Back At This Blog Again

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10 KJV

Like many others, I’ve been slacking in reading the Bible. It’s kinda painful to even write that statement. Like admitting that I’ve been slacking is somehow sacrilegious or something. But I hear the truth sets you free, so I’m not going to let the guilt stop me. 

How I feel when I commit to things long term.
PC: Christopher Campbell

Anyway, I remember when I was blogging about what I read each morning, that I actually . . . Read. Each. Morning. So I figured that’s the best way for me to do this. However, I’ve also been going through a bit of a “fear of commitment” stage in life. So committing to reading a particular book or chapter just seems a bit overwhelming. I thought I’d just take the daily verse from my Bible app and write about that.

I guess that’s okay except for the fact that I like to know things in context . . . so that doesn’t really give me that. Anyway, some of the verses do alright standing alone. This one, however, I think it needs more to it in order to really understand or take in the full meaning. Like who is the writer talking to? Who is the writer? What setting is this? I don’t know. If I take the verse like this, it seems like the writer just wants a bunch of “group thinkers,” but I don’t really think that’s what he’s wanting.

I guess I’ll read the whole chapter . . . or enough to know the context of this verse.

So the writer is Paul.

And as you might have guessed, he’s talking to the church in Corinth.

And what’s going on is that the people are all divided and saying things like, “I’m of Paul,” or “I’m of Apollos,” or “I’m of Christ,” similarly to the way some of us would say, “I’m a follower of this guy’s theology” and then name someone like Doug Bachelor or Stephen Bohr (verse 12).

But Paul didn’t approve of this. He wanted everyone to be on the same page in their theology as well as not claiming they were following specific men.

He asks, “Is Christ divided?” and “Was Paul crucified for you?”

I think those are pretty good questions.

Anyway, this is what the verse was about . . . not picking sides based on men but getting on the same page behind Christ.

Seems like a good argument.

Okay .  .  . that's all for today. 

Dang . . .

Wow . . . Amos 4 was deep. The chapter was God speaking, pleading really, with the Israelites to come back to Him. He was reminding them of all the good and bad He put upon them to try and get their attention and yet how they simply didn't care.

What I loved the most was the lyrical way it was written—but that could also be because I read it out loud also. Which I might need to start doing because otherwise I'm not getting much out of this book. But I definitely did today.

I loved the last verse in the chapter.

13 "For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the wind,
Who declares to man what his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
Who treads the high places of the earth—
The LORD God of hosts is His name."

Dang, that's just powerful . . .

Amos 3

One of the things I enjoy most about reading the Bible is discovering where those Bible verses are that I grew up hearing people quote.

Today with Amos 3 was one of those times.

 "3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey?
will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
 5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him?
shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
 6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?
shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?
 7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear?
the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy"

So that was cool. Otherwise, I'm still not really getting into this book much. Just being honest.

Amos 2

God seems almost exasperated by these people because in the second part of chapter two He starts reminding them of all the things He did for them yet how they forgot all His protection and goodness.

And that's all I got out of the second chapter. I also have a Spanish test to finish studying for that I'll be taking in about 2.5 hours . . . see you on the other side!

Amos in English y Español

Wow . . . it's been almost a year and a half since I've last written on this blog. But nevertheless, I'm back. And I'm reading Amos. Why? Well, no reason really other than I haven't read the book before and it's a short one. I'm still with the same Bible since I haven't read through it completely (honestly I forgot I'd made myself that promise . . . the truth is I just haven't put the money aside to buy a new one).

Since I'm taking a Spanish class, I've decided to read through Amos in both languages . . . in an attempt to get a better grasp of this language.

I'm not really sure of the Biblical or historic or prophetic importance of the book of Amos . . . I guess I could Google that . . . but whatevs . . . so I don't really understand it . . . (I should probably get someone to explain it) but what I do understand is that God is pretty upset at lots of different people because they either betrayed others, killed others, or did horrendous injustices to others.

And that's pretty much all I understood. Besides enjoying the way the lines were written and the cadence, I honestly didn't get much out of the first chapter of Amos in either English or Spanish . . . we'll see how the rest of the book is and whether I find a Bible scholar to fill me in on some background details.

Peace - Paz :)

I Thessalonians: Pretty Heavy on the Theology

I've been  contemplating buying a new Bible. I'm between the Remnant Bible and the Andrews Study Bible. Either I think will be good but I'm just not sure which one to get yet. But Wednesday morning as I was looking through my current Bible, I that my Bible looked too nice . . . I didn't mark it up enough  . . . it doesn't even look like a used it much. It was kinda sad for me to look through it. This is the Bible that I've had since I was 11—11 years. And I wish I had spent more time in it. Understanding it and learning from it. I've never even read it through once.

I decided that before I buy a new one (or at least move on completely to a new one), I want to use this one out. I want to thoroughly get everything out of it that I can before moving on. I hate waste, and looking at my Bible, it seemed like I was going to be wasting it to just go out and get a new one. 

In order to "use it up" I'd like to read it through, meaning to simply read the parts I've never read before. And not be afraid to mark it up.

I'm starting with some small books in the New Testament—ones I can read in one sitting, so that I feel like I'm actually accomplishing my goal right from the start before I move on to longer (and what I think will be more boring) Old Testament books—but I'll probably be proved wrong on the boring thing . . . hey I actually enjoyed I Chronicles . . . haha. 

Anyway . . . today I read I Thessalonians. At first the book was a lot of greeting niceties before finally getting to some pretty heavy theological issues in chapter 4. It talks about the theology of death and in chapter 5 the fact that we won't know when Jesus is supposed to come back. I'd heard these verses before but never knew where to find them. I actually feel like my faith is getting stronger and that I can defend what I've been taught since a child better now. That's a really cool feeling. 

Okay . . . that's it. lol :) 

Titus: Powerful

I never knew Titus was such a powerful book! I seriously loved it and marked it all up. lol