Lee Harmon's Blog, page 74

Matthew 16:18, The Gates of Hell

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

//Jesus’ endorsement of Peter, here, carries a lot more meaning than one might understand from a cursory reading. As with so much of the scripture, first-century context is critical.

Jesus is leading his disciples through Caesarea Philippi as he makes this statement. The home of Pan, the goat god. You can visit the site of Pan’s monstrous altar-in-a-cliff...

John 18:28, Is the Bible Inerrant?

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

//I’ve discussed this verse before, and the way John’s Gospel seems to contradict the other three regarding the date of Jesus’ death. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus dies after the Passover. In John, as evidenced by this verse (he dies that very afternoon), the...

Book review: The Meaning of the Bible

by Douglas A. Knight and Amy Jill Levine

★★★★★

Fascinating reading! Definitely a book that will be on my top-10 list this year. It took me forever to get through it, simply because there is so much information. I might have worn out a highlighter on this one.

You may have read Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel by Knight a year ago. I reviewed Levine’s book, The Misunderstood Jew, last year: seehttp://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2011/09/book-review-the-misunderstood-jew.html These are two v...

Luke 3:23, The Two Genealogies of Jesus

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli.

//So begins the genealogy of Jesus, according to Luke’s Gospel. Matthew’s Gospel traces an entirely different genealogy, claiming the father of Joseph to be Jacob (instead of Heli) and going in a completely different direction.

These two genealogies have been endlessly discussed, with explanations for the differences provided by both liberals and conservatives....

Revelation 4:1, God Through A Window

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

//So begins the story of John’s Apocalypse … the book of Revelation. Many in John’s time imagined the world to be covered by a sky dome, and that God or the gods lived above the dome. John sees a window or a door in the dome, open and inviting him to enter heaven.

We know, now, that t...

Jeremiah 31:15, Weeping For Our Children

This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”

//Whether you believe God will one day give to us an age where there shall be no more tears, or whether you believe it is the responsibility of earth’s children to participate in bringing about this age, there is one thing we all agree on:

God weeps with us.

Book review: Sex God

by Rob Bell

★★★

Relax, folks, this is not a call to worship Yahweh like some kind of fertility idol. It’s just another of Bell’s weird book titles.

I’m a Bell fan, but I confess this wasn’t one of my favorites. If we’re gonna talk about this stuff, well, there are lots of interesting passages in the Bible about sex, sexuality, and the sexes. But Bell ignores all the interesting discussion, and zeroes in on two basic themes:

1. Sex is a reality of life. We’re not animals and we’re not angels. (I...

Matthew 27:52-53, A Physical Resurrection?

And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

//I don’t want to talk about Matthew … I really want to talk about Ezekiel. Particularly, dem dry bones. Ezekiel had a vision where he watched a valley of bones assemble itself into a great, living army. The vision concludes with this promise from God:

Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Beh...

1 Kings 2:12, Solomon’s Secret to Success

So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

//Solomon is recognized in the Bible as the richest, wisest king ever, securing the blessing of God. But he hardly endeared himself to his people, with the excessive slavery and taxation required to build his empire. Did God’s blessing go to Solomon’s head, so that in time he became greedy?

Often, Solomon is portrayed as one who strayed in the latter part of his life, but one wonders how much the rest of his...

Book review: A Bible Book of Chess

by Sheila Deeth

★★★★

Here’s a cute little book for you. I couldn’t resist, because it combines two of my loves: chess and religion.

This is a primer for children, beginning at the very beginning (how to move the pieces) and touching only the basics of strategy. There really isn’t much “religion” involved … just enough to give it a proper flavor for a Bible camp where Sheila was asked to teach. For example, the book begins with the story of how Noah sailed a ship and landed on a high mountain,...