Same Old story, Same New song and dance

I had a mini-epiphany while surfing the internet this morning.
My friend Hemant, the Friendly Atheist,  had a little piece about why young christians are leaving the church.  While I thought it was mildly interesting it made me think about the similarities between then and now.

It occurred to me that since the beginning of this book, God's human confederates have had to deal with the constant battle of people not wanting to follow the rules and not buying into the dogma of an organized religion.  And that like today it was probably the youngsters that turned against them.
It's not a long shot to assume they have the same basic reasons for turning against the status quo.  Rebelling against authority and looking for their own identity seem to be timeless traits in humans.

I know this is nothing new in the way of insight but it gave me a little appreciation for what Moses and the rest of the guys had to deal with.  My nieces, nephews (and I) would have been stoned and burned at the stake if we lived back then.

Book of Isaiah 59-62 Their webs shall not become garments

Isaiah 59-62

Long story short;
We are lost without God.

Almost done with Isaiah!

Book of Isaiah 56-58 Behold, I am a dry tree

Isaiah 56-58

I'm guessing believers will say the first verse in this chapter is predicting Jesus.

56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

I like this odd bit;

56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. I also like this verse.  Makes me feel warm inside. 56:12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Chapter 57 sees god punishing the children of the wicked but this time it's for their own wickedness. Chapter 58 shows us a God we've never seen before.  Kind, loving, telling us to be nice to others.  He tells us that if we love and obey him, he'll take care of us.  Nice guy.

42 Fallacies

I thought it would be useful to post a link to the free online book, 42 fallacies by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere.  If I knew it existed, I would have posted it at the beginning of the year.


What fallacies have you noticed in the posts and comments?*














*Any comments that argue against the blog author will be deleted because I'm the authority here and therefore right.  ;-)  
 

Dead Sea Scrolls Online

Here is an interesting article on the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are now online in complete form with translations thanks to a partnership between Google and the Israel Museum.
The article talks about the control of information as a source of power, even in the digital age.

You can find the project online here

A story about getting them online is here.

Book of Isaiah 52-55

Isaiah 52-55

I guess I should pay closer attention to what Isaiah is saying but he's lost me as a writer.

Isaiah/God continues to tell us how great he is, why it's wonderful that he likes the Israelites (imagine if he DIDN'T like them!) and says something about how barren women, or women who have lost a child, or both should be ok with it because HE (God) is their husband.  Or, did I miss the point because I just don't care??

Chapter 53 has me very confused.  Is Isaiah trying to tell us we're supposed fel sorry for God?  Or am I reading this wrong and we're supposed to feel sorry for the unsaved man?   Or, did I miss the point because I just don't care??

Considering this is the inspired word of god almighty, it's not very clear sometimes.  When missionaries handed out bibles to tribes back in the day, did they really expect these people to catch on to christianity based on the Bible?   Or, did I miss the point because I don't care??

What do I care about?  The Viking Kittens!

Book of Isaiah 49-51 from the bowels of my mother

Isaiah 49-51

I think Isaiah is out boring even Job!  Make it stop!

There's something about dead kids and cannibalism.

I have noticed that Isaiah likes to bring up the old school characters from Genesis.

Five more days of this and then we get a small reprieve with the light-hearted Lamentations.