Never Read A Bible Verse!

Never read a bible verse, don't do it. Read a bible paragraph, read a bible chapter, read before the verse you're using, read after the verse you're using, get the context, but don't just read a bible verse. I'm not a scholarly bible student but I've been through The Book more (much more) than the majority of people who call themselves Christian and have learned that other than Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21 most of everything between them needs to have their context examined before being used. Check this out:

"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree" - (Revelation 9:4) - Seen on an Earth Day T-Shirt.

This one's a classic. This verse was actualy worn on a T-Shirt at an Earth Day rally. I wish I had been there to see it, not only is it out of context, it's only a partial verse. On the surface it looks warm and fluffy and earth friendly, but let's look at Revelation 9:4 again, this time  in context:

1 Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it  stings a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. (Revelation 9:1-6)

Nothing says "Happy Earth Day" like a plague of man eating locusts.

OT Tuesday: The Ultimate Sacrifice

Isaac was the son of promise. He was born to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety. God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of  many nations, in fact God even changed his name from Abram  (meaning exalted father) to Abraham (meaning father of many nations) but Abraham and Sarah remained childless until they were well past the age most people would live, let alone have a baby. Both Abraham and Sarah though that having their first son in their old age to be both a wonderful blessing and an incredibly funny joke that God played on them. Really, they did:

6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:6-7)

In fact the name that God had earlier told Abraham to give his son, Isaac, means "He laughs". We all know what happened then, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, an angel stopped him, they killed a ram and Abraham became the father of the Jewish nation. But let's look at this again as Christians with the knowledge of several thousand years of history.

The Five Solas

The Five Solas ( or more properly, The Five Solae) are five Latin phrases that emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize not only the reformer's basic beliefs but ours as Christians as well. "Sola" is a Latin word that means "alone" or "only". The Five Solas are the essential original teachings of Chirstianity, especially in regard to salvation. In essence, when it comes to God, the 5 Solas are all you need.

Sola Scriptura - the Scripture Alone is the standard. The Bible is the word of God, it's a divinely inspired unified work of literature, it's Jesus' autobiography, and contains everything you need to know to get into heaven. Every word of the 66 books of the bible is inspired by God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit also helps us understand the scripture. The bible does not contain all the knowledge that God holds, there's not enough paper for that. What the bible does contain is what God needs us to know to reach him and receive his grace. 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us that "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." and Proverbs 30:6 tells us "Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar." Additions include catechisms, traditions, watchtower magazines and books like the Pearl of Great Wisdom.

They Went Praising The Lord

Upon his resurrection Jesus' closest disciples, Simon (Peter), Andrew (Peters brother), James and John (The sons of Zebedee) Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (the son of Alphaeus), Judas (the other Judas), Simon the Zealot, but not Judas (THAT Judas) went from being disciples to Apostles. The word disciple comes from the latin word discipulus which means pupil. Apostle comes from the Greek word apostellein which means 'sent out' and 'messenger'. They went from being students to being teachers as they carried out Jesus' Great Commission.. Of course Paul and Barnabas became apostles too, but it's for theologeons to decide if they were apostles or Apostles. For me, I'm just happy to know they were there, spreading the Lords word. 

Along with being the first people to spread the Gospel of Jesus, they were also the first entries in Fox's Book of Martyrs. Every Apostle died an unnatural death, and every one of them went to their deaths praising the Lord. The first martyr for Christ was, of course, Steven who was stoned to death by the pharisees (Acts 7:54-60) followed not long after by James, brother of John (Acts 12:1-2). Tradition also states that the executioner had two people to execute that day as the Roman officer who was  guarding James was converted by James' faith, declared his new faith to the judge, and knelt down next to James to be executed too. 

OT Tuesday: Towering Confusion

A while ago God got really fed up with us people and decided to clean house, so to speak. So the entire world experienced a rinse cycle the likes of which have never been seen before or since. Slowly the waters receded and the sons of Noah began to replenish the earth.

As we know, Jesus likes little kids (Matthew 19:14) and that's because God does too, on more than one occasion He commanded us to go out and have lots of babies (Genesis 9:7) for him to love. Several times God told us to "Go forth and multiply", because he wanted mankind to spread over the earth he built for us

So humans being humans we thought we had a better idea, we got together and decided to build a town:

³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4-5)

Lots of people believe that the idea of building a tower that will reach to heaven is the sin of Babel but that may not be so...