March 2, 2005

• Two Hour Delay today, more snow came last night, and we were surprised to find no one at church, so no Tuesday Bible study. Guess we should have called.

  
  

  Today I have a few questions.

  
  

  Yesterday I picked up the book Rabbi Jesus; An Intimate Biography by Bruce Chilton to read, got to page 6 where he said this! “The attraction between Joseph and Mary must have been immediate; they broke with custom  and slept together soon after meeting and well before their marriage was publically recognized.”

  
  

  Down went the book, for this author, a professor of  Religion at Bard College is denying the virgin birth. Sigh. The concept of the book sounded interesting because Jesus was Jewish and I thought it would be interesting to see things from that point of view. But this bit of error makes the whole book suspect.

  
  

  Told my husband and he said that this is another example of people trying to put God into a box, they believe he created the world, but they can’t believe that he is capable of Virgin Birth, geesh. How little this Chilton’s god must be.

  
  

  Here is my question:

  
  

  1. Has anyone read this book, and if so, how accurate is most of the information? I am inclined to be dubious if after six pages there is such an errror.

  
  

  2. How do you handle reading such books with errors?

  
  

  3. Is there any good book out there that gives an accurate description of Jesus from this point of view, explaining the Jewish traditions he valued? And I know the Bible is the best reference to this, but sometimes a good commentator will help to explain.

  
  

  ****

  
  

  So I am also still working on the Revelation III study by Kay Arthur, and that is exciting, as we are beginning to take the Old Testiment prophesies, Jesus’ prophesies and put them into context of Revelation, and peeking ahead to the last week of study I am a bit scared, because there is a massive timeline for all the prophesies and we are going to review all we have studied and put them in context of the timeline. When we have our last class on this, I will share what I have learned, but that won’t be for a few weeks (as sometimes classes are cancelled by snow as this class is at a house about an hour away from where I live).

  
  

  Picked up a book I want to savor, a bit at a time: Andrew Murray on Prayer, by Andrew Murray. It is a compilation of several of his 31 day devotional books, the first being Abide in Christ which seems to be 31 days of looking at John 15:1-2.

  
  

  Now this is something Biblical, thank God!!!! And it is so relevent to where I am, because abiding in Christ does not come easy to this independent, scared, and frightened soul. I am so prone to wander and try to do things in my own understanding, to maintain control (where I used to feel safe), so spending time thinking about abiding is right up my alley.

  
  

  I was reading Chapter one and an interesting concept came to me, that Jesus wants to abide with us. Somehow I always thought it was just me choosing to abide with Christ, not realizing that it was two way, that he desires us. Oh, I know that some say Song of Solomon is Christ’s love letter to us, and I know John 3:16, but I guess my insecurity makes me keep wondering if God really wants to deal with me, with any of us. I know that in my own understanding, I would say forget it, given the way people treated Him. And I guess this comes under the Chilton category of limiting God. But I think it is so awesome for me to try and sort out just how God deals with me.

  
  

  I guess because I grew up in a home with abuse, and was not loved or wanted and plainly told about that, that the fact that God loves and wants me is a difficult one to conceive. It is one that takes a mega dose of faith to believe.

  
  

  Anyway, thanks for answering my questions.  And my last question:

  
  

  What books are you reading that you are finding awesome?

  
  

  Have a great day, my oldest son is playing patient vulture, wanting the computer before his brother gets up, so I am going to let him have it.

  
  

  Have a great day.

  
  

  Heather

  • 6:39 am
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