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?

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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Human Sacrifice? (2 Samuel 21)

I hope nobody glazed over this little gem of a story. The Gibeonites wanted to kill 7 men from Saul's family as revenge or atonement for Saul having virtually wiped out their family/tribe (2 Sam 21:5-6). They arrived at this brilliant idea as a way to stop a 3 year famine that had been plaguing the land. Sounds like crazy "pagan" superstition to me.

From v.14, "After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land." God didn't seem to object to this or try to stop it. Actually, it was acceptable to him because he apparently ended the famine afterward.

Thoughts?

God and David (2 Samuel)

David sees Bathsheba - "Heeeey, how you doin'?"

David amazes me that way he maintains his humility and respect for God despite his power and influence. I'm sure that's a big part of why he and God had such a good relationship.

I found a couple of peculiar (interesting) things about the way God dealt with David though. So after David breaks 2 of the 10 commandments (don't covet your neighbor's wife and don't murder), God punishes him by killing his baby? Granted there's a certain poetic justice in not letting him keep the child from the illicit union, and David accepted it as such. But it's still seems odd to think of God disciplining in that manner. Especially since then, God goes on to not only allow them to have another child, but then that child (Solomon) becomes king and comes to be regarded as one of the wisest men to ever live. Just an interesting mix of harsh consequences, grace and love in this story.

To be honest, a lot of what is attributed to God in these stories seems like superstition; like people trying to make sense of good and bad events by saying God did it because it was deserved because of this or that. I know that's a cynical outlook, but then how do you make sense of good things happening to bad people and bad things happening to good people. Do you attribute it all to God specifically blessing and cursing individuals? Are people dying of AIDS in Africa because God's upset with them about something? I don't know. Would love to hear thoughts...

Supplimental Books

I'm starting a couple of supplemental books to my Bible reading:

One book on each side of the story, although not necessarily on opposite sides of the same argument. I feel strongly that you need to hear all sides of a debate in order to have a clear understanding of your own position and reasons for holding that position.

Philistines Weren't Too Bright (1 Samuel)

After reading 1 Samuel 4 & 5 I was left thinking the Philistines were perhaps a bit mentally challenged. So they beat the Israelite army and ran off with the Ark of the Covenant and took it home. They're thinking, "Cool. Now we have two gods. Let's stick him in our temple with our other god." Then they come back to find the statue of their god bowing down in front of the Ark and eventually broken and left on the threshold of the door. Then God afflicts them with "devastation" and tumors as well. And all they come up with is: let's get rid of this ark and this god.

Did anyone stop to think, hey, this God is more real and more powerful than that statue we've been worshiping. Maybe it's time for a change. So they were willing to add him to their temple as a second-stringer, but not willing to engage with God when the hard truth became apparent. Instead they just wanted him out of there so they could go back to the status quo, back to their comfort zone. The paradigm shift of changing their beliefs was more than they could handle. So they just wanted it to go away. Not such an uncommon attitude I suppose.

Thoughts?

Judges: Jephthah

Judges 11:30-31:

And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

Then who comes out of his door when he comes home in triumph? His daughter. Ugh! What a knucklehead! What kind of a moron makes a promise like that? I can only guess that in that time it was typical to keep animals in the house and he must have expected a goat to walk out the front door. But it was still a house. Obviously a person could just as easy be the first thing out, right? Really bizarre story.

The other interesting thing about it is that it doesn't say that God tried to stop this sacrifice in any way. I had some hope that, like in the case of Abraham and Isaac, God might step in and say, "Hang on. Don't really do it. Here's a ram instead." Or something like that.

I'm just not even sure what to do with that story. Why is it in there? The author makes no comment on the event one way or the other, which doesn't help.

G.I. Josh

I'm a little behind and just finished Joshua. What struck me most was the violence. The whole book is about an aggressive campaign to establish a territory for the national of Israel. It was an offensive, not a defensive, war. How would such a thing be viewed today? Granted it was ordained by God, and, ostensibly, these were bad people being slaughtered. But slaughtered they were. Wiped out. Men, women, children, sheep, goats... What would the SPCA or PETA say? (Just being facetious there.) Seriously though, it was very violent and much of it was without mercy. It's an odd thing to attribute to the God that we're typically taught about in Sunday school in America. The God we are taught is all about being nice to others, being peaceful, turning the other cheek, all that stuff.

The other thing that struck me was the common refrain of "be strong and courageous" that keeps coming back in Joshua. It's an inspiring word of encouragement to keep coming back to.

Deserters?

Something that just occurred to me as I was reading in Joshua, I have to wonder if people were deserting Israel and the whole promised land campaign. I can see it getting pretty tedious at times with all the rules and regulations and sacrifices etc etc. Wonder if some just decided they'd had enough and went their own way. There had to have been some of that going on, right? And then I would wonder if God would be mad at those people and kill them with an illness or snakes or something.

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Abraham Cursed?

Here's a head-scratcher for you:

Deuteronomy 27:22 says "Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother."

In Genesis 20:11-12 Abraham says of his wife Sarah, "...Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife."

So the great father of the Israelite people was a cursed man by God's own declaration?

Balaam's Ass (Numbers 22)

The story of Balaam and his donkey is one of my favorites of the whole Bible. Why? Because it's quirky and weird. I love how the text makes it seem like a donkey talking to a dude is an unremarkable event. You'd think that after Num 22:28, after the Lord opens the donkey's mouth and she speaks, that the next verse might be something like: "And Balaam exclaimed, 'Holy f^@#*ng $#*t! You can talk?!'" No, he just answers the donkey's question.

The other thing that makes this story odd is that, like Melchizedek the king/priest from Salem back in Genesis 14, Balaam is a guy who comes out of nowhere and seems to have an intimate relationship with God. It doesn't seem like Balaam and God had a great relationship, but they clearly listened to each other and Balaam respected God's power. We don't get much history on him, but it indicates that God had relationships with other individuals outside of his chosen people. I think there's a message of hope in there, that God isn't overly concerned about your ancestry, race, nationality or whatever. He cares about your interest in talking to him and listening to him and having some sort of relationship. It seems to say that God doesn't limit himself to a particular group of people (Jews, Christians). He'll do whatever he wants with whomever he wants, and that's ok.