Book Review

Nonviolence

25 lessons from the history of a dangerous idea by Mark Kurlansky

I’ve only read the first couple of chapters, but so far this book is amazing. It’s a fresh look at history. And it’s on a topic I don’t normally read ( nonviolence).

He makes this statement in the first chapter.

“If someone were to come along who would not compromise, a rebel who insisted on taking the only moral path, rejecting violence in all it’s forms, such a person would seem so menacing that he would be killed. And after his death he would be canonized or deified, because a saint is less dangerous than a rebel.”

He goes on to speak about how all religion at some point becomes distorted by the State. Used to hold people in their place, religion turns into authority.

“One of history’s greatest lessons is that once the state embraces a religion, the nature of that religion changes radically.”

Purple Jesus Part 3 – What is Purpose?

Part 3 was huge for me. This part alone took about four months to draft. The Pdf is my first rough outline of the finished product. It vague in spots, hopefully I will complete a new more detailed outline in the future.pj31.pdf

8. The marriage Cup

This is my attempt at understanding what really was going on at the last supper, in the garden, and on the cross. If you read below the surface of events, there might be a case that what was happening at the cross was much deeper then we can ever understand. It wasn’t just a death, it was a marriage.

1. The servant is sent – Genesis 24

Abraham spends a servant to find Isaac a bride ( Rebekah). The servant didn’t brag about himself, he was there to brag about the son. The servant had to choose someone who he thought was compatible with the son. But the son had the final decision on who he would take as his bride.

* Jesus sent by God, walks down the beach and calls his disciples by name. He then spends about 2 years with them bragging about God.

2. The price is negotiated

In Jewish society it was an honor to have a boy. The carried on the family name. A daughter was very expensive to raise, and when she got married she would change her name to take the males last name. So it was customary to pay a bride price. The brides father didn’t want to sell his daughter, so he would set the price as steep as he could.

* Jesus payed the only price there was to restore freedom. God paid the ultimate price for his bride the church.

3. The proposal

One method was to pour a cup of wine and slide it across the table to the women you wanted as your bride. Is she drank from the glass, then she was accepting your proposal. If she pushed it away then she was declining.

*Jesus pours a glass or wine at the last supper. Slides it across the table in front of his disciples and says take and drink…

4.The vow

If the women drank from the cup, then the man would stand and deliver a speech. To let her know that he would began working on their honeymoon suite.

*John 14 Jesus makes a speech after the last supper. ” in my father’s house there is many rooms…”

5.Waiting for the wedding

The bride and groom are now engaged. But the wedding won’t take place until the honeymoon suite is ready. She must go on living her every day life. She didn’t know when her groom was coming for her. She had to always be ready for his return.

*Jesus says in John 14 ” I’m going away…but I will return…”

6.When the groom returns

When the father says it’s time, the honeymoon suite is done. The groom mounts his horse and rides non stop to where his bride is. He stops a short distance off and raise’s a commotion until his bride hear’s him and comes out to get him.

Other Facts

- The bride and groom fast on the day of the wedding

- The Ketubah ( marriage contract) is read in Aramaic by the groom. this is when the groom takes responsibility for his bride. The Ketubah was signed by two other witnesses.

-The sabbath is referred to as a “bride”

- Matthew 26:28-30, Mark 14:23-26 ( drinking from the cup, signing hymns)

- Psalms 22 “It is finished”

- Jewish people always get married under a Chuppah. A covering or canopy. When Jesus was on the cross darkness covered everything.

Small Group Theory

I’ve been thinking about this idea of what would it look like to lead a small group? How would I handle things, how would I create a rythme, could I do something that was truly “church” and not just a social get together. I thought about a format that used email, and the internet to deliver weekly messages, update people with new, and really start the conversation days before we would even met. So that when we met, we wouldn’t waste time on “fillers”. Everyone has done their homework and is ready to add to the conversation.

It looks something like this

Say we meet on Saturdays. Then Sunday night you would recieve an email that says

1. Listen to this – A podcast sermon, worship music, etc..

2. Wacth this – A Video clip, or maybe just pictures

3. Read this – Weekly verse, news story, or link to a blog, etc…

4.Question this – Home work, Making people question everything they just absorbed.

The beauty is with a format like this people can listen to the sermon, read the verse, etc.. any time during the week before Saturday when we met. The next step would be to set up a blog for your small group. A place we people can post prayer request, praise reports, or even be more practial like ” I need this.. does anyone know someone getting rid of one”. It creates community.

It’s just a idea, I don’t know if it would actually be effective. Maybe someday I’ll find out.

My Psalms 006

Enough is enough

I wilt in defeat

I’m worn down, bruised, mentally out of gas

I ache in the morning

I ache in the afternoon

I ache at night

Life feels like I’m walking through a mine field with out a map

What are the chances I’ll get out alive.

I keep waiting for God to move, isn’t it time to do something

Why wouldn’t you show yourself to those who love  you the most

It just feels lonely down here, and when I need you the most I can’t feel you

It’s like writing your best friend a letter and never getting one back

How long would he stay your best friend?

I still have hope for now, as long as I have that I have something.

A conversation with Jack

No one told me it was going to be easy to be a dad. Sometimes I forget I’m the one responsable for what my kids know.

I had a hard talk with Jack the other night. He hasn’t acted right for a couple of days. He gets in these moods where he’s really crabby, and rude. He starts to even be really mean to himself. If he gets in trouble, he’ll call himself stupid. After he calms down for a few minutes I’ll try to talk to him. I’ll say ” Do you like to get in trouble” and he’ll say ” ya”. He just gets really down on himself. If he gets in trouble for playing video games, he’ll say fine just throw them in the trash. It’s like he wants to punish himself for being bad.

It’s well noted that me and jack are best friends, we talk about everything. It even makes my wife mad, because he’ll save things to talk about just for me. And it doesn’t take much for me to break him, he has such a sensative heart. He already hates when people are mad at him. So last night he got in trouble, I yelled at him for the way he’s talking at home. He ran to his room, and I gave him some time to cool down. So I went in to talk to him. I sat on the floor next to him and he curled up on my lap. We talked about the words he’s using at home. Not cuss words just five year old boy words like fart, stinks, and idiot. It was just getting out of control when everyone’s a “stinky farting idiot”. So Jack starts breaking down, crying, hugging me. When I asked him what was wrong, he said ” I’m crying because you think I’m stupid”, Which I never said. But it was clear to me, that I have a little boy who needed some daddy time.

 We spent about 30 mintues talking about how he can’t beat himself up when he screws up. I don’t care if he doesn’t get everything right, I just want to see him try. It’s when he get’s so angry he quits something and just walks away, that drives me crazy. So I told him a little serect. I said ” The serect to have friends is to complament them” If you make people feel good about themselves, they’ll be your friends for ever. So I told him he had to complament everyone in the house. He walked around the house the rest of the night going ” Emery I really like the way you color, Oh Abby I like your shirt, and your hairs so pretty today.”

Did I say how much I love Jack.

Does God Still Move?

I went to church yesterday. The first time in almost 6 months. We took some time off, just because I felt burned out from “Christian” culture. The talk, the music, the books, the movie, the people, etc..  I felt like I was being forced to become something I’m not. It happens everywhere, not just at churches.

 This new church was cool. They have great style. The environment was perfect. My only complaints were the music, seemed fit for a conservative 4o year old. And the Pastor, he was warm, and friendly, and seems to have great ideas. His gift just isn’t speaking. I found myself trailing off a couple of times during his sermon.

 The things I liked was the fact they weren’t scared to be Christians. They prayed for each other, they took time during the service to just deal with their “stuff”. I have to be honest after the service anyone who needs prayer can go up front. I was watching because I was curious. I had my eye on a man in his mid 40’s. A younger man starts praying for him, and the older man begins to weep, and shack. I’m ashamed to admit my first thought was how sad it was. This man breaking down. Then I realized how cold and numb my heart had become. That’s the exact thing that should be happening in every church. The fact is God was doing something in that man instead of me.

You almost forget, if you haven’t been in God’s presence for a long time. That he still moves. It’s been so long for me, It’s like starting over. I have to answer old questions all over again. Who is Jesus to me? What does it mean to be a christian? Is it real? Does God still move?

Book Review

If you liked the Da Vinci Code, then you might like this. Although this isn’t as entertaining, This guy sets out not to only raise some doubt, but totally dismantle Christianity. He makes some good points that really make you think. The best part is the history research he did. Most christians would never go as deep as he did.

I did have a problem though when he would quote a scripture. Like Mark 15:43. And he say oh it says this, but in the original Greek it translate this way. The few times I check that verse, I couldn’t find where he got his translation from. It seemed he was using words that weren’t really in the text. But again his ideas force you to make a decision about who you think Jesus was.

Book Review

Our Jewish Heritage by Joseph Gaer

This isn’t your normal read. It’s for hardcore readers who really want to dig into theJjewish world. It talks a lot about customs, and traditions. It’s one of those no nonsense books, and tends to be very dry at times.

One interesting section is when they focus on a group of people called the zealots. It’s a group the bible mentions but down plays. He really shows the impact this group made in Jesus time, and a smaller group in the zealots called the Sacarii.

The Sabbath

An old Jewish tradition says that when God created the world he made everything in pairs, but the Sabbath. The Sabbath is single. When the jews celebrate the Sabbath they are to take it like a bride. The Sabbath then becomes like a marriage between God and his people. It’s a day to remember what God has done and will continue to do. It’s a day to spend with family and friends. A day to stop producing. And most importantly it’s a day to do what your passionate about, to use your God given talents. The Sabbath is a small preview of what heaven should be.