May 29, 2012

Move to Wordpress

As I asked everyone here about some time ago, I've moved everything previous to a wordpress site: Reading the Light Through the Pages. All of it remains here in the bassackwards order the blog form imposes on us.

The advantage of wordpress is that we should be able to organize things more readably, adding a structure of fixed pages to allow for following whatever books were/will-be discussed, in natural (rather than reverse-time) order.

The bad news is that information on authorship of posts has evidently been stripped from the copies at that site. Anyone concerned about their authorship information should please leave a comment and I will certainly want to rectify the problem. [Meanwhile I'm still learning to navigate the new quirks of wordpress, re moving the rest of the content (links, etc.)]

Everyone who's participated here, and anyone else wishing to join us, may contact me-- (please!) as "treegestalt" at that address on gmail.com .

Any belated objections-- I'll try to fix!

Forrest Curo

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Update: I've been adding links to the new site, enough to mark the beginnings of each Biblical book in the discussions

Finding one's way through each book is still dependent (mostly) on the site's default links to 'previous' and 'next post'.

Authorship of each post remains muddled, past the first chapters of James.

May 28, 2012

Luke 18.31-34

And taking the twelve, he said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of this son of Adam by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. They will scourge him and kill him; and on the third day he will rise."

But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

May 25, 2012

Luke 18.18-30

And a ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

"You know the commandments: 'Do not  commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother."

And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth."

And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor; and you will have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow me!"

But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich.

Jesus, looking at him, said, "How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

And Peter said, "Lord, we have left our homes and followed you."

And he said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

May 23, 2012

Luke 18.15-17

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to him, saying "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Luke 18.9-14

He also told them this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. "Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a toll collector.

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this toll collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I get.'

"But the toll collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying 'God be merciful to me, a sinner!'

"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every one who exalts himself shall be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

May 17, 2012

Luke 18.1-8

He told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and never lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him, saying 'Vindicate me against my adversary!'

"For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this woman bothers me, I will vindicate her; or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'"

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily!

"Nevertheless, when this son of Adam comes, will he find faith on Earth?"

May 15, 2012

Luke 17.22->

And he said to his disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of this son of Adam, and you will not see it.

"And they will say to you, 'Lo, there!' or 'Lo, here!'

"Do not go; do not follow them.

"For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other,  so will this son of Adam be in his day.

"But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the day of this son of Adam. They ate; they drank; they married; they were given in marriage-- until the day when Noah entered the ark; and the flood came to destroy them all.

"Likewise it was in the days of Lot. They ate; they drank; they bought; they sold; they planted; they built. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from Heaven and destroyed them all.

"So it will be on the day when this son of Adam is revealed.

"On that day, let him who is in on the housetop, with his goods in the house-- not turn back to take them away. And likewise, let him who is in the field not turn back! Remember Lot's wife.

"Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

"I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."

And they said to him, "Where, Lord?"

He said to them, "Where the body is, there the eagles will gather together."

May 10, 2012

Luke 17.20

Being asked by the Pharisees when the reign of God was coming, he answered them: "The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!', or 'There!' For behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you."

May 09, 2012

Luke 17.11-19

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

When he saw them, he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

And as they went, they were cleansed.

Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17.7-10

"Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink'?

"Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that was commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

May 07, 2012

Luke 17.5-6

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

And the Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea! and it would obey you."

Luke 17.1-4

And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to him by whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

"Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in one day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent', you must forgive him."

May 05, 2012

Luke 16.19->


"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and who feasted sumptuously every day.

"And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

"The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'

"But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things; and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, where I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them!'

"And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

"He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.."

May 04, 2012

Luke 16.14-18

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him.

But he told them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

"The Law and the prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the Reign of God is preached, and everyone tries to enter it by force.

"But it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away, than for one dot of the Law to become void.

"Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

May 01, 2012

Luke 16.1-13

He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

"And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'

"And the steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg!

"' I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

"He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'

"And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.'

"Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?'

"He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'

"He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

"The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the children of the World are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of Light.

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when that fails they may receive you into eternal habitations.

"He who is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which was another's, who will give you that which is your own?

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."