The Salvation Superhighway?
Bible & Charity Sites Make Christian Living Easier
I feel like I'm having a productive day.
I have been slogging through the New Testament, using The Jewish New Testament Commentary as a guide. And it has been SLOW. Today I decided to pick up the pace a bit. I'm going to keep re-reading the Bible for the rest of my life, and it's not like there are spoilers in it, so there is no reason I can't read the New Testament without commentary once in a while, with the intention of reading the commentary later.
I have been using Bible Gateway instead of a book. I used to use Bibleresources.org, but I can't find the New International Version there. I think they used to have it. Not sure. All the translation names sound alike.
I started out with 1 Peter, and I read to the end of the Bible. I'm very glad I got to read Peter, John, and Jude. Sometimes when you read Paul's writing, it's like reading Chinese. Some of it makes sense. Some of it, you have to hope to understand later. Peter, John, and Jude are much simpler. Peter's books are wonderful. Full of encouragement and useful warnings anyone can understand. And they're short.
Christianity is a balancing act. You want to worry the right amount about the right things. It's easy to start thinking you're a good Christian just because you avoid fornication and theft and drugs and so on. Because you refrain from doing things that are obviously wrong. But the books I read today reminded me to keep sight of other things that are extremely important and often de-emphasized. Things like self-righteousness, unwarranted anger, divisiveness, gossip, and pride. These things have sneaked up on me often in my life, and they can give rise to a particularly unattractive and unproductive brand of Christianity.
Reading the books I read today, I can't help feeling that at least some of Enoch should have been included in the canon. Jude refers to Enoch explicitly. John and the Revelation seem to presume the authenticity of Enoch. There are references to angels who forgot their places and who have been confined in torment. There are references to angels as stars. That's all consistent with Enoch.
I am amazed that anyone claims to understand the Revelation. Maybe it's best to boil it down to a warning. We're going to have hard times, but when it's over, God will rule first this world and then a new and better world, so don't quit. If you understand that, do you really have to know who the Beast is, or what the Great Whore represents? I don't think so.
When you start to move back toward God, everything takes time. My progress was well underway last year, but I wish I had been farther along. There are a lot of things in my books that I would change if I could. I guess I'll get the chance to do that eventually. I don't want to be like some other writers I could name, leading other people into foolishness just to make a dollar.
Reading the Bible online is wonderful. I get so tired of holding a heavy book open while I read, or craning my neck while the book lies flat on a table. When you use a computer, you can lean back in comfort and devote all of your attention to what you're reading. Computers and electronic reading devices will never replace books, but for some purposes, they're fantastic. And they're economical. Sending someone a URL is a lot cheaper than buying him a Bible.
Incidentally, World Relief is having another "sale." If you donate today to buy food for Africans, they'll get matching funds to multiply the impact by three. Hard to pass that up. The ethanol scam is starving people overseas. A third of our corn is now going into a worthless boondoggle intended to buy Corn Belt votes, and in places that rely on surplus grain, it's causing real problems. The money you give World Relief won't just go for food. It also goes to pay for agricultural education and provide animals and so on.
