I don’t quite understand how to read the Old Testament.  Do I read it for historical purposes, to understand the lineage of Jesus?  Do I read it for life application, comparing my life to the up and downs of the Israelites, realizing that I stray and turn my back on God as often as they did?  Do I read it just to get an understanding of how bad things were, and why we needed a Savior?

Example.  We just studied the 10 Plagues in Exodus at small group last week.  We doing some studies of the Essential 100, and that’s just where we are at.

Now, the plagues are an amazing story, just in terms of story value.  Makes for an amazing movie.  Shows the power of God in a frightening way.  The things that happened are unfathomable and so epic that we could never understand their affect.

But I don’t really understand what to take from reading about the plagues.  In fact, it makes me shake my head about God maybe more than anything else in the OT.  The plagues were cruel, terrible, sort of over-the-top punishment rained upon an entire nation or people group.  It’s hard for me to be believe that ALL the Egyptians were deserving of this punishment, that many of them were simply suffering because of the hard heart of the Pharoah.  Their water supply was ruined, their land turned to filthy, odorous ruins, their livestock obliterated, and thousands of firstborn children killed.  Sure, the end game was to make it possible for Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and off to their own lands.  But was all that really necessary?  In fact, the flood makes more sense to me than the plagues.

Over the last 2 years in small group, we’ve studied Genesis, some of Exodus, and most of the minor prophets.  And I’ve continued this struggle of knowing how to read these books and what to gain from them.  I’ve struggled with the fact that so much is missing, chunks of time go by in a story and you have no idea what happened during those times.  Sometimes God is a provider, sometimes full of wrath, sometimes elusive, and sometimes is even coaxed by a prophet to change His mind about something.

So many Old Testament laws and practices no longer apply and were really abolished by the new covenant.  The person of Jesus made so many OT laws seem ridiculous (an eye for an eye).  So, why read parts of Exodus or Deuteronomy or Leviticus where so many of these laws are laid out, which no longer mean anything to me, and only serve to make me more confused?

So.  How do you read the Old Testament?  What do you gain from it in personal life application?  Do you get as confused as I do?  Do you read it just as a surface story, or do you like to dig deeper into the meanings, the culture, the background?  Ultimately, I know it’s important for me to read these books of Scripture, I’d just like to figure out the best reason why.

What the great Albert Einstein thought about God, faith, and the Bible?

Here you go. 

You may or may not have seen this recently popular You Tube video with the Baptist church preacher talking about “what makes a man…not a male.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth the next 5 minutes of your life.

In the Old Testament – only in the King James Version – the Bible signifies that which designates the “true men” from all others. Here it is:

1 Kings 16:11 (KJV)
11And it came to pass, when he (David) began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

Well, think what you will. Maybe it’s vulgar. Maybe it’s euphamistic translation. But it only appears in the KJV and only on 6 occasions.

Regardless, you’ll be glad to know that my small group from church has talked it over and we now proudly proclaim our stance….and we shall be known as true men.

Have you ever read the book of Jonah? Here it is in The Message version. It’s 4 chapters in total. I totally recommend it.

It had been a while since I’d read it. We read it last night during the guys small group I’m in. Holy crap! What a weird, trippy, fascinating story. It’s very difficult to distinguish whether it’s literally true, or more of a parable. And though you may know that Jonah was sent to speak to Ninevah, you may not realize he only spoke ONE SENTENCE to them, and the entire city – 120,000 strong – turned to God.

And you may know that Jonah spent three days inside a whale. But did you know that Jonah very well may not have realized he was in a whale? At least not until he was vomited out. Well, there are too many amazing occurences to point out here. Check it out for yourself.

God’s Word never ceases to amaze.

There’s a concept I’ve mentally struggled with for a long time. We talked about it in my small group last week. It’s the concept of “retirement” and “investment savings” as a Christian.

Here’s my struggle. In the New Testament church, no one really owned anything. All possessions and material needs belonged to everyone and people used stuff as it was needed most. The Bible speaks often about trusting God for provision, not worrying about tomorrow, and giving what you have to those who need it more than you.

Yet we live in a current world – Christians included – in which we earn and save mostly for ourselves…we’re taught to put away nest eggs for college savings, retirement, and those “just in case” moments (worrying about tomorrow?) when we’ll need the money.

I realize that this practice is really a result of a community shift. If ALL Christians were committed to New Testament possession principles, we could live the way they did. Even if one church body were committed to it, that church could probably live the NT way. But people don’t do this. We think it’s an awesome concept, but we don’t really trust others, ourselves, and maybe even God enough to really believe that it could work and we could still live comfortable lives.

So, do I look at retirement savings (IRA, 401K, mutual funds, savings, etc) as provisions from God – maybe that’s God’s way of providing for us. Or do I look it as a lack of trust for provision, do I consider it hoarding, and a way to plan on being totally lazy for the last 10-15 years of my life?

Should Christ followers ever truly retire? Or do we simply retire from a worldly job in order to focus our full-time efforts on ministry work? And if we do that, wouldn’t that retirement nest egg be wonderfully spent on missions, providing for the poor, helping people get back on their feet, helping new church plants…..yes, it’s important to have enough to eat and have a roof over your head and a car to drive, but isn’t that really a secondary concern to doing the work of Christ?

Help me out, here. I’m totally on the fence. Sometimes I’ll lean hard one way, then hard the other way. I want to be more committed to saving and investing and making sure my son has all he needs down the road….but I also want to commit to live more frugally, to trust more in God’s provision, to teach my son that we don’t need all the best possessions to be happy and at peace. What are your thoughts? How do you see the Bible teaching us in this area?