August 23, 2009, 9:59 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 6:1 - 24

Here we have the most harmonious story of Jesus prior to the Triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  In fact, this and one other passage (Jesus’ departure from Judea – Matt 4:12, Mark 1:14, Luke 3:19-20 and John 4:1-4) are the only things that all four Gospel mention prior to the end of Jesus’ ministry.  Now there is some harmony!  If we had anymore harmony I can’t imagine what it would look like!

The story is about Jesus feeding the 5,000 people Do not confuse this with the later story about feeding 4,000 people found in Matt 15:32-38 and Mark 8:1-9, which the Gospel of John does not bother to report.  Since I have already posted on this topic, I see no reason to repeat myself.  I will correct myself about “throwing the Gospel of John out”, at least John starts this story with “Sometime after this…” but the story is still problematic.  John claims that Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, where as the Gospel of Mark says that he only moved down the shore a few miles.  Humans running around the Sea of Galilee would not be able to follow Jesus if he crossed the Sea, unless he traveled near the shore (which by definition is not crossing the Sea).  The depth and the width of the Sea would make it easy for the disciples to lose anyone following them.  8.1 miles is considered the distance to the horizon.  Seeing a small boat (12-18ft long) is limited by our limit of visibility, as described here.  By doing the math…the best vision would pick up the boat that the disciples were in at 3.8 miles distant, if visibility was unlimited that day, and the sun was not setting behind the viewer!  But we know that it was late in the day, meaning that the sun was in the western portion of the sky…behind the viewers.  This means that the people following Jesus had limited light to see the tiny boat crossing the Sea of Galilee.  In the end, either the Gospel of John was wrong (about crossing the Sea) or the Synoptic Gospels were wrong about traveling along the coast.

I have also posted on the story about Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee.  When the story is repeated, even by different “points of view”, I attempt to cover the story in one post – to get the big picture.

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Tall Tales, Readings | Print | 4 Comments »

August 23, 2009, 7:00 am by dc-agape.

 It is high time for me to begin again the posts on Biblical Topics.  I had difficulty deciding which topic was more important: the Holy Ghost, Disciples vs. Christians, or Love.  I have realized recently (due to interactions with a determined Christian) that I can now answer that question.  So I have begun the research into the Biblical topic of Love.  I realize that many Christian do not understand Biblical Love.  I am certain that Atheist, Christians, Jews, and Muslims are most likely unfamiliar with the actual Biblical meaning, since we each have our personal understanding of this Biblical Topic. 

Love is spoken about in the Word of God on numerous occasions.  In fact, many Christians believe that YHWH is the source of love in the world we live in.  But is this true?  Is it Biblically accurate?  What does the Bible really say about YHWH, love, and the interaction between the two?  I have decided that this topic is more important than what Jesus’ disciples were like (very un-modern Christians) or what is to be expected from the Holy Spirit (the Bible is very clear on the Spirit’s powers).  So these two Biblical Topics will have to wait.

So what is the definition of Love?  Anyone who has gone to a marriage in the US will surely remember this passage:

1^st Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

That is a very long list of qualities that love has!  It is also a wonderful list of qualities that we humans would like it to have.  Does YHWH have these qualities?  The short answer is a big NO!

YHWH admits to being envious.  He does not always trust.  He is not kind.  He does keep a record of wrongs.  And he does not always protect.  The Word of God is the source of these three contradictions between Love and YHWH.  Let’s take a closer look.

How can I say that YHWH is envious?  It is very simple.  Go ahead using the thesaurus and look up the word jealous.  Jealous is synonymous with envious.  And the antonym of jealous is trust.  Why do I bring up the word jealous?  I do this because these are words that YHWH uses to describe himself.

Exodus 34:13 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Moses uses the capital form of the word Jealous to name YHWH, not just to describe YHWH.  Not only is YHWH jealous but he is the embodiment of Jealous in actual form.  The Bible continues to remind us that YHWH is jealous (Deut 4:24, 5:9, 6:15, Joshua 24:19, and Nath 1:2).  So if Love is not envious and envious is synonymous with jealous, can YHWH be Love?  But this goes further.  The antonym for jealous is trust, and the antonym for envious is kind.  So by YHWH own definition of himself and of the word Love, he cannot be Love!  He is kind, he is envious, and he does not trust. 

Love does not keep records of wrong.  Yet we are told that:

Numbers 14:18 The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.  Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

Other verses in the Bible repeat this keeping of records (Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:7, and Deut 5:9).  So YHWH keeps records of wrongs not just on the people that actual do the act, but he keeps these records and punishes four additional generations.  If that is not keeping records of wrong (and going overboard) what is?  It is hard enough to explain punishment for eternity for sin and love in one being.  But when that same being claims to be a loving entity (and Christians have emphasized this) yet records are kept of wrong-doing until the fourth generation, there is a disconnect.  Either YHWH is love and does not punish to the fourth generation (keeping records of wrong) or YHWH is not love.  The only other option is that Paul, when writing to Corinth, introduced a Tradition of Man into the Bible itself.  But if Paul did that, can we trust any of his teachings?

Editors Note: Before anyone says that this is a falling of translation or the English language in general, think long and hard about what that implies!  If either of these are the case, then the entire Bible is suspect and cannot be trusted.

Posted in Love, Contradictions, Traditions of Men | Print | 17 Comments »