Lee Harmon's Blog, page 49

Matthew 10:14-15, What Did Sodom and Gomorrah Do Wrong?

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom andGomorrahin the day of judgment, than for that city.

//Somehow, Sodom andGomorrahdeveloped a pretty bad reputation. Their story, as you know, is that God destroyed the city with fire from heaven because of their wickedness.Ever wonder what they did that was so bad?

I’ve written about this bef...

Isaiah 42:14, The Birth of the New Israel

For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.

//This is God speaking, in deutero-Isaiah. In other words, it was not written by the prophet Isaiah, but by an anonymous contributor about 150 years after Isaiah lived.

For myself, this is one of the central verses of the Hebrew Bible. Many of Isaiah’s promises are accepted today by Christians as prophecies of our future, but they were never meant to be. T...

Book review: Questioning Your Way to Faith

by Peter Kazmaier

★★★★

Al, a nerdy chemist, and Floyd, an atheist jock, share a friendly and respectful conversation about God as they enjoy the wilderness together. Along the way, they discuss moral purpose, evolution (Al is a proponent of intelligent design), the problem of evil, neurochemistry, and causality. The discussion of Kalam’s Argument, which posits that a infinite regression of causes cannot satisfactorily explain today’s existence, is presented with clarity—that’s perhaps the best...

2 Kings 14:25, Those Elusive Minor Prophets

He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

//Bet you can’t name the one minor prophet who is mentioned in the book of Kings. Aww, I gave it away with today’s verse: it’s the one prophet whose book virtually every critical Bible scholar believes is pseudonymous (the story of Jonah is attributed to...

Matthew 8:12, Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

//Today’s lesson from Jesus follows on the tail of story about a Gentile who comes to Jesus to be healed. Jesus is impressed by the man’s faith, and utters these words.

Matthew has a thing about “weeping and gnashing...

Book review: Appletopia: Media Technology and the Religious Imagination of Steve Jobs

by Brett T. Robinson

★★★★★

A fascinating book. Technology is enveloping us in a new religious revolution, and Steve Jobs’ Apple Corporation, with its cult following, is leading the way. We gaze adoringly at media screens for hours a day, gingerly touching their magical user interface designed to help us overcome the linear thinking we were raised with. Jobs, by trusting in his esoteric brand of Eastern religion, has turned iEverythings into a sublime and transcendental experience, connecting hu...

Isaiah 1:3, The Origin of the Manger?

The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

//Is it possible that this verse in Isaiah contributed to the legend of Jesus’ birth in a manger? Remember the story in the Gospel of Luke:

And [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. –Luke 2:7

Is Luke playing up the idea of Israel’s misunderstanding? Even more interesting is t...

Jonah 2:2, Jonah’s descent

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,AndYou heard my voice.”

//Have you ever paid attention to the language Jonah uses in describing his attempt to flee from God?

First he goes down to Joppa.

Then he finds a ship and goesdown into the ship.

Next he goes down to the sides of the ship and falls asleep.

When the storm comes he is cast into the sea, and sinks down further.

When the fish swallows him, it doesn’t bring him back to the surface immediately. It seems to go deeper and deeper…down to the depths...

Book review: Minds, Brains, Souls and Gods

by Malcolm Jeeves

★★★★

Thirty pages into this one, I was telling my partner that it wasn’t going to get a good rating. The style is a bit dry for me, the gimmick of presenting the material as a conversation seemed a bit artificial, and I’m no psychologist, so the research references and name-dropping went over my head.

Seventy pages in, I was ready to throw in the towel and scan the rest to write a review.

By the time I finished the book, I was wishing it hadn’t ended so quickly. It took time, bu...

Jeremiah 7:31, Hell Never Crossed God’s Mind

They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

//Today in Christian circles, a great debate rages about whether God plans to banish the majority of his creation to the fires of hell. Along these lines, here is a fascinating verse that I never paid any attention to, until Crystal St. Marie Lewis, in her little booklet about hell, happened to mention it.

The verse is about t...