Skip to main content

Intro to This Blog


I've been blogging for a couple of years now (roccomaiolo.blogspot.com) which, in the e-world we live in, seems like a lifetime. I can't remember which web site (webs or some wiki site) announced its 10 year anniversary! In other worlds, Hollywood for example, if you see a movie listing for 2001, you think, wow, 10 years ago? 2001 doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess, yeah, 10 years is a while.
Anyhow, this past summer I tried to read the old testament like a novel -- I didn't quite make it as quickly as I wanted to, but I did get through it in about 3 months. Since January, I've been on one of those Bible-in-a-year reading plans. I've been able to stick with it for the most part. The NT has been better than the OT. For the OT, I find myself falling behind, then listening to the audio version and (not sure if you find this with audio books) minutes later I think, What did I just listen to?
So here's the thing: often when I'm reading, esp. the OT, I think, I should slow down and blog about this. The OT is tough going and if I get the occasional insight, why waste it, right?
Not sure who's going to read this or if it'll be of benefit to anyone but me. At the very least, I guess this'll be my occasional Bible journal.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

King Rehoboam

I Kings 12:6-8 Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?” The older counselors replied, “If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.” But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. The old men who advised... Solomon. Solomon? The dude who had a worldwide rep of being the wisest man in the known world. That Solomon? And junior goes to his advisers for advice and then? He rejects their advice and asks his buddies whom he grew up with (read between the lines; somehow, I don't think these were buddies he studied the law with) and asks them for advice. Hmm, you gotta wonder if this was the son who Solomon wrote the proverbs for. What's the lesson here? If you have a choic...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bull Exchange

They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. Psalm 106:20 Well when you put it that way. I mean, it would've been one thing if David had written that "They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull..." and left it at that, but when you tag it with "which eats grass" it makes them look so much more stupid. Um, nah, I'm trying too hard. No matter how you cut it, it sounds pretty pretty dumb to a modern reader. Mabye it would have been different if they'd exchanged their glorious God for power, fortune or fame and not the image of a cud-chewing bovine. Still not right, but much more tragic. That would've been the stuff of a great movie or novel. But wait. Let's not be too hasty in our judgement. I teach high school English and whenever I teach a historical text, I like to introduce my students to the concept of cultural determinism. Ie. "...the belief that the culture in which we are raised det...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cutting Down Asherah Poles

2 Kings 17:28-29 " So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived." When I read Kings and Chronicles, I'm struck by the repeated stories of kings that were bad and had other gods, people that were bad had had other gods (who even sacrificed their children as burnt offerings) and then kings that were good and followed God like David did, oh, but some of those "good" kings still had other gods. And let's not forget the Asherah poles . Lots of Asherah poles that were being erected (bad) or being cut down (good). The above makes me wonder, How much of what I've been taught about "how [I] should fear the Lord" defines who I am and how much is defined by the gods of my history, culture, and ethnic...
Post a Comment
Read more