Are some sins unforgivable?

God seems to think so:

Isaiah 22

12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!"

14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

Or is God kinda like us where he just gets so angry sometimes that he might say some things he doesn't really mean? Seems like God should be above that sort of thing. And does this jive with the all-things-are-forgiven God/Jesus of the New Testament?

Is this being too nit-picky? Do you just toss something like this out because it's a specific case and not generally applicable?

Song of Solomon

Finished Song of Solomon. This book is a bizarre one for me as well. It's seems like a non sequitur - it doesn't seem to have much to do with God. I've heard that it can be a metaphor for God's love for us, his church, his bride. Sorry, that's just weird for me, and maybe kinda creepy. Or it could just be an endorsement for romance and sex within a marital context - although I don't think Solomon (with all his dozens or hundreds of wives and concubines) is such a great spokesman for such things.

Other thoughts and ideas are welcome on this topic.

(Pictured - gazelles - Song of Solomon 3:5: "Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.")

There is nothing new under the sun

I finished Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

You gotta love Proverbs - lots of great one-liners and practical, useful advice. Such as:
"A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man." (6:10-11)
"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid." (12:1)
"Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult." (12:16)
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." (14:30)

Ecclesiastes really resonates with me. I love this book. There's a jadedness and introspection to it that help me identify. This one also has some nice, quotable one-liners, like "there is nothing new under the sun". I like this verse too as a summary:

"A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" (Eccl. 2:24,25)

Finished Psalms

Let me see if I can sum up: some nice poetry in there, David and/or other psalmists do a good bit of complaining and asking God to do all manner of bad things to their enemies, some reminiscing about God's past accomplishments and miracles, and a fair bit of praising God. Sound about right?

No deep insights for me here. I think because this book is all songs and poetry it's not so great for theology; one shouldn't try to read too much into it.

Glad to be done with that one. Looking forward to Proverbs.

Psalms and Memories

In reading through the Psalms I'm having a lot of flashbacks to going to church with my family as a kid as Ashland Brethern in Christ Church. We sang a lot of the Psalms, or at least parts of them. I can picture Harriet Conrady up on the stage with the mic, the overhead projector shining the words on the wall above the organ, and the strip of stained glass window behind the pulpit that usually garnered more of my attention than the sermons.

Some songs I remember:
"LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth..." (from Psalm 8)
 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God..." (from Psalm 20)

I think Psalm 8 is my favorite so far (I'm up to 50) for its poetic qualities. Psalm 22 is interesting in that some of it parallels, and is maybe prophetic of, Jesus' death. Psalm 23 is a classic of course. "The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing."

Creation/Adam & Eve

Check out the following articles. Where does this leave us in regard to Genesis account of creation? Does the Genesis account of Adam & Eve need to be literally true for Christian or Jewish faith?

NASA: DNA Found on Meteorites Indicates Life May Have Originated in Space
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/195073/20110809/nasa-dna-meteorites-building-blocks-life-on-earth-from-space.htm

Evangelicals Question The Existence Of Adam And Eve
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/138957812/evangelicals-question-the-existence-of-adam-and-eve

Job - Why Is This Book in the Bible?

To begin with, from ch 1, why does God feel like he has something to prove to Satan? God first tries to show off with Job because he's such an upstanding citizen. Satan suggests that's only because God spoils him. Then, to prove Satan wrong, God gives him permission to mess up Job's life.

Why does God feel the need to one-up Satan? Suggests insecurity to me. I would think the almighty God of the universe would just say, "Who cares what you think. Nobody invited you here anyway. Now bugger off." Doesn't make God look very good to me.

The next disturbing thing is that this story suggests God gives Satan, and presumably other fallen angels (demons), permission to screw with our lives - destroy our property, kill people we love, give us disease, etc. I guess God can do what he wants, but it kinda sucks for us. Especially because Satan is invisible to us and we can't even see that it was him that did it. Job never knew it was Satan that did all this stuff to him. Indeed, Job and his friends spend a tedious amount of the book wondering back and forth what he did to deserve the misery he was in. So we're just left wondering if it was God directly, random chance, bad luck, consequence of sin, or maybe interference by invisible evil gremlins.

Then there's the whole issue of God treating Job like a lab rat. "Hmm, let's see what happens to a good person if we torture him to the point of death." Again, I guess God can do whatever he wants, but again it doesn't make him look good. And while God didn't do all of these awful things to Job directly, he knew what Satan was going to do and he allowed it. The story implies that Satan wasn't allowed to do bad things to Job until God gave him the go-ahead. So to me it's just as if God hurt Job himself.

Whether the story of Job is literally true or just an allegory, it's included in the canon of the Bible to make a point. I just don't think it makes a good one.

I realize I'm very cynical. I'd love to hear some positive spin on this book if you've got it.

Who Gets Punished for Who's Sins

2 Chronicles 25

[Amaziah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD... he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” [ref. Deuteronomy 24:16]

And yet in Exodus 34:

⁶ And [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

 And Numbers 14:18

The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

So the Deuteronomy rule makes sense and seems fair enough. The other two do not. But God is just. What gives?

I suppose the implication with the Exodus and Numbers quotes is that there may be consequences to sin that have a lasting impact on your family. And that's probably how most Christians (and maybe Jews) would rationalize it. However, that's reading a good bit between the lines that may not be there because that's not really what it says. It reads as an active thing that God does - he punishes - not a passive thing in that he allows the consequences to perpetuate.

Thoughts?

Will God Forsake Us, Or Not

2 Chronicles 15

¹The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you...”

Deuteronomy 31

¹ Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ² “...⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13 also quotes that verse from Deuteronomy (for a new testament ref.).

Not sure what to make of this seeming contradiction. But I feel like these sorts of problem verses typically get ignored and swept under the rug by Christians. I'm just thinking, really? Does nobody read this stuff and have problems with it? Where's the discussion? Why does there appear to be discord in the message here?

The Holy Grail

I just so happened to be watching another show on the Knights Templar and the Freemasons and they claim that Christopher Columbus was not the first person to settle/find the Americas. It was the Knights Templars looking for a safe place to hide the Holy Grail. There was alot of info I am trying to research but their claim is that the Holy Grail is actually hidden somewhere on this continent. I will see what I can find out and post more later.

Sodom and Gomorah revisisted

I recently watched a documentary on the events of Sodom and Gomorrah as they may be related to the Kofels Impact.
A planisphere dating back to 700 BC was found in 1850 by an archaeologist in the library of a royal palace in Nivea that is now known as Iraq. The tablet is said to be an astronomical observation of the fall of an asteroid which took place in 3123 BC. The recorded projection of the asteroid is amazingly accurate, within 1 degree. The projection puts the asteroid in the path of Kofels, Austria. The recorded observation suggests that the asteroid is one that orbits close to the earth and was 1 kilometer in diameter. The angle of decent had it striking the mountain of Gamskogel causing it to explode and the fireball created damage to the Kofels valley which is observed by modern geologists. The resulting plume of the asteroid would have been about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, enough to ignite and disintegrate everything in it's path, which would have been the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. The resulting impact would have also caused widespread changes in climates as suggested by northern Africa was once a lush tropical environment that turned into desert.
I believe the show is still running an NatGeo if you are interested.

Satan

1 Chronicles 21:1 - This seems to me the first mention of the name Satan. It took me by surprise because he hasn't been part of the conversation since early in Genesis as far as I recall. Am I forgetting something?

And, yes, I realize I have fallen very far behind in my reading at this point. But I'm at least continuing.

2 Kings 10

2 Kings 10:30 NIV

The Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."

What Jehu accomplished was slaughtering everyone in the house of Ahab, in cold blood - there was no war going on. And he got a nice pat on the back from God for that.

Should we revise commandment #6? You shall not murder... unless God tells you to.

What do you think?

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A bit behind...

Ok, I knew I was a bit behind on my reading the Bible straight thru. I hadn't entirely neglected reading the Bible, I had taken a tangent on reading the first 3 lessons in the Life Principles Bible (courtesy of Charles Stanely) The first lesson was Our intimacy with God-His highest priority for our lives-determines the impact of our lives. Genesis 1:26. Each lesson is followed by excerpts from Charles Stanely about What the Bible Says About... Answers to Life's Questions... and Life Examples. Life Principle 2 was Obey God and leave all consequences to him. Exodus 19:5. And the third was God's word is an immovable anchor in times of storm. Numbers 23:19. I have really enjoyed them all so far. The excerpts are all good.

As far as reading thru the Bible in a year I am about 50 pages behind currently camping out in Nehemiah. I should be at Job 42. Yikes. I feel confident I can make up for lost time. I am aslo very excited that I am only 500 or so pages away from the New Testament. Yea Me!

Ezra: I am so enamored with the whole concept of the Kingdom of David, to Solomon, to the Babylonians invading and now the rebuilding of the temple. It is a story filled with drama and intrigue. I can't help but notice the total absence of the Ark of the Covenant from the things the Babylonians took, to what Cyrus King of Persia gave back. The other thing that interests me is the lack of talk of Love. What I mean is that at the end of Ezra, the men who were guilty of intermarriage with pagan women rescinded the marriage and left their wives and children. It seems so impersonal, a lack of commitment and relationships. I have a hard time with the fact that these men were giving up responsibilities that they entered into when they had children. I understand the reason, but wouldn't you want to stay and try and change certain behaviors? I may be interpreting this all wrong. What are your thoughts?

Info on King Solomon

I got most of the content from wikapedia, by typing in King Solomon. The reference to the bird is from a Rabbinical account (e.g Targum Sheni)