Archive for the ‘Four Gospels’ Category
Friday, February 5th, 2010 by JEL
Back in November, our dog, a beloved family member for the last fourteen years, was put to sleep (as recommended by our veterinarian). We didn’t have to do this, but having him suffer was awful for him, the kids, and all of us. As heart-wrenching as that day was, it felt like the right thing to do.
For dogs, euthanasia seems to be pretty well accepted. None of our family and friends looked as us strangely when they heard the news or turned a cold shoulder or condemned us. For people, however, euthanasia is anything but accepted. As far as I know, it is illegal in most Western countries and forbidden by Christianity.
A bill on assisted suicide for the terminally ill has recently been proposed to the Scottish parliament. Pope Benedict, as you might expect, is not pleased:
“Support for euthanasia strikes at the very heart of the Christian understanding of the dignity of human life.”
His quote, when you look at it by itself, almost sounds in favor of euthanasia (dying with dignity is one of the pro arguments), but believe me, it’s not. I can’t recall Jesus talking about this topic in any of the Gospels. If I missed something, please let me know by posting a comment.
Tags: assisted suicide, euthanasia, Pope Benedict, the Pope
Posted in Four Gospels, In The News, Words of Christ | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 by JEL
Tossing aside lessons like “love your enemies” and “turn the other cheek” a number of evangelical churches are using mixed martial arts to recruit young people and spread the word that “Jesus was a fighter.”
This article in the New York Times contains the following:
The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility.
“The man should be the overall leader of the household,” said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. “We’ve raised a generation of little boys.”
And then there’s this quote during a fight from John Renken, pastor at Xtreme Ministries:
“Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!”
I can’t remember if he got that line from Matthew or Luke.
Tags: Christianity, compassion, mixed martial arts, xtreme fighting
Posted in Four Gospels, In The News, Words of Christ | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010 by JEL
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has been a lightning rod for controversy over the past several years. His latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story continues the trend. In the film he wonders if Jesus would have supported the current system of capitalism and concludes that He wouldn’t have. Jesus’ teachings to help the poor and give away your money, to Moore, seem incompatible with the greed for money that drives much of the market today.
This interesting article provides a number of viewpoints. Clement Mehlman, a Lutheran chaplain at Dalhousie University, agrees with Moore:
“Jesus says to follow Him, you have to give everything you own to the poor. How many Christians do you see doing that? It’s a text that should be thrown at the wealthy fat cats.”
Others feel that the problems lie not in capitalism, itself, but in the way it is used. Rev. Gary Thorne, an Anglican minister and chaplain with Dalhousie and the Canadian Forces Reserves, talks about the “intent of the heart” in looking at free markets. He cites the history of the church and points out the Martin Luther and John Calvin were all in favor of capitalism as a way to motivate people to work hard, support their families and please God. Thorne also says that the most important thing about acquiring wealth, for a Christian, should be a willingness to share it.
“Any Christian who says that we pay too much in taxes is just bonkers.”
The article goes on to talk about a middle ground and I encourage you to dive in.
Tags: capitalism, Four Gospels, Jesus, Michael Moore
Posted in Four Gospels, In The News, Words of Christ | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by JEL
If you were the casting director of a new TV show or movie and needed to find that perfect someone to provide the voice of Jesus, whom would you choose? Remember that Jesus’ age is around 30 in the Four Gospels so your pick can neither be too young nor too old. Perhaps some up-and-coming indie actor with a heathly mix of charisman and gravitas?
Nah. Lil Wayne!
Cable channel Adult Swim is creating a new animated series called “Freakniks” about the “Black Spring Break” in Atlanta in the late 90s. And yes, Lil Wayne has been tapped to voice Jesus. I wonder if any of His lines will match those found in What He Said…
Tags: Adult Swim, Freakniks, Jesus, Lil Wayne
Posted in Four Gospels, In The News, Irreverant | No Comments »
Monday, December 21st, 2009 by JEL
In the Gospel of Luke (1:26-33) there is an account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary. Given that we’re only four days away from Christmas, I thought it might be nice to share it here:
Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
For those of you trying to picture this scene in your head, archaeologists might be able to lend a hand. They have just discovered the first dwelling in Nazareth dated to the time of Jesus. They describe Nazareth as an “out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders.”
Tags: Gabriel, Jesus, Mary, Nazareth
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, In The News | No Comments »
Friday, December 11th, 2009 by PJM
My father often jokes that Jesus (and Shakespeare) only talked in clichés.
He is referring to the fact that much of the language from the Bible has been appropriated into our daily speech and cultural literary works. In fact, many readers of What He Said have marveled that certain phrases came from the Gospels and not from far more recent sources (like the speeches of Abraham Lincoln or the lyrics to a White Stripes song). In reviewing the nativity story from Luke, I was struck by the fact that Joseph and Mary offered a “pair of turtledoves” to Simeon in Jerusalem shortly after Christ’s birth.
Now I have to keep looking to figure out if three French hens show up anywhere in my reading.
Tags: Bible, Christmas, modern culture
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, The Bible, Words of Christ | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by JEL
As December 25 quickly approaches, I, like many of you, am up to my eyeballs in shopping lists, tree tinsel, and back-order stress. Yes, Christmas is coming. I think many people forget, while deep in Xbox vs. Wii debates, that Christmas = Jesus’ birthday.
Should we really break out the candles on the 25th?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John never mention the 25th as the birth date of Christ in their Gospels. So where did it come from? This article provides an answer.
Tags: Christmas, December 25, Four Gospels, Jesus
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by PJM
Now that we are in the Christmas season, I have been spending some time in the margins of What He Said. The Gospels of Mark and John begin when Jesus is an adult, but Matthew and Luke both give accounts of Christ’s birth. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting about some aspects of the two birth stories that interest me.
The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus, as told by Matthew. Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Jacob who was the son of Matthan who was the son of Eleazar… But, Luke (in Chapter 3) tells us that Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Heli who was the son of Matthat who was the son of Levi… What’s going on? Was Joseph the son of Jacob or Heli?
I’ve read that Jesus’ ancestry in Matthew is through Joseph and His ancestry in Luke is actually though Mary. When Luke says that Joseph was the son of Heli, he really means “son-in-law.”
This seems to be consistent with another difference in the two accounts of Christ’s birth story. Matthew has an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph (whose ancestors he has just listed). The angel explains to Joseph the circumstances of Mary’s motherhood and tells Joseph to name the child Jesus. But, Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to reveal the mystery of her being with child and tells her to name the child Jesus. So, it makes sense to me that Luke would trace the genealogy of Christ through Mary.
I would love it if a more astute Biblical scholar would step in to let us know if my thinking is off-base.
Tags: Bible, Christmas, Four Gospels, Genealogy, Jesus, Joseph, Mary
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, The Bible | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 13th, 2009 by JEL
Seems as if we were not the only ones crafting a book the last couple of years centered around the Four Gospels. I recently came across Mary Gordon’s Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels. Her take is fascinating:
“In the introduction to this remarkable book, Mary Gordon is riding in a taxi as the driver listens to a religious broadcast, and she reflects that, though a lifelong Christian, she is at odds with many others who identify themselves as Christians. In an effort to understand whether or not she had ‘invented a Jesus to fulfill my own wishes,’ she determined to read the Gospels as literature and to study Jesus as a character.”
You can read Newsweek’s review of the book here.
Tags: Four Gospels, Jesus, Mary Gordon
Posted in Four Gospels | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 by JEL
If you’ve watched the original Star Wars (1977) lately, you quickly notice how things can get dated when viewed through the lens of current day. In reading through the Four Gospels as many times as we did in creating What He Said, what struck me was how timeless the text seemed.
Except for the demons.
Demons are everywhere in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus casts them out of people right and left. Sometimes they are even visible as they slink away. Other times, they speak (Matthew 8:31). Every time I come upon a demon passage, I “wake from the dream” for a bit, as I ponder how odd those narratives feel in a modern context.
Tags: Bible, demons, Four Gospels, Jesus
Posted in Four Gospels, The Bible | No Comments »
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