Book of Jeremiah 10-12 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns:

Jeremiah 10-12

God disapproves of your Christmas tree.

10:3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. God is sad because people won't set up his tabernacle.  Did he forget that 'God helps those who help themselves'? 10:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. 10:20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. I thought you were SUPPOSED to pray for sinners?  Does this mean that no one is praying for my salvation? :-( 11:14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. We haven't seen God commit genocide in a while.   11:22 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: 11:23 And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation. All in all, Jeremiah just seems cranky today.

Book of Jeremiah 7-9 the confusion of their own faces

Jeremiah 7-9

Who was Jeremiah writing for?  Who was his (or any other prophets) audience?  Did they write and then take to the streets to preach?  Was he a prophet for someone in a place of power?

We get more of the same in this reading.  God's not happy.
God/Jeremiah starts of pretty pissed.  Better not make eye contact.

7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Um, What???

7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices Jeremiah must not have read the books of Moses!  He does remember many of the other commandments. This was sadly funny; 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. God is mad because HE wanted to burn their sons and daughters alive. All in all. nothing really new or exciting.

Book of Jeremiah 4-6 My bowels, my bowels!

Jeremiah 4-6

Jeremiah prophesies again and sure enough, folks are in trouble because they've forgotten the LORD.
We're only a few chapters into this book and it already sounds like the broken record of Isaiah.

To save everyone some time, this is what every prophet says;
Oh Israel!  you have turned away from the god that has created you and led you out of Egypt!
God is sad that you don't bring him lunch anymore and have taken up false idols and lusty women!
The LORD is going to punish you for this by killing many, destroying your crops and kicking you in the nuts, but he still loves you.  REALLY!  He's doesn't WANT to hurt you.  He'd rather make you oatmeal and raison cookies but you just don't freakin' listen do you?!?!
Good news though, God can see in the future and says that eventually all of you will wise up and get your act together.


Who says the Bible doesn't have humor!

5:8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.

Gotta love this line!  Jeremiah outs himself as a fraud.

5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? 6:22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. The take away from this reading is that God is sending the bad guys from the north to mess with his beloved people.

It's a Duck

Bunnies show us the difference between evidence and belief.
From http://i.imgur.com/1BXxi.jpg

Jeremiah 1-3 A prophet unto the nations

Jeremiah 1-3

Isaiah is done but Jeremiah looks to be just as tough to get through.  I'm actually fondly remembering the wholesale slaughter in the Book of Joshua.
The guys sure aren't Elijah/Jesus level prophets.

How do we know Jeremiah is a prophet?  He says he is.
How does HE know he's a prophet?  God told him so.  'nuff said.  After all, no one questions that John Smith was a true prophet.

So, we've proven Jeremiah is a prophet, but we don't get any profit out of the first few chapters in his book.  Just the same old speech about Israelites turning away from God and God being sad.

Jeremiah doesn't mince words.  He doesn't care much for the actions of Israel or Judah.

3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

Even though they are both horrible states, God like Israel better.  He gives them a chance.

3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.

Finally, at the end of chapter 3 we get a little light prophecy about reunification, but any dime-store prophet could have prophesied that.

2012-The Return to Critical Thought

We're only two-thirds of the way thru the KJV Bible, but I'm trying to think about what will be demanding too much of my time in the coming year.

The subject is easy.  Critical Thought.  While the KJV has been very interesting at times, my blood pressure is suffering from the contant acceptance of the super natural and magic.  I crave evidence.

I want to read 3 or 4 books, depending on when we finish up here.  I DON'T want to post every day.  Maybe once a week.  How and what I post about the books I haven't yet decided.  I don't how the dialogue will work.

The one book I will definitely do is Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World.  There isn't a better book on the subject of why science is important to mankind.
A strong contender is James Burke's Connections.  He does an incredible job of laying out how mankind builds on previous knowledge to advance civilization, and how quickly the world can change.
Burke did a great video series based on his Connections books.  You can probably find them at the library.
The other books will likely be ones that I own but haven't read yet.  These are only a few of the books on my shelf.
Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things
Thomas Gilovich's How We Know What isn't So
James Kakalios' The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics.  James makes tough science fun and easy to understand.  He also has a great book titled The Physics of Superheroes.

I was thinking of doing a book by Michio Kaku or Stephen Hawking but I think they may be a little heady and require that people have more then a passing knowledge of physics.  They are also theoretical physicists and I want to keep the reading grounded in evidence based knowledge.
I do recommend their books though.  They present some fun and compelling ideas.

So, what are your thoughts?  You in or out?  What books would you like to read?

As a bonus, are there any TV shows, movies or documentaries that we should try to tackle on the side?

You can enjoy Carl Sagan's Cosmos for free on Hulu.  Knowing the science of the universe makes it all the more beautiful and amazing.

Book of Isaiah 63-66 Where for art thou?

Isaiah 63-66

This book has dragged on forever.  The folks that compiled the KJV left out a lot of stuff.  Why didn't they cut Isaiah down to 20-30 chapters?

We do get some really good writing  from Isaiah at the end and he asks a really good question;
'Hey God!  Where did you go? Why don't you hang out with us like you did with Abraham and Moses?'

He asks these questions but he already knows the reason.  Israel is a collective bunch of screw-ups who can't/won't follow God's rules.  Pretty simple.

God has a good answer for him;
'I watch you continually disappointing me and I know you'll always be this way but I won't destroy you completely.  Some of you will obey and I'll be nice to you.'

He seems to indicate that he'll start again from scratch;

65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. And 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. Chapter 66 is how ALL the books of the bible should end!!!  Fire! Death! Redemption!  Every word is gold.  We get a concise explanation of what God plans to do. Isaiah may be long-winded but he knew how to finish with a bang.