Author Archives: dorscribe@aol.com

On “originalism”

Should our freedoms be limited those available to the Founding Fathers?

Here’s a proposition: The people who would interpret the United States Constitution strictly, narrowly or “fundamentally” are generally the same type who would do the same thing with the Bible. On that note see Originalism – Wikipedia, and how “originalism” might turn out to be a good way to read and explore the Bible.

In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, originalism is a principle of interpretation that tries to discover the original meaning or intent of the Constitution… The term originated in the 1980s….

Wikipedia also noted that originalism is popular among political conservatives, and is “prominently associated with Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork.” (The guy at right, who looks like the guy in high school voted “most likely to throw the book at you.”) Then there is the “original meaning theory,” closely related to “textualism.”

Textualism in turn is a theory of statutory interpretation, “holding that a statute‘s ordinary meaning should govern its interpretation, as opposed to inquiries into non-textual sources such as … the problem it was intended to remedy, or substantive questions of the justice and rectitude of the law.” See Textualism – Wikipedia.

Getting back to the idea of originalism, it is the view “the view that interpretation of a written constitution or law should be based on what reasonable persons living at the time of its adoption would have declared the ordinary meaning of the text to be. It is with this view that most originalists, such as Justice Scalia, are associated.”

So what would “reasonable persons” at the time the Bible was written have thought about – say – writers like Moses, or Jeremiah? Might not a reasonable Egyptian at the time of Moses think he was merely a felon – and a murderous one at that – who had fled the justice due from the land of his birth? And might not a reasonable king at the time of Jeremiah think he was merely some upstart trouble-maker – if not a traitor to his country – who deserved to be cast into that well?

Then too, if the Bible can be seen as a “constitution,” could one of the best ways to read and interpret it be to examine the background and motives of the people who wrote it? Hmmmm…

Then there’s the theory that the “primary alternative to originalism is most commonly described as the Living Constitution; a view that the Constitution is ‘evolving, changing over time, and adapts to new circumstances.'”

Which raises another question? Is the Bible – to you – an evolving source of empowerment, capable of “adapting to new circumstances?” Or is the Bible – to you – dead, “frozen in time,” the source only of a cubbyhole into which you must try to shape and fit yourself?

Put another way: Is the Bible to you a set of spiritual wings, or is it more like a spiritual straitjacket? And if to you the Bible is frozen in time, a spiritual straitjacket, how on earth are you supposed to “sing to the Lord a new song?” (Like it says in Psalm 96:1, Psalm 98:1, Psalm 144:9, not to mention Isaiah 42:10 and Revelations 5:9.)

For some answers to these questions see THE BASICS, above.

Or check the blurb at the bottom of the main, featured, and/or lead post, about the Three Great Promises of Jesus: The first is that God will accept anyone. (John 6:37.) The second is that God wants us to live abundantly. (John 10:10.) And the third is that God wants us to do even greater miracles than Jesus did. (John 14:12). Which brings up this “musical question:”

How can we do greater works than Jesus if we interpret the Bible in a cramped, narrow, or limiting manner? For that matter, why does the Bible so often tell us to “sing to the Lord a new song?” (For example, Isaiah 42:10 and Psalms 96:1, 98:1, and 144:9.)

The short answer is: You can’t. And another short answer could be that – sometimes – it might be a good idea to just go ahead and “argue with God.” Like it says in More on “arguing with God” – and St. Mark as Cinderella, from last April 22. And which included the image below:

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File:Leloir - Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.jpg

“Jacob wrestling with the Angel…”

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The upper image, “Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States,” is courtesy of Wikipedia. The 1940 painting was by Howard Chandler Christy (1873–1952).

The lower image, courtesy of Wikipedia, is Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, by Alexander Louis Leloir(1865). Leloir (1843-1884), was a a French painter specializing in genre and history paintings. His younger brother was painter and playwright Maurice Leloir.

On the Prayer Book – I

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File:Good Morning, Vietnam.jpg

As a very wise person or persons once said (or wrote):

The Book of Common Prayer is unique to Anglicanism. It contains a collection of worship services that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow. It also contains the Psalms, prayers and thanksgivings and an Outline of Faith. Essentially it is a guidebook for worship … [for] church on Sundays, as well as in daily relationship with God. It is called “common prayer” because it is used by all Anglicans around the world… The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled in English by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th Century, and since then has undergone many revisions… The present prayer book in the Episcopal Church was published in 1979.

So – just in case you missed the subtle clues in the About that “DOR Scribe” guy page – The Scribe is a “card-carrying” member of the Episcopal Church. In that sense he is just like Robin Williams (seen above), but the star of Good Morning Vietnam is also famous for his list of “Top 10 Reasons for Being an Episcopalian:”

10. No snake handling.

9. You can believe in dinosaurs.

8. Male and female, God created them; male and female we ordain them.

7. You don’t have to check your brains at the door.

6. Pew aerobics.

5. Church year is color coded.

4. Free wine on Sunday.

3. All of the pageantry, none of the guilt.

2. You don’t have to know how to swim to get baptized.

And finally, the Number One reason to be an Episcopalian: “No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.” (See for example Top Ten Episcopal T-Shirt, Red, XX-Large – Episcopal Bookstore. Then there’s that old saw about whenever you find four Episcopalians, “you’re sure to find a fifth!” See for example whiskeypalian; where you find four Episcopalians, you’ll find …)

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But seriously, one of the best reasons to become an Episcopalian is the Prayer Book:

The Episcopal Church (TEC) is part of the very large Anglican Communion… [It] describes itself as being “Protestant, yet Catholic… [It] was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from the Church of England whose clergy are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and became the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles… The Episcopal Church separated itself from the Church of England in 1789, having been established in the United States in 1607. Its prayer book, published in 1790, had as its sources, the 1662 English book…

See Episcopal Church (United States) – Wikipedia, the free …, and also Book of Common Prayer – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

So the story of our American Book of Common Prayer started way back in Merry Olde England, and specifically at or shortly after the death of Henry VIII (he of the many wives).

In turn the very first Book of Common Prayer was published in England in 1549, and is “one of the underpinnings of modern English:”

Together with the Authorized version [i.e., the King James Version of the Bible] and the works of Shakespeare, the Book of Common Prayer has been one of the three fundamental underpinnings of modern English… [M]any phrases from its services have passed into the English language, either as deliberate quotations or as unconscious borrowings… Some examples of well-known phrases from the Book of Common Prayer are[:] “Speak now or forever hold your peace” from the marriage liturgy… “Till death us do part”, from the marriage liturgy[, and] “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” from the funeral service.

See the Wikipedia article noted above, which added that a Book of Common Prayer “with local variations is used in churches inside and outside the Anglican Communion in over 50 different countries and in over 150 different languages.”

One of those distant Anglican-Communion churches is on the Falkland Islands, near the very southern tip of South America, as shown below. (The Diocese of the Falkland Islands is an “extra-provincial church in the Anglican Communion headed by the Bishop of the Falkland Islands.)

The point is that you can go pretty much anywhere in the world and find an Anglican church to worship, and wherever you go they’ll be using that same Prayer Book, subject of course to the local Prayer Book having been “altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of … according to the various exigency of times and occasions.”

Sources for images and/or text include Good Morning, Vietnam – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and Henry VIII of England – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

As to the quote “Book of Common Prayer is unique to Anglicanism,” see for example The Book of Common Prayer — Episcopal Church in Minnesota, Beliefs and Practices – All Saints – Episcopal Diocese of …, and/or St Andrew’s in the Pines (GA).

As to the “altered, abridged [or] enlarged” quote, see the Preface (under the link “Table of Contents”), at The Online Book of Common Prayer.

On the readings for Pentecost (6/8/14)

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Pentecost - El Greco

The Pentecost, by El Greco

June 8, 2014, is Pentecost Sunday, and as noted in El Greco | Hear what the Spirit is saying:

In [the book of] Acts of the Apostles an account is given of the day of Pentecost when the twelve apostles, as well as Mary and people of many nationalities were gathered in one place. All at once the sound of a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the room: “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2-4)

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) gives several alternatives for Pentecost readings. (For the full readings see The Lectionary Page.)

The readings for The Scribe’s church are: 1st Corinthians 12:3b-13, Psalm 104:25-35, 37 (page 736 BCP), Acts 2:1-21 (partly noted above), and John 20:19-23, which can lead to this thought:

Pentecost might be considered “Tongue Sunday,” both because of the “tongues of fire” visible in the El Greco painting above, and because of the phenomenon of “speaking in tongues.”

In his Commentary on the Bible, Isaac Asimov wrote about this special day. He noted that Christians generally regard the Pentecost “speaking in tongues” as a miracle, in that the Apostles weren’t just babbling but rather were speaking in such a way that people from a host of nations and peoples understood them. He said it was likely the Apostles knew a smattering of Greek – the “universal language” at the time – in addition to their native Aramaic, so that “if, in their ecstasy, they uttered phrases in both languages, then those who listened to them from the various nations listed, would have understood something.” (E.a.)

Nevertheless, it’s not just Christians today who saw the events on this Pentecost as a miracle; “so did the onlookers … for many were converted to the belief in Jesus as Messiah.” As noted in Acts 2:41, “the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Another note: That sound – “like the rush of a violent wind” from heaven described in the reading above – is widely seen as the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples as a whole. For that reason and for the addition of the 3,000 souls on one day, “Pentecost is sometimes described by some Christians today as the ‘Birthday of the Church.'”

In the first reading – 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 – Paul added some of his commentary, beginning with: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” He then described a number of spiritual gifts – healing, working miracles, prophesy – but said that all were motivated “by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

Turning to Psalm 104, the International Bible Commentary said the writer “has been called ‘the Wordsworth of the ancients,” and the Psalm itself as “Genesis set to music.” (Also – and not to be heretical or anything – the IBC said Psalm 104 resembled the “Egyptian Hymn to Aten as the source of all life,” which hymn was written by Akhenaten, “alias Amenhotep IV.”)

Anyway, the psalm-readings for the day – verse 25-45, and 37 – first emphasize the sea, “traditional object of awe and even dread to Israelite landlubbers,” emphasizing God’s power over such a dreadful force of nature. Verse 27 notes, “There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it.” (Indicating God has a sense of humor.)

After the Acts 2 reading comes the Gospel – John 20:19-23 – in which Jesus first appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection. At that point in time, “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'”

So you could say that Pentecost is literally a Great Day in the Morning!!

An image gleaned from the search term “speaking in tongues…”

The upper image is courtesy of Pentecost – El Greco – WikiArt.org – WikiPaintings.

The full citation to Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One) The Old and New Testaments, Avenel Books (NY), 1981 Edition, at pages 999-1003.

As to the origin of the phrase “Great day in the morning,” that’s a tough one, but see for example Southern Slang tracihill.com: “an exclamation. ‘Great day in the morning! That’s the biggest punkin’ I ever did see!'” The site also added the following examples:

I swanee– An exasperation. Pronounced “swun-ee”. “He failed that test again? I swanee that boy!!” And that’s not to mention “Fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down…”

See also Have you ever heard this phrase? – Yahoo Answers, which gave two conflicting answers: First, “It means ‘great day’ in its early stages i.e. a great day in the morning with expectations of a great day for the rest of it.” But another answer gave this meaning: “enjoy the morning as u will be doomed by the evening.”

And finally, as to speaking in tongues see Glossolalia – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, referring to the “fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables that lack any readily comprehended meaning, in some cases as part of religious practice. Some consider it as a part of a sacred language. It is a common practice amongst Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.”

On the other hand, it could be argued this is another example of some people taking isolated Bible passages out of context, like those who handle snakes based on Mark 16:17-18, or those who have a “quiverfull” of children based on a passage from Psalm 127. (See Snake handling – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and QuiverFull .com :: Psalm 127:3-5.)

You may want to also check out Statutory interpretation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, on “In pari materia (‘upon the same matter or subject’)[:] When a statute is ambiguous, its meaning may be determined in light of other statutes on the same subject matter.”

In this case you might want to consider how handling snakes or having a “quiverfull” advances the three main promises of the Bible, to wit: Jesus promising 1) that He would accept anyone who came to Him, 2) that He came so His followers could have life “in all its abundance,” and 3) that He expected His followers to perform even greater miracles than He did.

And finally consider First Corinthians 14, verse 4: “Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church.” Verse 5 adds, “One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues…” Verse 19: “I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” And finally see verse 23: If a church “comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (Emphasis added.)

“Snake handling at Pentecostal Church … 1946,” courtesy of Wikipedia, above.

Note also the guy on the right, whose nickname might well be Stumpy.

A review (5/30/14)

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It’s May 30, 2014, a good time for an end-of-the-month review.

(A side-note: This review was aided and abetted by The Scribe’s preparing a “Volume 1” collection of blog-posts, for both a paperback book and e-book version. So if all goes according to plan, that Volume 1 will be followed by other volumes as well…)

For starters, and as noted in the “About” page, this blog focuses on Jesus’ “Big Three.”

First, He promised He would never turn away anyone who came to Him. (John 6:37.) Second, He said He wanted His followers to lead a life of abundance; “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10.) Third, Jesus expects that those who believe in Him will do greater works and perform greater miracles than He did. (John 14:12.)

In turn a main theme of this blog is that you simply can’t fulfill those promises if you have a closed mind: “this Blog is about reading the Bible with an open mind. Period.”

The pay-off for all this work is also pretty simple:

…the discipline of regular Bible-reading could lead to a capacity to transcend the painful and negative aspects of life, and the ability to live with “serenity and inner peace.” On the other hand, the discipline could also lead to a your developing a “zest, a fervor and gusto in life plus a much higher ability to function.”

See Some Bible basics from Vince Lombardi and Charlie Chan, which added that in order to help us out, Jesus provided a kind of “Cliff’s Note” summary of the basic message of the Bible: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

File:CliffnotesRomeoAndJulietCover.jpg

Next, the blog-post Spiritual boot camp indicated that the process of growing – spiritually or otherwise – presupposes your making a number of failures along the way, and indeed that overcoming those failures is a major part of becoming “all that you can be…”

“You will make [mistakes] anyway and will be much more comfortable – and get along better with this exercise – if you give yourself permission in advance…” Again and again, gently but firmly, the [practitioner] brings himself back to the discipline. With each slip-up or mistake, “you should say the equivalent of ‘oh, that’s where I am now” [and] to “bind ourselves with humor and compassion at our own lack of discipline…” But could that idea apply to each and every Pilgrim on his or her quest to reach God?

“So maybe the ‘good Christian’ should also begin by knowing he’s trying to do something he knows is impossible, physically, emotionally or spiritually. No matter how hard we try, we can never, for more than ‘one brief shining moment,’ love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Nor can we, for more than a moment, fulfill the Second Great Commandment, to love even our most obnoxious neighbors as ourselves.

“But we try anyway, and maybe in the process we become more adept at living life in all its abundance, just like Jesus promised in John 10:10…”

The “review” image is courtesy of http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2012/07/weekly-review.jpg.

The Cliff’s note image is courtesy of Cliffs Notes – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The “Army” image is courtesy of http://www.toywonders.com/productcart/pc/catalog/aw30.jpg.

See also Slogans of the United States Army – Wikipedia, the free …, which said “be all that you can be” was the recruiting slogan of the Army for the 20 years from 1980 to 2001. But see also The Army’s “Be All You Can Be” Campaign – Armed Forces & Society, which noted a certain “disconnect” between potential recruits and those who had already enlisted:

[T]here is a wide gap between the promises of Army advertising and the actual performance of the Army in keeping its promises. This perception was expressed by many soldiers as disillusionment, frustration, and anger. The advertisements appear to damage soldier morale, commitment to the military, and reenlistment potential. For both ethical and pragmatic reasons it is suggested that future advertising should be designed with a concern for both effectiveness and honesty…

There’s no doubt a valuable lesson there somewhere…

On Jesus in Hell

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The previous post – On the readings for June 1 – noted that the second reading for Sunday, June 1, was 1st Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11. In turn, passages from this First Letter of Peter have led to scholarly debate about Jesus going to Hell (or “Limbo”), in the days between His crucifixion and resurrection. It also led to the concept of “the harrowing of hell.”

Note that readings from the Peter’s First Letter have been the featured second Bible reading since April 27, the Sunday after Easter, aka the Second Sunday of Easter.

Among those readings – specifically, the one for May 25 – was 1 Peter 3:19–20, in which this first Bishop of Rome said that Jesus “went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison [i.e., those in hell at the time of His resurrection], because they formerly did not obey…” Then in 1 Peter 4:6 the Apostle added, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (E.a.)

Those passages led to the concept of the harrowing of hell:

This is the Old English and Middle English term for the triumphant descent of Christ into hell (or Hades) between the time of His Crucifixion and His Resurrection, when, according to Christian belief, He brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world… Writers of Old English prose homilies and lives of saints continually employ the subject, but it is in medieval English literature that it is most fully found, both in prose and verse, and particularly in the drama.

See CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Harrowing of Hell – New Advent. In other words, like much of the rest of the Bible, this concept of the harrowing of hell has provided a rich “mother lode” of material for art and literature, and has throughout history.

On that note, see for example, The Bible as Literature | the Bible ~ a literary work and an …:

We’ll take a look at how universal stories, themes, metaphors, and characterizations surface in the Bible, and explore the many literary forms and genres that can be found there: poetry, narratives, epistles, proverbs, parables, satire, and visionary writing.

All of which provides another reason for reading and studying the Bible: to find grist for becoming a better, more-productive and more fascinating artist or member of the literati.

Then too it might also be said that in his First Letter, the Apostle Peter advanced the whole concept of “life after life.” (See e.g. Raymond Moody – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

File:Life After Life (Moody book).jpg

That is, the “Old Testament view of the afterlife was that all people, whether righteous or unrighteous, went to Sheol when they died. No Hebrew figure ever descended into Sheol and returned, although an apparition of the recently deceased Samuel briefly appeared to Saul when summoned by the Witch of Endor.” It wasn’t until the “Second Temple period,” beginning about 515 B.C.*, that some Hebrew writers began to “elaborate the concept of Sheol, dividing it into sections based on the righteousness or unrighteousness of those who have died.” See Harrowing of Hell – Wikipedia.

In other words, our concept of the – or an – Afterlife has apparently developed over the centuries since “the Witch of Endor” (seen below). One constant has remained: “The above views share the traditional Christian belief in the immortality of the soul.” (Wikipedia.) See also the post On Ascension Day, with a note on the First Law of Thermodynamics.

There is a third constant, as noted in the Daily Office reading for May 28, the Eve of Ascension (Day). That is, the revelation of Psalm 68:20 came as The Scribe was struggling mightily to bring this post to a suitable end (and so that “revelation” may well have been preordained before the beginning of time). Psalm 68:20 reads – in the Book of Common Prayer version on page 677 – “God is the Lord, by whom we escape death.”

So all in all, “death” – like New Jersey – would seem to be a pretty good place to escape from. In the meantime it’s reassuring to think that Jesus would “go to hell” on our behalf…

Saul and the Witch of Endor, Benjamin West (1777)

Other references of possible interest include: Paradise – Wikipedia, Zohar – Wikipedia, and/or Heaven.

As to “515 B.C.” Herein The Scribe will be using the old-fashioned B.C. – “before Christ” – rather than the newer, pointy-headed liberal denomination, “before the Common Era.” See Common Era – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “The CE/BCE notation has been adopted by some authors and publishers wishing to be neutral or sensitive to non-Christians because it does not explicitly make use of religious titles for Jesus, such as ‘Christ’ and Dominus (‘Lord’), which are used in the BC/AD notation, nor does it give implicit expression to the Christian creed that Jesus was the Christ.” (E.a.) See also, Anno Domini – Wikipedia.

The “Witch of Endor” image is courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/BenjaminWest-Saul-and-the-Witch-of-Endor-1777.jpg.

See also Saul and the Witch of Endor | West, Benjamin | V&A Search the …: “The subject comes from the Old Testament, the First book of Samuel, chapter 28, and describes a visit by King Saul to the Witch of Endor and the apparition of the ghost of Samuel who informs him of his impending defeat and death. Such subjects rejected the quiet dignity of classical history painting in favour of protagonists ruled by their emotions and fearful of death. The emphasis was on human frailty in the face of forces beyond the rational.”

On the readings for June 1

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Lion Devouring a Rabbit, by Eugene Delacroix. (See the second reading below…)

The RCL Bible readings for Sunday, June 1, are:

Acts 1:6-14, Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36, 1^st Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11, and John 17:1-11.

The first reading – Acts 1:6-14 – is about Jesus telling His disciples – some six weeks after His resurrection – that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit, and that they were then to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Then came The Ascension, as described in the post On Ascension Day.

While the disciples were standing there on Mount Olivet, two men in white robes appeared and asked why the disciples were looking up into the sky. They explained that Jesus, having been “taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

The reading concluded with the disciples returning the “Sabbath day’s” journey back to Jerusalem, where they were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”

That is, the disciples had a far different reaction to this parting, compared to the initial one when they thought Jesus had been killed, as the International Bible Commentary (IBC) noted:

…robbed again of their beloved Master within a few short weeks of His reappearance in resurrection life, this time they are neither depressed nor dispirited, but superlatively happy…

(See the IBC commentary on Luke 24:50-52.) This of course fits in with the theme of this Blog, that Jesus came to earth mainly to insure that His followers would be able to experience life in all its abundance. (See John 10:0.)

That doesn’t mean that such followers can go around blithely ignoring the very real dangers inherent in this life here on earth, a point that Peter made in the second reading below.

But in between the first and second readings come portions of Psalm 68, which the IBC described as “God’s Triumphal Procession.” (The IBC also added that it was one of the most difficult psalms “both to translate and to interpret.”) The psalm’s prelude – verses 1 to 6 – “calls the people to the worship of the God who protects them from all their enemies and cares for them in all their troubles.” And the full psalm “has been associated with the ascension of Jesus,” with a look at the past, present and especially the future, and so anticipating “God’s final victory and universal sovereignty.” Of particular interest is verse 3: “let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; let them also be merry and joyful.”

But between “now and then” – God’s final victory – there is that time “on the road to Jesus” (John 6:37), with its very real dangers. Thus the main theme of the second reading – 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 – is that the followers of Jesus are to be steadfast in their faith. (See also First Epistle of Peter – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.) But the Apostle added:

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

(That is, you don’t want to end up like the rabbit in the Delacroix painting.)

And finally, the Gospel reading – John 17:1-11 – is part of the “great prayer of Jesus,” as the IBC described John 17:1-26. Note that in this prayer – before His crucifixion – Jesus “consecrated Himself for the work which He is about to undertake,” after which He prayed for His disciples and the ordeal that they were about to begin:

“Father, the hour has come… I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do…. I have made your name known… And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. “

So the lesson – especially from the second reading from 1 Peter- could be this:

The upper image – Lion Devouring a Rabbit, by Eugene Delacroix – is courtesy of http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/214297/1/Lion-Devouring-A-Rabbit.jpg.

For the full Sunday readings see The Lectionary Page.

As to “a Sabbath day’s journey.” See How Far was a “Sabbath Days Journey” – Bible History Online, which indicated that from the time of Joshua to the time of Jesus, the distance a devout Hebrew could travel on the Sabbath was gradually and continually expanded. In other words, they weren’t strict or “conservative,” but rather used a liberal interpretation of Scripture: “Over the centuries the authorities within the rabbinical circles of Judaism found ways, from examining the miniscule details of the law, to increase the distance that an Israelite may travel on the Sabbath day.”

See also BibleGateway.com Dictionaries: SABBATH DAY’S JOURNEY, which indicated the distance was “supposed to be a distance of 2,000 cubits, or less than half-a-mile, the distance to which, according to Jewish tradition, it was allowable to travel on the Sabbath day without violating the law (Acts 1:12; comp. Ex. 16:29; Num. 35:5; Josh. 3:4).”

The “let’s be careful” image is courtesy of http://api.ning.com/files/HbWmngpSBZZrUu-5tO6yQxzT-yapP2aih7MX-o7vLPFDTzhgIq8etUXz2WZFegjNxGUhQMmnHbMVV*-0LXhxiA__/staysafeoutthere.jpg?width=320&height=238.

I.e., that lower image is a “cut” from the old Hill Street Blues TV series; the “American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987.” See Hill Street Blues – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

On “Patton,” Sunday School teacher

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General George Patton (lower right), at a “welcome home” parade; Los Angeles, June 1945.

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It’s fitting on Memorial Day, 2014, to remember someone like George Patton, who was at once heroic and controversial. For example, there’s a scene in the movie Patton, where the general spoke to a group of Army chaplains who’ve been touring the front. Part of the tour included Patton’s private quarters, where one chaplain noticed a Bible. Knowing the tremendous responsibilities at stake, the chaplain asked if Patton actually had time to read that Bible.

Patton said, “I sure do. Every Goddamn day.”

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He cursed like a sailor and believed in reincarnation, but Patton was a devout Episcopalian, as shown in the film starring George C. Scott.

For example, Patton was at a low point in his career during World War II, after the “slapping incident” in Sicily. He was almost sent home in disgrace, but he found comfort in Psalm 63.

The film showed Patton praying, then going out to apologize to the troops. As he went, he recited Psalm 63, “humble and defiant.” As abbreviated – and in the King James version, naturally – the psalm went like this: “O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee… But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes… Everyone that sweareth by Him shall glory. But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.”

Later in the war, after his Third Army helped overrun German forces in France, the Germans counter-attacked in the December 1944 Battle of the Bulge. The coldest winter in Europe’s history helped the Germans with terrible weather; snow, ice, and fog. It kept the planes of the Army Air Corps grounded, unable to help. It got so bad Patton ordered his chaplain to write a “weather prayer.” The prayer, he thought, would help his tanks break through to the 101^st Airborne, surrounded in Bastogne. The prayer went like this:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

* * * *

Patton also believed in reincarnation. According to websites, he believed that he had served in previous lives as a soldier under Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), and later as Julius Caesar himself. To a nephew Patton once said, “I don’t know about other people, but for myself … I know there are places I’ve been before, and not in this life.”

Which brings up another scene from the movie. While riding in a jeep with General Omar Bradley, Patton “sniffed out” the site of an ancient battle, between Carthaginians and Romans 2,000 years before. Patton said, “I was here,” then turned to Bradley and added, “You don’t believe me, do you Brad?” He then added, “You know what the poet said:”

Through the travail of ages,midst the pomp and toils of war,have I fought and strove and perished, countless times among the stars. As if through a glass and darkly,the age old strife I see, when I fought in many guises and many names, but always me.

Patton then asked, “Do you know who the poet was?” When Bradley smiled slightly and shook his head, Patton answered, “Me.” Which raises an interesting question. Would Patton’s belief in reincarnation – or his cursing like a sailor – keep him out of heaven, despite all that he did for America, democracy and freedom in World War II?

* * * *

In the end, Patton was both a devoted Bible-reader and a man of deep faith. He was a man who accomplished much in the one life that we know he had. But just like Robert E. Lee – another devout Episcopalian you may have heard of – Patton didn’t wear his religion on his sleeve. He had a job to do and he did it, and for the most part kept his private religion private. It’s hard to think that God (or St. Peter) would keep George Patton out of heaven just because he cursed “like a sailor” or believed in reincarnation. It would ever so boring without him…

And by the way, “Old Blood and Guts” also taught Sunday School at the Church of Our Savior San Gabriel California, as shown below:

* * * *

The upper image is courtesy of Wikipedia.

As to Patton’s belief in reincarnation, see also George S. Patton – Wikiquote, which included the following, from “a letter to his mother from Chamlieu, France, during World War I, revealing some of his speculations about reincarnation,” dated 20 November 1917:

I wonder if I could have been here before as I drive up the Roman road the Theater seems familiar — perhaps I headed a legion up that same white road… I passed a chateau in ruins which I possibly helped escalade in the middle ages. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, We are, and we will be.

The “Patton Prayer” is courtesy of Patton’s Prayer for Fair Weather and the Turn of World War II.

The “New Patton Role” image is courtesy of Church of Our Savior San Gabriel California, the church Patton attended (when possible).

* * * *

On Ascension Day

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* * * *

May 26, 2014 – Ascension Day is always celebrated on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter. (In 2014 it falls on May 29). This major Feast Day – ranking with Easter and Pentecost – commemorates “the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven.”

The Gospel of Luke ends with the “Great Commission,” followed by the Ascension, like the end of Mark (16:15-20). Luke’s version – at 24:44-53 – goes like this:

Jesus said to his disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you… Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day…” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven…

According to tradition, Luke also wrote the book, Acts of the Apostles, that follows the Gospel of John. Acts begins like this: “In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven…”

Incidentally, there’s debate whether this Theophilus referred to a real person or was a generic title. See Theophilus – Wikipedia. The name – in the original “refined Koine Greek” – can mean either “beloved of God” or “Friend of God,” and thus some authorities feel that “both Luke and Acts were addressed to anyone who fits that description.”

In that sense Theophilus can be seen as like the name Israel, as in the name-change from Jacob to Israel, with Israel meaning – literally – “He who struggles with God.” In the metaphoric sense, the name Israel could refer to anyone and everyone who “struggles with the idea of God.”

(See the post Arguing with God, which noted in part that maybe Christians are “supposed to ‘argue with God…’ Maybe, just maybe, that’s how we get spiritually stronger, by ‘resistance training’ rather than passively accepting anything and everything in the Bible, without question or questioning.”)

Which brings up the “bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven.”

Some people might have a problem with that, or with the underlying idea that there is indeed “life after life,” for each and every one of us. (In that sense – the sense of a “life” or incarnation for us after this one – Jesus as “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” – Hebrews 12:2 – may have been merely showing us the way by and through His own “Ascension,” in front of witnesses.)

As to those who may have a problem grasping the idea that our souls may continue on after we leave this life and “move on to the next level,” consider the First Law of Thermodynamics. That law of physics states that “energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.” Or put another way, energy is neither created nor destroyed, but simply changes form. See First law of thermodynamics – Wikipedia.

So if the human soul is a form of energy – an idea that seems self-evident – then it too can neither be created nor destroyed, but simply changes form. Which brings up the question: “Where was my soul before I was born?” Then there’s the question raised by this May 29 Feast Day: “And what about the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven?”

Sounds like it’s time for a bit more “arm-wrestling with God…”

* * * *

The original post had an upper image captioned “The Ascension of Christ,” by Gebhard Fugel, courtesy of the Wikipedia article, Feast of the Ascension. See also Ascension of Jesus – Wikipedia.

The full Bible readings for Ascension Day can be found at The Lectionary Page.

As to the question, “Where was my soul before I was born?” That brings to mind a meditation from the Kaballah (basically, “Jewish mysticism”). See e.g. Kabbalah – Wikipedia. In the meditation, you imagine your soul, before you were born, in the situational-equivalent of sitting around a kitchen table. You are sitting around this hypothetical table with other souls yet to be born. With these other souls, you talk about your future life, looking ahead to what you might accomplish in your upcoming “incarnation.” But of course, all of this discussion occurs against the backdrop of knowing anything and everything you talk about will be erased from memory at birth. (“Arm-wrestling,” anyone?)

The “arm-wrestling” image, originally at the bottom of the page, was courtesy of www.armpullers.com/images/Arm-Wrestling-World-Wide.gif.

On praying in public

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An illustration of the rhetorical device of irony…

The caption above is ironic because Jesus said exactly the opposite – literally – in Matthew 6:6. In the King James Version – the Bible that God uses – Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “And when thou prayest, enter into thy closet…”

Matthew 6:6 is part of the Daily Office Reading (DOR) for Monday, May 19. The full reading was Matthew 6:1-6, and 16-18, which began with Jesus saying, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.” Instead, “when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

That passage gave rise to the common English expression, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” And while the phrase is now “generally a term of derision for an organization where different members are pursuing opposing or contradictory goals,” in the passage in Matthew, Jesus arguably presented such “lack of coordination as an ideal.”

(So much for “strictly” interpreting the Bible.)

Jesus began on the matter of praying in public one verse earlier, in Matthew 6:5:

“…whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret…”

That brings up the recent Supreme Court decision, Town of Greece v. Galloway. It prompted a blog-post by Frank Kirkpatrick of the Huffington Post, The Hollowness of Public Prayer. Kirkpatrick noted an alternative to trying to distinguish merely-ceremonial prayer from prayers with substance, as the Supreme Court seemed to do. “Far better to prohibit any and all prayers, substantive and ceremonial, from public gatherings. Let the faithful pray before they come to the meetings or afterwards or perhaps silently during them.”

Then there’s school prayer. One website said, “Perhaps no aspect of the church-state controversy arouses more emotion and discussion than the subject of prayer in the public schools.” See School Prayer: News – Secular Web, and School prayer – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But see also Prayer in School Affects all of Society | Creation Today: “Since prayer was eliminated from public schools, the quality of education has shown a steady statistical decline. Is there a link between the two?”

(As to, “is there a link?” see Post hoc ergo propter hoc – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Under that reasoning, it could be said since the Roman Empire collapsed shortly after Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, that was the cause of the collapse, but we digress…)

To review: on the one hand some say that praying should be done in private, while others say that public prayer – especially prayer in schools – would both set a necessary standard for students, and prevent the declining morality that’s been so evident in the years since 1962.

But what does the Bible say?

We know that from the DOR Gospel for Monday, May 19, 2014, to wit, Matthew 6:6: “whenever you pray, go into your room [or closet] and shut the door…”

So what’s the “plain meaning” of this passage?

Christians who interpret the Bible “conservatively” – strictly or literally – should say that in a passage like this, the plain meaning of what Jesus said is perfectly clear. As one website said, “The Bible must be interpreted literally which is the way language is normally and naturally understood.” Or there is the Golden Rule of Interpretation: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; Therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning…” See Do You Interpret the Bible Literally? – Middletown Bible church. (Or you could just type “Bible plain meaning” in your search engine.)

That should be the end of the story, if you consistently apply the strict and conservative “plain meaning” of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:6. (See also, for example, “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it, God said it, I believe it, that settles it : Dictionary of …, or – in a YouTube version – Homosexuality & The Bible 1: God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It …

But that great philosopher Henny Youngman might have summed it up best by saying:

“Take school prayer… Please!“

Henny Youngman.jpg

The upper image is courtesy of http://d8rew5imyp13e.cloudfront.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Jesus-Prayer.png. As to “alms,” see the Wikipedia article and/or alms – definition of alms by the Free Online Dictionary, …

On “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” See the Wikipedia article, Matthew 6:3 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

On “take school prayer…” This refers to a classic Henny Youngman joke. Youngman (1906-1998) was known for his one-liners, and his best-known was ‘Take my wife… please.’” Henny Youngman – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

An FYI: The joke relied on the principle of dislocation, as used in comedy, but also in magic and the martial arts in general. See, Shinogi – Budotheory.ca, which mentioned three types of dislocation: positional, temporal, and functional. And a magician of course is also known as an illusionist. See the Wikipedia article, Magic (illusion) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and also Alex Davies – Dislocation. Finally, see The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu, which noted the saying of Sun Tzu (q.v.), the ancient Chinese philosopher who said, “The fundamental principle of the Art of War is deception,” or in other words, dislocating your opponent.

So anyway, in the classic one-liner – told literally “a century ago” – the audience was led to expect Youngman to say “for example” when he began; as in, “Take my wife… for example.” But instead of saying “for example,” Youngman dislocated his audience by saying, “Take my wife… Please!”

On Moses and “illeism”

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File:Bob Dole, PCCWW photo portrait.JPG

“Bob Dole doesn’t like that…*”

The Old Testament reading in the Daily Office for Saturday, May 17, is Exodus 40:18-38, where seven times Moses used the phrase: “as the Lord had commanded Moses.” That brings up illeism, the practice of referring to yourself in the third person.

Chapter 40 ends the Book of Exodus, the story of Moses, about Moses, and by Moses, and about his leading the Children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery and into freedom.

The next book, Leviticus, begins (in the King James Version; the one God uses), “And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation…” As noted, tradition says that Moses wrote this book himself.

In the reading for Saturday, May 17, Moses built a “portable dwelling place” for God.

He set up the tabernacle, spread a tent over it and put a tent-covering over that, “as the Lord had commanded Moses.” He took the Ark of the Covenant – as in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – and put it in the tent, “and screened the ark of the covenant; as the Lord had commanded Moses.” He put a table in the tent and “set the bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Then he set up lampstand, “as the Lord had commanded Moses.” He put an altar in and “fragrant incense on it; as the Lord had commanded Moses.” He set a screen in front and presented “the burnt-offering and the grain-offering as the Lord had commanded Moses.” He set up a basin with water, so Moses, his brother Aaron and/or Aaron’s sons could wash before approaching the altar, “as the Lord had commanded Moses.”

This then was the portable dwelling place for God (as “modeled” below), as He went with the Hebrews in their 40 years of wandering, before they entered their Promised Land.

File:Stiftshuette Modell Timnapark.jpg

That brings up illeism, “referring to oneself in the third person instead of first person,” used as a stylistic device in literature, while in real life it can reflect “different stylistic intentions…”

Julius Caesar used the device in his Commentaries about the Gallic Wars, while Xenophon of Athens – from whom the term xenophobia derives – used it in Anabasis, “‘one of the great adventures in human history,’ as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.”

Both Caesar’s Commentaries and Anabasis were, as Wikipedia put it, “ostensibly non-fictional accounts of wars led by their authors,” who used the device “to impart an air of objective impartiality to the account, which included justifications of the author’s actions. In this way personal bias is presented, albeit dishonestly, as objectivity.”

Another note: Tradition says Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Pentateuch or the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In those books Moses told the story of the Hebrew people, from the beginning of time up to the time Moses was about to die and the Hebrews were about to enter their Promised Land.

Which brings up a question. In modern terms: What did Moses know, and when did he know it? When did Moses find out he was “on a mission from God?” At the Burning Bush? Before then, when he killed the Egyptian overseer? More important, when did he start taking notes for this massive work, five of the most influential books in the history of the world?

So the better question might be: When did Moses write, and when did he write it?

One answer is to ignore the question. “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.” (Another way of saying, “For heaven’s sake, don’t make me think?“) That approach seems to say super-heroes wrote the Bible and we shouldn’t even think we can become anything like them.

There is another approach. At some point in his life, Moses had an experience that led him to believe he’d been spoken to by The Force That Created The Universe. That experience changed the life of Moses and altered the course of history in a way seldom repeated. And so you might think maybe – just maybe – the Bible was written by people very much like us, and the only difference is they – like Moses – had a “mystic experience with the Divine,” and we haven’t, yet.

Isn’t that what going to church should be about? Isn’t that especially true because – as Jesus said in John 14:2 – He expects us to perform greater miracles than He did, and by extension, greater miracles than Moses? (Of course that would mean a lot of work.)

To be continued…

File:DeMilleTenCommandmentsDVDcover.jpg

“Moses doesn’t like this. Moses doesn’t like this one bit…“

* The Bob Dole image is courtesy of Wikipedia. As for his habit of speaking of himself in the third person, see Urban Dictionary: Bob Dole, which defined him as: “A guy who ran for president against Bill Clinton. Known for speaking of himself in the third person… [Example:] ‘Bob Dole doesn’t like this. Bob Dole doesn’t like this one bit.'”

On the original tabernacle, see: Tabernacle – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Xenophobia is excessive and irrational fear of anything foreign. This fear is most often of foreign people, places or objects. People who are xenophobic may display fear or even anger toward others who are foreign. See What Is Xenophobia? – Psychology – About.com.

“What did Moses know, and when did he know it?” An allusion to the Watergate hearings.

See Howard Baker – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: In 1973-74, Baker was a ranking minority member of “the Senate committee, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin, that investigated the Watergate scandal. Baker is famous for having asked aloud, “What did the President know and when did he know it?”, a question given him by his counsel and former campaign manager, future U.S. Senator Fred Thompson.” Another site noted that the question “became a Washington mantra.” For a 36-second clip, see Howard Baker asks Dean what did the president know and when did …