Category: bible

Violence and Trustworthiness

A personal reflection set on violence and danger: I’ve had three people tell me I need to worry about theft at my storefront. One has been the victim of violent crime; the other two haven’t. All three own firearms for personal protection. I offer this eastern parable:

There was once a little boy who had a beautiful set of marbles. His friend, a little girl, had a bag of candy. When the boy had tired of playing with the marbles, he offered to trade the girl all his marbles for all her candy. Just before the trade was to be made, the boy looked over his marbles and selected his two favorites. He slipped them into his pocket, his agreement notwithstanding. Later that night, he lay awake. One thought burned its way through his mind: I wonder if she gave me all of the candy?

I offer this only as a possibility, and I’m open to refutation: Is it possible that it’s not what others are willing to do that drives our fears, but what we ourselves are willing to do? Is this why perfect love drives out all fears?

* I offer these only as thoughts, and I temper them with some modicum of hubris. The other night, I was faced with a drug-addicted friend of the former residents of my house. He wanted to know how many people were living at my house and offered with a smile that he already knew the layout of the inside of my dwelling. I didn’t sleep for several hours that night, worrying about the guy on the bicycle who stopped by that evening. I didn’t sleep until God gave me this verse from Psalm 121: “He who watches over Israel will neither sleep nor slumber.”

Today Show Interview about The DaVinci Code

  • Ian McKellen, on whether there should be a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie to clarify that it’s fiction: “I’ve often thought there should be a disclaimer at the beginning of the Bible. I mean, walking on water? That takes a bit of…….faith or something.”
  • My response: “Yep, Ian, that’s what makes those things supernatural. When you start by acknowledging that such things don’t naturally happen, it means they’re miracles and thus worthy of the telling.”
  • Matt Laurer: “Paul, when you got the call that you were going to be the killer albino monk, how long did it take you to say yes?” Paul Bettany: “It took about ought-point-three seconds to say yes to that. It doesn’t matter what else you have going on. You can’t turn down an offer like that.”
  • My response: “I think if I got a call asking if I want to play a killer albino monk, I’d say yes, too. Who wouldn’t? I’m looking forward to seeing the movie just to see Paul Bettany. He’s great.”

Similes in Revelation 4

The fourth chapter of the book of John’s Revelation paints a picture of God’s throne room, albeit with an uncertain brush. John grasps at any descriptor he can find to portray the scene. I counted 9 similes in the first 7 verses. At one point, John’s eyes, which are trying desperately to take in the scene without popping out of his head, roam across what he describes as, “four living creatures.” I can just imagine him trying to put pen to paper to convey what he saw. The original mauscript may have looked something like this:

” In the center, around the throne, were four people /four things/ four animals/four uhhhh…. four living creatures…”

He didn’t know what to call the creatures. Or how to describe the throne. Or the one sitting on it. But somehow, the scene made some kind of internal sense to John when he took it in. In fact, the scene not only made some sort of sense, but John actually became emotionally involved in what was happening before him. We know this because he says, “I wept and wept,” when no one was found who was worthy to open the seals on the scroll that appears at the beginning of the next chapter.

The scene was foreign to John, but made sense when he observed it. I imagine that everything was somehow familiar to him, judging by the fact that he had comparisons to draw from. Foreign but familiar? That’s an appropriate reaction to a place that, even though he’d never been there, was even then Home to John. And I imagine that we as Christians would have similar reactions to a place we’ve never been, but a place that’s more of a home than we’ll ever find this side of Heaven.

* notes on Revelation

In my journey through the Bible, I’ve come to the last book: Revelation. I don’t read the book of Revelation lightly. It always conjures for me memories of a lunchtime bible study in which I participated while attending a military school. In this study, we watched videos of some guys who were trying to predict the end times, often using modern-day newspaper headlines and equating them to prophesied events. Ironically, the course of study at the school was journalism, and we were learning to write headlines. I learned that headline semantics are usually driven more by space and layout than by the significance of the news contained beneath.

Someone very perceptively pointed out that predicting the signs attending to the end of the world and Christ’s second coming is most often an attempt to control events, or feel in control of events by dint of knowing what’s happening. While at first I reviled at this notion, I eventually came to embrace it. My current approach is that it’s best to be faithful in all I’m called to do, regardless of how near or far the end may be. If I’m faithful with the large and small things given by God for my governance, then the coming of the end tomorrow or next year shouldn’t change my actions.

So I approach the book of John’s Revelation very carefully. I strive to read it with the goal of knowing God more fully, understanding his character, and discovering the things that challenge popular assumtions about heaven, hell, and the nature of reality. I’m sure it’ll be meaningful reading, and I’ll let you in on a few thoughts as I go. Feel free to read along with me!

Enjoy,

AJS