So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night

For my final blog - the end of my story this past semester - I think I might talk about Revelation. It is interesting that a few girls and I started a morning Bible study once a week focused solely on Revelation just a few weeks before we started going over it in class. It's a shame, I wish we had had more time with it in class.

Revelation is another of those topics most of us just skim past. We read it and think, "Well...that was interesting...maybe I'll read the uplifting chapter of Jesus' birth again." One of the reasons I find Revelation so perplexing is that it is a story yet to unfold. Nearly the entirety of the Bible is history, a future that became the present then to become the past. However, as we have discussed in class, there are many speculations about the truths and facts of the Bible, but it is made quite clear by the writers that the stories they tell are meant to have happened already. But in Revelation, none of it has happened yet. It is a book so unique and unlike any other within the Bible. My friends and I have been studying it for five or six weeks now (having had to take a break over Thanksgiving) and are only in the fourth chapter. After reading almost every sentence we all have to dive into the footnotes of our Bibles trying to explain that which we do not understand - which is nearly all of it. Yesterday we read Revelation 4:5-8:

Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.

Uh..huh. Everything in Revelation is a symbol for something else! The seven lamps stand for one thing, the seven spirtis another. The lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle each represent something different. That part was rather frustrating. My roommate's footnotes indicated that they all stood for one thing (things like domesticated animals, wild animals, etc) whereas my Bible said they stood for entirely different things (such as sovereignty, strength, etc)! After an hour of what felt like a treasure hunt - one verse footnote referring us to another in the OT which referred us to another in a different book which brought us back to the one in Revelation, etc ect ect... - It was never ending! We finally had to resign ourselves to the fact that the future is all speculation. Our race yearns to understand everything, to have an explination for every question out there. But the fact is, we never will. As an imperfect race formed from God's perfection, no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to fully understand him. At least not in this world. It'll be interesting to see what comes. What the future brings. After this semester of intensive study, frustratingly unanswerable questions and paradoxes, and awesome discovery, I am content to sit back and simply enjoy the ride...what more can I do?

Term Paper - God's Wrath: A Tangible Love

Intro: I really enjoyed writing this paper. For a while I dreaded it because I had so many ideas floating around in my head, I didn't think I'd manage organizing it all into a nice and neat paper. While that did prove difficult, it was interesting to see how my paper changed beneath my fingertips from what I had planned on writing to what actually came out of my printer. I learned a lot from writing it, and hope that it came out intelligibly enough.

Last week, I was infected with what Dr. Killeen called a “common cold,” but I could swear I had the black plague itself. My throat was tight and constantly burning as if I swallowed flaming razor sharp toothpicks. I could not breathe to save my life. My muscles were so soar that each cough that shook my body caused me more pan than I felt I could ever have deserved. My roommate came into my room every now and then to check on me. And each time, there she found me, curled up in bed, waiting for death to take me. I wondered what I could have done to have brought such a truly terrible illness upon myself. But lying there, I started thinking of my oldest sister, who has had two cancer scares in her lifetime, and she is only 25 years old. I thought of my grandmother whose death to throat cancer took her from me before I was even old enough to remember what she looked like. I thought of my childhood friend, T.J. whose mother died when he was in the fifth grade. He would live the majority of his life motherless. Then my depression turned from myself to all those individuals who are closest to me. This mere cold was nothing compared to what they had endured. Comparatively, it would seem God has blessed me with a much more fortunate and easy-going life. But my thoughts were not doing me any good. There are others, far more important than me, who could use faithful prayer. As I lay there, contemplating darkness, sickness, and death, I felt a certain bitterness slowly grow within me. It is not fair – none of it. Why should anyone experience pain at all in life? I picked up my Bible lying on the floor beside my bed. I figured it was about time I got to work on my Foundations of Biblical Literature paper, or to at least write another blog entry or two. I was trying to find connections between Singer’s The Slave and the Bible; but the more research I did the more God’s wrath slapped me across the face. Growing up in Sunday school, I had heard all the staple Bible stories: the fall of man, the Great Flood, the ten Plagues. But something we as Christians often tend to do is look past the wrathful God evident in these stories to create a more beautiful and loving God. In this way, we can sleep better at night. But, as my head throbbed achingly from constant coughing attacks, I decided finally that I could no longer ignore God’s terrifying wrath. There must be a good reason, justification for the sin that infects the world and for God’s terrible reaction to it.

I figured that the best place to start is at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. With Adam and Eve, we had everything. God gave mankind all he could have possibly wanted and needed to be happy. The Garden was so perfect that not even the slightest knowledge of evil entered there. God laid all his cards on the table, keeping nothing from us. Speaking to his first son and daughter of creation, he told them the rules of his kingdom, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen 2:16-17) It was as simple as that. God’s one rule. But when Eve and Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, they took God’s rules, his mercy, his grace, and threw it all back in his face. He was honest and open with us and we took it for granted. We messed up. Just as in a parent/child relationship, when the parent is disobeyed, he or she has the full right to punish that child. It is not because of a malicious heart that punishment ensues, but because of a heart brimming of love. Punishment is meant to teach the child that what they did was wrong, so that they may turn from their wrong ways. However, at the time, the child – in his immaturity and ignorance – may not completely understand the parents’ good intensions. And so it is with God. He gave us the rules and we rebelled so he is punishing us with death. He is perfectly justified to do so because mankind ate of the fruit knowing full well what consequence it would bring upon the world. But what I find most beautiful about this story is that it does not end with death. Despite mankind’s betrayal, God still loves his creation and has offered life to compensate for death. “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” (Gen 3:22) In a simplified sense, God turns a big, fat frown upside-down for our sake and nothing else. In this instance, I find God wholly justified. His actions are clear and sensible. But that line of justification begins to blur as we get further into the Old Testament.

We first see God’s wrath when he floods the world, killing nearly every soul upon it. When I heard this story I wondered how every single living being could have possibly been so corrupt that death by universal drowning was necessary. But, and may you forgive me for saying so, even if they were righteous, because of the forbidden fruit incident in the Garden of Eden, death is deserved nevertheless. No matter how it might be served, it will be fulfilled. Luckily, God is a merciful God giving us second chances to make up for our mistakes. And that is exactly what he does now. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually […] ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created’ […] But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.” (Gen 6:5-8) Noah, the most deserving of God’s grace, is given life before it could be taken away. And thus, the whole of humanity was given life. That is the misconception, with this great act God gave us back life; he did not take it away. It is the same with Sodom and Gomorrah as well. The Lord promised, “for the sake of ten [he] will not destroy it” (Gen 18:32). But not even one was worthy of life any longer. Yet, even now, as I write out the words, I feel as if I must be some heartless, blood-thirsty psycho to justify the death of hundreds of thousands of people. And three months ago I am sure I would have condemned myself as such, but as I have studied the Old Testament more thoroughly I am finding the exact opposite. Despite how it may seem, God is just.

Even ordering the ten plagues against Pharaoh and his Egyptians, God was acting within his just freedom. Though, it does seem shamelessly malicious to order Moses to plead with Pharaoh but then to “harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Ex 4:21). I had a harder time finding an excuse for this behavior. But the editors of The Harper Collins Study Bible explain that “the hardening prolongs the plagues and ensures that Egypt will suffer the punishment it deserves and witness the Lord’s power” (footnote Ex 4:21). I had forgotten that Egypt had deserved punishment, enslaving the Israelites and throwing every newborn Hebrew son into the Nile. And further more, God wished the world to know his power. Well, he can check that one off the list; here we are, thousands of years later discussing in a Biblical Literature class God’s awesome power. It is not unlike the bombing of Hiroshima, after which President Truman announced, “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth” (“Rain of Ruin”). And again in Leviticus 26 God explains what it is he asks of his people, just as he did for Adam and Eve. He demands their obedience and in return will reward them accordingly. He also warns that if they are to rebel against him, breaking his covenant, then he shall punish them until they repent. It is not that he wishes to watch his creation suffer, but because he has given us free will it is not in his way to work against that. He is simply a father attempting to hold his children safely in his arms once more.

Upon reading The Slave, I found the idea of Jacob’s slavery to his religion intriguing. The anonymous ferryman who Jacob encounters later on in the novel advises that one should never “get attached to anything. You own a cow or a horse and you’re its slave.” (The Slave 259) But then Jacob replies that man cannot be entirely free” (The Slave 260). I paused shortly after reading this statement. No man is ever completely free. We always want something, and whatever it is that we most desire we become a sort of slave to. With this in mind, it would seem to me that the only desire to have that could possibly give you freedom is desire for God. In Romans, Paul explains that before receiving Christ, we were all slaves to sin. But “having been set free from sin, [we] have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). With mankind’s history, the term “slave” does not carry a very honorable or pleasant connotation. However, being the perceptive man that Paul is, he further explains:

I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.
For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater
and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness
for sanctification. (Romans 6:19)

God is incomprehensible. No matter
how much we try, mankind will never completely know him as long as we are in this life. Our human standards form a vast wall between us and the Father of creation.

For instance, in the book of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu, Job’s “friends,” arrive to counsel him in his difficult times. All four adopt the theory of retributive justice or, as many like to call it, karma. It is the idea that if one is righteous and blameless he will receive a reword accordingly. But if one receives punishment and heartache, it must be because his life is evidence of deserving such a consequence. Unfortunately, these men have let their insignificant human standards block the way for God to speak truth in their hearts. Despite everything, Job is able to see the wrong beneath their words “having heard of [God] by the hearing of the ear” and now seeing with eyes unclouded (Job 42:5). Life is constantly filled with such misinterpretations. What seems to be injustice or slavery or even karma is in reality a gift given by grace.

In Matthew 20:1-17 Jesus tells a parable of laborers in a vineyard. The story goes that a landowner agrees to pay his workers their usual daily wage, with which they are satisfied. But when he pays men who worked far less laboriously an equal amount as those who worked hard all day, there is an uproar. Many think it unfair for both sets of workers to receive the same wages. But the landowner defends himself, questioning the workers, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Mt 20:15) Just as with this worker, salvation is God’s gift to mankind. We do not deserve it by any means, but it has been an agreement between us and the divine Creator that in return for repentance of our sins he will grant us eternal life in heaven. So what right do we have to complain if others are blessed with seemingly better circumstances? We all receive our own blessings and curses in turn. But it is simply easier for us to judge our lives in comparison to others’. In doing so, over time we have adopted this sense of entitlement, as though we are worthy of God’s love at all. But what we must remember is that a gift is “something given voluntarily, bestowed or acquired without its being earned” (dictionary.com). Not one man that has ever lived, nor does live, nor ever will deserves God’s gift of salvation. Time and time again we turn away from God, but he is always there to lead us back to the light of his righteousness.

There is a verse in Romans chapter four which states, “against all hope, in hope believe.” It is God’s faithfulness that gives me hope enough to keep trekking on in life. Elihu himself admits that God “does great things that we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:5). But just as believers avoid the fact of God’s wrath, so do many nonbelievers focus on that very subject. If I am going to call myself a follower of God, I must be open to every part of him, especially his anger. It has been difficult, but facing this controversial topic throughout this semester has helped me tremendously. I can now see and identify with others’ point of views in a light I never before wished to attempt. I even have a better understanding of my own personal view. Previously, when I had ignored one of the grand themes of the Old Testament – God’s rage- I lacked a vital part of my faith: understanding. But now, having tackled a topic that is even still difficult for me to accept, I have gained strength in the knowledge that it is okay to question ones beliefs. In fact it is healthy to do so, because it is a good sign that knowledge is still being sought. And as long as I am yearning to know more, I am confident that I will never succumb to the pressures of the world to be anything different than I really am.

Human Standards

I've been thinking more and more about this human standards idea. There's this youtube video I remember my friends raving about last year. It's this tragic love story between a father and his son. There comes a point when the father has to choose wether or not he will sacrifice his son to save a train full of people. I'm even watching it right now as I'm writing this, and seeing the father's grief after losing his son is absolutely heart wrenching. So, I think we can all make the connection to the story of God and the sacrifice he made for us. The video may be a little cheezy but for whatever reason, it seems to tug at my heart every time.

But I found it interesting that we hear the story of Jesus' sacrifice and think, "wow. Well that's cool" but that's about it. We don't feel any real emotional attachment to the story. We don't fully comprehend the enormity of it. So the best, most effective way to elicit an emotional response from us is to create a video, such as this one, we can relate to by our human standards. And that's all well and good for the believers.

But for non believers, there's also a difference. The cheezy video for them, too, is more realistic and easy to relate to. But the story of God sacrificing his son? Eh, no thanks. So what is is about the story of Jesus' sacrifice that's so much harder to accept, on any level? Hm, well, I'm just going to blame it on our restrictive human standards. That seems like the easiest way to go.

Here's the video of the father and his son, it really is quite good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR7-fd3Lus4

New Discoveries

As I have been working on my term paper, I found some more interesting things. I'll be honest and admit that I never completely finished the book of Job. But it is one of the focuses of my term paper so I figured I'd better at least read it from beginning to end. Doing so, I came across a passage that I found, in a sense, spellbinding. It's one of Elihu's many ramblings. And I know we're not supposed to like him as he's one of Job's "frenemies," but I can't help but love the metaphors of this particular passage. It's his speech in Job 36:26-37:13. I'd recommend that you read it, but it may not speak to you the way it does to me.

In it Elihu praises God's wondrous power to control the atmosphere. "Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth" (Job 37:2). For Elihu, and for most of us, this is the closest we will ever come to actually hearing God's voice. He does not speak directly to us any longer, like the God of the Old Testament. I think it's a wonderful metaphor Elihu makes for God's voice; the thunder of the skies seems like the best substitute (at least for the limited mental capacity of our human minds) for such a majestic being.

In Revelation, John attempts to describe a physical manifestation of the Son's second coming:

"His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters." (Revelation 1:14-15)

I'd like to see you try to describe a man like this in today's day and age, "I'm telling you, man! His voice was like the sound of rushing waters! Rushing freakin' waters!!" You'd pretty much sound crazy. But I'm sure that "rushing waters" don't even come close to what God's voice would really sound like to our human ears.

Elihu's speech puts it into perspective how powerful God is, just in the fact that we can't even illustrate by metaphor how truly awesome he is, because our human standards simply cannot comprehend...

term paper

So I was in church this morning and we're currently going over the ten plagues in Exodus. Our pastor tackled a tricky subject this week - justification for God hardening the Pharaoh's heart. He referred us to Romans 9:14-18:

"14What then shall we say? is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."

That's a hard pill to swallow. I think half the congregation had a big, fat, ugly grimace on their face right about this point. But then Pastor Brian had us turn to Matthew 20:13-15 - a parable Jesus tells where workers are all paid the same amount of money even though they did not work the same number of hours. The men that got up at 6am and worked all day got the same pay as the lazy men that slept in and didn't start working till 5pm. When the early risers complained the employer answered,

"13Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

Pastor Brian elaborated that our salvation is a gift from God. A gift is not something that we deserve nor is it something that anyone is obligated to give. We've developed this sort of entitlement mentality, turning the gift of salvation into a business transaction. What Jesus is saying is that we are lucky to receive God's grace at all. If he chooses not to give it to the Pharaoh so that he may further his Kingdom, then that is his freedom to do so. It is his freedom that guards his grace.

Now, I say all this because this really got me thinking about the upcoming term paper. I had unofficially decided to write my paper on The Slave - for obvious links to the wonderful book of Job. But that just seemed kind of boring to me... It's such a blatantly obvious connection. But one thing that I really wondered about while reading The Slave, was how Jacob found justification in the punishment he seemed to be getting from God when he was such a faithful follower. Up until his romp in the woods with Wanda, he was incredibly loyal to God - even afterwards he still maintained an astounding faith in the Lord. It honestly made me feel ashamed. I sin, then feel guilty, then sin again because of the original sin I committed. It's a vicious cycle that pulls me farther and farther away from God. But yet I still see his grace in my life every day. The fact that I'm free, that I'm studying here at MSU, that I have friends to hang out with over the weekend and a family to return to for Thanksgiving and Christmas are all signs of his grace. I wonder why he chose to give me this gift. And why he put Jacob through such difficult trials. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand an incomprehensible God, but I just might try...

eureka

All righty, so I was just doing some late night reading before going to bed, working my way through Job. I was reading in chapter eight when Bildad instructs Job on exactly what he thinks Job ought to do, the ol' "well if I were you I'd..." shpeel. And I started to get frustrated thinking, "Well, you know what, Bildad? You're not Job. Let's take away every thing you hold near and dear to your heart and see if you thank and praise God quite so easily. Why don't you just take a seat and shutup." Okay, so maybe that's a bit harsh (it is rather passed my bed time). But I came to Job's defense. No one can know just how they will react to any given situation. Sure we'd all LIKE to think we would praise God ceaselessly, but the reality of it is that's not very likely...at all. But, this, of course, we all know, so on to my point. (It's odd, but I find myself getting worked up about this, and even in my blog I babble on and on about how ridiculous it is.)

I didn't get very far into the reading when I realized that I'm so defensive of him because he's a normal man. He's your next door neighbor, Phil. He's merely a decent guy trying to get by in life and live as righteously as possible, so that when he gets to Heaven, God may say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Now THAT is the icing of the oreo. Professor Sexson keeps talking about this oreo cookie like it's some magical, wonderful thing. But to me, it's just been a plain ol' oreo. Sure, I suppose it makes for a good metaphor, so I'd jot it down in my notes, then start doodling little oreos and other various dessert items all over my notebook while half listening to Prof. Sexson talk about icing and crust and prologue and epilogue and half daydreaming about food...(Sorry, Professor Sexson, I don't really mean it, I'm just trying to make a point. I actually find your class quite riveting!) But then, just now, after all this time and all the stories we've gone over, I've finally figured it out. Everything I've been missing in Sunday school, with their connect the dots worksheets and mini dramatizations and dumb felt boards - it was the icing! Job was an ordinary man, it's not natural for man to endure such pain and loss effortlessly. Yet in the end, he says to the Lord:

"I know that you can do all things [...] Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." -Job 42:2-5

Beautiful. The oreo ends taste so much better with the icing in the middle, don't they?

Well, now that I'm practically drooling all over my computer with all this cookie talk, I can return to bed satisfied.

Ballet vs Heavy Metal

I liked the Stevens poem well enough, much better the second or third time around though. But it is really the first and fourth parts that I find most captivating. I think the first stanza is beautiful. "Just as my fingers on these keys make music, so the self-same sounds on my spirit make a music, too." It's wonderful. These lines alone give me this strange sort of feeling deep in my chest (I mean this quite literally). I didn't know what it was or where it came from. But it felt something like hope. Now, I'm not trying to be all "deep" or anything. It truly surprised me. If this mysterious feeling is one of hope, then what is it that I feel so hopeless about? I'm still not sure, but I can make a few guesses... Perhaps it gives me hope that such romantic language isn't lost - I know that the poem was published back in 1915, but I'm reading it in 2009 and it is hard for me to accept that the world can get lost in a language consisted of "yo," "like," and "roflmao" losing the beauty it once held in "just as my fingers on these keys make music..." Call me a nerd, but I love watching "Dancing with the Stars" to see couples perform the fox trot and waltz, etc. Whereas today's "bump-n'-grind" I find revolting. I'm more of an old fashioned type of person in some ways I suppose, and these lines ignited that old fashioned flame within me. But after the first couple stanzas, the poem is no longer a favorite of mine. The elders really creep me out.

Aside from the actual language of "Peter Quince at the Clavier," this idea that music is everywhere reminded me of a day when my two sisters and I were climbing into the back seat of my parents’ van. On my right, Emily was trying to buckle her seatbelt but it kept getting stuck. Every time she tugged on the strap she let out a little gasp from all the effort it took, making an “eh…eh…eh…” sound. I was in the middle also trying to buckle my seatbelt, but it wouldn’t clasp. Every time the metal tip tapped against the metal of the buckle it made a clinking sound, “tink…tink…tink…” And on my right, Kristin was trying to close a small storage compartment so that she could use it as an arm rest, but it wouldn’t stay shut. So she kept slamming the lid hoping the force would shut it, naturally it never did, “slam…slam…slam…” After a short while we noticed our parents staring at us from the front of the car. Apparently, we made a sort of beat or rhythm from these frustrating things that didn’t even work. “eh tink slam, eh tink slam, eh tink slam” We all started to laugh at the absurdity of the moment. To be honest, it’s one of the few times I can remember us all laughing together like that. Not that we were often cold to one another, but it seemed like there was always somebody not getting along with somebody else.

Though Stevens doesn’t mean to say that actual music is everywhere (“Music is feeling, then, not sound”), this memory in my mind now plays a certain tune to me - a happy one, one that you might play to cheer somebody up. Each memory I have is a different tune. Some of them are loud, dark, and frightening pieces, but then there are the lighter ballets that make all the rest ok. In my mind light is stronger than darkness, though sometimes it’s hard to remember that.

So I suppose I must disagree with Stevens here. Beauty is not “momentary in the mind – the fitful tracing of a portal; but in the flesh it is immortal.” I think it is extremely important to remember that in our minds we can hold everything beautiful, so that when things do turn dark, we can always recall those moments and pieces of light.

A little nature never hurt anyone...

Alrighty, I'm currently a ways into Leviticus, but I still have yet to blog on Exodus. I really enjoyed Exodus (well, the first part anyway. I mean who can really say that they ENJOY reading about how many cubits in length the tabernacle was?). Anyways, at my church we’re currently working on Exodus. Pastor Brian pointed out something that I found interesting: all of the plagues are plagues of nature, which makes sense. If God wants to show man that he is all-powerful, so that we "may know that there is no one like [him] in all the earth" (Ex 9:14), so that we "may know that the earth is the Lord's" (Ex 9:29), what better way than by controlling all the elements of the earth. The first two (bloody water and frogs) are plagues of the water. Four more are plagues of land (gnats, flies, diseased livestock, and boils). And the last four are of the heavens or sky (hail and fire, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn). God could have affected the Egyptians as he did when he instructed the Israelites to march around the walls of Jericho to knock them down in the book of Joshua; this, an act not of nature, one that only God could accomplish. Or, as we’ve already read in Genesis, God confuses the language of men to make a point in the story of the tower of Babel, also an act that can’t be explained but by God’s power. What most intrigued me is how he decided to illustrate his power. Perhaps God’s greatest act is the creation of the heavens and the earth. And here he proves his control over that which he alone created.

In Ex8:16 God instructs Moses to “strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats,” not unlike when “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” Gen2:7. A connection is made between God’s authority over both the earth and mankind. Maybe this is what should be most frightening in the story of the ten plagues. If he can control the earth in this manner, what can he do to mankind, weak and helpless as we are? He further expresses his power in Ex9:5 when “the Lord set[s] a time” for the fifth plague.

So, despite all this, what is with the losers who do not heed Moses’ warnings? So they don’t believe in God or whatever, that’s fine. But, by the sixth plague, when God threatens to “cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt [so that] every human or animal that is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them” (Ex9:18-19), you think they’d at least bring in their livestock just in case. But what do they do? They screw themselves over. “Those who did not regard the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the open field” (Ex9:21).




Genesis 22: Where are the Lacuna?
I think the significance of this story is that Abraham so willingly obeys God to sacrifice his son Isaac. But I think that the story would be more powerful if we were able to see more of a reaction from both father and son. What sorrow Abraham must have felt to sacrifice his son. And how Isaac must have been torn. I can hardly fathom the faith and trust it would take to make such a sacrifice and to accept being such a sacrifice to God. I guess to fill in the lacuna, I'd like to see more of J's presence. Like in her story of Joseph and his brothers, J describes him as weeping on several different occasions. She's not afraid of a little emotion, one thing that I think this story could greatly benefit from.

Lost in Translation

So I just started reading Frye's The Great Code (finally). Yes, I'm one of the unfortunate few who has not received my copy yet. And right off the bat one of Frye's many observations caught me: "reading a translation is a settling for the second best" (4).

How true. Just this morning I was studying French with a classmate of mine. We were translating a short story into english. Some sentences we had to reword 3 or 4 times until we got an english equivalent that might slightly resemble what the french author originally intended. It was at least enough to get the general gist and meaning. But it frustrates me how much really is lost in translation.

I ran across this verse a few weeks ago. The KJV (King James Version) reads like this: “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” (Proverbs 15:17) Well that makes good sense. But I originally found it in the NLT (New Living Translation): “A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.” This translation kind of made me laugh. I ended up sending it to a friend of mine as a joke in the KMT (Kathryn Macklin Translation): “A bowl of grass with someone you love is better than a cream-filled donut with someone you hate.” Really, as the translation becomes more modern, it just…sounds different to me. I suppose it’s not exactly worse, that’s really a matter of opinion. But it definitely loses something. It’s like in my last post, one reason I enjoy the Bible so much is because it transports you to that time, to the time when Jesus walked the earth. You get to see their values and daily trials – walking to the well everyday to draw water, sacrificing animals, etc. things we just don’t have to deal with in today’s society. But that disappears; it’s watered down with each translation. I found it also in another translation called The Message: “Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.” What’s with the subject change?? I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but why exactly did The Message find it more effective to speak of bread crust instead of vegetables?

Biblica is one of the largest Bible and Christian literature ministries in the world. They publish, they translate, they distribute, they do it all. But they have recently taken it upon themselves to publish a new translation of the NIV. Christianpost.com quotes Keith Danby, president and CEO of Biblica, explaining Biblica’s stance on the revision, “We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand.” This is understandable. It made me think of Frye’s idea that “words are ‘put for’ thoughts” (7-8). So does it matter what translation it is as long as it gets the thoughts across? Danby further explains, “We’re looking for a translation that is above all accurate – that says what the original authors said in the way they would have said it had they been speaking in English to the global English-speaking audience today.” Alright then, let’s give this a shot: "So, this one time God, made the earth and heaven and some stuff. And he like made this other dude who ran around naked and God gave him a girl friend. And he looked at all the stuff he made and was like, yeah, this is pretty cool. Then when the dudes on earth sinned he made the one guy a pair of baggy jeans and his girlfriend a mini skirt.” . . . okay, so maybe that’s the stoner's version, but still. Certainly it wouldn’t be my first choice to read the King James Version all the time. I grew up with the NIV and it is still my first choice. But at what point should we stop revising it? Are we losing the root of God’s word with each translation?

Catching Up.

So, all this time I've been reading the Bible and the Good Book but I have not been blogging about it, which kinda defeats the purpose of the assignment and blogging in general. So here are a few things I've taken note of throughout my reading:

The Bible as a Time Machine –

I love history. I love hearing stories about the past and walking through museums stalked full of little tidbits of information and material that make up who we are today as a society. I think it's so cool - though sometimes very boring, I must admit. So, reading through the Bible is kind of like a jump back to that time period. It's so interesting to read about life back then.

First of all there's the whole aspect of how they kind of lived by the sword. On multiple counts men feel the need to pretend their wives are their sisters, just so that they may not be murdered in the night. For the most part, today we don't need to worry about that. However, if your partner is "handsomer" than you, there is the fear of gossip behind your back and of someone stealing your partner away from you, which, admittedly, is sucky. But at least your not Abraham or Isaac who practically give their wives away just to save their necks - which presents a whole can of worms I'm not prepared to open.

Secondly, there's this whole blessing debacle. Certainly today we still look to our parents or some sort of authoritative figure or role model for their blessing. Whether it's with a new job, or special someone, or just with our lives in general. But this, this is just silly. So Abraham accidentally blesses Jacob. Why can't he bless Esau too? What did the blessing tire him out too much for his favorite son? But, that actually wasn't my point. My point is how seriously Esau took the denial of his blessing and to what extent Rebekah will go to give Jacob his father's blessing. And just as a side note, I must agree with Plotz, what is the deal with Isaac being too frail to bless his first born son, but then he goes on to live for at least 20 more years? That’s just plain silly.

God’s Incomprehensibility –

It’s interesting, reading the Bible straight through starting with Genesis in the Old Testament, to really see God working in peoples’ lives, before Jesus ever came around. It reminds me how powerful he is and how, though we may not always be able to understand why he does things the way he does, he knows why and has his reasons. It definitely takes some trust and faith in him. Because God is, well, God and we’re “merely human,” there is a huge gap between us making miscommunications and misunderstandings inevitable. For instance, Plotz was confused when God said to Adam and Eve, “’You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die’” (Gen 3:3). I think God means more of a spiritual death than immediately and physical. Because we ate of the fruit, there is that separation between us and him and therefore we must suffer death to pay for our sins. But because we live in the physical, I think it must often be difficult to understand him in the spiritual.

Which brings up all these acts of “evil” on God’s part. But isn’t that interesting? Neither the devil nor evil in general has been outright mentioned, as far as I can remember from reading anyway. Plotz points out how odd it is that we are told the story of the devil in serpent’s form, but then the Bible doesn’t even say that it is in fact the devil. Huh. However, it is safe to say that in the world there is the ongoing battle between Good and Evil, is it not? Everything seems to revolve around these two staples of morality. So, God created the world and man and all that jazz, and he saw that it was good. Then man ate of the forbidden fruit which was evil, and now evil has taken over the world that was once good. And many years later here we are, still battling evil. Therefore, it is not God that is acting maliciously, but God that acts out of love against the bad things in life.

Quick note on the “P” Writer –

Okay, I think we can all agree, the J writer is a little bit more interesting than the P writer. But the P writer is just as essential as his counterpart. As humans, isn’t it true that we feel the need to dig up history and science and find out where/what exactly we come from? Sure Granny Margaret reciting to you the long, long, long, long, LONG list of ancestors from generations past is boring with a capital ‘B’ but it is important to know and have knowledge of one’s past. So when you find yourself falling asleep to the soothing rhythm of P’s “These are the descendants of so-and-so…” just remember that we, or at least someone somewhere, can take comfort in the fact that we know where we have come from. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to skim (and when I say skim I mean run) over these parts but it just makes good sense to have.

Fear of God –

Now this is a tricky topic. All our lives we grow up hearing “God is love,” then he wipes out the world in The Great Flood. Yes, I can see the conflict that might come up here. I’m not sure how many of you have read The Prince by Machiavelli, but it’s this pretty boring work on how princes should act. One point he makes is that a prince must be respected by his people, he must be kind to them and love them, but he must also instill fear within them. It is just simply necessary that we fear our leaders – to a certain extent. Otherwise we become ignorant of who they really are and disrespectful towards what they stand for. It’s like Jamie said earlier on in the class, if the voice of God commands you through a burning bush, you best have some fear and respect enough to obey. That’s not exactly a moment that you say, “Aw, God! I LOVE you!:D You’re so loving and kind.” Not that he’s not, that’s just not the appropriate time for such a reaction.

Rock on Joseph! –

Can I just say, high-five Joseph! He seems like the first guy to have a little common sense and not sleep with some woman no matter how pretty she is. He actually runs away from his seductress at one point. I gotta say, that put a smile on my face. Well, up until the point that he was thrown in jail…yeah, that was a little unfortunate…And this ability to read people’s dreams, I don’t think I have ever had a dream as interesting as the two men’s whom he meets in jail. Let’s see, last night I had a dream that I was pulled over by a cop, but he startled me and I slammed on my breaks and then the cop rear-ended me. I then had to give him a ride to the hospital…what’s that mean?

Anyways, I know this is a lot and I highly doubt anyone will really read it just because of its gargantuan length, for which I apologize. I’ll try to write shorter entries more often in the future so that this may not be quite so overwhelming.

Psalm 51

So my roommate pumped me full of coffee demanding that I stay up all night with her to do homework. I don't need to but I figured I'd keep her company, why not? So we pop in a movie and ignore the books and papers sprawled out all around us. Then, thirty minutes in she ditches me and goes to bed and I'm left alone, all jittery from the coffee with nothing to do; what a great friend she is. Well, I figured it's about time I get caught up on the reading in Lit240 anyway. But, despite how interesting I think Genesis is (that's right, I'm still in Genesis), I've found that I'm having trouble concentrating on it tonight. Ever since class earlier today, the clip of Psalm 51 Prof. Sexson played has been running in the back of my mind. I've read this passage previously multiple times but couldn't recall it immediately when he brought it up, so I was able to listen to the song with a clear mindset. It was so beautiful it gave me goosebumps. Now, I'm not about to pretend that I know anything about music (whether it's an old Christian chant or some raunchy bump n' grind mix). And perhaps that is what makes me so interested in this song - why did I react the way I did having known next to nothing about it?

So, I refreshed my memory on the chapter - a good one indeed. Gotta say, I'm a fan of forgiveness. And I just love the way it is written. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) The verbs David (or whoever the author may truly be) uses are just wonderful: "Purge me..." vs7, "...wash me..." vs2 & 7, "Create in me..." vs10, "Restore to me..." vs12, and "Deliver me..." vs14. I feel that you can really hear within his writing his desire to become clean and closer once more to God.

I wonder if I would hear this same message if I listened to the song again and could compare the two. Unfortunately, as hard as I have searched, I have not been able to find the song that was played in class. I've searched through everything from mainstream sites such as YouTube and iTunes all the way down to some little high schooler's blog. And yet, I have come up empty handed. Well except for this small clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVeTBqZwjPE anyway. (I'm pretty sure this is the same song). The problem here is that the user only posted a short two minutes of the song, and not even the part with the young boy. It makes me wonder why. What did he see in this small portion of the song that deems it more important than the rest? Or, perhaps he could only get his hands on two minutes worth, just as I now can only dig up two minutes. Anyways, if any of you find it, mind throwing me a line?

Woah, the sun's hot.

I was walking from class today back to my apartment in mid-afternoon. I just got off campus when the heat of the day really hit me. I felt like I had to peel my tennis shoes off the hot concrete in my trudge through the sweltering heat to find a patch of shade. The rays of sunlight pierced through my suddenly ineffective sunglasses, stinging my eyes. Heat wave after heat wave evaporated the thin cotton of my shirt and burned my skin. My throat felt suddenly dry and my hair was one fire. Now, this might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, after all it was a rather lovely day outside. But when I started to really think about it, the heat I mean, I felt like all of my senses were heightened, and I realized how truly hot the sun is. I crouched over in an almost comical half sprint/half walk as I hurried over to the shade of a tree, and the relief I felt was instantaneous. The sun, which is I don't even know how many millions of miles away, managed to heat the sidewalk enough to fry some poor little worm I passed on my way home. It is moments like this when I get that sudden feeling that I am insignificantly tiny, that the world is 100 times bigger than I am. It made me feel like a little kid, staring up at the starry night sky and imagining each twinkling speck to be another universe entirely.

And now, as I re-read the first chapter in Genesis, I get this sense that the world doesn't revolve around me (shocking, I know). And then it gets me thinking about ALL the people in the history of the world that God created, and he loves each one of them just the same. So, of thousands upon thousands of people, how can I matter that much at all? Well, I came to the conclusion long ago, that there is no way to understand God completely; he is physically impossible for the human mind to comprehend. God's just too complex. And so, Plotz questions something like God's order of creation, why create the plants and insects before the sun and moon, does he really love them more? I find that rather hard to believe. But I cannot possibly imagine why he would create them first, so I just kind of think to myself, "it must be a God thing" and move on with my reading. I mean, if God is so strong and powerful that he created the sun which heats up the entire Earth, then what does it really matter the order with which he chose to construct the world?

When I was reading Plotz's introduction, I will admit that the thought, "Uh-oh, what am I getting into?" did enter my mind. I grew up in the Church and am therefore just as familiar with the same basic stories as Plotz was (Cain&Able, Jonah and whale, Noah and ark, etc.) but really, what more do I know? I've learned to look up inspirational verses whenever I've needed the pick me up. I've studied the ten commandments in depth, I suppose so that I may better remember and follow them, at least that's what I've been taught. But really, all I've ever heard growing up is, "God loves you." Which, might I just say, I am eternally grateful for, though I may never fully understand it. But what about the fear we should have for God? What about his wrath and frightening power? What about Dinah's story? Why don't they teach that in Sunday school? For some time now I've been wanting to know more about the "hidden" elements of the Bible better. After all, if this is the book I am going to stand up for, shouldn't I know all of it? I am slightly embarrassed to say that, even now, I don't know it better.

But I have a theory - mind you it's really not that mind-boggling or profound. You know when a friend tells you a story about an argument they got into with someone else? And in it your friend sounds like some sort of saint where as the person they are talking about sounds like some evil-doer out to set the world on fire. Then you hear the same story but from the other person's perspective and it's suddenly the exact same situation but flipped around to suit them better. It's this sort of circumstance that leads me to wonder how something like,say, America's history is taught in Germany or France or any number of countries, versus how it is taught here. It's not like we really want to flaunt our darker days to our younger generations, that doesn't exactly inspire national pride. But is that right? Is it fair to shed light upon the "popular" people of the Bible and leave out victims such as Dinah, who have just as important a story to tell? So the Earth was flooded, big whoop, this poor girl here was taken advantage of! Okay, so maybe I'm not being quite realistic, it is after all 1 something in the morning, but it does make you wonder. For all that we do know, how much don't we know? Just something to ponder.

Never in my life did I think I'd be a "blogger" - yet here I am.

Hello all! Well, seeing as how we will be spending a full semester discussing things as complicated and controversial as religion can be, I suppose I better introduce myself. My name is Kathryn and I am a sophomore here at MSU. I’m from Great Falls, Montana, though I have grown up in a military family, moving every three years since I was born. I moved up here four years ago from Texas, and still consider that primarily my “home,” though Montana is definitely growing on me. I’m studying English Literature and, as this is my first semester that I have really been able to start taking courses within my major, I am so excited to see where it takes me. I am also minoring in French and plan on studying abroad next fall.

I have grown up in a Christian, non-denominational family. Having moved around so often, I have experienced many different churches with varying practices and traditions. As such, I am very open to others’ opinions and beliefs. However, my faith has not always come easily to me – when I moved to MT four years ago, I had a sort of falling out with God. But since arriving at MSU I’ve changed my life back around and have never experienced his love quite like I have in the past year. Having had my own rough patches and doubts about my faith, I understand that others do not necessarily share in my faith and I respect anyone who can simply stand up for what they believe. I am proud to say that I am a Christian. I love my God wholeheartedly because he loves me, despite my unending mistakes.

Like most everyone else it would seem, I am very excited to find out what this class has in store. Having studied the Bible in church all my life, I’m eager to study it from a different perspective: literature. I think that, religion aside, it is good to be familiar with the Bible if only for the history it holds.

Well, as an Eng Lit major, I thoroughly enjoy reading and writing. I think that more often than not I drive people crazy whenever I’m sending an email or message on Facebook and leave an entry long enough to make a novel out of it. If my excessive rambling and writing isn’t quite clear enough, perhaps I should warn you now: I like to write…a lot.