Hebrews part three.

I'm back. Somehow life goes on, even when your heart has been smashed into a million pieces by the inconceivable and unexplainable.

We continue on in Hebrews chapter one at verse ten. There the author makes a quote that he attributes to god speaking about the christ. "In the beginning, o lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." First of all, this exact phrase does not seem to appear as is in the Old Testament. It appears to be a mash up of Psalm 8:6 and Zechariah 12:1. Second, the logic seems to be: if scripture is the word of god, and god is saying these things, and god appears to be talking to someone else. Who else could that someone be? Must be the christ!

Verse 11 contains a small piece of Isaiah 51:6, "they (the heavens) will wear out like a garment." Verse 12 is a reconstruction of Psalm 102:25-27, You will roll them (the heavens)up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed, but you remain the same, and your years will never end." Again, this is supposed to be the words of god speaking about the christ. I guess the writer couldn't admit to himself that the OT scriptures were not the words of god, but someone else talking about god.

Hebrews 1:10-12 is supposed to be a single quote from god, but what we find is words picked from multiple Psalms, Isaiah, and Zechariah. They are all sewed together to prove the author's point by seeming to be a cohesive unit. And who is going to know any better if they don't have access to scriptures?

In verse 13, the author tells us that god never told any angels to sit at his right hand until he makes their enemies into a foot stool, now did he? No, but he said that to someone in Psalm 110:1, which was supposed to have been written by David about someone called "the lord." Must be Jesus!! Hallelujah.

In verse 14, the author veers off course and says, "aren't angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" This must be so because, according to my study bible,  Psalm 91 implies it and the story of Daniel in the lion's den proves it. That's logic.

That concludes chapter one. Chapter two continues on with the angel theme. The readers are told to pay careful attention to what they've heard (from whom?) and not drift away. The message spoken by angels is binding and disobedience results in punishment that we can't escape if we ignore the message of salvation. Nice. What choice do we have?

So....about this message of salvation. We are not yet told exactly what is was, or who it came through. Maybe the author will enlighten us later, or maybe he thinks we already know. It was apparently first announced by "the lord" and confirmed by those who had heard him, whoever they were. Apparently the author was not one who personally heard him. I'm assuming that "the lord" here refers to the christ, because the next sentence says that god also testified to it by distributing miraculous signs and gifts. Not any more.

We will pause here. Till next time.

Mark part three

We are still in chapter one at verse 35. In this book, we don't know how long after Jesus was baptized that he started preaching, or how old he was, but it was after John was put in prison. The last few events have been depicted as happening in rapid succession. The appearance in the synagogue, the healings at Simon's  house, and now we are told that "early in the morning, while it was still dark" Jesus got up, left the house, and went out to pray alone. His other companions went to find him because everyone was looking for him. He wanted to leave that place and travel around to teach  and drive out demons.

In chapter two, a man with leprosy begged to be healed. Jesus healed him then told him not to tell anyone but to go to the priest and make the required sacrifices. Naturally the man told everyone and Jesus was mobbed by people, even though he tried to hide. "A few days later" Jesus went back to Capernaum. I'm assuming he stayed at Simon's house again. The house he was in was also mobbed by people, so that there was no room for any more. A hole was dug in the roof (probably made of mud and straw) so a paralyzed man could be lowered in to Jesus. Jesus was impressed by his faith and told the man his sins were forgiven. Some teachers of the law were thinking to themselves that this was blasphemy because only god could forgive sins. If course Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked them which was easier, to tell a paralyzed man  his sins were forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk.

Then he tells the man to get up and walk, and he did, in full view of everyone. They were amazed and praised god, saying, "we have never seen anything like this!" Well, now, that must have been a true miracle, right? Let me ask you some questions. Has anyone ever been fooled by fake faith healers? Has anyone ever exaggerated faith healing claims?  Has anyone ever manufactured faith healing experiences? If your answer is yes, what makes you think there couldn't have been fake faith healers in the first century? How do you know this account is accurate? How do you even know it actually happened? And if it did, how do you know whether or not the "paralyzed" man was faking his condition? The author of the book of Mark is telling a story about Jesus, he does not claim to have seen any of this. He either got it second or third hand, or it was an urban legend,  or someone told him a tall tale, or he is telling a tall tale himself. There are many possibilities more likely than that a paralyzed man was instantly healed by faith.

 Mark tells us that this event happened so that "you may know the son of man has the authority to forgive sins." It is assumed that the "son of man" refers to Jesus himself. This may be a reference to Daniel 7:13-14, where Daniel has a vision of a person who looked like a "son of man"  This person was given authority by god and was worshipped by all nations and given an everlasting kingdom. The phrase son of man literally means a human male. It is also important to remember that the book of Daniel was not written by Daniel and is most likely a work of fiction. Did Jesus know that?

In Chapter 2:13, at some undetermined future time, Jesus was again beside the lake (the sea of Galilee) teaching large crowds of people. As he walked along, he saw Levi (later known as Matthew) sitting in a tax collectors booth. (There were tax collector booths by the lake? ) My study bible says this may have been like a toll booth on a main road. Jesus told Levi to follow him and he did. Disciple #5.

More to come.

Heaven part six

We will now look at Strong's concordance's list of words translated as heaven and see if we can learn anything else about this mysterious place. Will it be in the sky like it was in the Old Testament? Or will it be in some other dimension outside of space and time, as many Christians claim?

Looking at the concordance, it again appears that the vast majority of the instances of the word heaven in the New Testament are one word. This is the Greek word Ouranos, which is defined as the sky; by extension- heaven (the abode of god); by implication- happiness, power, eternity. Specific to Christianity- its usage is air, heaven, the sky. There are a very few times other Greek words are used as heaven we will address them when we get to them.

We start with the book of Matthew. In verse 3:2, John the baptist tells people to repent for the "kingdom of heaven" is at hand. I ask myself, what is this kingdom of heaven? Was it mentioned in the Old Testament? So, I did a Bible Gateway search for the phrase kingdom of heaven and looked at the results. In the Old Testament, only the book of Daniel refers to anything like a kingdom of heaven, but it doesn't use that exact phrase. What's very interesting is that in the whole New Testament, the whole bible actually, the exact phrase "kingdom of heaven" is used only in the book of Matthew. Mark, Luke, John, and the rest of the New Testament, uses "kingdom of god." Only in 2 Timothy is there mention of a "heavenly kingdom."

In Matthew 3:17, at Jesus's baptism, a voice from heaven says, "This is my son whom I love, in him I am well pleased." In 4:17, Jesus begins preaching, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." In 5:3, the poor in spirit have the kingdom of heaven. So do the persecuted, in verse 5:10. In 5:16 god, called "the father", is in heaven.

Matthew 5:19 tells us, "Anyone who breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." What commandments is the author speaking of? Verse 5:18 tells that it is Law (of Moses). Jesus himself says in that verse that "until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest stroke a pen will by any means disappear from the Law. This is sooo NOT what most of Christianity teaches. But there it is. Not only that, Jesus goes on to say in verse 20 that unless a person's righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. This kingdom of heaven is exclusive and works based.

In Matthew 5:34, heaven is god's throne. In 6:19 we are told to store up treasures in heaven instead of on earth. Though how we do that is a mystery. In verse 7:21, we learn that not everyone who says "lord, lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, "but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven." Jesus is speaking, calling god his father.

In Matthew 8:11 Jesus tells a Roman centurion that, "many will come from the east and the west (from outside Israel), and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom (Jews) will be thrown outside into the darkness..." Is this literal or figurative? Did Matthew believe that the Old Testament patriarchs are actually feasting in heaven? Is there food in heaven? Are there any women in heaven?

More to come.

Hell part 3

As we have seen, the Old Testament hell is actually sheol, which is not the same as the hell taught in christianity. It is the realm of the dead, the grave. It is underground or some nebulous place in the depths, "down below." It is often associated with a pit. The word pit associated with the grave or death in the Old Testament often comes from the Hebrew word "bowr." This word appears to have meanings associated with a hole in the ground that is a well or cistern, or a dungeon. The word pit  associated with death and the grave in the KJV  is also sometimes translated from the Hebrew word "shachath." This word has connotations of a ditch or a trap. Notice that these are all words associated with under the ground or holes in the earth.

Sometimes the word destruction is associated with sheol. Then, it is often from the word abaddon. They are often seen together as in "death and destruction." (Sheol and Abaddon) Abaddon appears to be a distinct part of hell, perhaps a bottomless pit. There is that word pit again.

Besides Sheol, the Old Testament does have a few descriptions of a punishment after death at some "end time," but it is not named as a particular place. Some christians claim these are descrptions of hell. Let's look at some of them.

First let's look at Daniel chapter 12: 1-2. "....at that time your people-everyone whose name is found written in the book-will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth  will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." Daniel is an apocalyptic/prophetic book, written anonymously, about 200 years before Jesus, according to many scholars. My NIV study bible says its writers think Daniel was written around the time period of its events, about 560 BC, at least partly by Daniel. I  have not studied the book of Daniel in depth, but this passage does appear to refer to an afterlife. The phrase "your people"  obviously refers to jews. Why do christians think it speaks to them? The book of Daniel was written by Jews for Jews. Also, in practical terms, what does it mean to awaken to everlasting shame and contempt?

The study bible references lead me from Daniel to another supposedly prophetic book, Isaiah. Again, this book was written by Jews, for Jews. In chapter 26, a future day of judgement is being sung about. In verse 11, Isaiah begs Yahweh to let the fire reserved for his enemies consume them. In verse fourteen we see Isaiah say that God's enemies are dead "they live no more." Yahweh "punished them and brought them to ruin." He wiped out all memory of them. This doesn't sound like a literal hell. In fact, from there the study bible leads me to Psalm 9:5 where the worse thing that can happen to the wicked is that they are utterly destroyed, their names blotted out, and the memory of them perishes. Really? Okay, being destroyed is totally the pits. We have only one life.  But once you are gone, so what if noone remembers you. You won't know.

Let us remember that Daniel, Isaiah, and Psalms are written in poetic and metaphoric language. They are trash talking about the enemies of the Israelites. I don't think these passages were meant to be doctrinal statements about what happens to nonbelievers in christianity.