to the ideology of “sola scriptura.” However, I do agree that the Bible is the word of God, but Christianity is not based on what the Scriptures say alone because it is simply based on following Jesus Christ and believing in him. A question one might ask with relevance to this is what came first the Scriptures or the Church? The answer is, of course, the Church. If anything we can be certain about with regards to Jesus is that John 1:1-4 tells us:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men (ESV Bible)."
For some reason most Christians I have met today in the Evangelical type Church have read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament or Tanakh), and also the New Testament and they have also studied them. However, most Jews that I have met today have never read the New Testament which is understandable, but they have also never read the Old Testament either and studied it. I do understand that most emphasis is on Talmudic studies, and the Torah portion. However, why not study the entire canon of the Tanakh. And, I do suggest studying the New Testament, I am certain that studying it is not a waste of time because the writers of the New Testament were Jews, and studying it does give insight and opens the window to ideas Jews had 2000 years ago and so on. Moreover, it is looking at Judaism in a much older cultural context, one might say. Of course, this is simply my thoughts and I am not sure if many Rabbi’s would agree to this idea; however, I think that if your Faith is solid than I don’t think reading ideas from other worldviews is going to change my thinking much, although it can perhaps enhance my thought process.
I posted something on my Facebook status recently in which I was saying that I just laugh at how people that are not theologians seem to think that they are experts at understanding theology and Scriptures. For some weird reason, they seem to only rely on expert opinions for other matters, except religion. Perhaps when they have a math question they go to a lawyer, and when they have a pharmaceutical question they go to an architect, I wonder? If you want to make an attempt at understanding Scriptures and theology why don’t they simply actually go to an institution of higher learning and do so, but please don’t try to tell me or misguide others about something you think you understand or claim that the Holy Spirit gave you revelation on the matter because the guy with the opposing view also thinks that the Holy Spirit revealed his personal exposition or interpretation to him. I don’t really have an issue with studying, but I do have an issue with not studying and making an attempt understand or making statements as if one understood.
Recently, I heard someone say that the Bible is the word of God, but not necessarily the words of God. The foregoing thought is by no means heretical; however, overly interpreting Scriptures puts them into the context of the interpreter, and by no means in the hearing context of the listener. Why is the previous idea true? Because the listener of a lectionary reading hears what God says to them individually perhaps, and when you use excessive exposition you change and alter the image that God intended for the listener to view in their minds. Finally, what I am saying is that theology is not Scriptures alone. Well, I don’t want to sound like I am rambling on, but then again these are just some simple thoughts I have on Christianity and perhaps Judaism and perhaps vice versa, but it does not make them your thoughts. I am done with this, blessings!
References:
ESV Bible
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men (ESV Bible)."
For some reason most Christians I have met today in the Evangelical type Church have read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament or Tanakh), and also the New Testament and they have also studied them. However, most Jews that I have met today have never read the New Testament which is understandable, but they have also never read the Old Testament either and studied it. I do understand that most emphasis is on Talmudic studies, and the Torah portion. However, why not study the entire canon of the Tanakh. And, I do suggest studying the New Testament, I am certain that studying it is not a waste of time because the writers of the New Testament were Jews, and studying it does give insight and opens the window to ideas Jews had 2000 years ago and so on. Moreover, it is looking at Judaism in a much older cultural context, one might say. Of course, this is simply my thoughts and I am not sure if many Rabbi’s would agree to this idea; however, I think that if your Faith is solid than I don’t think reading ideas from other worldviews is going to change my thinking much, although it can perhaps enhance my thought process.
I posted something on my Facebook status recently in which I was saying that I just laugh at how people that are not theologians seem to think that they are experts at understanding theology and Scriptures. For some weird reason, they seem to only rely on expert opinions for other matters, except religion. Perhaps when they have a math question they go to a lawyer, and when they have a pharmaceutical question they go to an architect, I wonder? If you want to make an attempt at understanding Scriptures and theology why don’t they simply actually go to an institution of higher learning and do so, but please don’t try to tell me or misguide others about something you think you understand or claim that the Holy Spirit gave you revelation on the matter because the guy with the opposing view also thinks that the Holy Spirit revealed his personal exposition or interpretation to him. I don’t really have an issue with studying, but I do have an issue with not studying and making an attempt understand or making statements as if one understood.
Recently, I heard someone say that the Bible is the word of God, but not necessarily the words of God. The foregoing thought is by no means heretical; however, overly interpreting Scriptures puts them into the context of the interpreter, and by no means in the hearing context of the listener. Why is the previous idea true? Because the listener of a lectionary reading hears what God says to them individually perhaps, and when you use excessive exposition you change and alter the image that God intended for the listener to view in their minds. Finally, what I am saying is that theology is not Scriptures alone. Well, I don’t want to sound like I am rambling on, but then again these are just some simple thoughts I have on Christianity and perhaps Judaism and perhaps vice versa, but it does not make them your thoughts. I am done with this, blessings!
References:
ESV Bible
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
On Monday, November 3rd, 2008, a new blog appeared in the blogosphere, and the name for it was Arango's Apologetics Page. The very first post was titled: On Flavius Josephus. Until today, I continue to post things that somehow come to my head about theological matters, and thus far I have been enjoying writing this as well as reading my own postings. Others have read the blog, and I hope that they enjoy what they read. God willing, I will continue to post my thoughts on here free of charge, and I also encourage you to make comments on what you think of what I have said, I definitely would love to hear your thoughts. Anyhow, I wish a very happy fourth anniversary to this blog, and many blessings to everyone reading it…Amen!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Do we really need to know Hebrew to understand the Bible better?
The Old and the New Testaments were both written by Jews. Many times people have asked me because I have studied Theology if I speak Hebrew. As we all know, the New Testament canon we have today consist of 27 books, and it was written in Greek, and we also, really did not have the full canon until about 367 AD. To make a long story short, the reason for the New Testament is because of the resurrection of Jesus, and it was written by believers after His ascension. Now, those believers such as Paul and the Apostolic Church Fathers quoted from the Old Testament when they wrote in the New Testament. However, the Old Testament which they used was written in Greek, and it was the Septuagint.
The Septuagint was written about 300 years before Jesus was on Earth. Many Hellenistic Jews around the empire had began to lose the Hebrew language; therefore, this became a translation for them and others who spoke Greek. The Septuagint's name came from the Latin "septuaginta interpretum" which means the "translation of the seventy interpreters." The Septuagint was translated by about 70 Jewish Scholars. Normally the Roman numeral LXX (seventy) is used as an abbreviation. Now, the original question was do we really need to know Hebrew to understand the Bible better?
I will leave this up to you to answer. The Septuagint (the Old Testament), which was written in Greek, was around for 300 years before Jesus. I said that the Apostolic Fathers and Paul used it as reference when quoting in the New Testament. The early Christian Church used the Septuagint as their source for the Old Testament. If you spoke Greek, both the New and the Old Testament were there as a source from the beginning, and for 2000 years now. So, what do you think, do we really need to know Hebrew to understand the Bible better? Well, that would probably be entirely up to you because the Masoretic Texts are written in Hebrew; however, the seventy scholars that translated the Septuagint into Greek did a fantastic job. By the way, I have an interesting note; the Hebrew canon was not closed until the first century.
References:
http://ecmarsh.com/lxx/
http://www.ccel.org/bible/brenton/
The Septuagint was written about 300 years before Jesus was on Earth. Many Hellenistic Jews around the empire had began to lose the Hebrew language; therefore, this became a translation for them and others who spoke Greek. The Septuagint's name came from the Latin "septuaginta interpretum" which means the "translation of the seventy interpreters." The Septuagint was translated by about 70 Jewish Scholars. Normally the Roman numeral LXX (seventy) is used as an abbreviation. Now, the original question was do we really need to know Hebrew to understand the Bible better?
I will leave this up to you to answer. The Septuagint (the Old Testament), which was written in Greek, was around for 300 years before Jesus. I said that the Apostolic Fathers and Paul used it as reference when quoting in the New Testament. The early Christian Church used the Septuagint as their source for the Old Testament. If you spoke Greek, both the New and the Old Testament were there as a source from the beginning, and for 2000 years now. So, what do you think, do we really need to know Hebrew to understand the Bible better? Well, that would probably be entirely up to you because the Masoretic Texts are written in Hebrew; however, the seventy scholars that translated the Septuagint into Greek did a fantastic job. By the way, I have an interesting note; the Hebrew canon was not closed until the first century.
References:
http://ecmarsh.com/lxx/
http://www.ccel.org/bible/brenton/
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Jay Bakker speaking with Frank Schaeffer
I very much enjoyed hearing a discussion with Jay Bakker and Frank Schaeffer which took place on October 7th, 2012 at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, NY. I hope you can enjoy it as well. The following link is where you can listen or download a Podcast:
http://www.revolutionnyc.com/frank-talk-with-jay/
http://www.revolutionnyc.com/frank-talk-with-jay/
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The Link Between the Old and the New Testaments, is it the Cornerstone?
For starters, the question used in the title sounds a bit awkward, one might say. So, we know that a cornerstone is the base or foundation of a corner in a building that joins two walls. The reason why I am bringing it up is because both the Old and the New Testaments mention a cornerstone, but when we read the verses that mention a cornerstone, it does not sound at all like a literal meaning. I will show some verses that mention the word, and maybe you will have to think about it on your own, and decide for yourself on the meaning in the context. First, I want to present Psalm 118:22, it says:
“The stone which the builders rejected is become the chief corner-stone (JPS).”
The previous verse, Psalm 118:21 says:
“I will give thanks unto Thee, for Thou hast answered me, and art become my salvation (JPS).”
The verse that followed verse 22 (23), says:
“This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
Let’s leave Psalms, and move on to another book, Isaiah. Isaiah 28:16 says:
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste (JPS).”
Now, the same verse with the preceding and proceeding verses sounds as follows:
“Isaiah 28:15 Because ye have said: 'We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether-world are we at agreement; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves';
Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isaiah 28:17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place (JPS).”
Now, when we look at the New Testament, this is what 1 Peter 2:6-7 says:
"For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (ESV)"
Okay, I will not get too involved, and I will leave it up to you to investigate about the cornerstone. I will not provide any further clues, so, enjoy your search!
References:
ESV Bible
JPS Tanakh
“The stone which the builders rejected is become the chief corner-stone (JPS).”
The previous verse, Psalm 118:21 says:
“I will give thanks unto Thee, for Thou hast answered me, and art become my salvation (JPS).”
The verse that followed verse 22 (23), says:
“This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
Let’s leave Psalms, and move on to another book, Isaiah. Isaiah 28:16 says:
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste (JPS).”
Now, the same verse with the preceding and proceeding verses sounds as follows:
“Isaiah 28:15 Because ye have said: 'We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether-world are we at agreement; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves';
Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isaiah 28:17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place (JPS).”
Now, when we look at the New Testament, this is what 1 Peter 2:6-7 says:
"For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (ESV)"
Okay, I will not get too involved, and I will leave it up to you to investigate about the cornerstone. I will not provide any further clues, so, enjoy your search!
References:
ESV Bible
JPS Tanakh
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
How many siblings did Jesus have?
Well, I suppose this is sort of a trivial posting, but I am in a trivial mood, so I will ask the question. How many siblings did Jesus have? Based on the canon and not anything extra-canonical in this case, the answer can be found easily in the Gospel of Mark. Yes, the Gospel of Mark contains a verse that gives us an idea of how many siblings Jesus had more or less. The verse is the following:
Mark 6:3 says: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us (ESV Bible)?"
Well, now we have a good understanding of how many brothers and sisters Jesus had while he was on planet Earth based on this previous verse alone. He had four brothers (half-brothers, I am sure). The brothers were James, Joses, Judas and Simon. He had at least two sisters or more because the word sisters appears as plural in the verse; however, we do not know their names based on this verse. Well, I hope you enjoyed the trivia question. I also encourage you to read the entire chapter 6 in context to get a better idea of what was going on in the story. Moreover, if you have time read the entire Gospel or Book of Mark, I think that you will find it fascinating. Oh, a little inside information, the last 12 verses of chapter 16 do not appear in some older manuscripts, so it is very possible that the book ends in chapter 16 and verse 8. Although, I really do not think that is a huge deal because some of the things described in those last 12 verse seemingly take place in the Book of Acts written by Luke the Physician, and both Luke and Mark were students of the Apostle Paul. Furthermore, some of the things described in those 12 verses are still happening today….
References:
ESV Bible
Saturday, August 18, 2012
You Knew
This past August 15th, as every year, the Eastern Church celebrated the Dormition of the Theotokos or The Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Western Church perhaps. The celebration is literally remembering her falling asleep at the end of her life on earth. It is not the celebration of her death because as soon as her soul left her body she was with her son in Heaven. Mary is to be venerated because even in Luke 1:28, the angel Gabriel spoke to her saying: "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" Her own cousin Elizabeth said in Luke 1:42 said: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Indeed, she was the mother of “the Word” as John 1:1 reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Mary was the mother of our Lord, and she is to be venerated as such, although she is just like one of us believers, and is our sister. Furthermore, we all have the hope of being with Jesus when our time on earth expires. When she slept, Mary went to be with him. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, St. Paul wrote the following about all of us believers in Christ which is very exciting.
"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (ESV Bible)."
I think that I have explained myself. And, I do take into consideration what someone may have said about Mary in the Talmud. Anyhow, the following is a brief poem that I wrote in remembrance of Mary because I simply felt like writing it. The poem is titled: You Knew and it reads as follows.
In envy some called you Marian the hair dresser, and worse things followed the phrase.
But, when Gabriel brought you the message, you were overwhelmed and filled with joy.
You got to see him grow up and, yes, you knew.
The pain and suffering must have been almost unbearable for you.
When he was on the tree, you knew, and you cried like no one had ever cried.
And, now and ultimately, you knew and know that Gabriel’s message was right.
Reference:
ESV Bible
"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (ESV Bible)."
I think that I have explained myself. And, I do take into consideration what someone may have said about Mary in the Talmud. Anyhow, the following is a brief poem that I wrote in remembrance of Mary because I simply felt like writing it. The poem is titled: You Knew and it reads as follows.
In envy some called you Marian the hair dresser, and worse things followed the phrase.
But, when Gabriel brought you the message, you were overwhelmed and filled with joy.
You got to see him grow up and, yes, you knew.
The pain and suffering must have been almost unbearable for you.
When he was on the tree, you knew, and you cried like no one had ever cried.
And, now and ultimately, you knew and know that Gabriel’s message was right.
Reference:
ESV Bible
Monday, August 6, 2012
Apologetics and the New Testament
Since this blog is about Apologetics than perhaps I should spend a little more time on the matter. Perhaps one of the best forms of apologetics is New Testament apologetics because of all the manuscripts that exist for it. Many of the facts with relevance to manuscript reliability can be found in much text on paper and all over the web. A really good website for such information is CARM (Christian Apologetics Research Ministry). The following is some of the data you will find when visiting this site:
“There are thousands more New Testament Greek manuscripts than any other ancient writing. The internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure. That is an amazing accuracy. In addition there are over 19,000 copies in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages. The total supporting New Testament manuscript base is over 24,000.
Almost all biblical scholars agree that the New Testament documents were all written before the close of the First Century. If Jesus was crucified in 30 A.D., then that means that the entire New Testament was completed within 70 years. This is important because it means there were plenty of people around when the New Testament documents were penned who could have contested the writings. In other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would have pointed it out. But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century that contest the New Testament texts (http://carm.org/manuscript-evidence).”
The website provides much more accurate data and thorough details than I am providing on the New Testament at this time; therefore, I have to say that I highly recommend that you visit CARM and take advantage of their resources. The link for CARM is a follows: carm.org.
References:
http://carm.org/manuscript-evidence.
“There are thousands more New Testament Greek manuscripts than any other ancient writing. The internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure. That is an amazing accuracy. In addition there are over 19,000 copies in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages. The total supporting New Testament manuscript base is over 24,000.
Almost all biblical scholars agree that the New Testament documents were all written before the close of the First Century. If Jesus was crucified in 30 A.D., then that means that the entire New Testament was completed within 70 years. This is important because it means there were plenty of people around when the New Testament documents were penned who could have contested the writings. In other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would have pointed it out. But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century that contest the New Testament texts (http://carm.org/manuscript-evidence).”
The website provides much more accurate data and thorough details than I am providing on the New Testament at this time; therefore, I have to say that I highly recommend that you visit CARM and take advantage of their resources. The link for CARM is a follows: carm.org.
References:
http://carm.org/manuscript-evidence.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
This Chick-Fil-A thing is Confusing!
Jesus never really spoke about homosexuality; he did say to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Paul seems to be talking about it and seemingly spoke about it in Romans 1:18-32, although many theologians would agree that he was quoting Wisdom of Solomon 13-14, which is an Apocryphal book and most evangelicals do not use the Apocrypha in their canon. So, I am completely bewildered by all this stuff. I get upset with the politicizing of this Chick-Fil-A matter on both sides. I think the Chick-Fil-A guy has a right to do or say whatever he wants, and anyone who has a different view has a right to voice it out; however, I do not really see the theological foundation for it. If people want to eat a lot of Chick-Fil-A, I think its ok, but watch out for the excess of food because that may be a sin. Moreover, the sin of Sodom was that “she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” Homosexuality is nowhere on this list. If you want to see this just read Ezekiel 16:49-51 which reads as follows:
“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.”
I think that if one gets a mean response from someone it is usually because one is being mean first…of course, there is an exception to every rule. I personally, will try to love everyone because the Scriptures do say that we are all sinners, and none of us are good. In fact, Psalm 14:2-3 says:
“The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.”
I think that if one gets a mean response from someone it is usually because one is being mean first…of course, there is an exception to every rule. I personally, will try to love everyone because the Scriptures do say that we are all sinners, and none of us are good. In fact, Psalm 14:2-3 says:
“The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Rest
I suppose that in this current age most of us probably work more than we do rest. You really don’t have to believe my words. You can visit the website for the United States Department of labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and I am sure you can find most of the stats relevant to who is working and who isn’t in extreme details. If you wish to visit the site it is found in the following link:
http://www.bls.gov/
One thing I can say about the previous website is that it is very informative with relevance to the subject of labor.
Now, the Unemployment Rate for the United States in June 2012 was 8.2%; consequently, if you do the simple math, this means that 91.8% of the labor force must be employed or working. One of the facts I learned early on when it comes to work is that when you work too much you tend to get tired. Moreover, if you work too much or too many consecutive days in a row, you will probably need to rest or to take a vacation. Rest is very good because it helps one recharge their batteries to perhaps continue back at the pace needed to be productive. Of course, the previous thought is not always true because many times people could be suffering from a severe illness and really need medical attention to heal if possible.
In the United States, things like vacations and sick leave fall under employee benefits. And, employee benefits in the United States in March 2012 were as follows:
"Paid leave benefits followed a similar pattern. The difference was more pronounced in the availability of paid sick leave, which was offered to 52 percent of workers in small establishments and 82 percent in large establishments. Paid holidays and paid vacation were available to 69 percent of workers in small establishments and 91 and 90 percent, respectively, to workers in large establishments (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf).”
Perhaps, all of the foregoing data is not really necessary for the message I am trying to convey in this posting; however, information really doesn’t hurt when one is attempting to make a case…. So, really what I want to say is that rest is extremely important and even more in the Holy Scriptures, so we should take it very serious. I only wish to provide a couple of Scriptural verse that confirms what I am trying to say. The very first verses I will include are found in Genesis 2:2-3 which read:
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (ESV Bible).”
The second verses that I will include are found in Mathew 11:28-30 in which Jesus is speaking about rest. The verses read as follows:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (ESV Bible)."
In closing, what I want to say is that rest is very important in the Scriptures, so don’t take it lightly, and don’t work too hard, take a break whenever possible. Also, I would pay close attention to the words of Jesus because it appears that the type of rest he is talking about is very important.
References:
ESV Bible
http://www.bls.gov/
http://www.bls.gov/
One thing I can say about the previous website is that it is very informative with relevance to the subject of labor.
Now, the Unemployment Rate for the United States in June 2012 was 8.2%; consequently, if you do the simple math, this means that 91.8% of the labor force must be employed or working. One of the facts I learned early on when it comes to work is that when you work too much you tend to get tired. Moreover, if you work too much or too many consecutive days in a row, you will probably need to rest or to take a vacation. Rest is very good because it helps one recharge their batteries to perhaps continue back at the pace needed to be productive. Of course, the previous thought is not always true because many times people could be suffering from a severe illness and really need medical attention to heal if possible.
In the United States, things like vacations and sick leave fall under employee benefits. And, employee benefits in the United States in March 2012 were as follows:
"Paid leave benefits followed a similar pattern. The difference was more pronounced in the availability of paid sick leave, which was offered to 52 percent of workers in small establishments and 82 percent in large establishments. Paid holidays and paid vacation were available to 69 percent of workers in small establishments and 91 and 90 percent, respectively, to workers in large establishments (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf).”
Perhaps, all of the foregoing data is not really necessary for the message I am trying to convey in this posting; however, information really doesn’t hurt when one is attempting to make a case…. So, really what I want to say is that rest is extremely important and even more in the Holy Scriptures, so we should take it very serious. I only wish to provide a couple of Scriptural verse that confirms what I am trying to say. The very first verses I will include are found in Genesis 2:2-3 which read:
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (ESV Bible).”
The second verses that I will include are found in Mathew 11:28-30 in which Jesus is speaking about rest. The verses read as follows:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (ESV Bible)."
In closing, what I want to say is that rest is very important in the Scriptures, so don’t take it lightly, and don’t work too hard, take a break whenever possible. Also, I would pay close attention to the words of Jesus because it appears that the type of rest he is talking about is very important.
References:
ESV Bible
http://www.bls.gov/
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Friday April 3rd, 33 C.E.
I was recently reading an article in Bible History Daily which is provided by the Biblical Archeology Society. The article was titled: Is Jesus’ Crucifixion Reflected in Soil Deposition? A Geological Study May Indicate Earthquake Described by Matthew. A portion of the article reads as follows:
“According to the Gospel of Matthew, an earthquake shook Jerusalem on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. A new study of cores and seismic activity near the Dead Sea in the latest issue of International Geology Review* may provide scientific data relating to the event described in Matthew 27. Moreover, some have suggested** that the new research on sediment disturbances can be combined with Biblical, astronomical and calendrical information to give a precise date of the crucifixion: Friday, April 3rd, 33 C.E.”
I enjoyed reading the article and found it to be quite informative. I highly recommend it and suggest that you read it as a reference or just personal reading. Moreover, I think that most of the articles in this source are very good as well. The link to the specific article I was referencing is as follows:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/jesus%E2%80%99-crucifixion-reflected-in-soil-deposition/?mqsc=E3247053.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your visit to their website!
Reference:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/jesus%E2%80%99-crucifixion-reflected-in-soil-deposition/?mqsc=E3247053.
“According to the Gospel of Matthew, an earthquake shook Jerusalem on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. A new study of cores and seismic activity near the Dead Sea in the latest issue of International Geology Review* may provide scientific data relating to the event described in Matthew 27. Moreover, some have suggested** that the new research on sediment disturbances can be combined with Biblical, astronomical and calendrical information to give a precise date of the crucifixion: Friday, April 3rd, 33 C.E.”
I enjoyed reading the article and found it to be quite informative. I highly recommend it and suggest that you read it as a reference or just personal reading. Moreover, I think that most of the articles in this source are very good as well. The link to the specific article I was referencing is as follows:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/jesus%E2%80%99-crucifixion-reflected-in-soil-deposition/?mqsc=E3247053.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your visit to their website!
Reference:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/jesus%E2%80%99-crucifixion-reflected-in-soil-deposition/?mqsc=E3247053.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Call for a Reformation?
In 1054, the Eastern and Western Church separated in what has been called the “Great Schism.” This dissension or split is perhaps the elephant in the room to this very day which goes against the teachings of Jesus Christ himself since Jesus prayed in John 17:21: "...that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."1 Five centuries after the “Schism” the Roman Catholic Church was basically governing western Europe perhaps not only spiritually, but administratively in political influence and every aspect of life. However, the influence of the Church had become a very corrupt and indeed great dissolution existed towards it, as Isabella of Castile said in 1500: “the dissolution is such, that the souls entrusted to the clergy receive great damage.”2 Indeed, change was needed due to many factors and issues that were not correct with the fundamentals of Christianity within the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church had strayed from its foundations even in the understanding of the Scriptures, especially the New Testament. Half a century before all of these needs for reform, Constantinople had fallen, and this brought scholars to Western Europe with ideas different from the West because they brought manuscripts, and these manuscripts “alerted Western scholars to the many changes and interpolations that had taken place in copying…ancient texts.”3The previous aided in comparing the Vulgate to older manuscripts thus getting a better interpretation. The foregoing also makes one think or perhaps confirms that the “Schism" mentioned prior was indeed very bad and a sign of things to come. The printing press facilitated the foregoing translations and exposure to texts immensely. The Catholic Reformation was taking place. The New World was also discovered around this time.
Spain was very influential in the discovery of the New World. The Protestant Reformation was also taking place. Spain was also influential in the Catholic Reformation because it was the enforcer in the Inquisition to prevent the spread of Protestantism, and by all means, even by torture, they enforced. Indeed, a transition was taking place, from an old world to a new one. Moreover, Western Europe’s worldview was changing. Perhaps on scholarly levels, the names of two individuals resonate with relevance to the era, and they are Erasmus and Luther.
Erasmus vs. Luther, one might say: looking in retrospect, were perhaps a fork in the road. Erasmus was seeking a reformation in moderation, Luther eventually broke with Erasmus. Luther looked for another extreme. This writer believes that Luther, although very spiritual, was also an anti-Semite racist that believed Germans were superior to all others. The foregoing is very obvious in his writings on The Jews and their Lies, and Luther also said: “…Poor Germans that we are—we have been deceived! We were born to be masters, and we have been compelled to bow the head beneath the yoke of our tyrants.”4 The foregoing statement alone is evidence that thoughts of German superiority and not of humility ran through Luther’s mind; however, the scriptures do tell that “all have sinned.” Perhaps Erasmus was the best way or route for reform to follow since he said: “I detest dissension, because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination.”5 Indeed, if the church is not one, it is not following the desire of Jesus’ own heart which was “that they may all be one.” Perhaps Erasmus was right that dissension was not the route to follow because when we see Christianity today it is divided in many ways, with many denominations and groups that usually do not agree on one thing or another, or perhaps many things. The church today perhaps needs to look ahead, but also look back at liturgical traditions that look back to the time the Didache was written and prior as well. This writer does not believe that the further away in time one is from the source that one is closer to the truth, it is on the contrary. Dissension was not at the heart of Jesus; however, it seems that every newly formed group of believers believes that they know better than all who came before, indeed, this is “Chronological Snobbery” as C.S. Lewis would have said.
References:
1 ESV Bible
2 Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II. P. 7.
3 Ibid. p. 9.
4 Bettenson, Henry. Maunder, Chris. Documents of the Christian Church, Fouth Edition. P.209.
5 Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II. P. 18.
Bibliography:
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II, The Reformation to the Present Day.
New York, NY: Harper One, 2010.
ESV Bible
Bettenson, Henry. Maunder, Chris. Documents of the Christian Church, Fouth Edition. Oxford
University Press: Oxford, England, 2011.
The Roman Catholic Church had strayed from its foundations even in the understanding of the Scriptures, especially the New Testament. Half a century before all of these needs for reform, Constantinople had fallen, and this brought scholars to Western Europe with ideas different from the West because they brought manuscripts, and these manuscripts “alerted Western scholars to the many changes and interpolations that had taken place in copying…ancient texts.”3The previous aided in comparing the Vulgate to older manuscripts thus getting a better interpretation. The foregoing also makes one think or perhaps confirms that the “Schism" mentioned prior was indeed very bad and a sign of things to come. The printing press facilitated the foregoing translations and exposure to texts immensely. The Catholic Reformation was taking place. The New World was also discovered around this time.
Spain was very influential in the discovery of the New World. The Protestant Reformation was also taking place. Spain was also influential in the Catholic Reformation because it was the enforcer in the Inquisition to prevent the spread of Protestantism, and by all means, even by torture, they enforced. Indeed, a transition was taking place, from an old world to a new one. Moreover, Western Europe’s worldview was changing. Perhaps on scholarly levels, the names of two individuals resonate with relevance to the era, and they are Erasmus and Luther.
Erasmus vs. Luther, one might say: looking in retrospect, were perhaps a fork in the road. Erasmus was seeking a reformation in moderation, Luther eventually broke with Erasmus. Luther looked for another extreme. This writer believes that Luther, although very spiritual, was also an anti-Semite racist that believed Germans were superior to all others. The foregoing is very obvious in his writings on The Jews and their Lies, and Luther also said: “…Poor Germans that we are—we have been deceived! We were born to be masters, and we have been compelled to bow the head beneath the yoke of our tyrants.”4 The foregoing statement alone is evidence that thoughts of German superiority and not of humility ran through Luther’s mind; however, the scriptures do tell that “all have sinned.” Perhaps Erasmus was the best way or route for reform to follow since he said: “I detest dissension, because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination.”5 Indeed, if the church is not one, it is not following the desire of Jesus’ own heart which was “that they may all be one.” Perhaps Erasmus was right that dissension was not the route to follow because when we see Christianity today it is divided in many ways, with many denominations and groups that usually do not agree on one thing or another, or perhaps many things. The church today perhaps needs to look ahead, but also look back at liturgical traditions that look back to the time the Didache was written and prior as well. This writer does not believe that the further away in time one is from the source that one is closer to the truth, it is on the contrary. Dissension was not at the heart of Jesus; however, it seems that every newly formed group of believers believes that they know better than all who came before, indeed, this is “Chronological Snobbery” as C.S. Lewis would have said.
References:
1 ESV Bible
2 Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II. P. 7.
3 Ibid. p. 9.
4 Bettenson, Henry. Maunder, Chris. Documents of the Christian Church, Fouth Edition. P.209.
5 Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II. P. 18.
Bibliography:
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume II, The Reformation to the Present Day.
New York, NY: Harper One, 2010.
ESV Bible
Bettenson, Henry. Maunder, Chris. Documents of the Christian Church, Fouth Edition. Oxford
University Press: Oxford, England, 2011.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Bill Tammeus
I just became a fan of another blogger, and that is because we seem to be fans of the same the same things and people. Anyhow, the blogger I am speaking about is Bill Tammeus. Who is Bill Tammeus? He is the former Faith columnist for The Kansas City Star. I was reading an article he wrote about Biblical Archeology in which he mentioned one of Craig Evans’s books, Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence, and I became an instant fan. So, now, I am recommending that when you are done visiting my blog, please stop and visit his. I think that you will enjoy it very much. The name of his blog is Bill's 'Faith Matters' Blog, Bill Tammeus writes about religion and ethics. Oh, the link to his blog is the following:
http://billtammeus.typepad.com/.
Reference:
http://billtammeus.typepad.com/.
http://billtammeus.typepad.com/.
Reference:
http://billtammeus.typepad.com/.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Holy Week
In the book of John, Jesus sort of gave us a preview of what Holy Week was about. Furthermore, he gave us insight into what his death would accomplish, and also a preview of His purpose. John 12: 23 -36 reads as follows:
“And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them (ESV Bible)."
Of course, these things that Jesus said in the previous verses, he said much more in advance to when they actually happened in his lifetime here on Earth; however, it is interesting that even now many years after his Crucifixion and Resurrection took place we can see how he forewarned the events. Moreover, we can learn much from His advice in the verses when he said: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."
What light is it that Jesus was talking about? Well, just a few chapters before, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus one night, and he said the following in John 3:19-21:
"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God (ESV Bible)."
All that I have to say in closing is, “walk in the light.”
Reference:
ESV Bible
“And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them (ESV Bible)."
Of course, these things that Jesus said in the previous verses, he said much more in advance to when they actually happened in his lifetime here on Earth; however, it is interesting that even now many years after his Crucifixion and Resurrection took place we can see how he forewarned the events. Moreover, we can learn much from His advice in the verses when he said: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."
What light is it that Jesus was talking about? Well, just a few chapters before, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus one night, and he said the following in John 3:19-21:
"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God (ESV Bible)."
All that I have to say in closing is, “walk in the light.”
Reference:
ESV Bible
Saturday, March 3, 2012
The Great Commission
After his resurrection, Jesus stayed around on the planet for about 40 days before his ascension, of which most of us have read about in Acts 1:9 which reads as follows:
“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Of course, during his last days on Earth, Jesus interacted with his disciples in conversation to an extent. One of the last things that Jesus said to his disciples is found in Mathew 28:18-20, and it is what is called the Great Commission, it reads as follows:
"...All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
What was Jesus talking about? Basically, he was talking about evangelism; however, he was saying to make copies of what they were, since they were also disciples. Therefore, he was saying to go and train others in the same fashion that he had trained them. This message is very simple to understand. He closed saying: “I am with you always, to the end of the age." In the Greek, he was saying until the entire completion of the world basically. I do not believe that the end of the age has arrived yet, so these working orders must be continued until that time. I will stop writing here, and let your thoughts on the matter take over at this point.
Reference:
ESV Bible
“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Of course, during his last days on Earth, Jesus interacted with his disciples in conversation to an extent. One of the last things that Jesus said to his disciples is found in Mathew 28:18-20, and it is what is called the Great Commission, it reads as follows:
"...All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
What was Jesus talking about? Basically, he was talking about evangelism; however, he was saying to make copies of what they were, since they were also disciples. Therefore, he was saying to go and train others in the same fashion that he had trained them. This message is very simple to understand. He closed saying: “I am with you always, to the end of the age." In the Greek, he was saying until the entire completion of the world basically. I do not believe that the end of the age has arrived yet, so these working orders must be continued until that time. I will stop writing here, and let your thoughts on the matter take over at this point.
Reference:
ESV Bible
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Does what we eat defile us?
Does what we eat defile us? Jesus had some thoughts on that subject that I thought were very interesting. One day some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and in Mathew 15:2 said:
"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
Jesus responded in Mathew 15:11 saying:
"it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
Jesus explained himself in Mathew 15:17-20 by saying:
"Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
I don’t really think Jesus was saying that we should not try to eat healthy in these passages, I am pretty sure he was saying that we should be more careful about what we speak. I hope you enjoyed the analysis.
Reference:
ESV Bible
"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
Jesus responded in Mathew 15:11 saying:
"it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
Jesus explained himself in Mathew 15:17-20 by saying:
"Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
I don’t really think Jesus was saying that we should not try to eat healthy in these passages, I am pretty sure he was saying that we should be more careful about what we speak. I hope you enjoyed the analysis.
Reference:
ESV Bible
Monday, January 9, 2012
Happy 2012 and Prayer Requests
I just want to wish everyone a very happy new year! I truly hope that 2012 is pleasant or at least tolerable for everyone. I know that life can be very diverse all over this planet. Many times much economic disparity exists depending on the region one lives. Many times we can also be very well off financially, but we may have other needs that are perhaps emotional or spiritual. Sometimes we are well in many areas of our lives, but we are not well physically. Sometimes we are well, but we have friends or relatives that have special needs relevant to some of the things I just mentioned. For some reason, I wanted to start a prayer request posting for this year. So, if there is something you may want to pray about feel free to write me or just post a comment on the blog, and I will try to tell most of my friends to lift us all up in prayers this year. If for some reason you do not want to post a comment, you can also email me at the following address: moisesarango@gmail.com. Once again, I wish for everyone to have a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2012. May God bless everyone!