Lets review, that's what these first few (+1) chapters were about. Basically God is saying. Here's what I said I would do and here's what I did.LOVE the name Og and have asked a few good friends to refer to me from now on as Og.
As our peeps are traveling through the different lands in order to get to the Emerald City, they are told they can't bother the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, as they are all related to this person or that person that is a descendant of this person or that person.
BUTTT they could take out the Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan.
Finally they reach Cannan and Moses is told that he isn't invited. Normally I would be very angry about this and worried for Moses etc... but Jamie talked to me and informed me that I just need to relax and wait and see how it all plays out before a get my panties in a wad. So that's fine that Moses did all this work and Joshua get to bring in the herd.
He reminds them to follow the feasts, the commandments, and I think Crosby, Stills and Nash said it best....
"Teach your children well, Their father's hell did slowly go by."
Also, tell the children about the time they heard a voice without a body talk to them out of fire....I'm soooo going to try that one with my daughters, it's sure to have them in tears in a matter of minutes.
Well boys and girls, ladies and gents my fam and I are taking the family truckster and headed to the Florida Keys. As we are a family of Parrot Heads its a bit of a pilgrimage for us. I will continue to read and post, Jamie says the readings will be a little shorter, and I say so will my posts.
I will most likely be blogging from my blackberry so if it looks a bit funny and my spelling and punctuation is off, lets go ahead and blame it that, ok? ok.
3 comments:
Ch1 is fairly uneventful in that, as Crystal said, it's kind of a review. Yes, there will be a quiz later...it's called your life. I think the lesson to be learned in here is the pointing out that when God says it's time to do something, then it's time, but when He doesn't, then it isn't. Get it? Everything in God's timing. He assures us that what we need will never come a second too late, but neither a second too early. Trust in Him.
Ch. 2 shows God's faithfulness and promises kept to other peoples besides the Israelites. Remember how He promised blessings upon Lot, Esau, etc.? That's why He won't let the Israelites disposses them. Also, worth noting, again, is the size and formidableness (is that a word?) of Israel's enemies (giants). Lesson, what seem like a formidable and terrifying enemy cannot stand against you if God is for you. There are again, some indirect indications of private property rights (capitalism, free market) etc.
Ch 3 is more references to how fierce (in the natural) their enemies were and how God fought for them (as He does now for us, if we obey). And also more review of the absolute annihilation of their enemies. I think it's important to note here something I failed to say in earlier posts, but shared with Crystal; that is, when I first read of the wholesale slaughter of the women and children I too was aghast; but I was already a believer so probably not as much as many of you (I already trusted in the Lord). As I stated early in this experiment, I take the entire Bible in context as a whole, and so I am not bothered by how God dealt with the Jews or their enemies 3,600 yrs ago. Having already read the entire Bible means that I am privvy to information that many of you may not have. So when you see me write to Crystal that she should withold judgement, etc. until later, it's not because I want or expect blind following, it's just that there's so much more info. she (and you) may not have yet. tbc...
Ch4..vs.2 Is why religions should be careful about what they add or take away from the Word concerning salvation, right and wrong, etc. Very clear warning. Not to keep picking on Catholics and Episcopalians (i think), but hail marys, our fathers, performing gay marriage......all wrong.
vs 7 applies to the United States so well, and our founding and beginning. This is one verse that shows why Christians believe we should stick to our founding (as a Christian nation tolerant of other religions).
vs9 states you must DILIGENTLY guard your life (against sin)...it's not a walk in the park. Sometimes it's tough, but if you are faithful and do your part, so too, will God. Also, here we have the beginning of the direction to parents and grandparents to teach their children God's Word.
vs. 16(and several more) we again get into this graven image thing. And, again, it's clear that even statues that are supposed to represent God (or Jesus), Mary, saints, etc. are wrong. That's why in the preceding couple of verses it makes special note of God not appearing to them in any particular form...so they should not attempt to assign to Him (even if done with respectful intentions) ANY form. It is very clear.
There is also prophesying here about what the Jews will experience later, and God's deliverance of them, yet again. And like in vs. 31 "He will not fail you..." , He is always there for us as He was for the Israelites. Late we'll see how that promise of jealous loyalty and faithfulness has been extended to us today.
God, very badly, wants us to have "personal knowledge" of Him and a personal relationship with Him. And just like with our children part of that love includes correction, discipline, and admonishment (vs36). I LOVE THIS CHAPTER.
Tomorrow is Deut. 5-7
As an elementary teacher, do you honestly believe that you can snow Crystal into accepting the assertation that this is a Christian nation founded on Christianity?
The United States Constitution serves as the law of the land for America and indicates the intent of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution forms a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity, Jesus, or any supreme being.
The U.S. government derives from people (not God), as it clearly states in the preamble: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union...."
The omission of God in the Constitution did not come out of forgetfulness, but rather out of the Founding Fathers purposeful intentions to keep government separate from religion.
Although the Constitution does not include the phrase "Separation of Church & State," neither does it say "Freedom of religion." However, the Constitution implies both in the 1st Amendment.
As to our freedoms, the 1st Amendment provides exclusionary wording:
Congress shall make NO law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Thomas Jefferson made an interpretation of the 1st Amendment to his January 1st, 1802 letter to the Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association calling it a "wall of separation between church and State."
Madison had also written that "Strongly guarded. . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States." There existed little controversy about this interpretation from our Founding Fathers.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from those so called "Christian Founding Fathers":
James Madison--
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
-letter to Wm. Bradford, April 1, 1774
John Adams wrote --
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
-letter to Thomas Jefferson
and Thomas Jefferson himself wrote -
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology."
Old Ben Franklin, in between batches of homemade beer and backyard grown pot wisely shared this--
"In the affairs of the world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the lack of it."
and renown critic of religion Thomas Paine's gem -
"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."
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