Book review: The Christ is Not a Person

by J. C. Tefft

★★★★★

As a colleague often proclaims, "Christianity is the belief that history is heading somewhere." Tefft would agree. It's heading toward an eternal consciousness. Tefft embraces the wonder of evolution instead of grudgingly accepting its possibility and then dismissing it into a corner. But more than mere biological evolution, Tefft sees the development of life as a gradual transition into conscious awareness. We see this on a macro scale, as we compare minerals to plants to animals to man to God. 

Here, "God" is the all-pervading Intelligence or Spirit that motivates Creation, guiding us slowly toward ultimate Consciousness. You'll want to read this definition twice: "What is called the Christ in New Testament Biblical lore is not a person born two thousand years ago, but can be likened to a new unseen faculty or capability that exists within the field of omnipresent Energy at the 'entrance' to the Kingdom of Heaven."

So Tefft is clearly not a Christian in the conservative or exclusive sense of the word. He notes that Pure Consciousness came to light hundreds of years before Jesus, through at least two people that we know of--the Buddha and Lao Tse--though there were probably others. This acceptance of other traditions is important; religious authorities have tended to dwell on the differences that separate their way of thinking from others, rather than the similarities, and this closed-minded approach will never fully approach truth. However, the focus of Tefft's book is on the Bible.

Tefft reads the Bible with both scholarly and spiritual insight. He leans toward to a non-conservative dating of the Bible's books. For example, the Gospels were written between the years of 64CE and 100CE by authors who had never known Jesus personally; the books of Moses are compilations of multiple authors with multiple agendas; and so on. We cannot, therefore, expect perfection among these writings, as if the Bible can in its entirety be read in a spiritual manner. There is much in the Bible that belongs to antiquity, and while such material may be of historical interest to some (read: Lee Harmon), it is of little value in the realization of enlightenment (read: J.C. Tefft). Sigh. Now I have to read all the Bible.

And in this book, I nearly did read all of the Bible, or at least it feels like it. This is no beach read. Tefft has amassed and explained a huge number of scriptural passages, such that his book becomes almost a Bible in itself. You'll relearn the story of creation, the flood, Jacob's ladder, the ten commandments, and more, arriving at Jesus in the second half of the book. Tackle this one if you're really ready for a spiritual transformation, not merely looking for some surface-skimming entertainment. I struggled a little; I think I would have preferred for Tefft to give me Jesus first, or least his coverage of the Lord's Prayer, so I can see where we're heading. Then I could more easily appreciate the Old Testament stories. 

Tefft's interpretation appeals to me as another window to truth, recognizing that religious truth is many-faceted. I think his view is mystical, meaningful, uplifting, and that it promotes human kindness. In other words, all the things that make for a good religion or humanitarian philosophy. Highly recommended. And yet ... for myself, I find that I'm too mired in the historical-critical method of reading scripture to be able to seriously approach the Bible in this fashion. Jesus, yes; the rest of the Bible; no. Tefft's method of reading the Bible is fascinating and spiritually uplifting, but I can't imagine that this is the way the writers of the Bible intended their words to be read.

The fact is, I had the book pegged for a 4-star review all the way until the last fifteen pages, when Tefft came through with an epilogue summary that was concise and uplifting. Of the events leading up to Jesus, Tefft writes,

"After Moses, enlightened souls the likes of Saul, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah arose over the years within Israelite society--the later ones proclaiming a new Kingdom yet to come, and Kingdom unlike any they had known before ... It turned out to be a Kingdom that is within Man ... as one awakens to the living Christ within, one is shown how to approach Life with Love in one's heart." 

Amen.

Acts 3:15, How To Make An Author Smile

I stumbled upon a conversation yesterday on Hubpages where someone listed Revelation: The Way It Happened as one of the “top-3 Christian must-read books.” Don’t know who the guy is (somebody in the UK), but he knows how to make me smile! :) Which leads me to today’s verse:

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.

Yeah, I authored a book. Big deal. Jesus is the author of life, and look what kind of critical review he got for his work.

Sometimes while operating a historical-critical blog I tend to lose perspective. Some would say my writing is controversial, and my book about Revelation is no exception, but I hope ya know I ain’t dissin’ my main man. Jesus, with his dream of a Kingdom of Heaven on earth, remains my Christian inspiration. In him was life, and that life was the light of men (John 1:4). So, back to the topic: How do we make an author smile? Here is how we make the author of life smile:

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. That comes from John’s Gospel, the topic of my second book … a 180-degree reversal from the vengeful dreams of Revelation. It’s due out in January, and hopefully will fall next to Revelation on somebody’s top-3 list. :)

Exodus 20:7, Taking the Lord's name in vain.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

//Growing up, I understood swearing to be a serious sin. It was taking the Lord’s name in vain. So serious was this ban against swearing by God, that God made room for its inclusion in the Ten Commandments. But is this really what God meant by this rule?

Most scholars doubt it. Note the more precise wording of the NIV: you shall not “misuse” the Lord’s name.

In antiquity, the name of a god was sacred. A person who knew a god’s name held some power over him. In an age where an oath was binding, swearing an oath by the name of a god obligated that god to help with the request.

Now let’s go back to before the law was written, in Exodus 6:3, where God is talking to Moses: I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—'God Almighty'—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. Oops! In what sounds like a slip of the tongue, God discloses his name. He has kept it a secret for 2,500 years, but now the secret is out, and he’ll spend the next 1,500 years until the time of Christ trying to erase his mistake.

Back to the Third Commandment. God probably doesn’t care if we let loose a little goddamn when our tight end drops an easy catch. He cares that we don’t swear an oath by his secret name, Yahweh.

Book review: The Biology of Belief

by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.

★★★★★

Lipton is a cell biologist whose “study of cells turned [him] into a spiritual person.” This is a highly readable science book, defining how beliefs control behavior and gene activity, and consequently the unfolding of our lives. It’s a fun learning tool that doesn’t dig too deeply, with an uplifting message.

Belief truly is biological. One interesting topic that Lipton addresses is the placebo effect. It “is quickly glossed over in medical schools so that students can get to the real tools of modern medicine like drugs and surgery. This is a giant mistake. The placebo affect should be a major topic of study in medical school.” Of course, Lipton is a realist; he realizes placebo pills are a threat to the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the scalpel holders, and Lipton is not one to mince words.

It should be pointed out that this is no dry textbook; it borders in places on metaphysical and holistic speculation. But the book is so darn fun. In this light, do not ignore the epilogue; it’s the best part of the book, where Lipton deals with speculative conclusions regarding our “me-ness” and the power of the mind that transformed him into a bubbly, optimistic believer. His “aha” moment was the realization that every protein in our bodies is a physical/electromagnetic complement to something in the environment … that environment being the universe, or to many, God.  As we are inextricably intertwined with the divine, survival of the fittest turns out to mean survival of the most loving.

Revelation 2:9, They say they are Jews and are not!

I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

//These words are written by John to the city of Smyrna, one of seven cities to whom the book of Revelation is addressed. There are two ways to interpret John’s frustration:

[1] There are Gentiles in Asia Minor who are masquerading as Jews.

[2] There are Jews up in Asia Minor who have forsaken their heritage, and are frolicking with Gentile beliefs.

Most scholars lean toward [2], finding it unimaginable that John would deny Christian fellowship to Gentiles. But I’m actually not so sure. I waffle on the topic in my own book about Revelation. The fact is, Revelation is a very Jewish book, repeating age-old dreams of redemption for the Jewish nation. John never once uses the word “Christian”; he sees himself as a Jew who acknowledges Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

Regardless of the way you interpret this verse, it becomes one of many in Revelation that verify that Christianity and Judaism had not yet separated. The intense schism between Jew and Christians revealed in such books as John’s Gospel does not yet exist in Revelation. Yet, Revelation and John’s Gospel share many common themes, though their eschatology, cosmology, and vision of Jesus remain so different. Clearly, one drew from the other, or both drew from a common religious language.

How is it possible, then, that scholars pretend both were written in the 90’s, in the same area of the world? Could they reflect two different views by two different competing men, arguing over the meaning of Jesus?

I find it far more likely that Revelation’s primitive cosmology precedes John’s Gospel by a dozen years or more, and that John’s Gospel reflects a “growing up,” discarding the vengeful, messianic dreams of Revelation. It’s from this perspective that I write my two books, about Revelation and John’s Gospel. 

James 2:14, Faith vs. Works

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

//The book of James, with its focus on practical living, is a book that barely snuck into the canon. If you’ll forgive my bluntness, some Christians are more interested in receiving than doing, and that attitude would rankle James. The following verse at times appears to be glossed over like a blip across the screen:

James 1:22, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Christianity’s emphasis on grace and belief seems commonplace to us today, but neither of these are common focal points of other religions. For example, Christianity’s parent religion, Judaism, is often criticized by Christians because its adherents often seem not to believe their own stories. Jews, however, are often puzzled by this concern, and by Christians’ lazy, unregulated practices and reliance upon grace. As a Jew, you practice your religion by doing, adhering to God’s teachings, not by believing.

By contrast, reformed Christianity is founded on just the opposite opinion. Martin Luther was known to rip the book of James, with its blasphemous teaching that we are saved by works rather than faith, from his Bible. Luther was a character; he claimed James was “an epistle of straw,” hated the book of Esther (which has no mention whatsoever of God), and said he saw no evidence of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration in Revelation.

Christianity clings to the flavor of the majority of its founding writers and their spectacular claim that the Messiah has arrived, and the Messianic age of God’s favor has begun. But can we bathe in grace, just believing and enjoying, or is it our responsibility to share in supporting the Messianic age by good works?

Book review: Out Of His Mouth

by Robert Logan Rogers

★★★★★

Here’s an enigma for you. This book is a “love letter from Fred Williams as told by Logan Rogers.” It’s quirky, original, and uplifting. This little book may be a gem (pun intended) or it may not.

Meet Fred, who once walked on the dark side, now a reborn charismatic preacher who sees angels and coughs up jewels from heaven (hence the title: Out Of His Mouth). How should I introduce him? If I offer a few sentences about his miracles he’ll be written off by the religious and unreligious both. Gemstones don’t really come out of peoples’ mouths, do they??

Michael Boring, in the Forward, lavishes praise on Fred: A “completely broken and desperate man who reached out and grabbed hold of the truth of Jesus. God is endorsing Fred with signs and wonders that are following his ministry.”

Reality check time: The gems aren’t real, they are shown over and over to be worthless. All I can say is, don’t get hung up on reality … buy the book and take the time to get to know Fred. He might change your outlook on life. Then shake your head sadly at the unenlightened heathens who demand authenticity. As Rogers says, “We are told to grow up at a certain point in our lives and to stop living in childhood pretend worlds … we eventually believe that escaping from reality is what we are doing, instead of really living in God given active imagination … Fred was beyond exaggeration and imagination … I chose to embrace him, as I watched gold, green, red, and silver grow all through his pores and up through his scalp, to the very tips of the ends of his hairs.”

Now comes the enigma. Once you think you’ve figured out the love letter’s message (it being a postmodern way of talking about the descent of heaven’s riches to begin the new age), check out the webpage listed at the end, see pictures of the jewels and manna from heaven, and note the donation request for Fred Williams Ministries.

Choke! Bizarre. Five stars for a delightful and imaginative book, zero stars for the real Fred Williams or whoever  is cashing in with a scam. Comments from the author are more than welcome!

Revelation 19:3, Alleluia!

Again they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!"

//Does any word in the Bible evoke a stronger expression of joy than the word alleluia? Surprisingly, it occurs only once in the New Testament. Do you imagine that its use is to describe the day of Jesus’ birth? His resurrection? The day of his ascension?

No. It’s in Revelation chapter 19. Heaven erupts in praise and unspeakable joy: The voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!” And what is the emotion which inspires this great cheer?

It is vengeance. God has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.  She is utterly destroyed, and her smoke rises forever and ever. Alleluia!

Much as I love the book of Revelation, it can be a challenge to understand how Christians draw inspiration from it.

Mark 11:23, Throwing the Mountain into the Sea

"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

//Have you ever wondered what mountain Jesus was pointing to as he said this?

If you read my book about Revelation, you may have noticed a mountain being “thrown into the sea” … the volcano Vesuvius. When it erupted in 79 CE, the top of the mountain blew southwest into the sea, polluting the waters. Could that be the mountain Jesus meant? I doubt it … too far away.

How about the hated Samaritan mountain? Samaritans refused to worship in Jerusalem, instead preferring their own Mount Gerizim, the original location of their own temple. They had, in fact, condensed the original ten commandments into nine to make room for their own tenth, stating the absolute sanctity of Mount Gerizim. Ecclesiasticus 50:25-26 portrays the Jews’ dislike for Samaritans:

Two nations my soul detests, and the third is not even a people: those who live [on the mountain of Samaria], and the Philistines, and that foolish people that live in Shechem.

Gerizim seems a plausible answer, except that Jesus felt no animosity toward Samaritans. Instead, perhaps we should read today’s verse in context. A few verses earlier we find Jesus staging an attack upon the Jerusalem Temple:

And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Mark 11:17)

The next morning as Jesus walked outside the city with his disciples, he pointed up to the Temple Mount, with the glorious Temple walls reaching high above the city walls, and spoke these words: If you have even a little faith, you can ask God to destroy this Temple and He will do it for you.

He did.

Book review: Paul, the Great Scandal

by Vassilios Bakoyannis

★★★★

This is the Apostle Paul’s life and ministry by the book. It’s told with Biblical precision, lots of scriptural passages, and little embellishment until the final pages. Despite the provocative title, there is nothing controversial in this conservative treatment. Bakoyannis portrays Paul as driven, caring, conscientious, and with nearly superhuman devotion to the Gospel through the aid of the Spirit.

Toward the end, Bakoyannis falls back on the writings of Clement, bishop of Rome, to describe Paul’s release from prison and visit to Spain. He describes how Paul was beheaded by the instruction of Nero, and relates the legend of Paul’s death—how his body bled milk, not blood, and how his head leapt about on the ground, stopping to face north, south, east and west—but other than the final pages, this is a scriptural retelling.

It’s published by Convivium Press, which I’ve come to recognize as a high quality publisher. Easy to read and interesting, enjoyable for all ages. 

Revelation 3:17-18, The Letter to Laodicea

You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

//These words were spoken by Jesus (as attested by John of Patmos) to the city of Laodicea. Go get some white clothes and working eye salve.

It’s fascinating to study the seven letters in Revelation, and how they fit within the historical setting of the times. Consider this example, the instruction given to Laodicea, a city grown rich through trade, located handily on a popular trade route. They had apparently become quite independent.

One of the items offered by Laodicea was a popular Phrygian eye powder. The town boasted a medical practice which lured people from far and wide. In particular, Laodicea specialized in ophthalmology, the healing of the eyes.

Another thing they were known for was a unique breed of black sheep whose wool was especially fine. This seems to have sparked a local fashion.

So what does Jesus say? Get off your high horse, you ain’t rich at all. Find some real eye salve so you can see what miserable creatures you are, and dress yourselves in white wool … not black.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-9, The Lawless One

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders. 

//In my book about Revelation, I make the offhand statement that "Paul," in the book of 2 Thessalonians, probably refers to Revelation in his promise of a coming "man of lawlessness" (the Son of Perdition, or the One Doomed To Destruction, or in Revelation, the Beast, or in today's vernacular, merely the Antichrist). I still feel this way; I subscribe to a relatively early dating of Revelation (around year 80) and a late dating of 2 Thessalonians (about 90 CE, certainly not by the apostle Paul).

But, others argue, didn't the expectation of an evil leader precede Revelation by decades, even centuries? Yes, this dualism precedes Christianity, and the book of Daniel writes about this fiendish character. There were also other apocalyptic writings contemporary with Revelation. But nothing matches "Paul's" description quite like Revelation. Note the "breath of his mouth" and the "splendor of his coming":

Revelation 1:16, In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

And here is the final victory over the enemy and his "counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders":

Revelation 19:20-21, But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Just one more bit of evidence that 2 Thessalonians was not written by Paul.

Book review: Christian Jihad

by Colonel V. Doner

★★★★★

The Lord God is the universal governor of all nations. Humans are unable to govern justly without Scripture as their governing authority, the Bible is the only standard by which to run a government, there is no absolute separation of church and state. --The Coalition on Revival

"Yeah, uh-huh," I said to myself as publicist Kathleen Campbell promised me a review book that is "really GOOD!" Well, she was right on the money, though it turned out to be also a bit frightening. Christian Jihad is a look at religion gone wrong and the infringement of Church upon State.

The Coalition on Revival prepared a series of seventeen documents for Christian living, and promptly informed its readers and members that they had "determined that it is mandatory for all Christians to implement this worldview in society." On Independence Day, 1986, at the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. James Kennedy, the COR's keynote speaker who had just been voted Clergyman of the Year, said the documents "had the historical significance of the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence." The San Francisco Examiner held a different opinion: "700 preachers shepherding 600 million born-again Christians gathered here not so much to celebrate America as to plot to take it over. The funny thing, if you have a bizarre sense of humor, is that they have a heck of a chance of succeeding." Colonel V. Doner, this book's author, describes signing a "blood oath," a solemn covenant with Almighty God that he was willing to be martyred in order to do God's will. 

Yes, this is an autobiography of sorts, and I was hooked from page two. Doner was a founding member of the fundamentalist Christian Right in the 1970’s and 80’s and a leader of the radical Theocratic Dominionist movement at the end of the millennium. An insider from his impressionable teenage years, Doner gives us the scoop on fundamentalist agendas, including how they spill over into political campaigns such as those of Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Michelle Bachmann. As an insider, he qualifies to explain just how powerful the grip of fundamentalist religion can be, the unswerving, complete confidence that one knows the absolute Truth of God and the socio-political worldwide agenda of that God.

Doner devotes an entire chapter to Sarah Palin, whom he discredits through her association with the religious right. I choose not to involve myself in political issues on this blog, so in fairness to our modern-day Esther, I’ll admit that Doner’s treatment will strike many as an unsubstantiated smear. After all, understanding others and seeking common ground, he says, may be the way to disarm neo-fundamentalists.

The book’s final section provides a challenge to “make Jesus’ number-one command of love the test of who’s truly a ‘Born-Again Christian’.” Doner appears to have lived out his suggestion before proposing it. He left behind his “neo-fundamentalist Washington power trip” long enough to devote an uninterrupted week for prayer and prioritizing, and in the book’s final pages, he describes his 180-degree turnaround, devoting himself just as earnestly now toward humanitarian interests. I was inspired at Doner’s closing words: “I’ve come home to God’s love at last. I am truly born again.” 

Job 40:15, 41:1, Behemoth and Leviathan

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox ... 

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

//Two Bible creatures which draw much speculation are the behemoth and the leviathan. Both of these monsters are mentioned in the book of Job, presented as evidence of the greatness of the creation. Some have compared them to dinosaurs, even imagining that the book of Job provides evidence of human and dinosaur coexistence.

The behemoth is a land animal with a tail like a cedar tree and bones as strong as iron. The river rages and it doesn't disturb him. The leviathan is a monstrous fire-breathing sea creature with terrifying teeth and large scales. These two creatures find a place in both Babylonian and Hebrew storytelling. Some picture the Leviathan as a female, Behemoth as a male, and that they were created on the fifth day of creation as a pair. Some imagine that God will slaughter both beasts as food to provide a banquet in the age to come. Consider this verse from Isaiah 27:1:

In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 

What a glorious day that will be! Enter the book of Revelation, which draws upon the legend of these two beasts--the beast of the land and the beast of the sea--as great enemies of God, conquered by Jesus, the Messiah. Luckily, we don't have to eat them ... both wind up in the lake of fire.

Isaiah 51:9, The Day God Fell Asleep

Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? 

//Here, Isaiah (or more precisely, an unknown writer whom scholars call "second Isaiah") bemoans the fact that God no longer takes an active hand in preserving his people. The Babylonians came and conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and took the inhabitants of God's city as refugees back to Babylon.

Was it not you, God, who pierced the monster? Who dried up the Red Sea, and made a road for your people to cross over? God, did you release us from slavery and bring us into this land only to deliver us into slavery again? Have you fallen asleep, God?

Second Isaiah dreams of the day God will awake and again bring them out of slavery back to their land:

The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. 

In this great day (the beginning of a new age, he imagined) God would conquer old enemies and establish a new kingdom. Curiously, Second Isaiah brings the "monster" of today's verse back to life so God can conquer him again:

In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.  

It might be fun to talk more about this sea monster tomorrow.

Book review: Exodus Tales

by Sheila Deeth

★★★★

Sheila continues her cute kids' series with the book of Exodus. Forty or so two-page stories in large print. The first book of the series was reviewed here:  http://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2012/04/book-review-genesis-people.html

Sheila's writing is engaging, meant as a "middle-school reader for book-lovers of all ages." I had the feeling that the second book of the series might work best for a parent reading to a child, because it may require a bit of familiarity with Exodus to relate some of the stories to the Bible. If meant for a young reader alone, may I make a suggestion: This series would provide a good gift alongside a new Bible, with instructions for how to read them together. At the beginning of each story, note the reference to the back of the book for the scriptural passage which inspired the story, and read the Bible passage afterward.

I also must confess that the book of Exodus is not as much fun as Genesis, and we drop from five stars to four for book two. But at the end of the book is a section more for adults, providing thought-provoking facts and natural explanations for the way in which God worked his miracles. Real World, Real People, Real God, as the subtitle proclaims.

I look forward to more! And I look forward to grandchildren to share them with, just in case my married children are reading this...

Acts 21:13, Paul, the second Jesus?

Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

//Paul had to be about the most stubborn fella in the New Testament. One day, Paul had some money that he wanted to take and share with the Christians in Jerusalem, so he set his mind to making the trip. Everybody, even God, knew better. The Holy Spirit sent a prophet from Judea named Agabus, who came up to Paul and, with Paul's belt, bound him hand and foot, saying, "In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles." Everyone pleaded with Paul not to go. 

I wonder if perhaps Paul hadn’t been reading Zechariah, chapter 14. There, Zechariah predicts that Gentiles will come to Jerusalem to offer their praise and sacrifices to God. Paul intended to help that scripture along, and grew quite determined, announcing "I'm ready to go die in Jerusalem." As John Henson says in his book, Bad Acts of the Apostles, Paul wanted to "do a Jesus." As Jesus boldly set his face toward Jerusalem, the place where he would be bound and crucified, so did Paul. 

But it didn't work. There would be no second Jesus. Paul was indeed arrested, but he couldn't pull off a Jesus. Instead of remaining silent like a lamb, he started claiming Roman citizenship and presenting his defense. So, they shipped him off to Rome, where he would eventually be put to death.

Now, here comes the kicker. The second century book The Acts of Peter finds Jesus telling Peter he will be sacrificed a second time in the City of Rome! Paul, the second Jesus?

Revelation 19:13, Robes Dipped in Blood

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.

//We should start our discussion of this topic back in the book of Isaiah. Chapter 63, verses 1-3, read as follows:

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.”

There we read God’s promise of bloody revenge, verses that were clearly on John’s mind as he wrote Revelation. His robe is stained crimson. But where is Isaiah’s winepress? It’s in this verse:

They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. –Revelation 14:20

1,600 stadia is 180 miles. Revelation has taken the Isaiac promise and made it even more bloody. But now the topic gets interesting, as we start looking at the Gospel story and Jesus’ victory on the cross. Here comes the crimson robe, which would be immediately saturated with Jesus' own blood:

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. –Matthew 27:28

… and here comes the blood flow outside the city.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. –Hebrews 13:20

Makes you wonder: have the promises of Isaiah and Revelation already been fulfilled?

Book review: Symbols, Meaning, and the Sacred Quest

by Andrew Cort

★★★★

How on earth do I rate this book? I had no idea what Cort was talking about most of the time, yet I loved the book. It's insightful and full of little anecdotes from oral tradition, definitely a flavorful way of reading the Bible.

I don't claim to be very "spiritual," so I'm hoping not to butcher an explanation of this book. But here's the gist: The Octave, do-si-la-sol-fa-mi-re-do, is an ancient and universal symbol, a blueprint for the sequential stages of change. "Do," for our purposes, may be thought of as God, the beginning of the journey and the end. The bottom of the scale and the top. The fully-enlightened and the fully-unenlightened. Each step up the scale, then, is a stage of the journey of enlightenment from God to God.

Cort instructs us how to read the Bible and the Qur'an in all their symbology, awakening our spiritual self. Over and over, through the stories of our sacred pages, Cort points out the steps to enlightenment until we are finally able to read the Bible for ourselves. The Law of the Octave hides in the plagues upon Egypt; in crossing the wilderness; in conquering the Promised Land, and much more. Indeed, it's the Old Testament stories in all their gory detail that I found Cort's manner of reading most interesting. Read literally, parts of the Bible can be distasteful, so it could use a little surface-scratching.

"Every time that you find in our books a tale the reality of which seems impossible, a story which is repugnant to both reason and common sense, then be sure that the text contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth; and the greater the absurdity of the latter, the deeper the wisdom of the spirit". --Moses Maimonides.

I confess, when I reached the New Testament I felt less need for a spiritual translation, since the stories there are generally beautiful enough without going in search of a deeper meaning. Cort plunges on, though, leaning heavily (as we would expect) on John's Gospel, the most mystical of the four Gospels, and when he gets through the N.T. he tackles the Qur'an.

Fascinating book, and while I don't yet feel very enlightened, I'm certain the book will hit the sweet spot for many.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul Predicts The Second Exodus

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

//In Paul's second letter to Corinth, he thrice quotes God directly, in verses lifted from various Old Testament books: Leviticus, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, 2 Samuel. These words were quoted by Paul himself in the 50s.

A decade and a half after Paul quoted these three verses, God destroyed Jerusalem, led the Christians out, and settled in spirit with them in a new land. Just as Paul predicted. You can read how this happened in Revelation, a book written a few years after the severance it describes, in words that sound too close to Paul's to be coincidence. Here are the three quotes, in the language of Revelation.

The promise of being their God: Revelation 21:7, He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

The call to come out: Revelation 18:4, Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.”

God's promise to dwell with them: Revelation 21:3, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

All this, Paul explains, is because the Christians are to be the new "temple of the living God." Shortly after he wrote, the Jerusalem Temple was so thoroughly leveled by the Romans that (according to legend) not one stone remained upon another.

Spooky stuff, right? How did Paul know?

Isaiah 6:10-12, The Messianic Secret in Mark

“Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.”  

//New Testament writers love to quote Isaiah, and Mark is no exception. With his eye on today's verses in Isaiah, the author of Mark wrote these words:

[Jesus] told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” (Mark 4:11-12) 

Why did Jesus speak in hidden parables? Why didn't Jesus want people to understand and be forgiven? The answer lies in the rest of the verse from Isaiah, in the commandment of God that they remain in the dark until the land is ravaged. I've often stated my belief that the war of 70 CE, when Jerusalem was attacked and the Temple destroyed, had an immense bearing on the development and direction of Christianity. The Gospel of Mark was written either during or immediately after this war. Perhaps he felt it was time to come out of the dark.

Did Jesus really want his fellow Jews to remain calloused, confused, and unforgiven? I doubt it, but the point is they did remain so, and Mark, stumbling about for an explanation for the terrible war that ravaged his nation, finds this verse of explanation in Isaiah.

Book review: Jesus for the Non-Religious

by John Shelby Spong

★★★★★

The phrase "spiritual but not religious" has become such a common description that an acronym has developed: SBNR. Are you an SBNR? 

I'm not. As much as I want to belong, it doesn't really describe me. I'm more of a JBNR guy (Jesus but not religious). Jesus' dream of a kingdom of heaven on earth, and his humanitarian solution for inaugurating that kingdom, is my inspiration. I love church buildings, I love music, and I especially love church music, but when it comes to the real Jesus, he's hardly limited to four stone walls, no matter how pretty the stained glass.

When Spong's book hit the shelves five years ago, I snapped it up. Yes, he repeats a lot of his Jesus scholarship from earlier books, but reading Spong has become for me a comfort as much as a learning experience. It's like coming home, digging down to the real Jesus, and lifting the weight off my shoulders of having to "believe" stuff. I'm not real good at believing, and religion seems to promote acceptance of the incredulous as some sort of Godly virtue, leaving me out in the cold.

Spong's Jesus wasn't born under a star, didn't walk on water, and never literally raised the dead. He points out that the first followers of Jesus were not called Christians, as if knowing Christ was their goal; rather, they called themselves "the followers of the way," as if Jesus was himself but part of the journey. Yet Spong's admiration for Jesus shines, and he embraces the "original images" of Jesus with their symbolism and honor. He just doesn't get hung up on literalism. Two hundred pages into the book, after discarding our unnecessary beliefs, Spong is ready to reintroduce Jesus for the non-religious, and he does so systematically:

Jesus really lived, and Jesus loved God. Jesus' dream of a God-controlled world turned him into a breaker of tribal boundaries, prejudices, stereotypes, even religious boundaries. Jesus embraced God's desire to heal the world. The cross became a human portrait of the love of God.

God, says Spong at the close of his book, is encountered in the "profoundly human Jesus."

Leviticus 11:3, Chewing the Cud

Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. 

//A couple days ago, I blogged about the Old Testament rule prohibiting eating swine, and pondered whether the rule derived from the ease of contracting trichinosis. I was told in a comment that this old argument was "really, really weak." I still have no better explanation, though, so let's look at this again. 

Perhaps the reason for the rule is simply "God said don't eat it." But that naturally raises two more questions: Why did God demand this, and how did God communicate his wishes? Is it enough to imagine God only wanted to set up an opportunity, centuries later, to dramatically change his mind? 

Since the trichinosis theory satisfies both the why and the how as regards pork, we come to the complainant's main argument: Why the rules against other meat? They aren’t the only meats with parasites!

My experience in the corporate world has taught me a bit about how “group think” works, and besides, rules are fun. Start the ball rolling, and follow where it takes you. Yes, I know today’s post speculates a bit more than my usual, but how do you think religious ideas evolve?

Picture a still-tiny tribe of people trying to establish an identity around their chosen god. Picture a few Hebrew priests, the clan caretakers, sitting around a campfire poking at embers with sticks.

"Man, what's up with that chubby pink animal? Every time we eat it, somebody gets violently sick."

"Yeah, but it tastes soooo good! Is Yahweh trying to tell us something, you think?"

"Yahweh's hard to figure. Remember when you were worried about forky-toed animals? You thought they looked like Pan and Yahweh wouldn't like us eating another god's animals, but it turned out He didn't seem to mind."

"Yeah, good thing, no way our people were going to quit eating cattle! That was a good switch from whole-toed to forky-toed. Forky-toed critters are fine if they eat their cud, we figured out...Pan doesn't do that!"

"Hmmm, okay. That means no camel meat, though."

"Yesterday, I ate some oysters, and caught a demon in my stomach. I spent the evening bent over the waste hole. Can we add oysters to the list?"

"Oh, no problem! Squishy, slimy things, ewww! Get rid of all shellfish, for all I care!"

"Can we outlaw bunnies, too? They’re so dang cute!"

“We just did. No forky toes."

"What about birds?”

Revelation 4:6-7, The Throne of God

Also 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. The 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. 

//In John's vision while on the isle of Patmos, he visits heaven and spies the throne of God. Revelation mentions this throne 46 times! Jewish literature, for perhaps 300 years before Revelation, showed a great fascination with the throne of God. We don't see this trend so much in canonical scriptures, but we do in other popular writings of that day, such as material from the Dead Sea scrolls. This fascination may have originated with the book of 1 Enoch, much of which was written in the third century B.C. or even earlier.

Carved animals of various forms customarily supported the thrones of monarchs in that day. John animates these carvings using imagery already familiar to his readers. His beasts blend together Isaiah's seraphim (Isaiah 6:2) and Ezekiel's cherubim (Ezekiel 1:5-14). He divides these two images into four creatures--matching the four faces of the cherubim--the lion, the ox, the eagle, and the man. 

These symbols, of course, are seen in the four corners of the zodiac. Abraham's contemporaries visualized the constellation Scorpio as an eagle, according to the Chaldean system then in vogue. Thus, God rules over the entire heavens.

Revelation falls back on astronomy a surprising number of times, but if you aren't paying attention, they go unnoticed.

Deuteronomy 14:8, No Pig On Your Plate!

Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.

//Of all the 613 laws in the Torah, one wonders why this one receives so much press. No pork on the plates of Jews. But why? Where do these bizarre culinary rules originate? Not only should pigs not be eaten, their carcasses should not even be touched!

Many scholars deduce the reason pigs were considered unclean was because of the ease in which people could become sick and die after eating. If pork isn’t cooked properly, one can easily contract trichinosis. Enough of these deaths, and uncomprehending ancient eaters naturally would conclude that the gods were punishing anyone who liked pork.

Today, we’ve gotten over the superstition. Or, at least, Terry Bradshaw thinks we have. Jesus may have been a Jew, but that didn’t prevent Bradshaw from feeding the poor with his Pigs for Jesus Foundation.

Kudos, Terry!

Book review: Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

★★★★★

Piscine Molitor Patel (nickname: Pi) grows up as an impressionable young son of a zookeeper in India. When the family decides to sell the zoo animals and relocate to Canada, they board a cargo ship with the caged animals and set off. Tragedy strikes, the ship sinks, and young Pi (now sixteen, I think) finds himself on a 20-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a hyperactive hyena, a likeable orangutan and a waiting tiger as his only companions. Soon, as you can imagine, it’s just he and the tiger.

Let’s back up. Pi’s passion is Christ. Well, and Muhammed. And Krishna. As a practicing Christian, Muslim, and Hindu in India, he sees no reason to choose between the three, but this drives his three spiritual advisors batty. Only one of the three can be right, right? The stage is set for a journey which will uncover God, for that is the book’s promise: to deliver a story that will make you believe in God.

But in the middle of the shark-infested Pacific ocean, with a ferocious Bengal tiger filling most of the lifeboat, God seems to slip out of the story. Where has God gone? Why bother introducing Pi’s triune confusion, if only to let God slide by the wayside? Most readers, I’m convinced, will never find Him again. You won’t find God either, if you don’t keep your eyes open, or if you point those eyes only up to heaven.  Even those who imagine they have uncovered Martel’s postmodern message may be unwilling to probe inside the fanciful tale atop the banal story wherein God dwells.

Martel, by the way, is a great storyteller.

Hebrews 13:1, Brotherly Love

Let brotherly love continue.

//One of the distinguishing marks of early Christianity was its propensity for treating one another as "brethren," greatly beloved. Rome thought those early Christians a strange lot--"they love one another as though their precious Jesus were still with them."

Let's break today's verse down. "Brotherly," in the original Greek, is disturbingly literal. It might be more correctly interpreted, "from  the same womb." How are we to understand this? As Nicodemus says, "Can a man enter into the womb and be born again?" I can imagine Jesus smiling as he explains: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

"Love" in this verse is the Greek word philia; ...that is, a fondness, a close companionship.

And "continue" means just what it sounds like; a plea to make sure love endures. Let's put it all together again in a wordy retranslation:

Let there be a deep and enduring fondness between all who have been reborn of the Spirit.

Job 42:12-13, Job's Blessing

So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.

//Sometimes, one person's blessing is another person's curse. Like in football: All those fans praying their hearts out, so God blesses one team with a touchdown, and the same blessing saddles the other team with a seven point deficit. Poor God can't win for losing.

Here's another blessing of good intention that would have hardly been appreciated by another. Job begins his testing period with three daughters and two or more sons. That's at least five kids so far, probably many more, and they all die in a storm.

After Job's test, God tries to make it right. He blesses Job with ten more kids.

So who's the loser in all this? Ladies will have no trouble guessing, but maybe the guys need a hint: No epidurals back then.

Book review: Is God a Moral Monster?

by Paul Copan

★★★★

Paul Copan responds to the New Atheist stance that the God of the Old Testament is a “moral monster.” I agreed with only about half of Copan’s conclusions, but his book was well-written, informative, and fun to read.

Copan begins by attempting to make sense of the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. I loved the short discussion comparing the two times that God called Abraham: The first time to come to the promised land, the second time to sacrifice his son. Because of similar language, Copan argues that Abraham “couldn’t have missed the connection being made … God is clearly reminding him of his promise of blessing in Genesis 12 even while he’s being commanded to do what seems to be utterly opposed to that promise.” Outside of this, though, the Abraham/Isaac story is one of those sections of Copan’s book that just didn’t work for me. It doesn’t seem to matter how it’s explained to me, as soon as someone tries to pull this story down from the level of mythology and make me imagine it to be a true story that really happened, I start to feel queasy. I’d have a few choice words for God if he told me to kill my son. If Copan doesn’t mind, I’ll continue to classify this Bible passage as “storied theology,” where it’s much more palatable.

Copan spends several chapters talking about Israel’s slavery laws, and this section is superb. Was this law ideal? Certainly not. But there are three points I’d like to bring out here:

[1] We are discussing the Law of God, not what actually transpired among imperfect people. Yep, they kept slaves against the rules. The law was not faithfully followed.

[2] Copan points out again and again that Israel’s laws were a great improvement over the surrounding nations. God held Israel to a higher standard.

[3] Although this point gets little press time in the book, as the law evolved, it became more and more humane. Compare, for example, the Book of the Covenant, quoted by the Elohist in Exodus 21, with the Priesthood writings in Leviticus 19, and finally with the Deuteronomist’s instructions in Deut 22.

Yes, the Old Testament law seems archaic and brutal by today’s standards. Yet it’s clear Israel was  learning and was trying to become Godly. Perhaps slowly approaching the standard God had in mind. Buy the book and, if you read nothing else, study chapters 11-14.

Next, Copan tackles what I feel are the most troublesome issues: genocide and ethnic cleansing. Particularly, the conquest of Canaan. Copan points out (rightly) that the Bible’s claims of utter annihilation are highly exaggerated, and that archaeological evidence hints that no such mass conquest took place. For the most part, Israel peacefully settled into Canaan without warfare and without driving out its inhabitants. But whether or not the conquest really happened, the fact remains that the Word of God graphically describes these holy wars in quite unholy terms, and claims that God commanded this inhumanity. Read, for example, Numbers 31:17-18, where God gives instruction regarding Midianite captives: “Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” Copan tries to soften the command, explaining that the non-virgin women were seducing Israel’s men and the boys would grow up to become warriors, but nothing can soften that one.

Copan presents a word game at this point. Moses commanded the armies to “utterly destroy” the Canaanites and not to “leave alive anything that breathes.” Joshua didn’t do this; we have lots of evidence of Canaanite people remaining afterward. Yet if you read Joshua 11:12, it says Joshua did as he was told; he utterly destroyed them as Moses commanded. Ergo, since Joshua didn’t kill ‘em all, but the Word of God says he did what he was told, then we can apparently consider Moses’ original command as hyperbole…the rhetoric of war. God didn’t really sanction genocide.

Well, whatever. Copan’s next attempt to justify this evil by reminding us that God is the author of life and has a rightful claim on it falls flat for me. If any kids were killed, they would go straight to heaven anyway, he says. The danger of that kind of thinking hardly needs discussion!

Though well-researched and thought-provoking, I finished the book with the feeling that Copan tried his best to tackle an impossible topic. I think it’s a four-star attempt and a fun book; I can’t judge the loser of a debate merely because he was given an indefensible position, right?