The Ketubim FAQ
September 30, 2009 — rdenisonThe five books in the Ketubim. What are Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs?
Ruth and Song of Songs
September 29, 2009 — arbrabaileyI have read Ruth and Song of Songs as of yesterday.
Job and the Trivialization of Human Life
September 29, 2009 — mikesmithLet’s take a moment to think on all those sermons that ridicule the Greek gods, those anthropomorphic beings that play chess with human lives. Now lets celebrate that the Christian God is nothing like that.
But wait…
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” -Job 1:6-12
In this passage, God seems to have some kind of debate going on with Satan, though the nature of the debate is not stated. In order to bolster his case, God offers up Job as an example of a god-fearing individual. When Satan offers his counter argument, God basically gives him free reign to do anything to Job except kill him. All to win an argument? I thought that God didn’t play chess with human life for his own purposes.
For the reasons above, I find Job to be an extremely problematic book. What are we to do with a God who trivializes human life in this manner? This conundrum is furthered when one considers the massive loss of life that the story represents in a culture that did not believe in the after life. How many people will God allow to die to make his point? And to what extent must Job suffer? Rather than offering a tenable answer to the question of theodicy, I can’t help but think that the book of Job actually furthers the problem.
Suffice it to say that I struggle greatly with God as he is pictured in Job. I’m simply not sure what to do with a God who would trivialize human life in this manner.
Biblical Objective Question
September 29, 2009 — amysuttonQ: What restriction does God put on eating animals from the Sea (in Leviticus)?
A: Leviticus 11:10 – But anything in the seas that does not have fins or scales…you shall not eat.
Baptists and the Levitical Law
September 29, 2009 — greaserdanSoul competency and individual autonomy are staples of Baptist life and in the war against fundamentalism they are highly emphasized. It seems that in an effort to combat legalistic conservatism some have sworn blind allegiance to individual freedom that liberalism can offer. But what is the liberated Baptist to do with lengthy lists of laws, commands, and punishments as listed in Leviticus 8-20? Certainly the liberating and fulfilling actions of Christ must be taken into consideration, but OT commands certainly cannot be dismissed without consideration. How do we as Baptists deal with seemingly black and white/yes or no statements?
Blessings and curses
September 29, 2009 — levimesserIn Deuteronomy 6 the relationship that God desires to have with His people is very clearly spelled out. God desires to have the Israelites follow his commandments and teach their children of his commandments. God promises to bless them for obeying him and that he will drive out the nations before the Israelites. This chapter is very much instructional about what God will do if the Israelites obey God, but it is also a very relational chapter because in the last verse it says they will be righteous if they follow these commandments. I think it is always comforting to see God work in a relational way to people because we do not deserve the grace he gives us.
Apologies and Cookies
September 29, 2009 — Tabitha
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update once again. Now that I'm fully set up with internet, I just put off updates because I can do them whenever! So I just realized how long I've put them off. I'll try to be better in future.
Tonight I tried baking. Im not sure how well it went. I mixed up the recipe, attempting to make up my own--which is never a good plan in baking. The cookies are a little iffy looking, but fabulously yummy. Nutella Chocolate chip from a Hazelnut Chocolate chip recipe. The measuring here is entirely different--no cups! And I only have a pyrex liquid measuring cup in ounces...as well as a very ghetto oven, with no actual numbers on it anywhere...But I was inspired. Too many Jamie Oliver cookbooks floating around my life! I now totally have a mini-crush on him, and I'm watching Jamie Oliver's American Roadtrip as I type.
The cookies are indeed for a purpose, as well. Tomorrow night begins the hopes of a sixth form (11th and 12th grade) youth group event. We invited a bunch of sixth formers to my house for a night to hang out and eat cookies. Therefore, I am making the cookies.
Friday starts the younger group-- the year 7s (6th grade) plus some others. We're doing an American dinner night! Philly Cheesesteaks and Apple Blueberry pie (out of Jamie Oliver's American Roadtrip cookbook, in fact...). I've met some of the year 7s at school, so we'll see how friday goes!
In response to Kristen's question on the last post, the Rome trip doesn't mean I'll only be talking in terms of Catholicism, but faith in general. The kids here know very very little about Christianity at all. I got told on Friday that Jesus was most definitely a pimp--by kids who were not at all joking. The first week of GCSE (kind of like AP, but not at all) classes, we asked the kids to stand around the room depending on what they believed about God-- Believe, Not Sure, and Don't Believe. We run about 6 classes, ranging from 6- 15 kids. The total number of kids who claimed a belief in some god was less than 10 among all of the classes. Since they don't believe in God, they figure there's no point in learning anything about any religion. It poses a challenge to teaching them about everything.
Today Mr. Laffan told me that our goal in the community is simply to try to get the kids to not hate those with beliefs. Currently, there is a sense of hostility towards those who do believe, and we're hoping to foster a more open environment simply through knowledge and time spent together. Most of the time, people consider the purpose of a youth worker as conversion--we're here to convert the kids to Christianity. Not at all. We're simply here to make them not hate believers and show them the love that we have for everyone.
This is quote long, so I'll end here, but promise promise promise to update more often from now on!
Sacrifice
September 29, 2009 — drewgreenway
As I read about sacrifice in places like Leviticus Chapter 8, a question was ringing in my mind. What do we do as believers that amounts to the type of sacrifice required in the Old Testament?
Truthfully, I don’t think there’s anything we (I) do that amounts to this. Is dropping some money in a plate really sacrifice? Is giving up my time to do something I love (playing music) really sacrifice?
I mean, these people were giving up highly valuable animals without blemish for Yahweh. I bet it took great diligence and devotion for these people to give up such a prized possession for Yahweh.
I guess I need to start thinking of what my prized possessions are and if I’d be willing to give them up.
About the Previous Article
September 29, 2009 — drewgreenwayQuick thought:
Wouldn’t it be great if people knew us for what we stand for and not for what we stand against? I’m just sayin’……