Sturtz Stuff

A thought from the book of Ecclesiastes Just what kind of a book is this? Well that is a good question. Ecclesiastes is a counter-intuitive book. It is a book that is brutally honest about life and death.   Because it is a very honest book it is often difficult to read and often over looked. The master teacher of Ecclesiastes begins and ends his book by calling life meaningless. If you peel back the English translation of meaningless you will discover the Hebrew the word הֶבֶל ( hebel). Hebel (pronounced heh'vel ) in Hebrew means vapor or mist. If you read chapters one and two the master teacher says that wealth, horses, gold, silver, money, cars, boats are all vapor. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, intelligence, learning, education, thoughts are all mist. Vineyards, trees, fruit, sun, water, wind, stars, sky, generations, wise, foolish are all vapor. Your body – vapor – it will drupe and sag. Your life, your friend’s life – here today and gone tomorrow. Life itself acc...

Here is some stuff to consider from Richard Beck . . . . One of the most discussed posts I've written on this blog was The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity . That post was a meditation on how we tend to use "religion" as a replacement for being a more decent human being. We'd rather have "quiet time with God" or "get into the word" than forgive our enemies or spend time working at a homeless shelter. In making that observation I made this sweeping statement: "Christianity" has essentially become a mechanism for allowing millions of people to replace being a decent human being with something else, an endorsed "spiritual" substitute. I stand by that statement. As would, I think, most of the Old Testament prophets. And Jesus. But maybe I'm wrong. Keep reading click here .

Here is a thought from Peter Enns on the issuse of violence in the OT: My seminary Hebrew professor, former colleague, and friend, Al Groves , who is of blessed memory , was a wonderful, honest, and pastoral man. When dealing with the theological difficulties that arise in the course of reading the Bible, Al would say, “God lets his children tell the story.” That is a great way of putting it. The Bible is what happens when God allows his children to tell his story–which means the biblical writers told the story from their point of view, with their limitations, within the cultural context in which they wrote. When children tell the story of their father or mother, parents are typically delighted by how much they get and the childlike way that they see the world. But they are also well aware that children miss a lot when they tell the story, and invariably refract the complexities of family life through their own youthful vision. It’s not a perfect analogy, I know, but roll with it...