Posts Tagged ‘Bible’
Thursday, November 19th, 2009 by JEL
Please note that this post is filed under the “Irreverant” category. Also note that the source of article being discussed is Weekly World News.
Now that that’s out of the way, Dr. Wayne Stanton, “a mathematician and leading expert on the four gospels,” has discovered some new meaning in Jesus’ words. According to the good doctor, Jesus was speaking on two levels. One, about the Kingdom of Heaven and two, about future events.
Taking the twelfth, seventh and third letters in Jesus’ words and then using them to create new words, Jesus was apparently sending us coded messages about some startling prophesies. Read the article to find out about a very exciting year in 2010.
Tags: Bible, Four Gospels, Jesus, prophesies
Posted in Irreverant | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 by JEL
A book club at Kirk in the Hills church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan is setting out to read the Bible in 90 days. The story has some good quotes from participants that touch on our motivations for creating What He Said. For instance:
“As a Christian, I thought [reading the Bible] was a good thing to do. But it’s a little intimidating to just crack it open and go cover to cover on your own.”
— Amy Maple
The founder of the Bible in 90 days program, Ted Cooper, added this:
But even though “so many people start reading the Bible, hardly anyone finishes.”
We would love to start having some Bible study groups and book clubs make What He Said their next selection.
Tags: Bible, Bible study, book club, What He Said
Posted in In The News, The Bible | 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 »
Monday, November 9th, 2009 by PJM
What He Said has barely gone to press and now it looks like it is already dated. Christianity Today reports that the folks behind Conservapedia have decided to rewrite the Bible so that Jesus doesn’t seem too liberal.
Among the changes . . . Jesus no longer says “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” This was removed because it makes Jesus seem soft on sin. Also, in the Conservapedia version, Jesus has apparently changed his mind about material wealth. That will certainly help the camel slip through the needle’s eye easier.
Tags: Bible, politics, wealth, Words of Christ
Posted in In The News, The Bible, Words of Christ | No Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009 by JEL
You ask four people to write an account of the same incident, you’re bound to get differences in the final narrative. The Judas betrayal is just one example:
- Matthew – Judas goes to the priests and asks what they’ll give him in return for turning over Jesus. He gets paid 30 pieces of silver on the spot. The betrayal, itself, is done with the kiss.
- Mark – Again, Judas proactively goes to the priests, but is only “promised” money. The kiss is repeated.
- Luke – In this account, Satan enters into Judas and gets him to go to the priests who, this time, “agree to” give him money. This is the only gospel with Jesus’ quote, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (22:48)
- John – Satan enters Judas’s heart during the Last Supper. There’s no mention of going to the priests beforehand; Judas just appears with a detachment of soldiers and officers. There’s no mention of a kiss or of any money changing hands.
Tags: Bible, Four Gospels, Judas, What He Said
Posted in Four Gospels | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 by JEL
Pollster George Gallup Jr. had this to say about Bible usage:
“Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it.”
Why? Tyndale House Publishers ran a survey and found that people in this country don’t read the Bible because: (1) they’re too busy – 64%; and (2) it’s too confusing and hard to understand – 80%.
Hopefully What He Said, in its size and page layout, will help addresses these two concerns.
Tags: Bible, Bible usage, What He Said
Posted in The Bible | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 by JEL
Recent research shows that 92% of American households own at least one Bible and that the average household owns three or four (depending on the study). Less than 20% read the Bible on a daily basis, 59% read it “occasionally,” and the rest, presumably, not at all. Only 14% are involved in some sort of Bible study.
All of these numbers are down from twenty years ago, yet the Bible continues to be the #1-selling book, year after year.
Tags: Bible, Bible sales, Bible study
Posted in The Bible | No Comments »
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