Last week I discussed the beatitudes as recorded in Matthew chapter 5. This week I want to touch on the beatitudes that appear in the Book of Revelation, The Book of Luke and the Psalms.
Donald Parry, an expert in Hebrew and Hebrew literature, lists what he calls The beatitudes of the Book of Revelation (more…)
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (more…)
During his ministry, the Savior performed wondrous miracles that blessed the lives of the less fortunate. He healed lepers, restored the sight to the blind and even raised the dead. On a few occasions he cautioned the recipient of his divine power not to tell anyone he healed them. This censure did not work too well and his fame spread with people gathereing by the hundreds to seek relief from their ailments. There is even one story of a women who simply touched his robes as he passed and was healed. (more…)
The book of Ruth is looked to as a model of pure loving devotion and service. Ruth leaves all that she knows behind in order to care for her windowed mother-in-law, risking to endure great poverty and loneliness. To me, this is also a lesson on doing what is right, come what may, and things will work out for our good. Life may not turn out as we planned, but if we do what is right, God will be with us and will always watch over us. The story of Ruth is also a bridging story. It links David back to Lot, telling the story of how a Moabite woman came to be the great grandmother of one of Israel’s greatest kings. (more…)
Let me be clear, I do not see this as a battle between science and religion, I see it as a battle between truth and a patent misconception of what the bible is saying.
There are many students of the bible who read Genesis Chapter 1 to be an account of the creation of the earth and take one of the following approaches to science 1) Genesis matches perfectly with science 2) Our knowledge of the ancient past is still evolving and although it does not match science now, it will soon 3) Science is wrong and any theories promulgated by the scientific community that does not match up with the bible is inspired by the devil. (more…)
Jonah is, to me, a kindred spirit. If Jonah and I went to high school together, we would have been friends. The book of Jonah is an origins story, a record of the events that turned Jonah from a young man focused on himself to a servant of God focused on others. We tend to compare him critically to the likes of Moses or Elijah, but we forget that the stories that make these men great came later in their lives after they had their own Jonah events. The story of Jonah is the story before he became a man, before he became a prophet of God. (more…)
My eldest child is with child and is at this very moment at the hospital. I am going to be a grandfather. I know, I act much too young to be a grandparent, but nevertheless, here am I. As wonderful as parenting has been for the past 24 years, I must say my daughter and her charming husband have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Of course, no new parent does. It is all ohhs and awws until that little munchkin starts to walk. And what brings the pending pandemonium home to me is the following: (more…)
Salvation is free according to Paul. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. That may be true, but just because something is free it does not absolve us of any responsibilities. One of my daughters took piano lessons and she did not have to pay a single penny. No amount of practicing on her part would compensate me for the money I handed over to her teacher. It was a free gift. What she did with the gift, however, was entirely up to her. The degree to which these free piano lessons blessed her life was dependent upon how much she worked. (more…)
In the early chapters of the Book of Genesis we have people living for a very long time. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5), Seth for 912 years (Genesis 5:8), Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27) and Noah lived 950 years (Genesis 9:29). I’m not even 50 yet and I am getting aches and pains, I cannot image living 20 times longer. The problem is no matter how you work the science, humans just do not live that long and they never have. I have heard all kinds of arguments for these remarkably long lives. The atmosphere was different soon after the earth was created so people were healthier, there was more oxygen in the atmosphere, or the closer you were to Adam the more pure your DNA and hence you lived longer. These are all stabs in the dark to support a very literal and concrete interpretation of the scriptures. The concern these so-called literalists have, it seems, is if the numbers are figurative then the story is fiction and therefore the bible is all made up, but this is not true. Figurative does not equal fiction. (more…)
In the New Testament we find numerous parables that have become part of our popular culture over the centuries. Jesus taught almost exclusively in parables (Mark 4:34) in order to veil the meaning from the uninspired (Mark 4:12). A parable is a short story through which Jesus taught gospel principle. A parable is referred to as a didactic story because it is intended to teach a moral concept. Many of the parables are hyperbole which means they are an extreme exaggeration to prove a point. I suspect that the original audience would have found great humor in the message, a humor that has been lost over the centuries. The greatest teachers use humor and if Jesus is to be considered the master teacher, we should assume he used humor a fair bit. The Jesuit Priest James Martin explains in a special article to CNN that “one difficulty with finding humor in the New Testament is that what was seen as funny to those living in Jesus’ time may not seem funny to us.” And “Too many Gospel stories have become stale, like overly repeated jokes.” (more…)
