This site has long needed an index. I'm starting to do that. (See link at the bottom of the page: [Index] 'by Book and Passage'.) Please bear with me in the meantime, because it's likely to remain incomplete awhile longer.
Meanwhile, if there's anyone else interested in trying to revive the kind of group Bible study that used to go on here, please let me know.
October 17, 2019
November 07, 2015
Matthew 7.28
"And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes."
=================================
"You will say, 'Christ saith this, and the apostles say this;' but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of the Light, and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it inwardly from God?"
George Fox saith this, and I do believe it points quite well to what Jesus' "authority" was, and where it comes from.
Many people want a clear and unambiguous source of what they call "Authority", meaning ~'Something to tell people [even themselves, perhaps] how they should think, feel, and behave in all conceivable circumstances.'
Jesus did lay down guidelines as to how people needed to become & behave, so as to join with, and continue participating in our Father's way of ordering the world. 'Not judging' each other, not condemning, was among those guidelines.
And yet people keep right on asking, "How are we supposed to judge each other; whom are we permitted [and obligated] to condemn?"
=================================
"You will say, 'Christ saith this, and the apostles say this;' but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of the Light, and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it inwardly from God?"
George Fox saith this, and I do believe it points quite well to what Jesus' "authority" was, and where it comes from.
Many people want a clear and unambiguous source of what they call "Authority", meaning ~'Something to tell people [even themselves, perhaps] how they should think, feel, and behave in all conceivable circumstances.'
Jesus did lay down guidelines as to how people needed to become & behave, so as to join with, and continue participating in our Father's way of ordering the world. 'Not judging' each other, not condemning, was among those guidelines.
And yet people keep right on asking, "How are we supposed to judge each other; whom are we permitted [and obligated] to condemn?"
October 10, 2015
Matthew 7.24-27
Every one who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a man wise enough to build his house on rock. When the rain falls and the floods come, when the winds blow and beat upon that house, it will not fall; because it's been built on solid rock.
Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a man so foolish he builds his house upon sand; and when the rain falls, and the floods come, when the winds blow and beat against such a house, it will fall; and great will be that fall.
===================
Yes, I've taken liberties with the tenses, and lost whatever topical reference this might have had to Jesus' time (perhaps to people who depended on Roman power to keep them safe -- or alternatively, people who'd taken God's help for granted in pointless insurrections against Rome and the powers that be...) but then this always did imply that future application. To understand Jesus' words and live by them will turn out to be the true practicality; to trust in worldly 'practicality' instead will leave anything you accomplish subject to collapse in this turbulent world.
This applies, of course, to his whole preceding discourse. Is it really so 'impossible' as people have said -- or haven't we understood?
Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a man so foolish he builds his house upon sand; and when the rain falls, and the floods come, when the winds blow and beat against such a house, it will fall; and great will be that fall.
===================
Yes, I've taken liberties with the tenses, and lost whatever topical reference this might have had to Jesus' time (perhaps to people who depended on Roman power to keep them safe -- or alternatively, people who'd taken God's help for granted in pointless insurrections against Rome and the powers that be...) but then this always did imply that future application. To understand Jesus' words and live by them will turn out to be the true practicality; to trust in worldly 'practicality' instead will leave anything you accomplish subject to collapse in this turbulent world.
This applies, of course, to his whole preceding discourse. Is it really so 'impossible' as people have said -- or haven't we understood?
October 06, 2015
Matthew 7.21-23
Not everyone who calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my heavenly Father.
When that day comes, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out devils in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?"
Then I will tell them to their face, "I never knew you! Out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!"
===================
This was always one of my favorite passages, probably because 'Jesus as worship-object' always seemed alien to me. But 'God'? -- not so at all.
'Doing God's will'? Well, that probably would depend on what that will was. It was much later when I discovered Stephen Gaskin: "It's not complicated or unusual or weird to know what God wants. God wants justice and freedom and health and happiness and equality for everyone. If you know that's what God really wants, you'll help out along those lines." I would certainly have resonated with that, not yet realizing how unattainable that was in the current state of human consciousness and misorganization. Mainly, that is, in the prevalence of fear and faithlessness -- because faith is so hard to maintain without hope, and hope so hard to entertain for people who live with misplaced faith, or none. Faith 'in the name of Jesus,' for example. I also liked the parts where he'd say, ~"If you want to call me 'Lord', then try to understand what I'm saying, what I mean!"
Maybe I'd discovered Mark Twain a bit too early, or listened too much to my atheist earthly father -- but the inconsistencies and evils of standard 'Crosstianity' [GB Shaw's term] were clear enough. But then I was still working on whatever it was Jesus did mean -- although I feel that some of my grade school teachers really did understand, and though I knew they were right about "Two wrongs don't make a right," I didn't like to hear it about whichever retaliation I wanted to do just then!
And why would Jesus care whether people did thing 'in his name,' anyway? It does make more sense to me since then, of course -- analogous to someone acting 'in the name of The Law!' -- although that too, of course, could be said by people who weren't behaving all that legally.
But I was still thinking of 'The Kingdom of Heaven' as 'a nice place for dead people.' And that wasn't at all what Jesus meant!
When that day comes, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out devils in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?"
Then I will tell them to their face, "I never knew you! Out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!"
===================
This was always one of my favorite passages, probably because 'Jesus as worship-object' always seemed alien to me. But 'God'? -- not so at all.
'Doing God's will'? Well, that probably would depend on what that will was. It was much later when I discovered Stephen Gaskin: "It's not complicated or unusual or weird to know what God wants. God wants justice and freedom and health and happiness and equality for everyone. If you know that's what God really wants, you'll help out along those lines." I would certainly have resonated with that, not yet realizing how unattainable that was in the current state of human consciousness and misorganization. Mainly, that is, in the prevalence of fear and faithlessness -- because faith is so hard to maintain without hope, and hope so hard to entertain for people who live with misplaced faith, or none. Faith 'in the name of Jesus,' for example. I also liked the parts where he'd say, ~"If you want to call me 'Lord', then try to understand what I'm saying, what I mean!"
Maybe I'd discovered Mark Twain a bit too early, or listened too much to my atheist earthly father -- but the inconsistencies and evils of standard 'Crosstianity' [GB Shaw's term] were clear enough. But then I was still working on whatever it was Jesus did mean -- although I feel that some of my grade school teachers really did understand, and though I knew they were right about "Two wrongs don't make a right," I didn't like to hear it about whichever retaliation I wanted to do just then!
And why would Jesus care whether people did thing 'in his name,' anyway? It does make more sense to me since then, of course -- analogous to someone acting 'in the name of The Law!' -- although that too, of course, could be said by people who weren't behaving all that legally.
But I was still thinking of 'The Kingdom of Heaven' as 'a nice place for dead people.' And that wasn't at all what Jesus meant!
October 03, 2015
Matthew 7.15-20
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits.
===============
Josephus complained bitterly about people who called themselves 'prophets' during the build-up of the first Jewish Revolt against Rome; these would lead a group of people out into the wilderness, or up the Mount of Olives or Mt Gerizim (the Samaritan holy site) or across the Jordan, promising to lead them into a new Exodus in which the pagans would be driven out and Israel freed from slavery to them...
Josephus took a dim view of any popular movement, being an aristocrat from a prominent priestly family himself -- a man who seemingly failed to understand why the rebel groups he nominally commanded would want to burn the tax & debt records in any city they took. But these people and the tradition they came from did seem to be bad news, continually expecting God to confirm and follow their interpretations of Israel's prophesied destiny, according to schedules they calculated from diligent and wrong-headed attention to their scriptures -- and the result of their efforts was always violent repression by the Romans.
One such revolt is said to have left 2000 insurrectionists crucified along the road that passed by Nazareth about the time Jesus was born. No doubt he heard about it, many times, as he was growing up.
Does this passage apply to anyone in our current times? Few of us believe in prophets anymore, but we are offered a wide array of futurists, politicians, and people who interpret the Bible in much the same way that Judean revolutionaries once consulted it in search of 'the day and the hour' when God would finally do their will... instead of praying for a better sense of God's will.
And there are so very very many people -- who think they've figured out what evil needs to be perpetrated, in hopes some promised good will result...
You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits.
===============
Josephus complained bitterly about people who called themselves 'prophets' during the build-up of the first Jewish Revolt against Rome; these would lead a group of people out into the wilderness, or up the Mount of Olives or Mt Gerizim (the Samaritan holy site) or across the Jordan, promising to lead them into a new Exodus in which the pagans would be driven out and Israel freed from slavery to them...
Josephus took a dim view of any popular movement, being an aristocrat from a prominent priestly family himself -- a man who seemingly failed to understand why the rebel groups he nominally commanded would want to burn the tax & debt records in any city they took. But these people and the tradition they came from did seem to be bad news, continually expecting God to confirm and follow their interpretations of Israel's prophesied destiny, according to schedules they calculated from diligent and wrong-headed attention to their scriptures -- and the result of their efforts was always violent repression by the Romans.
One such revolt is said to have left 2000 insurrectionists crucified along the road that passed by Nazareth about the time Jesus was born. No doubt he heard about it, many times, as he was growing up.
Does this passage apply to anyone in our current times? Few of us believe in prophets anymore, but we are offered a wide array of futurists, politicians, and people who interpret the Bible in much the same way that Judean revolutionaries once consulted it in search of 'the day and the hour' when God would finally do their will... instead of praying for a better sense of God's will.
And there are so very very many people -- who think they've figured out what evil needs to be perpetrated, in hopes some promised good will result...
September 19, 2015
Matthew 7.13-14
Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and that way is easy, so those who enter it are many. The gate is narrow; and the way is hard, that leads to life; and those who find it are few.
=================
This is typically seen in a narrow Christian-chauvanist or judgemental spirit that seems quite inconsistent with the loving nature of God we know, not least from other things Jesus said.
There are two problems with that simple reading: This is not an isolated saying (as I've presented it here) and it is not part of a 'This is your ticket-to-Heaven' message.
Although many of Jesus' sayings make really great sound bites, they would not have been remembered and preserved that way in an oral tradition. People in oral cultures remember long passages by chunking them into coherent units.
The coherent theme behind this whole 'sermon' is not about a kingdom for dead folks; it's a message about how to join and participate in God's true Israel, the people who fulfill God's intention and enjoy the promised blessings for Israel.
The 'destruction' referred to is not God's alleged post-mortem revenge -- but a very concrete historical destruction certain to overtake Jesus' contemporary Israelites so far as they continued to seek personal wealth at their neighbors' expense while pursuing national independence by violent means. This in fact arrived about 40 years later, with the utter ruin of anyone's personal or family possessions or social status when the Romans crushed the first major Jewish revolt.
First we get a saying about how God will provide anything His children ask for. (The only problem is -- something I recently found in a commentary on Jewish ethics, searching for the phrase 'the gates of righteousness' to see how that would relate -- R. Abba bar Cahana (like Jesus in this) says that "You are His children when you are God's, that is, when you belong to God and obey Him, and devote yourselves to Him." R. Jehudah also has it that "You are children of God when you conduct yourselves as such" -- but R. Meir, speaking for the majority, instead says: "In the one as in the other case, whether they do or do not conduct themselves as such, they are and remain the children of God." While we certainly remain God's children regardless, the fact is that some ways of living fit more readily with God being able to make us happy.
Anyway, this was followed by another short piece about treating other people as you want to be treated, Jesus saying that following this principle "is" fulfilling 'the Law and the prophets.' Which leads naturally to wondering if what he says about 'not one dot will be removed from the Law' should be interpreted in that sense...
and at last we arrive at this warning. Incoherent and inconsistent? No, it makes sense together. We can enjoy the blessings promised to Israel, receive whatever we ask as God's children, so far as we do treat people the way we would like to be treated -- but there is no slack in that principle; every time we fudge on that we miss the entrance.
=================
This is typically seen in a narrow Christian-chauvanist or judgemental spirit that seems quite inconsistent with the loving nature of God we know, not least from other things Jesus said.
There are two problems with that simple reading: This is not an isolated saying (as I've presented it here) and it is not part of a 'This is your ticket-to-Heaven' message.
Although many of Jesus' sayings make really great sound bites, they would not have been remembered and preserved that way in an oral tradition. People in oral cultures remember long passages by chunking them into coherent units.
The coherent theme behind this whole 'sermon' is not about a kingdom for dead folks; it's a message about how to join and participate in God's true Israel, the people who fulfill God's intention and enjoy the promised blessings for Israel.
The 'destruction' referred to is not God's alleged post-mortem revenge -- but a very concrete historical destruction certain to overtake Jesus' contemporary Israelites so far as they continued to seek personal wealth at their neighbors' expense while pursuing national independence by violent means. This in fact arrived about 40 years later, with the utter ruin of anyone's personal or family possessions or social status when the Romans crushed the first major Jewish revolt.
First we get a saying about how God will provide anything His children ask for. (The only problem is -- something I recently found in a commentary on Jewish ethics, searching for the phrase 'the gates of righteousness' to see how that would relate -- R. Abba bar Cahana (like Jesus in this) says that "You are His children when you are God's, that is, when you belong to God and obey Him, and devote yourselves to Him." R. Jehudah also has it that "You are children of God when you conduct yourselves as such" -- but R. Meir, speaking for the majority, instead says: "In the one as in the other case, whether they do or do not conduct themselves as such, they are and remain the children of God." While we certainly remain God's children regardless, the fact is that some ways of living fit more readily with God being able to make us happy.
Anyway, this was followed by another short piece about treating other people as you want to be treated, Jesus saying that following this principle "is" fulfilling 'the Law and the prophets.' Which leads naturally to wondering if what he says about 'not one dot will be removed from the Law' should be interpreted in that sense...
and at last we arrive at this warning. Incoherent and inconsistent? No, it makes sense together. We can enjoy the blessings promised to Israel, receive whatever we ask as God's children, so far as we do treat people the way we would like to be treated -- but there is no slack in that principle; every time we fudge on that we miss the entrance.
September 10, 2015
Matthew 7.12
Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the prophets.
==================
So, how does this relate to 5.17? "So long as Heaven and Earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke will disappear before all that it stands for is achieved."
==================
So, how does this relate to 5.17? "So long as Heaven and Earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke will disappear before all that it stands for is achieved."
August 31, 2015
Matthew 7.7-7.11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For every one who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
Or what one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in the Spiritual Realm give good things to those who ask him?
=========================
There is a great deal to be said about this; but this time I want to revert to the way we used to handle passages on this (kwakerskripturestudy.blogspot.com ) site: Somebody posts the passage; then people respond with comments.
What is so problematic about this utterly simple and cogent passage? -- Why do the seemingly obvious conclusions people are likely to draw go off track and make most of us wrongly dismiss what Jesus is saying here?
And how, in practice, should we understand this?
Or what one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in the Spiritual Realm give good things to those who ask him?
=========================
There is a great deal to be said about this; but this time I want to revert to the way we used to handle passages on this (kwakerskripturestudy.blogspot.com ) site: Somebody posts the passage; then people respond with comments.
What is so problematic about this utterly simple and cogent passage? -- Why do the seemingly obvious conclusions people are likely to draw go off track and make most of us wrongly dismiss what Jesus is saying here?
And how, in practice, should we understand this?
July 31, 2015
Matthew 7.6
Do not give dogs what is holy;
and do not throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot
and turn to attack you.
=====================
Dogs and swine are unclean animals; Romans and pagans are uncircumcized, inherently unclean human beings. This saying does not seem at all to stem from a sense of universal brotherhood.
It could be read with a different perspective, of course. Readers of Lord Dunsany will remember that the Witch who lives at the edge of the world keeps a herd of pigs; and employs poets to keep them fed. What do the poets feed them? -- Pearls, of course. Do the pigs like their pearls? -- Someone asks. "Not particularly." So this could be an example of treating people as they would like.
Is that Jesus' meaning here? It seems unlikely; to this extent he talks like a typical Israelite of his day; and outreach to the goyim does not seem to become a priority of his movement until after his death.
His constituency is the oppressed poor of Israel; and their oppressors are Romans and their local clients. When he is eventually executed, it is done by the Roman authorities on the recommendation of the High Priest and his party, people who support and benefit from Roman rule, at the expense of the peasantry who make up the vast majority of his nation.
Although Jesus is portrayed elsewhere in the gospels as enjoying friendly relations with sympathetic foreigners, that may not be at all what he expected at the beginning of his career.
and do not throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot
and turn to attack you.
=====================
Dogs and swine are unclean animals; Romans and pagans are uncircumcized, inherently unclean human beings. This saying does not seem at all to stem from a sense of universal brotherhood.
It could be read with a different perspective, of course. Readers of Lord Dunsany will remember that the Witch who lives at the edge of the world keeps a herd of pigs; and employs poets to keep them fed. What do the poets feed them? -- Pearls, of course. Do the pigs like their pearls? -- Someone asks. "Not particularly." So this could be an example of treating people as they would like.
Is that Jesus' meaning here? It seems unlikely; to this extent he talks like a typical Israelite of his day; and outreach to the goyim does not seem to become a priority of his movement until after his death.
His constituency is the oppressed poor of Israel; and their oppressors are Romans and their local clients. When he is eventually executed, it is done by the Roman authorities on the recommendation of the High Priest and his party, people who support and benefit from Roman rule, at the expense of the peasantry who make up the vast majority of his nation.
Although Jesus is portrayed elsewhere in the gospels as enjoying friendly relations with sympathetic foreigners, that may not be at all what he expected at the beginning of his career.
July 23, 2015
Matthew 7.1-5
Judge not, that you not be judged.
For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged; and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye.
Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye.
[If you really value accurate sight] first take the log out of your own eye; and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
===========================
I once met a man who explained that this was Jesus' answer to the curse on Adam's progeny -- to counter 'The Knowledge of Good and Evil' by renouncing the human tendency to find evil in people's doings, to condemn people for what they do wrong, mistakenly assuming that we know their intentions and reasons when they inconvenience us and have a right to make them suffer for that...
For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged; and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye.
Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye.
[If you really value accurate sight] first take the log out of your own eye; and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
===========================
I once met a man who explained that this was Jesus' answer to the curse on Adam's progeny -- to counter 'The Knowledge of Good and Evil' by renouncing the human tendency to find evil in people's doings, to condemn people for what they do wrong, mistakenly assuming that we know their intentions and reasons when they inconvenience us and have a right to make them suffer for that...
July 17, 2015
Matthew 6.25 ->
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin; yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, oh men of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the goyim do all these things; and your Father knows you need them all.
But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be yours as well.
Do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin; yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, oh men of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the goyim do all these things; and your Father knows you need them all.
But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be yours as well.
Do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
July 06, 2015
Matthew 6.24
No one can serve two masters; for either he will neglect the one and love the other; or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and Mammon.
=============================
This is clear enough; but you'd need to be pretty poor to actually like it!
I don't think it's saying that you need to starve in a hovel to love God, or that starving in a hovel would do the job, either. It can't be something one "balances," because there's no natural balance point. On another hand, God probably doesn't to object to people having 'enough,' whatever that might be. But one has to watch that step between 'need' and 'want'; it can be a big one!
You cannot serve God and Mammon.
=============================
This is clear enough; but you'd need to be pretty poor to actually like it!
I don't think it's saying that you need to starve in a hovel to love God, or that starving in a hovel would do the job, either. It can't be something one "balances," because there's no natural balance point. On another hand, God probably doesn't to object to people having 'enough,' whatever that might be. But one has to watch that step between 'need' and 'want'; it can be a big one!
July 03, 2015
Matthew 6.22-23
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
===============================
That is: If the light in you could be darkness, how dark that would make things!
If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
===============================
That is: If the light in you could be darkness, how dark that would make things!
June 29, 2015
Matthew 6.19-21
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
==============================
This is not about saving the goodies for 'an afterlife' ala ancient Egyptian practices (though there's nothing more mysterious about an afterlife than there is about the fact that we're experiencing this life!)
It can't be about 'Racking Up Points With The Old Man,' because as we're told, God already loves us as a father, and gives us what we need.
We don't want to need suffering, except that evidently we sometimes do. But that -- Consider the story of Job -- isn't necessarily a matter of having 'Sinned' or being somehow 'Bad.'
So what is this telling us?
==============================
This is not about saving the goodies for 'an afterlife' ala ancient Egyptian practices (though there's nothing more mysterious about an afterlife than there is about the fact that we're experiencing this life!)
It can't be about 'Racking Up Points With The Old Man,' because as we're told, God already loves us as a father, and gives us what we need.
We don't want to need suffering, except that evidently we sometimes do. But that -- Consider the story of Job -- isn't necessarily a matter of having 'Sinned' or being somehow 'Bad.'
So what is this telling us?
June 24, 2015
Matthew 6.9-18
Pray like this:
[It's often a useful challenge to try to rephrase this, not that I could do it 'better' but that then I need to look more closely and strive to understand better.]
Our Father in the Spiritual Realm,
may we recognize your power and worth.
May your rule be manifest
and your intentions be realized
here on Earth as in Heaven.
Give us what we need
and forgive our failings
as you've taught us to forgive
everyone who angers us.
Please do not test our endurance
but rather, spare us from harm
for you are the source of any virtue
or any success we might claim.
----------
[emphasising the need for us to forgive, and echoing previous verses]:
If you forgive people what they owe you, your Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive what you're owed, neither will your Father forgive what you owe.
And when you fast, don't look dismal about it, like the hypocrites, who disfigure their faces to make their fasting visible. Truly I say, that's the only reward they can expect. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so your fasting will only be known to your secret Father, and the Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
==================
Isn't this what we truly need -- and truly want, so far as we recognize that?
[It's often a useful challenge to try to rephrase this, not that I could do it 'better' but that then I need to look more closely and strive to understand better.]
Our Father in the Spiritual Realm,
may we recognize your power and worth.
May your rule be manifest
and your intentions be realized
here on Earth as in Heaven.
Give us what we need
and forgive our failings
as you've taught us to forgive
everyone who angers us.
Please do not test our endurance
but rather, spare us from harm
for you are the source of any virtue
or any success we might claim.
----------
[emphasising the need for us to forgive, and echoing previous verses]:
If you forgive people what they owe you, your Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive what you're owed, neither will your Father forgive what you owe.
And when you fast, don't look dismal about it, like the hypocrites, who disfigure their faces to make their fasting visible. Truly I say, that's the only reward they can expect. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so your fasting will only be known to your secret Father, and the Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
==================
Isn't this what we truly need -- and truly want, so far as we recognize that?
June 21, 2015
Matthew 6.1- 8
Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father in the Heavens.
Thus when you give alms, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; so [only] your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door to pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
In praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, thinking they will be heard better if they use many words. Don't be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
=========================
In Rabbinic Judaism they make the same distinction, except that they do consider a public gift for personal glory to be better than no donation at all.
Quakers may make too much of a virtue of such reticence, in that often you don't find out what a Friend has been doing until they've died and stopped doing it.
Especially in the case of prayer, I would rather hear it more often -- because I've only known one occasion when one of the older members prayed in Meeting; and by that point the group had wandered far into despair over the crummy State of the World. It isn't so much that we'd need some person to 'lead us in prayer' as that we really need to know there's at least one person present knows the presence of God and knows Who to petition for redress. Great length, putting words in our mouths (or God's) is a flaw, but so is lack of faith. Prayer, like any Message, would need to be something a person is moved by God to say -- but the example and the expectation that we can potentially be inspired to this might help a lot sometimes.
Thus when you give alms, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; so [only] your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door to pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
In praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, thinking they will be heard better if they use many words. Don't be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
=========================
In Rabbinic Judaism they make the same distinction, except that they do consider a public gift for personal glory to be better than no donation at all.
Quakers may make too much of a virtue of such reticence, in that often you don't find out what a Friend has been doing until they've died and stopped doing it.
Especially in the case of prayer, I would rather hear it more often -- because I've only known one occasion when one of the older members prayed in Meeting; and by that point the group had wandered far into despair over the crummy State of the World. It isn't so much that we'd need some person to 'lead us in prayer' as that we really need to know there's at least one person present knows the presence of God and knows Who to petition for redress. Great length, putting words in our mouths (or God's) is a flaw, but so is lack of faith. Prayer, like any Message, would need to be something a person is moved by God to say -- but the example and the expectation that we can potentially be inspired to this might help a lot sometimes.
June 17, 2015
Matthew 5.46 -->
If you only love people who love you, should God reward you for that? Surely the toll collectors do that much. And if you only greet your brothers, does that make you special? Even the heathen do that. To belong under God's rule, you must be all goodness, like your Father in Heaven.
--------------------------------
At first this bothered me, because the way it was worded made me think of earning 'A's in school, or of racking up points in a game. So I've paraphrased a little -- but I think that gave me a better sense of how all this is meant to be taken.
It isn't about earning a place in Heaven, but of becoming able to endure life close to God. A lack of readiness to love will bring you down every time.
--------------------------------
At first this bothered me, because the way it was worded made me think of earning 'A's in school, or of racking up points in a game. So I've paraphrased a little -- but I think that gave me a better sense of how all this is meant to be taken.
It isn't about earning a place in Heaven, but of becoming able to endure life close to God. A lack of readiness to love will bring you down every time.
June 15, 2015
Matthew 5.43-45
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who would persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain for the just, and for the unjust.
============================
Aside from forcing one to interrupt one's train of blame, this precept is hardest to apply when most needed; and then it's a really great idea!
It isn't just 'doing good in return for evil,' but sincerely wishing good for the other! What a stretch!
What makes this perhaps the best passage in the Bible, is the description of God -- which makes drivelling absurdity of what used to be the most popular interpretations of Christianity. This is how to be 'children of God' because this is what God is like! It's necessary to throw out the consolations of Hell, because God might occasionally change tactics -- but not His basic intention: good for each and all, whether they themselves are 'good' or otherwise. That may need to be 'different strokes for different folks' in the bad sense, but His ultimate purpose can't be frustrated forever.
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who would persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain for the just, and for the unjust.
============================
Aside from forcing one to interrupt one's train of blame, this precept is hardest to apply when most needed; and then it's a really great idea!
It isn't just 'doing good in return for evil,' but sincerely wishing good for the other! What a stretch!
What makes this perhaps the best passage in the Bible, is the description of God -- which makes drivelling absurdity of what used to be the most popular interpretations of Christianity. This is how to be 'children of God' because this is what God is like! It's necessary to throw out the consolations of Hell, because God might occasionally change tactics -- but not His basic intention: good for each and all, whether they themselves are 'good' or otherwise. That may need to be 'different strokes for different folks' in the bad sense, but His ultimate purpose can't be frustrated forever.
Matthew 5.42
Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
==========================
How many reasons are there not to do this? Are any of them valid?
Aside from that, is this a rule, a guideline, or something else?
Why do we struggle so much with this one?
==========================
How many reasons are there not to do this? Are any of them valid?
Aside from that, is this a rule, a guideline, or something else?
Why do we struggle so much with this one?
June 09, 2015
Matthew 5.38-41
You have heard it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, do not set yourself against the man who would wrong you. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the left cheek also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
=====================
I used the New English Bible's translation of that second sentence, because it doesn't involve the notion of resisting, or not resisting, 'an evil man'. Probably it's a bad idea to assume that someone giving you grief is 'evil'. Also, this doesn't end up saying you shouldn't try to prevent evil happening to self and others, but that you shouldn't 'set yourself against' the perpetrator, shouldn't think of yourself as 'fighting' him per se. Should not [as I've always taken this] damage anyone else in the process of trying not to get hit...
By now it's a familiar interpretation to most everyone studying this stuff, that the following parts imply a kind of psychological judo in response to anyone treating you shamefully: 'If he's giving you an off-hand slap, make him have to consider respectfully slugging you. If he's taking your clothes, strip yourself naked and embarrass him. If he's bullying you into forced service, do more than he has a right to ask [and his centurian will want to know why he's abusing the local population.] Jesus was calling for a form of nonviolent resistance, in other words.
Maybe, maybe not... The cultural implications of the details probably did mean that. But when, as a kid, I tried applying this to my parents, I just got even more indignant.
So far as all of this is about placing yourself safely under God's jurisdiction, it comes out on a different level: letting God take care of that stuff. There is no one worth your anger but God, no one else able to do you harm or good. Any trouble that comes your way must be serving God's purposes; anything you can do to mitigate it is also serving God's purposes -- but getting mad at the agent of that trouble is futile, is just multiplying the total suffering.
Getting mad at God... will not make God angry. When I do, though, eventually it occurs to me that God is more aware of what's happening, why, and how all this will work out.
=====================
I used the New English Bible's translation of that second sentence, because it doesn't involve the notion of resisting, or not resisting, 'an evil man'. Probably it's a bad idea to assume that someone giving you grief is 'evil'. Also, this doesn't end up saying you shouldn't try to prevent evil happening to self and others, but that you shouldn't 'set yourself against' the perpetrator, shouldn't think of yourself as 'fighting' him per se. Should not [as I've always taken this] damage anyone else in the process of trying not to get hit...
By now it's a familiar interpretation to most everyone studying this stuff, that the following parts imply a kind of psychological judo in response to anyone treating you shamefully: 'If he's giving you an off-hand slap, make him have to consider respectfully slugging you. If he's taking your clothes, strip yourself naked and embarrass him. If he's bullying you into forced service, do more than he has a right to ask [and his centurian will want to know why he's abusing the local population.] Jesus was calling for a form of nonviolent resistance, in other words.
Maybe, maybe not... The cultural implications of the details probably did mean that. But when, as a kid, I tried applying this to my parents, I just got even more indignant.
So far as all of this is about placing yourself safely under God's jurisdiction, it comes out on a different level: letting God take care of that stuff. There is no one worth your anger but God, no one else able to do you harm or good. Any trouble that comes your way must be serving God's purposes; anything you can do to mitigate it is also serving God's purposes -- but getting mad at the agent of that trouble is futile, is just multiplying the total suffering.
Getting mad at God... will not make God angry. When I do, though, eventually it occurs to me that God is more aware of what's happening, why, and how all this will work out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)