Numbers 5-8

We begin chapter 5 with a message sent from the Lord to Moses to keep the lepers, discharge oozers, and necrophiliacs outta camp.

ok ok ok, they aren't actual necrophiliacs, but really why are so many people touching dead bodies that we need an actual rule that says "don't hang out with the dead".

Some more rules about wronging people, confessing to it and making amends. You must add 1/5 to what you took and give it all to the person you wronged. Consequences for you actions, this is a good thing. Repercussions, yes, yes. Atonement, not bad.

I'm thinking that this Numbers book ain't that bad.....

Wait....what is this....thighs falling away?, bodies swelling?... Man just when I thought we were on the right track. Everyone was counted, the oozing freaks had been sent out to pasture, everyone had a job, if you wronged someone you had to sensibly atone....

Alas however, we do have a bit of craziness. Here's the way it goes:

A. a woman goes astray, or doesn't, but the husband things she MIGHT have and feels jealous and suspicious

B.the husband takes her to the priest and gives a cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion

C. the priest brings her before the Lord

D.He makes a holy water and tabernacle floor dust cocktail for her to drink

E. The priest makes the woman take her hair down and say an oath

F. She then is to drink the holy water, tabernacle floor dust cocktail. If she is guilty then the water shall enter her bowels and maker her thigh fall away and her body swell?

G. If she is innocent, it shan't happen.

H. burn the cereal, yadda, yadda, yadda

.........so, yeah, that was weird

God then gives all the tribes and leaders their "stuff". He gives everybody the exact same stuff. I'm going to guess that this signifies that we are all born with the tools we need for life, or stuff so to speak. What we choose to do with that stuff, is up to us. Which to some extent is true.

The vow of a Nazirite from the best I can tell is like a special, distinct person who goes just a little further to please dear ol' Lord.

These people had to follow certain rules, first and foremost: NO RAISINS!

They took a very strong anti-grape platform. No wine, no grapes at all, be it in juice or pill form. I do not kid here folks....no grape seeds. Have you ever accidentally bitten into a grape seed? I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Basically if you even looked at a grape vine, you were screwed.

Also no hair cutting, no strong drank, no dead bodies (Yes. Again). I know what you're probably thinking, because its what immediately popped into my head:

"What if I'm just hanging out with my boyz and Zebabdiah just outta nowhere, falls out dead? I didn't PLAN to hang out with a dead guy, it just sorta ended up that way."

And to you the Bible says.....go get that razor, your hair is comin off.

Now we come to the Levites. We should all thank the Levites. God takes the Levites in lew of everybody's first born, to which I say "Thank you, sir"

The Levites get a pretty good deal though. They have to serve at the Tent of Meeting from ages 25 to 50 and then besides a little helping out here and there, they're good. Because, these people live for like 150 yrs I'm going to say that's a heck of a deal.

Numbers 1-4

We begin a new book today, Numbers.

As a math teacher I say "Yay, numbers" but as a reader, I say "Boo, numbers".

Just not much here to blog about. Just counting people and assigning jobs.

I did find this chart and found some interesting stuff in it. I particularly love "en route to nowhere"

I also think that "walking, wondering, waiting" is a great name for a song. As is "moving out, moving on, moving in"

I'm sorry but its all I have............

Leviticus 25-27

Looks like we're having a party folks...not just any party either, but a JUBILEE. I would say its a once in a lifetime party, but for theses folks it could very well be a 3 or4 in a lifetime party.



Here we have a sort of Sabbath year every 49 or 50 years. When looking this up for further info, I found a some confusion on whether it was actually to be on the 49th or the 50th year. I may need some clarification on this whole shindig.


So in this year you allow your farm land to rest. I think your debts get forgiven, and indentured servants are freed. I could totally get into this, the way I figure it, I could stave off the student loan people for at least 45 yrs. I could pay them a little here, a little there; in 50 yrs, taa daa I would be free.

Then we learn about what happens if you DON'T follow these rules that God has set forth. All sorts of bad stuff happens. Your fields won't produce, it won't rain, wild animals will kill your kids, you will be given to the enemy....it goes on and on.

I thought we learned earlier though that it wasn't about God punishing the bad guys and rewarding the good guys. I was told that's not the way it works. But here it says pretty bluntly that if you do good, good will happen to you. If you do bad, bad will happen to you.

He even says that He WILL NOT smell the fragrance of your sweet and soothing odors......I'm pretty sure, He means business. Do as I say or you will suffer greatly, I will break your pride, your children will suffer...its all just really bad.

This leads my thinking to this questions. Don't you think people who super duper sin, and claim to be Christians, don't really believe deep down in any of it. I'm just thinking if you really, really believed in this stuff, why would you EVER do anthing wrong.

Leviticus 19-24

This post is coming a little late and for that I apologize, I have NOT however been playin the harlot. I have been picking up my dear sweet teenage daughter from camp. It was a great 10 minutes before we started yelling at each other....but I digress

My reading yesterday was done on the second story porch of my new favorite place in the world, The Star of Texas in Austin. While sitting on the porch under the ceiling fans watching the people pass by, it all made a bit more since.

"Yes", I thought "let's stone and burn the daughter of the priest who plays the harlot". "Why WOULDN'T we?"

I was sorry to see that maybe leftovers shouldn't be eater after the third day, however.

But that was a brief feeling, after I sipped my coffee for a while and listened to clock tower chime the next hot lazy hour I thought even more about these people.

Who are the one's with the mangled testicles? Obviously if we answer that question, we need not ask.....Who are the ones getting it on with animals.

I wondered about killing all the adulterers, harlots, the Mexican donkey show gals, and the gay folk. Should we do that now? Who would be left?

But the the man who uncovers his wife's fountain of blood.....I totally agree we should probably shun those peeps, they're freaks.

I suppose this is an effort to keep only the pure around. The pure.....it all seems possible here at the Star of Texas.

After I drive away, how long will the optimism of this place stay with me?

Is my positivity wrapped around the people of Austin, where everyone is accepted?

....the people with rounded hair, mos def the people with tattoos, and trimmed cornered beards, here in Austin odd in normal and normal is odd.....where would these people be if we were to banish the Earth of the impure?

............but the ass who puts the block in front of the blind guy......now that's messed up.

Leviticus 14-18

Let me start of by saying....Let's all close out eyes for just a moment and try with all of our God given might, to imagine what it must have smelled like around that alter of theirs.

blood+ burnt flesh+ middle eastern heat= ?

As I began my readings this morning I at first was greeted with a big giant YAWN....more with the leapers? really?

Burn this, shave that, wash yourself...yadda, yadda, yadda

But then ladies and gentlemen we get to the good stuff....bodies oozing discharge. Discharge of all kinds...on chairs, in beds, on saddles...

So it would seem when a man discharges semen on a woman, they must wash and burn and sin offer? Be it in bed, a chair, or even a saddle.

It would also seem that when a woman has her period she mush wash and burn and sin offer.

Not only must the sex partners or the grumpy, bloated woman wash, burn and sin offer, but so must anyone who touches them.

Therefore are we to conclude that sex (doesn't specify between a married or unmarried couple) and having your period are both sins in which atonement needs to be made?

I get that they are both unclean, who doesn't want a long hot shower after either of these, but I don't get why go so far as to say we need to atone for them. They are both natural and needed for procreation?

We hear a gain from Aaron who sorta gets told he better tremble a bit when entering the Holy of Holies. And we read about all the sacrifices he must make because his sons were such nimrods. Lots of blood, burning, and washing...

Then more stuff about killing animals. You kill something to eat, first you must bring it to the tent and offer it to the Lord. He then keeps some of it and gives it as a gift back to you....I'm telling you what, I'm not sure I would have made it through all of this. I don't know how these people had any time to discharge semen? Its a wonder they didn't die out all together.

Alas, we get to the big one Chapter 18. Again though I'm not totally sure they needed all the sex rules. Maybe that's what He was doing. Like how you try to keep your teenagers involved, keep them busy, so they don't have time to get into trouble.

We learn you don't have sex with your father (sadly too late for Lot's girls), your mother, your aunt, uncle, cousins, your sister, brother, sister in law, brother in law, neighbors wife, sisters, a mother and her daughter....

You shall not have sex with a woman on her period, you shall not sacrifice your children to the fire god (not sure where that came from?) and at last, the one we all know and love.......a man shall not lay with a man as he would a woman...

So....basically the way I see it, having sex with a woman on her period, sacrificing your kids to the fire god and gay sex are one in the same. Not only that but how many people throughout history have married their cousins?

I'm not trying to be a smart wild ass, I'm just trying to see the difference. Again, we have held on to very few of theses Old Testament rules....so why this one?

Leviticus 11-13

Today we get the rules about what these folks could eat and what they couldn't eat. And man oh man, do they get specific...

What I know, is that this little rule didn't stay around for long. I wonder who the first person to eat the pig was, and how he convinced everyone else to break the rules in order to experience the apparent delight one gets from partaking in pork. And did they all die?

Again, as I know we are creeping up on the gay issue (do not mention it now!!!) I want to know how this rule fell by the waist side. Are we picking and choosing? Pork tastes good so people find ways to discredit this rule. See what I'm saying?

We also get into the rules for the lepers. This chapter was redonculous!! It was fo sho cracking me up. I mean, I tried to follow it as best as I could but it was crazy. I would love to see the whole thing played out. I figured someone, somewhere had made a chart as to what the priest had to do when for example,

"examines the spot and there is no white hair in the bright spot and it is not lower than the rest of the skin but is darker"

check, check, check......CLEAN...come back in seven days.....check, UNCLEAN, come back in two days......check, check, CLEAN ...... UNCLEAN. .... CLEAN.... UNCLEAN

I just thought they were busy with the flawless animal sacrifices....these leprosy checks must have had them up all night...

SO anyhoo that's where we ended. Not too much here only the question of why the food rules got ixned. I think its going to be hard for me to understand why some rules are still to be followed while others are not. (Not including the big 10 of course, I get that those are set apart)

Leviticus 8-10

Again let me point out that when I read, it is like watching a movie in my head. And today I had to take some pretty strong pain killers to dull an insane headache, therefore the movie was just that much better.

I just keep wondering how these people are getting anything done. It seems like they are constantly having to find a flawless animal to mutilate.

I suppose the big story for today is Aaron's two sons that offer a false fire to God, so he kills them. I picture them looking sorta like Bill and Ted, and they sneak over to the fire to burn some incense, laughing about it the entire time...

My questions for today include:
A. what is a false fire?

B. what is a strange and unholy fire?

C. Is this just a constant test of faithfulness? I guess I'm just wondering, if these people had not heard from God himself, would they still be hanging around? It just seems like one false move and you are being burned alive. I know you can't say what these people would have done, but what do you think?

Leviticus 5-7

Well back to the reason we are here, my Bible reading for the day.

We have:
12 burnt entrails
11 rams without blemish
10 shekels of silver
9 sprinkles of blood
8 sin offerings
7 pieces of unleavened bread
6 young pigeons
5 golden calfs (oh...wait that was earlier, we've gotten rid of those)
4 parts of an ephah of fine flour
3 cereal offerings
2 TURTLEDOVES (ok so this ENTIRE joke was just so I could use that!)
1 sweet and satisfying odor

Then we get more blood and and more sin forgiveness....nothing really new in today's reading.

Since I don't have anything really to discuss, let me just share my favorite part of today's reading (being a vegetarian, I especially love it)

ready........go

And he shall offer all its fat, the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, and the two kidneys and the fat thats on them at the loins, and the lobe or appendages of the liver, which he shall take away with the kidneys

I pretty much threw up a little after reading that part, who knew the liver had a lobe anyway....blahhh

Leviticus 1-4

With this reading we get all sorts of ways to atone for one's sins.

You are given several options and I'm not sure but I think ones no better or worse than the other.

You have your burnt offering, which involves A LOT of blood, blood smearing, sprinkling...etc

Then you have your cereal offering, which I like MUCH better. You can offer it raw, you can bake it, fry in a pan, it can be covered with oil... this seems like a way better choice for me. With the added benefit that Aaron and his sons get left-overs.

The smell of the cereal is JUST as sweet and satisfying to the Lord, so I say let the animals live.

Basically that's it for this first reading from Leviticus.

What I want to point out is the fact that we can look at these offerings and they seem archaic and strange. So what sets these crazy traditions apart from the ones we still hold on to. Are we picking and choosing?

We choose the 10 commandments, we choose the explanations for what we do when someone does__blank__ to us.

We do not choose burnt offerings for sin atonement, we do not choose to be still on the Sabbath (for the most part), we use baking powder liberally at all times....so who's to say what we hold onto and what we let go of?

...but I'm going to venture a guess its got a little something to do with Jesus (read with the Spanish pronunciation, please).

Exodus 30-43

Moses

by Frida Kahlo

1945

This is actually several day's readings.

We first find Mo getting instructions for a census. Everybody is to give a little in order that they have no plague fall upon them.

Now heres the part I know my dear friend simply loves, the rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less. No comment.

Then we get a bunch of directions, the big one seems to be "DO NOT WORK ON THE SABBATH!!!!!"

Things are just getting crazier and crazier. Moses is spending more time on the Mt. chatting it up with the Big Guy, getting pages and pages of instructions.

While he's doing this he's left in brother in charge down below to near disastrous consequences. He goes and does all sorts of stuff that he's not suppose to do, including making a GOLD CALF for the people to have as a god?!?

WHATEVER, I was even like COME ON! You can't be serious Aaron.

So I don't know what that was about, but neither God nor Moses was pleased. ......and so people had to be killed.

The good guys come forward and and Moses goes up to the Lord and sorta asks that he take the blame for them. God says no, that they must take the blame and he sends a plague.

Why doesn't Aaron get into trouble though?

Then God decides to show himself (sorta) to Moses, which is crazy to me. I just don't think of God as looking like anything.

Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights (always with the 40 days and 40 nights?) and he came down with the 10 commandments and super shiny skin (like Edward, for you Twilight people). It freaked everybody out so Moses wore a veil on his face after he talked to God.

We get through the building of the tabernacle and the tent and all the details about Aaron and his bathing.

God gives the instructions for all the feasts that and such that should be kept and the sacrifices that should be made.

That basically takes us out of Exodus.

Exodus 25-29

Again with today's reading, the specifics simply slayed me. The movie rolling in my mind of Moses trying to keep up with those directions had me rolling with laughter.


My "Believer on Retainer" told me I didn't really have to read all of those specifics about the building of the ark. I have to admit though, I was intrigued by the specific directions.

It does tend to lend to the authenticity of the Bible. Like, why would anyone leave that in after all of these years if it weren't important. I just keep thinking that through its many writes and rewrites, someone would have said

"can't we just leave all this useless drivel out, no one reads it anyway"

And because its still here, well to me that sort of says something; what is says I'm not quite sure.



I wish a had a video of myself reading about the blood and the mutilation of the bull, it would probably be quite funny.

The details, are confusing, again to me. I mean what is all the "fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage that is on the liver...." about?! and the blood! They are dabbing blood, pouring blood, sprinkling blood, pretty much everything but drinking blood.

The only sense I can make out of any of it, is like, its a big test. An obstacle course, to prove your love for the Lord?

I know I'm not suppose to be trying to figure it all out. Sometimes however, thats hard for me to turn off. At times I can be a bit like a 4yr old. I want to know why? Why this? Why that? Why?

I must say that I do like that the smell if the bull's entrails burning is a smell that is sweet and satisfying to the Lord.

I enjoy that visual.

Exodus 18-24

At last we make it to the climax of Moses great journey.

He receives the Big 10 no-no's and the people he's been leading actually hear from the Big Guy himself.

As a teacher I relate this to having the principal actually come into class to speak to the kids about their behavior. You say something over and over and the don't listen, so you push that button on the wall and say "Can you have Mr. Whatshisname come to my classroom please." Just like the people who hear God speak the kids are like "OK!! We'll listen to Mrs. Stone, you don't have to come down again!!"

The 10 Commandments are exactly what I expected them to be. We are all familiar with these. They are at the heart of our justice system even today. What I found terribly interesting is all the stuff that followed and how crazy specific it was.

I think one of them went something like this,

"If you have a she- goat and you allow your she- goat to wander into the field of another she- goat and your she- goat looks at the other with disdain, and it happens to fall on the first day of the third month and the owner of the second she- goat likes his toast butter side up, then the first she- goat must give her milk to make cheese for the party of the offspring of the owner of the second; if the attendees of the party find the cheese in the least little bit repugnant then .......somebody must die."

I may have the wording a bit off, but it was along those lines.

The Big 10, I get and I see why they are important and long lasting. They are still relevant today, however I want to know what's with all of that other? Was that from God as well? If so, why be so specific?

I have a point and a question, but I need the clarification first,I shall wait to hear from Jamie, as his clarification might answer my question....

Exodus 14-17

Well boys and girls, I made a mistake yesterday and read a bit too far, therefore today's will be rather short.

Today we watch as poor Moses is trying to keep everybody happy. I mean, he's lead them out of bondage, you think that would be enough. But noooo they want food and water as well.

I can't help feeling bad for these people that God chooses to do his work here on Earth. In the movie playing in my mind, Moses has about had it, much like Abraham.

I just want him to yell "ENOUGH WITH THE COMPLAINING, PEOPLE!"

This guy has performed miracle after miracle in order to free these people, he PARTED A SEA for crying out loud, you think they would give him a break.

But Moses troops on, he gets them water and he gets them a steady stream of manna from heaven. All that he asks is that they take just what the need, no more, no less; they do not leave any, because it will spoil, and that on the 6th day they take double because on the 7th, there shall be none.

Do they listen?

Some do, some don't.

Do you think he stood outside on Sunday and watched the people who came out looking for their manna and said "REALLY?! You can't be serious? I simply ask that you take double on the 6th day, as there will be none on the 7th day, and THAT you cannot manage?"

However, God always delivered, but at one point he was even like "Moses, bro...what is with these people.....it's like they need some sort of written laws to abide by!?" (OK, so I made the last part up, but I bet some sort of ancient light bulb went off over His head)

Even being a Skeptic, I am pretty sure that if all of these crazy things, such as bread raining from the sky and frogs taking over the world, were happening around me, I wouldn't question Moses motives.

But I do think that at times Moses doesn't even know what his next move is. It seems like at each turn he's awaiting further instructions. This may be part of the problem, he's getting his info in a "need to know" basis.

I just hope he's getting enough sleep.

Exodus 7-14

Let me begin by asking, does anyone else hear Cameron from Ferris Buller's Day Off, every time Moses asks Pharaoh to let his people go?

Next let me ask, I follow how the Israelites are considered God's people because we can trace all their people back. But then who are all of these other people? How did they get here?

Pharaoh, huh! I just thought I was stubborn. Even I was going "come on man! really?" I mean the blood water would have been enough for me, I don't care if the magicians and jugglers (?) could do it or not. We all know today, that if someone can mess with your water supply then you better be on your guard.

And the frogs, I mean seriously.

But when the magician couldn't bring forth the biting gnats, that would have fo sho sealed the deal for me.

The question which begs to be asked of course is, why the biting gnats? Why was that their weak spot?

I need a little clarity on this point, I can't understand why God continued to "harden Pharaohs heart". He seemed to be all on-board with the exodus thing, after some crazy thing or other happened, but then his heart would be hardened and we would be back to square one....

the point of that was...?

Apparently, the unleavened bread thing is of mucho importante in the passover. It is referred to at least 8 times. To be truthful, by the time I finished reading these chapters, I had to go eat a few flour tortillas, just to be on the safe side. And, I can't be totally certain that I won't be responsible for throwing away all the baking powder in the house.

I must admit here that I had no idea whatsoever what the Passover was. Furthermore, if in playing a game Balderdash one of the definitions was "when the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt" I NEVER would have chosen it. I would've thought that way too obvious a definition.

The Israelite have safely made it across the Red Sea. I will only refer to Charlton Heston, to say that I will not refer at all to Charlton Heston, its just so overdone...

I think Moses and Aaron make a superb team but obviously, Moses steals the spotlight.

Aaron should get a little credit however, I mean really, I never heard of the guy.

I like to imagine that this is Moses, fishing with Aaron. You see that look on his face.....he's such a show off

Exodus 1-6

We finally meet this Moses everyone's always talking about. A bunch of stuff happens in these first 6 chapters.

I'm not going to rehash the whole thing. I just have a few sKeptical things to say.

I'm having a problem figuring out how people who don't take the Bible literally, deal with things like the burning bush, the blood water and the like.

I mean it seems to me, either you believe in God's miracles or you don't, right??

So if you do, then why wouldn't you believe in the flood the creation story etc...

...and if you don't believe in those, then you should acknowledge that the entire book is just a collection of mighty fine yarns.

However, I know plenty of people whom seem to believe some parts and not others. Which I suppose I find strange. I imagine there may be a middle ground, but as of yet I can't see it.

This is the big speed bump for me. Its the proverbial "leap of faith". I feel like if I'm going to accept that God speaks to people in burning bushes, then I've got to accept it all.

...it's the accepting it all, that I'm not sure I can do

But, it has only been a couple of weeks and I've about 50 more to go, therefore we shall wait and see.

Here's something else, that sorta bugs me. If God spoke to Moses, allowed him to turn his rod into a snake, the hand thing, the blood...then why couldn't he fix his speech so that he would feel confident enough to speak for him.

Some day's I just seem to be more skeptical than others I guess. I think what happens is I start to sorta go with the flow, and kinda really get into it. Then I POP back up to the surface and I think "wait a minute, this is a great story, but come on!!"

You know how you have a great story and you tell it over and over and it sorta loses it's flavor. So maybe the next time you tell it, you sorta spice it up just a little and you get the response you used to get. Then the next time, maybe you add just a bit more...

I just get so frustrated with myself. I sit for hours and wonder why I can't see what millions of other people see. How is it so easy for all of those people to believe in something that I can't? I wish it was just as easy as saying "I believe". Like, I wish I could fool myself into believing that I believe.

But I don't imagine that that's how its done.

I'm going to close here for now.

Having an off day.

Genesis 46-50

By and by we come to the end of Genesis with the establishment of the 12 tribes of Israel
In his dying days Jacob gave his son's the following blessings, abbreviated here:

Reuben: You shall not excel.

Simeon and Levi: I will . . . scatter them in Israel.

Judah: The scepter shall or leadership shall not depart from Judah.

Zebulun: Shall be a haven and landing place for ships.

Issachar: Is a strong boned donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds.

Dan: A serpent by the way.

Gad: A raiding troop shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels and assault them victoriously.

Asher: He shall yield and deliver royal delights.

Naphtali: He gives goodly words.

Joseph: A fruitful bough.

Benjamin: a ravenous wolf.

Jacob also blessed Josephs sons. Jacob put his right hand on the younger son Ephraim, but Joseph stopped him and said,

"that's the wrong son"

and he moved his dad's right hand to the older son, Manasseh.

But Jacob was all like,

"I know what I'm doing, I may be blind, but I'm not stupid. The older kid is going to do well, don't worry.....but this younger guy, he's going to be even greater!!"

"Jacob blessing the son's of Joseph" Rembrandt 1656

So we end our long journey from the beginning of time to the end of Jacob and eventually Joseph's life. The 12 tribes of Israel have been set and the fun's about to begin.

I must admit that although I'm not totally convinced that these aren't just a collection of stories meant to provide life's lessons to us, I do find comfort in them. I find myself thinking a lot about these people throughout the day. Like any good book (no pun intended) the characters become a part of you, they are like old friends that you are reminded of when you see something in particular. Like a rainbow, or even a dreamcoat, technicolor or not.

you want a little wackiness in your life? Check out this site:

http://www.christinus.org/gpage2.html

Genesis 41-45

Two years have past since last we had heard from our dear dreamer.

He still sits in Prison, but that's all about to change. Pharaoh is having some dreams that are bugging him. No one he talked to could interpret these dreams (to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure why they didn't just make something up?) Anyhoo, the Butler told him about this bloke he met in jail who was a WIZ at interpreting dreams.

He send for him and again he hit the nail on the head and tells Pharaoh that his dreams basically mean, Egypt shall have 7 fruitful years followed by 7 years of nada. Then Joseph is so bold as to tell Pharaoh what he should do with news.

Joseph suggest that he appoint a governor to take one-fifth of all the crops grown over the superfluous years and store them away for the famine.

Joe gets the job, second only in matters of the thrown. He gets married. Married? MARRIED! Has a boy and a girl. Famine hits, people are hungry, when it reached everyone he opened the stores and the relief began.

Back to Jacob...remember him....his family is hungry and so he actually says "don't just stand there looking at one another...get down there and buy us some grain!"

So ten of the men head out, but not Benjamin, Josephs full bro. Oh no, Jacob learned his lesson the last time he let a favorite son alone with that bunch. All he got back was a shred of his dreamcoat dripping with goat blood.

They go and they see Joseph but don't recognize him, but he does know who they are and so he plays a little game with them.

First he calls them spies and to prove that they re not spy's he keeps one in jail and tells the others to bring their other brother to him. Easy enough, right?......WRONG! He send them on their way with their rice and their money hidden in the sacks of rice.

Once they reach home they have to convince Jake to allow them to take his dear, sweet Benji back to Egypt. Once they run out of food off they go with Ben in tow.

They release Simeon, and have dinner with Joseph, who is all torn up over seeing his little bro. He then sends them on their way again with food, their money and a hidden silver cup in Ben's bag.

Then he has his men capture them and accuse Ben of theft.

They are brought back and accused and Joseph says that Ben must be his servant. The brother freak out and say "OMG you can't take him, our dad will KILL us (literally) if we don't bring Ben home. He super loves him and has already lost the other son he super loved!".....or something along those lines.

So one of the bros offers himself up and that's just too much for Joe. He cracks up and says "Man, get up, its ME Joseph! You have totally been punked!" then Ashton Kucher comes out.......wait.........I don't........I'm not sure if.......Yeah that's not right........let me go back.....


So one of the bros offers himself up and that's just too much for Joe. He says "I am Joseph" and they hug and he tells them not too feel bad because it was God who sent me here, not you guys.

and they go get the dad..................

This is a great story. I just always felt like if I was Joe I would have been like "why you stick up for Ben and not for me?!" I always thought I'd be pretty mad about that and how they said "yeah, my dad already lost one of Rachel's son's" uhhhhh yeah! you sold him for a slave!

I suppose that's why he got the amazing technicolor dreamcoat and not me.

Joseph's a really great guy, there should be more Josephs around.

Genesis 36-40

Back to Genesis we go....

We pick up with the descendants of Esau, that is Edom(?) so we all know what that means.......visual aid!!

So we learn in 37 that Jacob(I'm probably going to keep calling him Jacob, and I apologize) loved Joseph best because he was his son of old age. Although I always thought it was because he was born to his favorite wife. Shows you what Andrew Lloyd Webber knows.

He gives his favorite son a long sleeved tunic to wear, apparently this is very special. Here again I may occasionally fall into calling it a "dreamcoat" and ONCE AGAIN I apologize if in calling his long sleeved tunic a dreamcoat, I offend anyone. An amazing, technicolor dreamcoat just seems like a way better gift to give your favorite kid than a long sleeved tunic.

The other boys, they were none to pleased with Joseph and his amazing, technicolor dreamcoat.

As if this wasn't just cause enough to dislike their brother, he also had these dreams. He had a couple of dream in which his corn, or star was the biggest and best. While the other 11 stars and corn bowed down to his. Not exactly the type of dreams theses brothers like to hear.

They then devise a plan to rid their family of this tunic wearing dreamer.

1st they think of throwing him in a pit. Then a smelly bunch of Ishmaelites drove past and they decided to sell him as a slave instead. Everyone is in on it, save Reuben. They then kill a goat, rip up his dreamcoat and dip it in the blood.

They return to Jacob and show him the dreamcoat and then they all sing "One more angel in heaven".....oh wait!! That's the play.......

Ladies and Gentleman let us now turn our attentions away from the nasty business of Jacob's sons to the history of the descendants of Judah:

These family trees can have some pretty strange branches on them. Judah gets bamboozled into sleeping with his daughter-in-law, after the two sons she did marry end up dead. She pretends to be a prostitute and beds him. She ends up having his twins.

And now back to Joe.

Joseph was a good slave so he was quickly elevated to "house slave". He apparently was also a looker (with a resemblance to Donny Osmaond) The rulers wife fell for him and wanted him to sleep with her. Joseph being such a good man, refused.

She was so angry that she told everyone he had attacked her. Alas, he was thrown in jail.

There he met a butler, a baker and a candlestick maker...jk about the candlestick maker. They both had dreams and even without his dreamcoat he was able to interpret them. The butlers was good and he was freed, the bakers was not, and he was hanged.

That's where we leave Joe today, alone in his cell....

I am beginning to see the theme of the righteous being tested throughout this book.

Please enjoy the clip from the play

Jacob and Sons

Job 31-42

I am combining two days readings into one post.

We are drawing toward the end of Job and his problems. His friends continue to argue that Job has done something.

They go on to tell us the reader as well as Job that God only does bad things to the wicked, and to the righteous he only does good things. Which is the basic principle of Karma.

The Buddhist believe that for every good action that you perform, you receive good and vice-versa. In the case of Job the argument would be made from a Karma standpoint that the wicked that he did was perhaps in another life.

God finally speaks up and sorta lets em have. He rains down questions, asking the men, can YOU do this? Can YOU do that? In an attempt to show them that no matter how long they discuss the problem they will never understand His reasons and actions. For, He is God the all-powerful, creator of the heavens and the Earth.

Job apologizes for boasting and trying to understand. God forgives Job but isn't so easy on the three know it all friends. Job was honest about his actions and these guys would not listen, acting and speaking as it they KNEW how this whole thing was playing out.

God leaves it up to Job to pray for them. Job does and God shows his forgiveness.

God doubles Jobs fortunes, allowing him to have more beautiful children and live a long happy life.

The End.

The sayings that came to mind when I read this story are as follows:

A. God never gives us anything we cant handle
B. This too shall pass.

C. What does not kill us, makes us stronger.

with C being my favorite, I am a strong believer in C....

About the pictures on this post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake%27s_Illustrations_of_the_Book_of_Job

Job 18-30

Today was more of the same with Job and his friends. Back and forth they discussed why God was forsaking poor Job.

He friends continue to say that it is because he is wicked that he is receiving this punishment, and Job continues to plead his innocents.

Job tells his friends that even if he has done evil its his own business. He is sure however that there is someone in heaven who will be a witness to his innocence.

After a while Job beings to get a little ticked off, and it really starts to show. There beings to be a lot of: me, me, me...

So I guess the big questions is why would you do this to someone you loved? If God loves all of his followers, why torture and bring such suffering just to prove a point? I'm willing to bet that the answer to this lies somewhere in the realm of "we cannot possibly understand all of Gods actions..."

Job 11-17

I reread yesterday's as well a today's. The reason being that I can't quite figure out why this whole thing doesn't sit well with me.

So today was more of the same. Job's friends accusing him, say "you musta done something, think back, man!....God just doesn't DO this to good people...."

Here Job gets pretty Biblically angry. He basically tells his friend "Look Mr. Smarty Pants, I know just as much as you know about how God works, I know what He's capable of, JUST LIKE YOU!"

Don't we all have one of these friends in our lives, just a real know-it-all, who thinks he's better, smarter, wiser than you...(did I say he? whoops, why would I say he and not she? Truth be told, I have a he and a she)

Job continues on with his blessings and thanksgivings......

I suppose what I'm, having trouble with is how does all of this fit in with free-will. In Chapter 12 Job lists all of these things that He can do, how He can supply, how He can make great. Here's where my writing skills fail me.....maybe if I try to allow you to follow my train of thought...

I'm thinking:

ok so Job was a great guy, and God is just trying to test him......

Then I think about the argument, "how is it that children suffer excruciating torture" of which I am usually told "because man has free will, and the people torturing the child are choosing to do it"

Then I go back to Job and I wonder if he could have used his free will to make himself better.

Then I think, could God be testing the children who are suffering, and if so where does that leave the free will argument.

Then I think, what happened to Job was not at the hands of SOMEONE else, so maybe that's where it differs.

But then I think, but it says that He can do this and He can do that, so does that mean He does intervene more than we think. And if so, what about free will?

This may make absolutely no sense, I haven't a clue why this argument has been so hard for me to get into words. Maybe because it's a cyclical argument and those are never easy.

I like reading this Book though. The writing is lovely.

Job 1-10

You will undoubtedly notice that our blog said good-bye to Genesis and 'ello to Job. I will let my dear friend explain that to our readers.

We meet Job, a great guy who is a God fearing dad. Satan tells God that the reason Job is so devout and good and thankful, is because he has everything he could want. Who doesn't thank God when they feel like they have been blessed, right?

God says to Satan that he is incorrect. Job would give thanks and love no matter what happens. Like the two old jackasses in Trading Places, they make a sort of bet.

"Lets throw it ALL at Job and see what happens". It's sort of a nature, nurture argument, or the chicken and the egg argument.

Is it BECAUSE he loves God that he is blessed; or is it BECAUSE he is blessed that he loves God.

And so his children are killed, his animals are killed.

His friend comes to visit him and I think, asks him what he did to deserve such bad gris-gris.

And so he explains that he's done nothing. He says that God gives to us and He takes away from us.

Satan then hits him with boils all over his body and he wife says something like "enough is enough for goodness sake!! Curse God so you can die and all this nonsense can end"

But not Job....he won't do it......

and then...........

Genesis 31-35

We open today with more deceit, more misunderstanding.

Here's where I take a bit of comfort. I find it reassuring that even then, even with these devout people, there can be this much drama, and "well, why didn't you just SAY so" kind of stuff.

The Lord tells Jacob to go back to his fathers land and so Jacob sneaks away, and Rachel steals the idols from the house. (the Bible I'm reading explains that if you are the possessor of these family idols that you have claim to the families estate).

Again with the deceit.

"Jacob said that God said that if Laban said, all the speckled flock shall be yours. The flock only bore speckled. If Laban said, all the streaked flock shall be yours. The flock only bore streaked."

DRAMA

I sorta keep forgetting that Issac gave Jacob this blessing. I keep wondering why Jacob is so blessed by the Lord, when he deceived his father and brother. I guess Issac gave a pretty powerful blessing.

Jacob, his ladies, and their brood of kids leave.

When Laban finds out, he sets out after them.

When he gets there he's like "hey! what up?! why you didn't let me tell everybody goodbye? I didn't get to tell my girls bye, kiss my grand kids goodbye......"

He is however a bit angry about his idols. Rachel has them hidden in her saddle. Nobody, not even Jacob knows shes got em.

Then when her dad want to search her saddle she gives the excuse we ladies love to use to get out of ANYTHING, she's says "dad, I'm on my period don't make me get up...."

and just like all men, he leaves it alone.

I am in constant amazement at the things we have gotten from the Bible, including apparently the ultimate excuse for women.

The two men talk it out, make a covenant, set up a monument, eat a sacrifice....you know, they worked through their differences just like any men would.

All kidding aside (just for a minute though) I think this demonstrates what I was mentioned earlier.

Misunderstandings.

If you have a problem with someone, you have to discuss it. Don't assume you know whats going on in their heads. Don't listen to what other people say is going on. First you have to listen to yourself and understand what part you have taken in the disagreement. Which some may argue, is God talking to you. Then you have to go straight to the source of the problem, the other person.

None of this "he said, she said" stuff, that drives me nutso.

They patch things up brilliantly, and the fam is on their way.

...on the way Gods Angles meet Jacob and basically tell him that his bro is waiting for him with a small army and hes going to take him out. Jacob send the Angels to tell his brother that hes sorry and sends him some she-goats and stuff....

I'm just thinking that if Angels were passing notes for me or if I was receiving messages from Angels I'd listen.

The strangest of all happens next and I wish there was some way I could show somebody the scene that's was playing in my head when I read this...

"Then He said, Let Me go, for day is breaking. But Jacob said, I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing upon me"

That's pretty bold I think. It reminds me a bit of the scene in Forrest Gump when Captain Dan takes on the storm.

and Jacob here, is named Israel because he contended with God

I actually screamed "WHAT?!" aloud when I then read about the 12 brothers going into the town after all the men had been circumcised and were "sore", and KILLING them all. You see one of them had slept with their sister, but it had all been smoothed over by Jacob. I didn't see that one coming at all...

We end today with the end of Issac's life. Jacob has also lost Rachel, who dies in childbirth having her second son.

These are not exactly "good" people. They lie, they steal, they cheat, and they kill. Just like Scarlett plans to do in order to never be hungry again. I wonder then if from them we are to learn that although they are not perfect, they give thanks to God first always, they listen when he speaks and they love the best way they know how?

Genesis 26-30

Ok again I had to find a visual because of all this reproducing that's going on.

I am so excited to be closing in on Joesph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I've heard: It was red and yellow and green and brown , and black and ochre and peach And ruby and olive and violet and fawn And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve And cream and crimson and silver and rose And azure and lemon and russet and grey And purple and white and pink and orange.....AND BLUE!

so sorry for the brief lapse into my world of show tunes.

..................and now ladies and gentlemen my very serious and mature discussion of my Bible readings for today.

I think today's theme is deceit. Everybody's deceiving everybody in these chapters.

It all starts with Issac and the old "she's my wife not my sister" bit again. No ones seems to tire of this gag. The problem with it is, they seem to be assuming the worst of these people. Once they find out that the woman is indeed a wife and not a sister they usually say something like, "Man! Why didn't you JUST tell us that! Had we slept with her, we'd be in a heap of trouble!"

Issac moves around and digs some wells, and names some wells. Until one night God speaks to him and there Issac builds an altar, sets up his tent and digs a well. In that order which I see is important. Thanks to the Lord, home, then work.

and so the drama begins.

Apparently Issac, who is blind at this point, loves his smooth son Esau more than his hairy son Jacob. (and rightly so, some might say)

He asks his eel of a son to go hunting and once he's killed something, cook it the way he likes and bring it to him. When he does that he shall bless him.

Now Issac's wife Rebekah, favors the hairy beast of a son, Jacob?

She want him to get the blessing. So she devises a plan to trick the blind Issac into blessing Jacob. Jacob tells her that hes worried Issac will feel his hairiness and call him out as a cheat and impostor.

I feel like Jacob doesn't really want to do this but does as his mothers says.

The plan works and Jacob receives the blessing. We learn in a bit that it worked too. He has a butt load of sons.

But just as all plans which involve deceit, it sort of falls apart at the end. Esau brings his meat and when Issac realizes what he's done he tells Esau basically "I'm sorry, I've given my one blessing to your brother and now you must serve him"

Thus begins a feud among brothers. Rebekah (who actually caused all the problems, in my opinion) told Jacob to leave until his brother calmed down.

And now we get into Jacob. I just THOUGHT we had seen the worst with Abe and his maids and such. Jacob's sexcapaids make Abraham look like a monk.

In choosing a wife, I think Jacob is involved in a "what goes around, comes around" sort of thing. He is now the one who's deceived.

He works for seven years in order to get his wife Rachel and the very night he is to have her, her dad sends her older, duller sister in to sleep with Jacob. Thus, he is blindly deceived just as his father was. Now he's got this dull gal Leah and he has to work sever more years for Rachel, the one he truly loves.

So begins the great baby wars.

Leah is poppin boys out left and right. The Lord has made Rachel barren to make up for Leah's embarrassment of not being good enough. Therefore, Rachel has Jacob sleep with the maid, then Leah is barren and she has him sleep with her maid, then Rachel can have babies and FINALLY the star of one of my favorite shows is born.....JOSEPH.

After the love-fest something very strange happens that I did not understand at all and shall call on my my trusted friend Jamie for explanation. I didn't understand the division of animals and the rods of the trees and the wells??

I realize that I'm writing with a lot of humor, its something I can't help, it's how I see most things. However, I am reading seriously and thinking about it everyday. I feel like I may need to read it again, once I'm through. This first time I'm just so into the drama of it. I just so good, I get really into the stories....I guess what I'm saying is I hope I'm not disappointing you.

Genesis 21-25

More drama today. Today's big drama was of course Abraham about to kill and burn his son for God.

I have a couple of things to say about this. First of all, I am really really beginning to feel sorry for poor Abraham. I mean, can't the guy get a break! God has him moving here, moving there, casting out his son, sleeping with maids, and now he's about to kill the one son he favors. Is it all worth it? It feels a little like the Lord is messing with him, like "How far can I push Abe today, I wonder if he'd kill his own SON?!" I feel like maybe Abraham is going to crack at any minute...

Second thing is something I've often wondered. Ok, so all of these people are doing all of these crazy things like the events mentioned above, because the Lord tells them to do them..right?

.....and we discussed earlier how God doesn't seem to "talk" to people the way he used to, right?

well how can we be so sure of that. For instance, the woman in Texas who drowned all of her kids in the tub because God told her to. What if he did? How can we be so sure?

What if as a man you said to your wife "Honey, God spoke to me today and he told me I need to sleep with our young french maid" I bet that would go over smashingly.

If ole' Abe were around today he would be sitting in a padded room somewhere making tiny model houses out of matchsticks.

And what about Waco? We just assume he was a nutter, not the Messiah right? Will we know for sure? If the answer to that is "of course" then I ask "How can you be so sure" I imagine all of the people that burned with him, WERE sure.

So what does all of this mean? Have we become so jaded that when we do hear God speak we write if off?

Do we only listen to the good things he has to say? Or more to the point, do we only believe the good things? People always say that it's easier to believe the bad things people say about you than it is to believe the good. Is that opposite of God? Could these events be a test of our faith? and if so have we failed miserably in locking these people up, calling them names, watching them burn........

Genesis 15-20

I really enjoyed today's reading, perhaps because it was a sort of Biblical soap opera. You had Abrahm feeling sorry for himself and sorta complaining to God about not having any kids. SO his wife tells him to sleep with her MAID Hagar (and you can only imagine with a name like that what she looked like). When she found out she was preggers she got really super mad and left. But the Angel of the Lord found her (any time I read or hear about the Angel of the Lord I think about the children's book The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever, if you've never read it, you should. It is a GREAT book)......anyway the Angel talk her through it and told her to go back. The Angel told her to give him the name Ishmael.

Now let me say this, who wouldn't believe in God when you have him talking to you everyday. Sending angels down to help you work out your problems, telling you what to name your child. Of course they are faithful, and obedient.

Then God comes back down and tells Abrahm that if he is a good guy he will give him all of these great things. In return, he asks but one small thing, he asks that every man among him shall be circumcised??? Where did THAT come from, can you say RANDOM?!

God tell Abraham that Sarah shall also have a son, and Abraham laughs and laughs because he is 100 yrs old and Sarah is 90.....Sarah also laughs because they don't sleep together anymore. SO how could she get pregnant. To this He says "is there anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord" I'm going to guess that this is a pretty important statement. I can see the importance but can't help wondering why then, innocent children must suffer. By suffer I mean the unimaginable suffering that goes on. If nothing is too hard for him then whats up with that. I understand free will, but I mean can't he step in when its really really bad?

....... low and behold they do and they name him Issac just as He told them to.

I'm not going to get much into Sodom because its such a common story. All I will say is there sure is a lot of sex going on in these chapters. I'm not sure if I see the connection clearly enough between whats going on in Sodom and gay sex. In all other part when they talk about sex they say "lay with" or "be with". in this story they say bring out the men so that we may "know" them.
However that's not the craziest thing that has happened to Lot. Not even seeing his wife turn into a pillar of salt for disobedience. No the craziest thing happens when he runs away with his two daughters to live in a cave.

The girls realize that because everyone died in Sodom, there are no men to continue their family with. The girls devise a plan to get their dad drunk and sleep with him?! Whatever! They both do it and both get pregnant, thanks be to God that they don't have to do it again. What does that make their kids? 1st cousin/brothers.

It was a wild and crazy ride today folks...From this I guess I see that sometimes you have to do some really wacky stuff to please the Lord.

Genesis 9-14

I had to read these chapters a couple of times, I must admit. Lots of names and places. I sorta got caught up in trying to follow the genealogy and lost the story. I need a visual so I went and found this

This helped because being a math teacher my heart skips a beat for a tree diagram.

What I couldn't wait for, was to see where the term "Nimrod" got its meaning. When I saw it I just assumed he was going to be a big giant moron! But as of yet, he's done nothing of great stupidity.

I also didn't know where we got the word babel, as in "Last night I had a few too many and babbled to Jamie foreva!". If anyone is reading and does not know Babel was the place where God decided that he didn't want everyone to speak the same language and so he confounded their language and made it so they could not understand one another. interesting right?

I found this passage interesting "And the whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression" and here's why I find that interesting. I once took a sociology class in college and remember absolutely NOTHING from it other than this: There have been studies where people from all over the world, from the most remote of places, all ages, all cultures are shown pictures of various facial expressions. They are asked to tell what emotion the person is exhibiting and no matter where they came from or what type of life they had lead, they all recognized the emotions the very same way we would. For some reason I found that amazing, and this passage may show why that is.

I liked this and was drawn back to read it a few times "...and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible to them." How many times as a teacher do I tell my kids some version of that. The ole' "if you can believe it, you can achieve it".

I also kept going back and reading and re reading the story about Abram, Sarai, and the Egyptian Pharaoh. I understand why he did what he did, although it was a pretty crappy thing to do. What is to be learned from it, though?

Then we get to chapter 14 and I get completely lost, to this my dear friend Jamie would say "what? no pictures?" in a sad attempt to call me stupid. But yes, no pictures, I am a visual person I need to SEE stuff. I found this which helped me.

For something really interesting check this out:http://www.threetwoone.org/diagrams/Genesis-Ch-11-14-OutlinePresentation.gif

(Its really a great visual, I'm really just a math nerd deep down)

OK so I've read chapter 14 a few times and what I can't figure out is who this priest of God Most High is and why I've never heard of him. Also I'm assuming that this is where "tithing" comes from. I think I was expecting more, something like " .....and God said give 10% of all you have to him" (please read that in a James Earle Jones voice)

I also had to look up the terebinths tree that everyone was living under or near

It's a source of turpentine as well as lots of other stuff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistacia_terebinthus

Genesis 1-9

To be honest I have read Genesis before. I've always been curious about religion. I live in the South, its all around. After a while you begin to think "what are the chances that ALL of these people have it wrong, and I have it right!" So from time to time, I have delved into the spiritual pool and taken a brief lap or two.


Every once in awhile I may need to explain a term or an argument or discussion that Jamie and I have coined. Such as "surface thinker" He had me read the book "Understanding the Times" (look it up for further explanation).


The first big issue the two of us tackled was moral relativism, be it time, place, or culture.


My argument being: right or wrong is relative to these things.


His argument being: right or wrong is not relative to anything.


In reading this book I found that his argument was right, which I sooo hate. I told him, when reading that book "I felt like I was trying to sink while wearing a life vest"


"Do you understand that?" I asked.


"Not really, please explain" he responded.


I said that when I try really, really hard to understand the argument in the book against things like moral relativism, I can "see" it. However, my mind wants to float back up to the ideas I've had in my mind for years.


Hence the term "surface thinking" came into our vernacular.


He will often say to me "you are surface thinking again" many times I dispute him, lots of times I agree and rethink my argument.


Surface thinking is simply much easier. It IS a life vest.


I tell you all of that so that I can say this, I will try not to surface think through my Bible readings. What I imagine is that, in the beginning, it will be difficult to sink into it with my life vest on. What I hope is that, as I read, the life vest will slowly become non-existent.


Genesis......Great creation story. Beautifully written. Entertaining. Similar to many, many creation stories I have read before. I have always heard that Christianity borrowed many things from the Pagans, as a way to baby step people into it. I imagine this is where many of these ideas came from.


Adam, Eve, the fruit, Eden


Basically God says:


I give you all of this, everything you could want. Ignorance is bliss, is the saying that comes to mind when I think of Adam and Eve. They should have been blissfully happy living in all their nakedness, there in paradise. But they weren't, at least Eve wasn't.


...and through this story we learn "temptation is bad".


But what I don't understand is, is He saying knowledge is bad?


He didn't want them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, because in eating from this tree, they would then know good from evil. Why didn't he want them to know the difference between good and evil? What was the benefit of having these two people as basically blind fools alone on this Earth?


And more importantly....what if they had not eaten the fruit (and they never say apple, because they sew fig leaves together to cover themselves, why don't we assume it was a fig?)


How would mankind be different without original sin?


Then we get to dear Noah.


From Noah do we learn that God makes mistakes? Did I read that correctly? He regretted making man and putting him on Earth. To correct his mistake he planned on flooding the Earth and killing every single living thing on it. Everything that is except Noah, his fam and all the animals two by two...



Don't we all know this story? No need to get into this story is there?



The thing I did not know is that Noah was and old guy, and by old I mean he was like more than 500 when he started the ark. Did men live that long then, or were birthdays counted differently? Whats up with that?



Anyway I did find a little comfort in the fact God did say he would never do that whole thing again.



From Noah I think we are to be taught to listen to your intuition, God may not speak to us as he did to Noah. But don't most of us know when God is speaking to us. If we slow down every once in a while, we can hear the whisper, or maybe we can feel the tug. What our gut is telling us may not make sense, like Jamie and I, for example, but it may be part of something bigger.



Now I have to go and spell check this thing like 3 or 4 times!

The Backstory

Alright, so here's the abbreviated version of the events that lead me today to my computer....and the Bible.

I am The Sceptic

6 months ago I assumed that I had it all figured out. I was not a religious person, I did not and do not attend church (although I have off and on throughout my life). I would have told you that I believe in God, although I was teetering on the brink of atheism. I did and still do believe that Jesus existed and was a swell guy. Just as swell a guy as The Buddha, and Allah and any number of loving, unconditionally great people throughout history. I did not, and as of today, do not think he was immaculately conceived, or rose on the third day or healed the sick. Which means ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.....that I am not a Christian.

My friend Jamie is The Believer

6 months ago I got a message on facebook from a guy I knew for a very brief time in high school. We had been pretty close in that brief time, but after he moved away, that was that. It had been 20 yrs since I last spoke to him. One of the first things I said to him was "I figured you were in prison somewhere" He was one of those boys back then. One of his first questions to me was why I had written that I hated Sara Palin.

From that conversation one of the strangest friendships in the history of friendships was born.


We are ALMOST the exact opposite versions of one another, and yet I would have to say that he is one of my very best friends.



He asked me a few months back if I would read and discuss the Bible with him. We live on opposite ends of the country and so we text a lot and we talk occasionally. I love to write so I thought it would make a pretty interesting blog.



His hope, I think, is that I will "see the light". Its my hope as well, actually. I've told him on more than one occasion that I envy his faith. Faith is just not something I have ever had. I just don't believe in anything. That said, even I can't help seeing the coincidence of Jamie coming into my life out of the blue after 20 yrs. and he and I becoming such close friends against all reason. So what if this was God's plan, which I know is what Jamie thinks it is.


So through this I hope to gain an understanding of Faith, God, Jamie, and myself.

We will read it over the course of a year. I will attempt to blog about what I read everyday. I hope to hold our discussions here as well. Over the course of this year I may change dramatically, slightly, not at all........

and so it goes...............