Lee Harmon's Blog, page 41

John 2:19-21, Living Water, Part II of II

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

//Yesterday, I discussed a vision Ezekiel had of the new City of God. In the center of the City was a temple, and flowing from the temple was a river that spread life to everything it touched. When these living waters reached the Dead Sea, even this salty...

Ezekiel 47:9, Living Water, Part I of II

[S]o everything will live where the river goes.

//One day, Ezekiel saw a vision of the City of God. In the center of the city was a glorious temple, and flowing from that temple was a stream of water; first small, then larger and larger, until it became a river impossible to cross.

Ezekiel was seeing “living water.” While the phrase in Jewish antiquity generally only referred to flowing water (in contrast to stagnant water in a pond), you can see how the image of “living water” became glorious...

Book review: The Certainty of the Unexpected

by Pamela Ruth Stewart

★★★★★

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. –Romans 8:28

If ever there was a testament to the comfort of believing in God, this book is it.I cannot share all of Pamela’s beliefs (which are too conservative for my taste), but I rejoice in the comfort her God brings into her life, through good times and bad. I can’t help but award it five stars: warm, honest and heart-felt, this book is...

Genesis 8:7, Why the Raven Failed

After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.



//After the rain stopped and the flood waters began to abate, Noah had to decide when it was safe to exit the ark. Remember, there was only one window in the ark and it pointed skyward, away from the ground. So had all the water receded or not?

Noah sent a raven forth, hoping it would go in search of land, but the raven just flew aroun...

Genesis 9:13, God Gives Us the Rainbow

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

//What does it mean that God put the rainbow in the clouds? Rene Descartesexplainedway back in 1637how the reflection of light through raindrops forms a bow. Thus we might imagine, because the Bible tells us that Noah’s flood was the first time it rained on the earth, that God didn’t really make the rainbow, but that the rainbow naturally occurred for the first time as the sun came out again after...

Book review: The Question of Canon

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1 Corinthians 10:21, Dining at the Table of Demons

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

//If you want to stay on Paul’s good side, stay away from food that was offered to pagan deities. This was a common practice in antiquity; meat would be offered as a sacrifice to the gods, and then retrieved and eaten. If you read my book about Revelation you are familiar with this practice. In fact, Revelation explicitly condemns one church for doing this:

Ne...

Hebrews 12:1-2, Laying Aside Every Weight

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

//I hesitate to open today’s discussion, as it seems almost disrespectful. Nevertheless,...

James 1:1, James and the Q Sayings of Jesus

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.



//James is a curious book. Perhaps it’s best known for encouraging works over faith. Thought by some to be have written by the brother of Jesus, it reflects no personal knowledge of Jesus, and indeed, contains very little Christian content. But for verses 1:2 and 2:1, it may as well be a Jewish document.

So where did it really come from? Sometime when you’re up for an interesting stu...

Book review: The Dave Test

by Frederick W. Schmidt

★★★★

Can a downer be a positive reading experience?

This is a book that needs to be read, even though it’s not enjoyable. It’s about how to relate positively to those who are going through hard times. How to be a friend in love. It’s written from a Christian perspective by an Episcopal priest, but it does not pretend that faith solves all the hard problems.

Schmidt’s younger brother Dave was struck with cancer, and endured seven years of the disease before succumbing to de...