A little bit of searching, and I have discovered Yoda’s own bible translation – the Yoda Language Translation (YLT). Unknowingly, I had it on my iPhone the whole time. At time’s it sounds like Yoda is reading from the King James Version, so unfortunately there’s a few “ye” type words in there, but then again Yoda is a pretty old dude, so maybe he wrote it a few hundred years ago in his younger days when such language was more widely used.

Here’s a few sample verses for you :

1 Cor 13:1 (YLT) If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

Eph 2:8-10 (YLT) for by grace ye are having been saved, through faith, and this not of you — of God the gift, not of works, that no one may boast; for of Him we are workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God did before prepare, that in them we may walk.

Isaiah 53:6-7 (YLT) All of us like sheep have wandered, Each to his own way we have turned, And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all. It hath been exacted, and he hath answered, And he openeth not his mouth, As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought, And as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, And he openeth not his mouth.

The bibles and books are stored on the memory of the iPhone, thus once you have downloaded them initially, an internet connection is not required, unlike the YouVersion Bible software I have been using over the last couple of months. Some of the books I have on my phone include :

• Bibles – NLTse, NIV, TNIV, ESV, NRSV, NASB, MSG, NKJV, Amplified, and God’s Word (of course) plus many more..
• Study Bibles – ESV, NIV, NLT, Life Application study Bibles. Also ‘antique’ ones like Scofield and Ryrie (for curiosities sake) etc
• Commentaries – IVP New testament commentary, Life Application Commentary, Ancient Christian Commentary, Matthew Henry etc etc
• Devotions – My Utmost, Morning and Evening etc
• Books – Foxes Book of Martyrs, Pilgrim’s Progress, Imitation of Christ etc
• Dictionaries – a number of Bible and Theological Dictionaries, Greek and Hebrew, Bible maps etc etc

So as you can see, a big part of the appeal of this software is the range of resources you can have at your fingertips on your phone. Flipping between books is easy. There are powerful search functions included. Highlighting and bookmarking passages is simple and these can be categorized for later retrieval and sorting. The Settings page is well populated giving a range of options to customise the view. Font type and size can be changed, you can have red-letter on or off, view Strong’s numbers, set your preferred translation, dictionary etc, choose to show or hide the status bar, title, and buttons.

There are a few features that I feel could be improved but some are just things that I need to get used to. For example text does not scroll in the usual iPhone scrolling style, rather you advance text by pressing the left area of screen to advance a page or a verse at a time. I’m sure I’ll get used to this but it still would be nice to have the option of more traditional style iPhone scrolling. Another thing is it doesn’t seem to support having more than one book open on the same page, like previous versions of PocketBible on other platforms. I found this a really valuable feature, being able to view two bibles (or a bible and a commentary) at the same time – I really hope this gets introduced soon. Logging into your Laridian account and downloading books is very easy, but it would be nice if they somehow incorpprated the ability to purchase new books directly on the iPhone, rather than having to do so on their website as at present. This is not a big issue for me (since I already own most of their stuff) but for new customers would be a great feature. Plus I’m sure they’d sell more books that way!

Another possible idea for them would be to consider implementing some sort of social networking feature. This is one of the few things I liked about the YouVersion software – for any passage you can link to a section called Contribs which includes other people’s submitted thoughts/blogs etc – almost like a ‘wiki-commentary.’ Obviously this is quite a big step outside what Laridian software have done to date though. Another possibly easier suggestion (which YouVersion doesn’t have) would be to allow posting of verses to Twitter/Facebook etc. This would be in keeping with these ethos of a wide range of other iPhone apps which allow posting of all sorts of things. These are just pipe-dream suggestions though.

Having said all this, Laridian have made it clear on their blog that this is just the first release, and they have a number of updates already planned in coming months – so hopefully we will see some of these issues dealt with, plus other cool new features coming soon. (EDIT : I’ve already been informed on facebook that the split screen feature is  definitely in the pipeline).

Overall this is a great piece of software that finally makes my iPhone experience complete in a way. Even on it’s first version PocketBible is far superior to any other Bible software for iPhone in terms of both it’s functionality and the amount of resources you can get for it. If you are looking for Bible software for your iPhone then look no further – go and download this straight away and start building your library. Laridian also regularly offer good discounts like 20% off all books so make sure you subscribe to their email newsletter.

Here’s a few more screenshots from the program. I love the fact that it’s so easy to take screenshots on the iPhone (hold down home button and press the top button..)

One of the difficult things about Christianity, in particular the Protestant branch, is that there are so many different versions of it, which differ in so many ways in their interpretations of the Bible.  We’ve heard recently in our church about William Tyndale, the medieval saint who fought to bring an English translation of the Bible to the common man, setting in process a train of events that led through Henry VII and then King James right through to the abundance to different translations we have at our disposal today. This is a good thing. But, the inevitable and unavoidable side effect of this, along with Protestantism’s rejection of the Roman Catholic doctrines of Tradition (capital T) and the magisterium, are that we left with such a divergent range of interpretations of what the Bible actually means.

How are we to negotiate this mine-field to actually get some idea of what might be the actual truth underneath it all? Here’s a few thoughts :

1. Be aware of the issue. It seems that some many Christians think that there is just one simple way to understand the Bible and assume that everyone must think the same way about things. For example some people have a vague idea of ‘the rapture’ and seem to accept that this is a standard part of Christian belief, blissfully unaware that the majority of Christians throughout history haven’t subscribed to this doctrine. And that’s just one example. It may be unsettling for people, but becoming aware that there are alternative views on a huge range of issues and admitting that it is not always easy to determine who’s right and who’s wrong is important. Naivety is not a healthy aspect of Christian character.

2. Be suspicious – not in a nasty, paranoid way but in a healthy way. Ask questions? If you are reading a book or listening to a speaker try and find out where they are coming from – what is their denominational background and/or doctrinal view? For example it helps to know if an author is Reformed or Pentecostal or Anglican or Catholic. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read or listen to someone who’s outside your particular tradition or chosen viewpoint (on the contrary, this is a very good thing to do) but it is very important to appreciate how their beliefs influence what they are saying. Beware of the author without a Bio, and even more of the one who presents their views with an arrogant certainty of “this is just how it is” or who doesn’t seem to have an appreciation that others may differ (see point 1).

3. Following on from this – we need to cultivate a humility of knowledge. We don’t want to be just floating aimlessly – it is good that we do decide what we believe on topics, guided by sources we trust, our own knowledge and study (whether limited or broad), and to some extent by our feelings. But we should be humble about these opinions – conceeding that we may actually be wrong and that we won’t know anything for sure until the next life. And while the less knowledge or education we have on a subject the more humble we should be, no amount of education will obviate the need for some humility. I like what N T Wright says  along the lines of  “of what I’m saying I’m probably wrong on at least a quarter of it – the problem is I don’t know which quarter”

4. Develop an idea of what constitutes basic Christian orthodoxy and what are the elements that Christians legitimately differ on. Start with the Apostles and Nicene creeds to get a good idea of what pretty much all Christians agree on. For example the Trinity, virgin birth, and physical ressurection are pretty important central doctrines. The fact that Jesus is coming back to judge and set things right is important but the details about the “end-times” are more arguable and less important. God as creator is important – whether he did it in 6 days or 13 billion years is less critical. Be certain about the central points and humble about the less central ones… the problem is that different groups disagree on what the essential central core points are! I’d suggest making this core as narrow as possible – once again, start with the creeds.

5. Be guided by people you trust – people who are educated, knowledgeable, and also humble about their own beliefs. Usually this will be pastors, church leaders, reputable Christian authors etc. But remember it is still your choice and judgement to trust them, so still maintain the humility that you and they may not have everything completely right.

6. Respect other traditions and learn from them. Even those we disagree with and strongly (but humbly!) feel are incorrect about some things, still undoubtedly have other positive characteristics we can learn from. We all get some things right and we all get some things wrong – no one is 100% right about everything. non-Pentecostals can learn from Pentecostals about vibrant heartfelt spirituality and faith in the miraculous; and non-Catholics can learn from Catholics about reverence and devotion and tradition. Don’t write anyone off completely – try to see the positives and where that might spotlight the areas where we might fall short.

6. Trust God. He created our world, planned our salvation, and gave us the Bible. We have to trust that he is in control, has a plan, and that somehow all this disagreement and confusion and denominations are something that he will ultimately use to bring his plans to fruition. Whatever we believe about the details, we can all agree that the good news about Jesus is something the whole world needs to hear..

1Honour physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
2for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
3The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
4The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
and the sensible will not despise them.
5Was not water made sweet with a tree
in order that its power might be known?
6And he gave skill to human beings
that he might be glorified in his marvellous works.
7By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
8   the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s works will never be finished;
and from him health  spreads over all the earth.

9My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
and cleanse your heart from all sin.
11Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
12Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
13There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
14   for they too pray to the Lord
that he will grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
15He who sins against his Maker
will be defiant towards the physician.

~ Sirach 38

On a slightly related topic, this front page story makes me a little angry..

It’s a bit of a shame. Looks like the failure of the TNIV was a failure of marketing more than anything else, and conservative/fundamentalist elements ended up being quite opposed to it. I never used it as my primary Bible but whenever I did refer to it I usually found it preferable to the old NIV. And not just because it is “gender-inclusive” I just found it had better readability and clarity. I hope they don’t sacrifice any of these 3 things in the NIV 2011. I’m actually in favour of the gender-inclusive approach to passages which are not addressed to a specific gender. It’s not standard english practice to address a group of men and women as “brothers” so why should a modern translation retain such culturally bound language? Maybe it’s just my non-conservative bias coming through

I don’t actually own a proper TNIV (only a parallel version with The Message – something the fundamentalists would hate even more!) so now might be a good time to invest in one before they disappear. Who knows, it might be a collectors item in future years…

Presently I mainly switch between the NLT-SE (very readable although at a cost of some depth of meaning I think) and NRSV (which seems to combine some of the best of the features of readability, clarity and depth, gender-inclusiveness, and still some of that classic English traditional feel) – sometimes I’ll look in the ESV which is a quite literal version but a bit heavy going.

[please note if you are searching for the NRSV online don't go to NRSV.com - you'll be in for a bit of a nasty surprise... lol]

For more discussion of the NIV issue take a look at Scot McKnight’s blog and the Better Bibles Blog.

In related news, my favourite Bible software company Laridian is close to releasing their PocketBible software for the iPhone. This will be far superior to any of the existing iPhone Bible software and since I already own all their Bibles/commentaries etc etc I will be able to get them all on my iPhone without having to pay again (including the TNIV and many more). The app is awaiting approval by Apple at the moment – keep an eye on their blog for updates or I’ll be sure to mention it here once it finally gets released

EHRMAN : Suffering increasingly became a problem for me and my faith. How can one explain all the pain and misery in the world if God—the creator and redeemer of all—is sovereign over it, exercising his will both on the grand scheme and in the daily workings of our lives? Why, I asked, is there such rampant starvation in the world? … If God is concerned to answer my little prayers about my daily life, why didn’t he answer my and others’ big prayers when millions were being slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, when a mudslide killed 30,000 Columbians in their sleep, in a matter of minutes, when disasters of all kinds caused by humans and by nature happened in the world?

He even provides a pretty good answer to the question himself, but for him it was ultimately still not strong enough for him to retain his belief in God.

EHRMAN : God himself is deeply concerned with suffering and intimately involved with it. The Christian message, for me, at the time, was that Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to us humans, and that in Jesus we can see how God deals with the world and relates to it. He relates to it, I thought, not by conquering it but by suffering for it. Jesus was not set on a throne in Jerusalem to rule over the Kingdom of God. He was crucified by the Romans, suffering a painful, excruciating, and humiliating death for us. What is God like? He is a God who suffers. The way he deals with suffering is by suffering both for us and alongside us.

Fortunately we have one of the best theologians/scholar/pastors in the world today to try and address these questions, and Wright does a good job – although I (like Ehrman) found his first post was not entirely convincing, in his second entry Tom really starts to approach the heart of the matter :

WRIGHT : If one believes, not merely as an intellectual assent to doctrine but as a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then the dark mystery of suffering can be seen within the context of his suffering, and be transformed by it.

Of course, for its fullness this necessarily generates, as I said, the life of the church in and through which evil is then addressed. Part of the ‘transformation’ is that Jesus’ followers go to work as healers, reconcilers, and so on. That’s why the last two chapters of my book are a small attempt to say that the work of believing people in addressing the urgent needs of the world is actually a part of the biblical answer – if you can call it an ‘answer’ – to the problem.

The beginining of God’s answer to the problems of pain and suffering in the world is Jesus’ own sufferings and subsequent resurrection (which, as Wright points out is the climax of the OT story of Abraham and Israel). But the continuation of God’s solution is through the church – we need to be God’s means of reaching out and addressing the pain and suffering of the world.

But then Ehrman goes on to raise another tricky, and most appropriate, question. What about all the instances in the Old Testament where people’s suffering is blamed on their sin – ie. suffering as punishment? And what about all those instances where God himself, or God’s chosen people, inflict mass casualities (eg Noah’s flood, Joshua’s invasion of Caanan)? Very good questions – ones I personally would struggle to answer (and unfortunately Wright doesn’t really address this stuff in much detail in his reply). A strong come back from Ehrman, and yet again he raises a point about Jesus that I would agree with ( for an agnostic he seems to have some good theological insights, just a shame he doesn’t believe them) – The Kingdom of God is not manifest in Jesus only in his sufferings..

EHRMAN : … the Kingdom is manifest in Jesus’ life and work: in the kingdom there will be no disease, no demons, and no death. Jesus manifests this kingdom in the meantime: he heals the sick, he casts out demons, and he raises the dead. This was not a message about some vague power of God breaking in at some period thousands of years hence. It was God breaking in now

The ministry of Jesus in the gospels gives us a good example how we, as part of his Kingdom, should be working in the world – feeding the hungry, healing the sick, remembering the forgotten. Ehrman touches on this point in the following quote :

EHRMAN : Even if we cannot, in the end, know the reasons for suffering, we can at the least have appropriate responses to it. We ourselves can feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked; we can work to solve problems of poverty; we can give money to agencies finding cures for cancer and AIDS; we can volunteer more often locally; we can give more to international relief efforts. We can, in fact, fulfill the urgent demands implicit in Matthew’s account of the judgment between the sheep and the goats, for “as you have done this to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me.”

But ultimately Ehrman’s view is that the Kingdom never did come, and presumably never will. Wright begs to differ, and brings it back to what is the central issue in much of his work – the resurrection.

WRIGHT : But the real dividing line, still – and you still haven’t addressed it – comes with the resurrection. I do think, and I think the early Christians thought, and I think the evangelists (yes, in their different ways) thought, that the kingdom did come through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not ‘come’ fully, of course; but, in the usual language, it was radically inaugurated … For the early Christians, God’s new world – the world where God’s writ runs – had already begun, and they were living in it by the power of the Spirit. Things did change. The early Christians did make a difference. Yes, of course, earthquakes and tsunamis still happen. The NT writers knew that as well as we did, and they went on saying that Jesus was already Lord, not simply that he would become that one day. They weren’t mostly offering, either, an analysis of ‘why evil/suffering happens,’ but they were implementing Jesus’ kingdom-work of challenging evil/suffering in the power of God – not in a sudden all-powerful theocracy, banishing every evil at a stroke, but in their continuing work on the model of Jesus himself and his parables.

All up a great series of posts. Ehrman provides some challenging questions an Wright coming back with some excellent (although perhaps not decisive) answers. Although my heart sides with Wright, I think I’d have to call this debate a draw. If you’d like to read through the posts (and it’s well worth doing) you can start here and just click the right arrowed links at the top of the page to follow them through.

[thanks to Ben Witherington for the link to this debate]

Great post this from Ben Witherington, giving a few basic principles to keep in mind for Biblical interpretation. His three main guidelines are :

1) ‘What it meant is what it means’.

2) ‘Context is king’.

3) Genre matters.

Very sensible stuff and well worth reading through. He gives some entertaining illustrations along the way. Be prepared to be motivated to do more in-depth bible study though rather than settling for a superfical reading.

Laridian are my favourite Bible software company. I used their software on my Palm, now I have it on my PocketPC, and now I can have it on my Windows PC also, with the release of PocketBible for Windows. The beauty of this is that all the various Bible versions, commentaries, dictionaries and other books I have purchased from them can now be viewed on my PC without having to pay for them all over again. All I have to do is login to their website and re-download the versions for Windows, saving me hundreds of dollars.

Also they have a version for the iPhone coming out next week. No word about a Mac OS version though…

EDIT : I’ve also created a file which contains our church Bible reading plan for use with Pocket Bible. This is a great plan which takes your through the OT once and NT twice each year. You can download the installer file for Pocket Bible for PocketPC here . There is no installer for Pcoket Bible for Windows but you can get the plan in there by copying the “lbk” file in this zip file into the directory where your other Laridian Books are installed. I’ve also discovered this can be done for any other Laridian books for PocketBible for PocketPC, even the ancient ones which don’t have a Windows installer available for download…

The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8 NIV)

 1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

 4“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”

 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Now the first thing I want to note about this, as a bit of an aside, is that we should be wary of trying to read deep significance into every little detail or aspect of a Biblical passage. In this parable obviously the old woman represents praying believers and the judge stands for God – but he’s not a direct substitute for God. God is not a grumpy old man who only answers prayers if we nag him so we will shut up. Jesus was telling his story to make a point, and as always he would have used things which his audience would have been familiar with. Maybe there was a judge in that town just like that, and hearing the story the people might have had a bit of a chuckle, thinking “Yeh that sounds like grumpy old judge Hezekiah” Jesus may have used the details in this way to engage the audience a bit more.

But leaving aside the details, what is the lasting message of this story? Is it that the way to get answers to our prayers is to continually hound God about that same thing day and night until he finally gives in? Actually the interpretation is given in verse 1 – the disciples should always pray and not give up. It’s not a recipe for how to pray, but rather an encouragement to those who are already praying, in the midst of an unjust situation, saying keep it up – if even an unjust judge like this will finally grant justice to the petitioner, how much more so will our God, who loves us, grant justice and mercy to us? The central point of the parable is a comparison, with the same effect as this passage in Matthew 7:9-10 :

9“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The parable paints a picture of how things are on earth, and then says how much better than that is God. And if this is the sort of God we are praying to, then we should be persistent and not give up, because he will come through for us in his time.

Prayer is a tricky subject. We pray and pray and pray for something and if we get the answer we hope for, we are immediately and correctly thankful. And if we don’t get the answer we want then we rationalise it by saying it must not be God’s will or God’s timing. What we are afraid to do is question why, to get angry with God and “argue it out” (Is 1:18  -MSG) And prayer where we don’t do that is tame prayer. Bold prayer, risking disappointment, and not being afraid to ask why, is the sort of prayer God calls us to – just look at the Psalms and prophets. These guys were not afraid to really get deep and express how they feel.

My next book is C.S. Lewis “Letters to Malcolm – chiefly on prayer” – I’ll be interested to see what insights Lewis has on the topic, and will try to post some quotes here if I get the chance amidst our travels.

I must admit I’m a bit stumped by this. Why on earth is the KJV so popular? The language is so archaic that it’s virtually impossible to read, and it’s textual basis has been significantly eroded by more recent discoveries. I guess there are plenty of cheap KJVs out there so price might be a factor, but then again it’s possible to score a decent paperback NIV or other more modern version at a very low price so I doubt that’s a major reason. Could it be due to the influence of weirdos like these people, who believe that the KJV alone is the infallible and inspired word of God in English? I always thought these sort of people were more fringe fundamentalists and would never have imagined that they held enough sway to drive a 400 year old almost unitelligible book to the top of the sales lists! I don’t think I even own a KJV aside from the one on my Palm Pilot, which I downloaded for free when I got my Bible software – but I rarely even look at that version. I do have a couple of NKJVs in print form, but although the ‘Thees’ and ‘Thous’ have been removed I still find the style a bit old fashioned and hard to follow at times.

I guess the sad thing is that millions of people are buying (and reading?) Bibles which they would probably find difficult to understand. Could the language be a major barrier for them to be getting the most out of what they are reading?

As for the others on the list they are not a bad bunch. Not surprised NIV is the next (though I’m still amazed it’s outsold by the KJV), and NCV is fairly aggressively marketed to kids and young people so that explains that. I guess there are a lot of Spanish speaking people in the US which explains the Reina Valera coming in at ten. My personal preference (at the moment) is a combination of the NLT and NRSV for daily reading, with an occaisional use of the NIV, ESV, NJB or NET, and sometimes the Message if I want to get a different slant. I also used a HCSB when I was travelling last year (since it’s the smallest I have) and found that pretty good as well.

Thought I’d try and get some Australian data to see if we follow the same pattern. Obviously this is only a rough guide, but the top selling Bibles at Koorong (Australia’s biggest Christian bookstore chair) seem to be made up mainly of NIV, NLT, NKJV, CEV, and The Message. I was pleased to find only one KJV in their list of their top 40 best selling Bibles (at #33).

Anyway, before this story gets any more attention, let me point you in the direction of some good blog entries on the subject by some reputable New Testament scholars :

• Ben Witherington: THE JESUS TOMB? ‘TITANIC’ TALPIOT TOMB THEORY SUNK FROM THE START
• Darrell Bock : Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus’ Family Tomb, What Do They Share?
• Scot McKnight : Was Jesus Married? One More Time

Traditionally the character of the “beloved disciple” in the gospel of John has been identified with the apostle John the son of Zebedee, who was held to be the author of the gospel. In more recent times this has been a less popular theory and a range of alternatives have been proposed (such as the Da Vinci Code‘s suggestion of Mary Magdalene).

Ben Witherington, in the above linked blog post, has an interesting idea – that the Beloved Disciple may be in fact be Lazarus of Bethany, the guy who Jesus raised from the dead. Ben’s article presents a quite plausible argument to advance this idea, and is a fascinating read. Identifying Lazarus as the Beloved Disciple really makes sense of the gospel material about this character. Check it out.

In this modern retelling, Slacktivist brings an ancient parable to life. Brilliant!

“The Christian faith grows out of and is sustained by the conversation between the church and its Bible. From this engagement, generation after generation, come the beliefs, the ethics, the liturgy, the purposes, and the relationships that define the Christian faith. To be sure, other voices enter the conversation, invited and uninvited, affecting the language used and the conclusions reached; but the primary and most influential partners are the community and the book. Of course, not all persons in the community are equally engaged in the conversation; some prefer to be silent, and some are silenced. Neither do all the books of the Bible participate equally. The reasons for this unevenness usually lie in the contents of the writings themselves, but not always. Sometimes there is quite a distance between what a document has to say and the church’s willingness or ability to hear it. The Letter to the Hebrews is a case in point.”

~ Fred B. Craddock – Introduction to Hebrews – New Interpreter’s Bible Vol XII : Hebrews – Revelation

As I’ve said before I don’t personally have a problem with Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible paraphrase. However I did find this version from the eternally humorous Purgatorio pretty funny, as I’m sure will those who are less keen on The Message – check it out.

The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of a fool to the left.

~ Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NRSV)

Or maybe it’s the reason why Americans drive on the wrong (right-hand) side of the road – perhaps they see it as being more biblical! Can anyone illuminate me on what this verse is really trying to say?

PS : I love the actual name of the Hebrew author of this book – Qohelet – now there’s one you could call your kids. Almost as cool as Og!

I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Here it is in modern English:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

Now that proves that big words aren’t always best. It’s almost like a complete opposite of The Message - an anti-Message if you like. I’ve noted online, in reading, and in conversation recently quite a bit of antipathy towards The Message. While I accept the reservations about it being one person’s paraphrase, rather than an accurate translation, I still think it can be quite a useful adjunct, to help get a fresh spin on things. You wouldn’t want to use it as your sole version of the Bible though. Personally for me I’ve been combining the NLT and NRSV of late which is a nice mix.

Anyway you can read more about the Orwell quote and the writing principles it illustrates on Steve Addison’s excellent blog World Changers (yet another one to keep an eye on…)

» Orwell on writing Steve Addison’s blog » World Changers

Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

~ Psalm 100:3 (NKJV)

We’re so used to the day being “good” it sometimes helps to remember just how “bad” it must have felt that first day. So many times I’ve heard it spoken that “We don’t need to be sad today remembering the crucifixion. We don’t need to be sombre and quiet, because we know the secret of what happens next. We know what happens on Sunday. Therefore, even though today is Good Friday, we can still celebrate the risen Jesus!” Now that’s all true but I think that approach misses something, something that the historic church with it’s liturgical calendar etc still appreciates. It doesn’t hurt to be sad on Good Friday. In fact it’s probably a healthy thing for us to try and appreciate just how serious, how awful, how painful and tragic this day really was. Remember the disappointment and brokenness of the disciples – their leader betrayed and murdered, their dreams shattered. Remember Mary, at the foot of the cross, her own heart pierced watching her son suffer. And remember the physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish of Jesus, forsaken by men and by God. Sure, we know the good news that comes after, the joy of the resurrection, but it helps to remember part of why that news is so good, and part of that is the contrast with the badness of Friday. So there’s nothing wrong today with a little dose of sorrow, brokenness and mourning (which I can relate to following the funeral of my grandfather this week) Good Friday is a day of power, a day of change, a day of fulfillment. I hope that many people stop and remember that today.

Reading the last few days in 1 Samuel 8-10, there’s a great example of this very thing. The people of Israel are crying out for a king like all the other nations, despite God’s repeated warnings that this is not what is best for them. And so God gives them exactly what they ask for, an impressive, tall dark and handsome king who also happens to be an airhead and a coward. It’s a pretty comical story. When we first meet Saul he is out unsuccesfully hunting down some lost donkeys (he never does find them – God sends them home for him) and needs to be pushed every step of the way by his resourceful servant. This guy seems to have no initiative or leadership skills whatsoever. Next up, when the ballots select Saul as king (as he had already been foretold that they would) where is he? Hiding amongst the baggage! What a wuss. But they found him and crowned him king anyway. The most you could say for Saul is that he was humble at least, but even this quality didn’t last very long. So God gave the people what they asked for – an impressive good looking king like all the other nations. But not only did they get what they asked for, they also got what they deserved. In the ensuing chapters (and indeed the whole of the books of Samuel and Kings, with a few notable exceptions) you can almost hear the echo of the words of God hanging in the background – a great big “I told you so!” So be careful what you pray for – you just might get it!

The newest one I’ve installed is the Scripturizer, which automatically creates links of any Bible references in posts, to the translation of your choice (and they have a huge number to choose from). Just to test it out here’s a few (random) verses :

• Romans 12:2
• Rom 4:9
• 1 Sam 9
• Isa 55:4-12
• Jude 7
• 2 Chr 7:11
• Matt 12-15
• Rev 12:3,11

I hate to burst their bubble, but this product isn’t so innovative as it seems. My favourite PDA Bible software company, Laridian, a few months back released iPocketBible, which does exactly the same thing. This is one of the few Laridian products that I don’t own (since I already have an audio Bible on my iPod) but it looks very good, as you can see in the screenshots below. So if you don’t want to have to wait til February to hear and read the Bible on your iPod, then check out iPocketBible (the cost is the same).

The one thing that did amuse me from the news article above is their little pun, “The product, which wits have dubbed the Book of Jobs, after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, will cost $US49.99 ($66)” It’s a pretty lame joke but it gave me a smile. Speaking of Job, check out this cool passage from Job 22:23-30 that I came across earlier today.

Anyway if you want to have a listen to this great message by Jason for yourself you can download it here from the Warnbro podcast.

Also for more links on the topic of Christian meditation try the wikipedia article. As always with wikipedia there’s a lot there to explore and I’ve barely scratched the surface of it yet.

I found the link to this article on a new blog I discovered this morning – These Infinite Spaces. I like a lot of what CraigS has to say so it’ll be another good one to keep an eye on. Just as an example of some of his wisdom here is a great quote from his comments on the discussion to one of his other posts :

“Evangelicalism has often responded to pastoral needs with a “take two verses and see me in the morning” approach, which I believe to be quite damaging.
How many times have christians with clinical depression been told “Rejoice in the Lord always” – as if that would somehow cure their illness.”

As a Christian, and a doctor, I appreciate the analogy. Complex problems need complex answers, not just simple knee-jerk reflex prescriptions of verses. Anyway I have to go to church now so there’s no time to discuss that more, but well worth reading his blog.

But what’s the use of that when I still spend more time reading the newspaper each day than reading any of those Bibles? Or when people in countries like China and other places still struggle to even get one Bible to read? So there’s a bit of a wake up call to appreciate how lucky we are in that, and to spend a lot more time making use of all this, rather than letting it sit idly on the shelf (or on a memory card or CD) all the time.

It’d be interesting to see what the average number of Bibles is in “Christian households” Wonder if anyone’s ever done a survey on that?

Ezekiel 16:49
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom : she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and the needy.”

Now the word Sodom is one that is often associated with homosexuality, and many would leap to the conclusion that this was the sin that led to the destruction of Sodom. This verse makes it clear that this is not the case, and that God’s priorities and concerns with regards to sin may be quite different to what some might think. How many of us today, even within the church, are guilty of the sin of Sodom, sitting with arrogant, judgemental attitudes, overfed (both materially and possibly spiritually as well – overfed with knowledge) and unconcerned about the poor and needy and hungry in the world around us? We need to address this sin in ourselves before worrying too much about sins in others, because this is what God cares about – just look at the teachings of Jesus and you’ll see what I mean.

I found the above link via Roo’s blog this morning – it’s John 4 retold in a modern (or postmodern?) setting in which Jesus asks for water from a gay man, whilst his disciples are off getting Subway (mmmm Subway) – a very thought-provoking (and humorous) read. Check it out.

EDIT : it seems like this John 4 retelling is generating quite a bit of discussion around the blogosphere at the moment. Joel at The Bench has made some excellent comments about it, which are worth reading, particularly his personal note at the end.

Wishing all who read this a joyful, safe, and happy Christmas Day.
Hope you get lots of nice presents, consume plenty of yummy food and drink, and enjoy yourself and relax in the presence of your loved-ones.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness of the day and not take time to reflect on what it’s all about, so here’s a couple of brief passages from The Message just to give us something to ponder. The first tells us what happened on the first Christmas, and the second passage gives us an insight into the significance of it…

So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiance, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
~ Luke 2:4-14 (MsgB)

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth – even those long ago dead and buried – will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
~ Philipians 2:5-11 (MsgB)

This passage is often quoted with an exhortation that we should pray for our government leaders, even if we disagree with them, so that we will be governed wisely. And certainly this is true, and I should pray for whoever gets voted in as our next leader, even if it’s not the man I would have chosen.

But what’s the role of prayer in a democratic election? Is it valid to pray that the candidate you favour wins? This is something that bears thought as we are approaching crucial elections in both Australia and the USA. Like the many other selfish prayers I offer up, I’m tempted to pray that the leader I favour is elected as PM, especially since I really can’t stomach the thought of the other guy winning. I’ll pray for the other guy if he wins, sure, but I’d rather not have to. I’d be really interested to hear what other people think about this. Is praying to influence the result of an election a valid thing to do, and does it make a difference anyway? Or do we just get who the voters (or God?) have chosen for us irrespective.

What do you think??

PS – the second half of that verse almost sounds like an argument in favour of ‘small government’. I wonder how much of Eugene Petersen’s political leanings are infiltrating there.