Bible Read Thread

[SarahsKnight]

There is this consistent motif of life and death, decaying and quickening, rebirth and resurrection, here in a seemingly endless stream of paradoxical sayings and thoughts from St. Paul in these two chapters of Romans. At a glance they might be very hard to sort out into separate thoughts because Paul seems to constantly flit from one subject to the next applying this motif of life and death, with only connective words "for", "but", "and", "therefore" and so on between sentences. .... I don't know; I guess after his unique conversion by the Spirit he was made so eager to talk about the Good News with everyone he writes to in the Epistles - going on and on about how basically Christ makes everything and everyone new despite the whole world being mortal and fallen because of sin - that he might have taken a heavy dose of whatever the equivalent to caffeine for us was in Paul's time before sitting down to write the book of Romans.

 

[SarahsKnight]

sarahknight is your version missing the ending of verse 25?

No, I just wanted to emphasize the first part of it where Paul gives thanks to God because of Christ, Who has delivered us from the ultimate death that sin causes, despite how we must continue live on for now in a mortal body that sins as implied by the preceding verse.

 

[Goodbook]

oh its alright.

Well Paul does like to go on...
He was very passionate about the love of God and how it transformed him, so no wonder.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Week Five, Monday: The Law

We now return to Genesis, 16 through 19.

 

[Goodbook]

I was thinking..the covenant that God made with abraham, also he made with isaac, but that part was later with the sacrifice of the lamb instead of isaac. I had thought the covenant was just the promise, but its more..it wasnt just those animals Abraham cut and God passed through and it wasnt just circumcision and it wasnt just the promise that abraham would be a father of many nations. (So the zionist claim that they possess the land solely for themselves as jews is false...abraham was the patriarch of more than just the tribe of judah)

The real test came later and the covenant is made and accepted by faith on our part, with God supplying the sacrifice....but im getting ahead of myself...sorry.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Okay, I have never been blackout drunk before, so maybe I am being presumptuous here, but I have always wondered after reading Genesis 19, .... how do you NOT know when someone is having sex with you?

 

[Goodbook]

er...maybe he thought he was dreaming? And his daughter snuck in. Then snuck out.
I don't drink alcohol so I don't really know all the effects but I do know that when people drink they lose awareness of what they are doing, and wine does have aphrodisiac effects on people.

That's why people call romance 'wining and dining' of course, you can have sex while not drunk, but for many people they drink cos it makes them feel...amorous. Maybe because they don't normally feel that way? Notice they didn't get him to eat chocolate.

 

[SarahsKnight]

... Morning, .... people ..... (Feel like a zombie this morning .....)

*yawn*



Week Five, Tuesday: History

Joshua chapters 21 through 24.

 

[Goodbook]

We finished a book!
Two things
1. The Lord gave the ALL the promised land to the israelites and they possessed it. So zionists are wrong to say God wasnt good on his promises.
2. Suburbs were for the cattle

 

[SarahsKnight]

We finished a book!
Two things
1. The Lord gave the ALL the promised land to the israelites and they possessed it. So zionists are wrong to say God wasnt good on his promises.
2. Suburbs were for the cattle

Really? They say He wasn't? Why?

 

[Goodbook]

Well the zionists claim the land still belongs to only Jews and that they didn't possess it all the first time. So that's why they have to take it again and set up the (illegal) modern state of Israel. Well they obviously don't know their history. The land wasn't unconditionally given - it was dependent on the israelites obeying God.
Joshua clearly states they possessed all the land God promised. But they still had to choose which God they served - the Lord or other gods. They went after other gods, and thats why they were scattered later. The Lord was merciful and brought them back, but then his chosen ones murdered their own prophets and even consented to crucifying His only son.

Anyway to cut a long story short, zionists are wrong. Its the New Heavenly Jerusalem which is the everlasting possession - not the land or buildings there currently.

 

[Goodbook]

What history book are we reading after Joshua?

 

[SarahsKnight]

Okay, sorry, everyone. Apparently my post did not go through earlier this morning as I just checked back on my phone and do not see it.

To answer Book's question, next in history will be the book of Judges. As for today's reading, it will be Psalms 12 through 14.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Does anyone have a good interpretation of what David means in Psalm 14:7 where he laments for the "salvation of Israel to come out of Zion"?

Is it just an expression to show that he wishes for all of Israel to turn back to seeking the Lord? Since the word " salvation" is not capitalized, I assume this cannot be meant to be a title for God Himself, as though King David were referring to God as the Salvation of Israel and he pleads for God to come back to Israel.

 

[Goodbook]

I think Zion means Jerusalem, or specifically mount Zion in which the temple and holy of holies is. He could be hoping for the Messiah. Even David knew he was not the Messiah because of being aware of his sin. The Messiah had to be holy and sinless, nobody was except for the Lord himself - and his only begotten son of course.

 

[Goodbook]

Jesus name means 'salvation'

 

[SarahsKnight]

Week Five, Thursday: Poetry

We return to Job's lament with chapters 9 and 10.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Gotta say, I am pretty sure any one of us can empathize with Job here in this verse in chapter 9:

16“ If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.

... I mean, which of us here would actually believe our ears if we were to call for God and actually hear an audible voice reply back, in any situation?

 

[Goodbook]

Poor Job. Hes afraid of God.
He doesnt know that satan is behind his calamities. I can empathise with that. I was in that dark place once.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Hi, everyone. We'll be continuing in Isaiah today, chapters 23 through 28.