The Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees them Marcus J. Borg I’m pretty sure there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different versions of the Bible today. So, … Continue reading Quotes – A Human Product…
Here’s what I’ve learned since then. The people who scan the heavens and pore over the Bible looking for the return of Jesus aren’t any more faithful, any more Christian, any more privy to the will of God, than the rest of us. Continue reading A Miraculous Intervention…
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this Doomdayer with his stern look amongst all those smiling and laughing people that Saturday night in Times Square. I think he is the first one I have even seen in person. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #134 – Those Poor Doomsayers…
I can remember, as a young boy, reading a story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. It was a noble story about how he took the blame for the missing tree. The trouble was, that I found out … Continue reading One Publisher’s Version Of The Story
One of the things I have probably struggled with the most is the difference between the Old Testament God and the God as described by Jesus. It just seems to me that The OT God is pretty much an egotist, … Continue reading Doing God’s Will
Given what I post here the title above probably sounds like sacrilege to you. But in many ways being an Evangelical was just easier than taking my spiritual life seriously. I was an Evangelical for twenty-five years so there had … Continue reading I Kinda Miss Being An Evangelical
I was fascinated by this modern interpretation of the 10 Commandment when I came across them recently. I must admit that I didn’t really feel that the Old English version found in most Bibles applied to me. It’s kind of … Continue reading The 21st Century Interpretation of the 10 Commandments.
I’m going to do a philosophical post of my own making for today. I will get back to studying others next week. With this post, I am certainly exercising the creative side. I will try to analyze the mind of … Continue reading Miracles And The First Century Mind….
While waiting for my car to be serviced recently I browsed a Barnes & Noble store. I don’t do that often anymore as most of my purchases are now e-books. When I came upon the Bible section it suddenly caught my attention as to the number of books by people who propose to “tell” me about what the Bible says. For those who are unfamiliar with my history in this area, I spent several years diligently reading the Bible from cover to cover desperately trying to glean everything I could from it. Of course, before I even started that task I … Continue reading (WS) I’ll Tell You What the Bible Says…
I think I have let it be known that I view the Bible as a history book of the early period of Christianity. As such maybe it needs to be updated from time to time? New chapters need to be written and old ones modified to more accurately reflect information found. The Bible was put together about 400 years after the death of Jesus. It was primarily assembled under the oversight of a Roman Emperor who intended to use it as a guide for his kingdom. It contained several of the ancient documents found at the time but by no … Continue reading The Bible As A History Book..
This six part Sunday series was about looking at the Bible as a human document. That is, it was written and assembled by humans with different life experiences, viewpoints, and passions. Much of their thoughts and words were believed to come from divine inspiration. Many believed they were writing what God wanted them to write. When I study the Bible I try to understand the reasons why some of the writers might have penned what they did. Of course, I am also a human who has my own life experiences and passions, part of which surely shaped by what I have previously studied. What … Continue reading My View Of The Bible – Part 6 Closing Thoughts…
This is the fifth post on this series about the Bible. If it is not obvious by now I want you to understand that I put my Christianity on Jesus Christ not on a book about him. I will try to keep this brief as it is really a wrap-up of the past posts. About the Literalists: Panic – In some cases I see almost total panic in people when I say not all the words in the bible are literally true. This belief is so ingrained in the foundations of their faith they cannot imagine it could not be true. Irrational – Some say if … Continue reading My View Of The Bible — Part 5 Summing It Up..
Now that I have told you what I believe about the Bible I will go over a short list of things that are somewhat widely accepted by some twenty-first century Christian denominations but of which I basically disagree. Most of these topic titles are from texts of discussions I have had with Christians. I put them in a special category here because they were so deeply felt by others. All the words in the Bible are the words of Jesus (ie. every word and punctuation mark comes from God). This title came from a person fairly high in the LCMS Lutheran organization. He … Continue reading My View Of The Bible –Part 3.. Other Views
This post continues with my fundamental beliefs about the Bible. I have not come to these beliefs on a whim. They are the result of many years of thoughtful prayer and study. I am also not trying to prove anyone wrong. Everyone should come to God in their own way. So let’s get on with the final four areas of my view on the Bible. Some words of the Bible have infinitely more significance to our lives than others— The words through Jesus’ lips are the most important. Every other word is secondary at best. This is a major sticking point for some. … Continue reading My View Of The Bible— Part 2 .. What I believe (con’t)
For the next three Sundays I want to bring over some slightly edited posts of things I discovered about the Bible while blogging at RedLetterLiving.net. These posts were from early 2014 but my feelings about the topic really haven’t changed all that much. I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the Bible and my experiences with it over the last decade or so. Around 2003 I decided to take up a serious study of theology and in particularly those around the words of Jesus. I naively thought I could get some clear directions for my … Continue reading My View Of The Bible ..
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 