JBIB

For the three or so people who read this blog, I'm sorry that I always post about school. So lame, right?! But I mean, I guess it's a good thing that my classes are sparking enough interest in me that I'd post about it?? Hmmmm. Anyways, English class this time! Our last reading of the semester is from the Jefferson Bible. If you've never heard of it, it's pretty crazy! Thomas Jefferson literally chopped up a King James Version Bible and rearranged and pasted parts to his liking. This isn't the whole Bible of course, just the story of Jesus! He's crazy though! He took the four gospels and mixed them all together into a crazy work. If you don't believe me, just check out this website. It just so happens that the Smithsonian came out with an exhibit about the Jefferson Bible. You can literally see how he used scissors and glue to make this.

For class, we just had to pick one chapter that seemed to exhibit a significant amount of cutting and pasting, compare it to the original version online, and just think about why he would have chosen those specific passages. Our teacher mentioned in class today that Jefferson took out most of the 'spiritual' aspects of Jesus's ministry, like healing and feeding 5000 people. He was instead most interested in the parables. He wanted a picture of Jesus that was merely philosophical. Most think he did this because he was trying to discern how to best run the newly independent, religiously tolerant and free America. He wanted all the little tidbits of advice without all the "unnecessary" spiritual stuff.

I chose to read the last two chapters of his Bible - I was excited to see what His version said about the resurrection! After all, we wouldn't have Christianity if Jesus wasn't resurrected... we would still be bound by sin, separated from God by the temple curtain. This story wouldn't matter without the resurrection. So i get to the end, and this is what I read:

"Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus: and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed."


The end.

Seriously?? It's like the disciples were walking away saying "oh well, another one bites the dust" and "maybe another prophet will come along next year". That's it! Jesus was just another man who died. Big dealio.

No no no! That's not it at all. The resurrection means EVERYTHING! Jesus defeated sin, he defeated death! If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead in a literal body, then the devil has won. But no! God has won! YAY! Hahah I could honestly talk about this forever, and I wish I had time to. But honestly, I just can't get across how much the resurrection matters and how surprised I was that Jefferson had even excluded that part. Jesus wasn't just another prophet that disappointed his followers when he hung dead on the cross. He wasn't just another false Messiah. No, Jesus was the real deal, changing everything ever by his death and resurrection.

Another thing I found funny about this was that Jefferson said later that one of his main goals was to simplify the Bible "for the Indians". Because obviously an Indian could understand parables but NOT the message of grace, hope, and love? Obviously. That makes soooo much sense. Bravo Jeffy boy!

Hahah. Oh man. I'm so tireeeed. Time to go to sleepy so I can wake up and study my butt off some more for finals next week. Whoot! Gooooodnight :)

Oh, also! This video is probably the saddest thing I've ever seen, but very inspiring! My friend Jessica who goes to Michigan State told me to watch it, and asked me to spread it around if I liked it as well. This guy is a friend of one of her friends. He posted this video just two days ago, and it already has over 60,000 views. It's going viral! God always loves us!

Giving Thanks

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted something here... whoops! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday full of family, friends, and most of all, praise to God.

This past week, I was thinking a lot about a conversation I had with a friend a couple of years ago. We were sitting around talking about religion, and he said, "I just don't understand how such a good God would create humans for the sole purpose to worship Him. That doesn't seem like a very good God to me." At the time, I was unable to say anything. Thankfully, I've learned a few things since then!

First of all, God created us out of love. That's it! He created us without expecting to get anything in return - He gave us free will, free to turn away from Him or love Him. True love is a love that gives freely without expectation. When we realize how great and wonderful this love is, love so great that God would send His only son to die for our sins, what else can we do but fall to our knees and worship our Creator? When someone loves you, loving them back is a natural response. When a gift is given, a natural response  is to give thanks and a gift in return. Worshipping God is only natural, not something that is mandated.

In Theology class, my professor brought to my attention a passage that really highlights this response of thanksgiving to God:

"When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD you God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD you God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD you God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD you God. Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Amamean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household."

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Pretty awesome! The Israelites are so thankful and so overcome with their love for God that they offer to Him the firstfruits of the crop - the first and best part of their crop. Through this image, we are able to understand why Jesus is often referred to as the firstfruits. Paul says in 1 Corinthians: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfuits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him." (15:20-23) Jesus is the firstfruits - the best of the crop and the first to be picked. And just like the rest of the crop would have been picked at a later time, we too will be raised from the dead, just as Jesus was.

Although Thanksgiving has come and gone, let's continue to give thanks to God for creating us out of love - so much love that He would give His son for us. We love God because He first loved us :)

Weightism

The other day, my friend told me that her psychology class was talking about one of the only still acceptable prejudices, "weightism". I had never heard of this before, but it made me so sad when she was telling me all about it. Weightism is a prejudice against people of a certain weight, usually aimed at obese or morbidly obese people (although skinny people can be targets too!). My friend told me that a surprisingly high percentage of employers surveyed (somewhere around 30% i think) wouldn't hire an obese person for any reason. How crazy is that?!? It's the only prejudice that doesn't have laws to protect the victims. Employers can refuse to hire people because of their weight and get away with it.

This made me think about myself and how often I judge people based on weight or other characteristics. The way people talk, the food they eat and the way they look are just a few ways I judge people. Judging takes place constantly, too - just passing a person on the sidewalk invites a million thoughts and prejudices to my mind in a matter of seconds. What can we do about this? As Christians, what's the answer?

Obviously, we're called not to judge anyone, no matter what the circumstances! Matthew 7:1-2 says "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Whoa... that's pretty scary. At this rate, God is going to judge me pretty harshly. Romans 2:1 says "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things".


We have no excuse.


So how are we supposed to stop judging people? By becoming a more devoted servant of God, we will naturally stop judging people as often and start loving them more and more. I feel that to stop judging, we also must purposefully push those evil thoughts out of our heads. By focusing on who people really are, how God see's them, we can come closer to loving them the way God does. Maybe every time you see someone, it would be helpful to remind yourself that they are a beloved child of God. Sometimes I've found myself saying something like this over and over in my head, and it really does help.

Judgement is a hard thing, and it's something that's very prevalent in our society. When our old selves died to the law, we became new beings - beings with Christ inside of us, who live by and for God (Galatians 2:20). This means that every part of us, our whole self, should be glorifying God, including our eyes and our thoughts. The temptation to judge is strong, but with enough prayer and perseverance, I believe it's something we can all overcome with God's help.

Violence

Today in history, my teacher spent most of the class talking about the Middle Ages and, more specifically, the crusades. It makes me so sad to think about how many people died at the hands of these people who said they were fighting for Christ, many of whom truly believed that this was how to "carry his cross". This brought up some important questions about what the Bible says about violence. After all, many Christians throughout the ages have supported violence in some way.


I don't think anyone can argue against the fact that Jesus's teaching revolves around love. When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about what commandment in the Law was the greatest, Jesus replied that the greatest command is to love God with all your heart, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). Jesus's entire ministry and message revolves around loving everyone - not just the Jews, God's original chosen people, but the Gentiles as well. As followers of Jesus today, we are also called to love our neighbors as ourselves. This doesn't just include fellow citizens of the United States, but also citizens of the world; not only Christians, but people of every faith, because we are all God's children, made in His image. This message of love, of course, translates into a message of nonviolence. Jesus reaffirms this specific call to nonviolence in Matthew 26:47-56, when he is arrested. Jesus condemns one of his disciples for trying to draw his sword to save him, and there is no greater cause for violence than the murder of our Lord.


Most people will agree with all of this, saying yes, Jesus was all about the passive thing, the nonviolence thing, but they often still ask about extreme cases. "Aren't there some exceptions to this rule? What about Hitler?"


This is a really hard question. It's easy for us to look back at genocides or at Nazi Germany and say, "There was absolutely no other option! We had to go in and save the people who were being oppressed. We had to help!" The bottom line is, though, it's not up to us to decide who is deserving of life or death. We are not called to liberate people through violence. Turning to violence says that we don't trust God to liberate His sons and daughters through love and peace. Did God not lead the Israelites out of Egypt? God will win, He will free the oppressed and cast judgements on the oppressor. And because God has given us His Holy Spirit, we are now called to be His hands and feet, to liberate His people by means of His love and mercy. We are called to be Oskar Schindlers and Martin Luther King Jrs. We are called to love until it hurts, and then keep on loving. 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
                                                                                                     -Matthew 5:3-10


That could have been my whole post, honestly. I can't say it any better than Jesus!


For a great book about nonviolence, politics, and how to be a Christian in our country today, check out Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's book called Jesus for President. It's awesome.


Tomorrow at 3pm I'll be leaving to go on a retreat for the weekend, so there won't be any posts until Sunday or Monday! :( If you think of it, please pray for all of those on the retreat, that God would use this time to shape us evermore in His image and evermore ready to serve Him.


Hope you have a great weekend :)