The sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to me

This entry is part 12 of 12 in the series Protected from the Bible

Ge 37:9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
Cool.  Maybe.  Depends on what it means.  Why would the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bow down to someone – even if it was possible?
Maybe it would be good to put some context around this.  It’s from Genesis – chapter 37.  It was said by Joseph – you know – the kid with the coat of many colors. Why are we looking at this?  Because of a question that came up in a class – about what the sun and moon represent.  Were they about Joseph’s father and mother?  Or did they represent something else entirely?  And, if it’s not about Joseph’s parents, then doesn’t that even put the eleven stars into doubt – were they really about his brothers?  Let’s find out.

Friday the 13th is Christian?

… That’s why Christians call the Friday commemorating Jesus’ crucifixion Good Friday – not “horrible friday”.  One more time – not because of the way Jesus died, but because of the fact that we made Jesus’ death necessary by our own actions.  It’s Good Friday, because that death is what saves us from God’s judgement.

Are there assault weapons in Heaven? 4

Do you really think the God you claim to believe in and follow would be pleased about the part you play in this whole assault weapon industry?  Maybe you make them for sale to individuals.  Maybe you sell them.  Maybe you protect the right for people to have them – at the same time protecting our “right” to be killed by them?  Maybe you own one, claiming one of the reasons above for having it.  Would God be pleased with you?

Searching for hope – but not finding it?

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series State of the Bible

“The results show that Americans overwhelmingly believe the Bible is a source of hope and a force for good even as they express growing concern for our nation’s morals.”
This is an interesting quote.  The bottom line is that “many” Americans are searching for something that Americans “overwhelmingly” believe is in the Bible.  However, even as that’s happening, they also think the country is going downhill.  What does that mean?

The problem of inerrancy

Someone asked a while back on one of the posts if I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. The implication was that no reasonable person could possibly believe such a thing.  After all – who could possibly believe that the earth was created in six literal days? Or that people walked with dinosaurs?  My answer would be something along the lines of – exactly where does the Bible say either of those things?  In fact – it doesn’t. The problem isn’t errors in the Bible – the problem is errors in people’s interpretation of the Bible.  If someone wants the Bible to say something – they’ll find a way to make that happen.  It’s human nature to do things like that.  And it’s not just with the Bible.   Look at statistics.  Having taken a few graduate level statistics courses and programmed several statistical analysis models – including for a motion picture studio and a US Navy contractor – I think I have a bit of a background to confirm an old saying – there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.  While they are purely mathematical in nature – they say what they say – the way people interpret […]

Oops…

I debated with myself about whether or not to post this, but given all the concern about internet security I decided it’s necessary. You may have noticed over the past week that there appeared to have been some issues with my site. I say “appeared” because there was no problem with the site, but it was impacted because of problems with someone else’s.  In addition to my own inspection using the tools I’ve purchased to try to keep this site safe, I also immediately initiated a third party inspection of the site for further verification. If you don’t understand the details below, just know that there was nothing wrong here.  I don’t ask for, and therefore don’t have, any personal information.  However, there’s always the risk of going to a web site and having your computer / tablet / phone infected because of a problem on the site you’re visiting.  That didn’t happen here either.  Finally, there’s the possibility of problems from spam email.  That didn’t happen here either. The details of what did happen. I was previously running in a shared hosting environment, meaning many other web sites were using the same IP address – which is how devices […]

Our accuser could be Moses?

Genesis – including the creation account – was written by Moses.  It was the beginning.  If we don’t believe it, then we’re calling it a lie.  And once we begin to call God a liar, how can we all of a sudden claim to believe anything at all that He says?  If we can’t accept the things are are plainly visible, how can we begin to accept the things that aren’t visible at all – let alone the things that will happen in the future?

What is a parable?

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Parables of Jesus

Again, we see the part about not to be taken literally, but even more so, we see obvious and intentional exaggeration which takes the non-literal part of the definition even further.  Therefore, when we see complaints about things that obviously aren’t “true” – we need to examine the very real possibility that they were never meant to be true in the first place – but that they were an extreme example that was even exaggerated in order to make that wake-up call and jolt the hearer into paying attention and hopefully getting the intended meaning of the parable – as opposed to trying to figuring out what’s wrong with the literal words of the parable.

Count the cost 2

I do know now, after these past 7 years.  Some of it was for others, based on feedback I’ve received.  Some of it was certainly for me.  The cost has been high.  And yet, looking at the image at the top, I realize that when we’re talking about this particular cost, it’s really not necessary to blow up the budget – because the budget is way bigger than we can even begin to realize.  

Take a stand!

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series A land flowing with milk and honey

What I’m looking at for this topic is the kind of slavery we allow to come on ourselves.  It starts as something “innocent”, or so we think.  It’s a thrill, or so we think, We can control it, or so we think.  Then it ruins our lives, maybe even in spite of what we think.  It could be nearly anything – work, money, alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography – you name it, we can become addicted to it. Those are the kinds of things Paul was talking about in Galatians.

The God of milk and honey versus the god of money

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series A land flowing with milk and honey

Increasingly, with the god of money taking over.  We are killing off the physical bees, and therefore the physical honey.  We are also putting the physical cows, and therefore the physical milk, in danger.  Because of our increasing preference for the god of money over the God of the Bible, we are also destroying the things that are behind the deeper meaning of a land flowing with milk and honey.  Because of the god of money, we are willing to destroy the wonderful things given to us in the beginning – during creation – those things that sustain life and make it good.  The things that used to make the U.S. a land flowing with milk and honey, but seem to be going in the direction of stopping the flow.

What’s the importance of a “land flowing with milk and honey”?

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series A land flowing with milk and honey

Eighteen times in the Bible, we read about a “land flowing with milk and honey”.  … I mean – it’s not like the land was literally flowing with milk and honey.  That would be one heck of a lot of cows and bees – and all that milk and honey – plus everything else that would go along with all that.  Yuck.  It would’ve been a horrible mess.  Obviously, this wasn’t meant to be taken literally.  So we have yet one more reason to wonder – what was the thing about milk and honey?  

The problem of Good Deeds and Faith

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series God versus religion - why?

Any attempt to say that we must have faith  and do stuff above and beyond that to earn our salvation – it takes away from Jesus’ death, as I mentioned – but it also takes away our only means to judge for ourselves whether or not our faith is real.  By saying that faith alone isn’t enough – people are taking away our ability to stand firm in our belief – before we die / before it’s too late – whether or not our faith is real and therefore whether or not we are saved.

Joel Osteen – “God uses people to push you to where you’re supposed to be.”

This entry is part 1 of 9 in the series Why the government can't save you

Yes – it sounds like I’m picking on Joel Osteen.  Sounds like I’m even judging him. … So I’m not picking on Joel Osteen. I’m reminding us – all of us – that God really did leave us to take care of things for Him.  Yes – with the Holy Spirit – but still with us as the physical beings allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us.  

This is what happens when you don’t believe in God

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Science vs. God

Without recognizing that we are special because we have the breath of life from God – I supposed there’s a lot to be afraid of.   Thinking that machines will self-actualize, like HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey, could lead one to be afraid of AI.  Knowing that it takes the breath of God to make us what we are, leads one to not be afraid of AI.  No matter how smart we may think we are – we don’t have, and never will have, the ability to give anything the breath of life from God. No.  It’s not AI that we need to be afraid of. …