Buffy's Salon

Chapter & Worse

 

The Ship of Fools is a Christian website which claims "Our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith."

Recently they invited readers to nominate and then vote for the verses in the Bible that they found difficult to swallow.  They then published the top (or should that be bottom?) ten verses.  The results say as much about modern society as they do about the vagaries of the Bible.

The verse which was voted the worst in the whole Bible comes, perhaps surprisingly, not from the Old Testament but from 1 Timothy 2:12:

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." (1 Timothy 2:12)

As the Ship of Fools website explains:

St Paul did well to make the top place with his rules for church life in first-century Ephesus, beating genocide, infanticide, executions, dismemberment, human sacrifice (and donkeys) to get there. All the verses that were placed from fifth to second place resorted to violence to do so.

In second place, the Lord via the prophet Samuel instructs King Saul in ethnic cleansing:

"This is what the Lord Almighty says... 'Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" (1 Samuel 15:3)

It seems like a rather disappointing elucidation of what the Lord did and didn't mean by, "Love your neighbour as yourself."

At number 3 is the only entry from the Hebrew Torah:

"Do not allow a sorceress to live." (Exodus 22:18)

This is not the only biblical death penalty, but it appears sorceresses elicit greater sympathy than blasphemers, rebellious sons, unfaithful fiancées and brides who fail to prove their virginity.

You can read about the remaining seven offenders at Chapter and Worse. 

The article ends:

It's an unedifying list, but we think the Bible can survive bringing these shadowy verses into the spotlight. It's not the all-or-nothing book that fundamentalists (atheist and Christian) say that we must either accept wholesale or burn. We need a view of the Bible that is nuanced enough to treasure its comforts and challenges, its classic stories and groundbreaking ethical wisdom, while facing the plain fact that some of it is unacceptable.

So what's your view?  Does the problem lie within the wrong-headedness of modern society, perhaps our lack of understanding of these verses or do we have to admit that there are a few "unacceptable" verses in the Bible?  Five hundred years ago one suspects this list would have looked different.  And in five hundred years time?

Bibles online

 

Lindisfarne Gospels

It is incredible to me to think that over a thousand years ago someone was reading about Noah and Moses, King David and Jesus Christ and the acts of the apostles the same as we do now, even if it was in a different language!  It's even more incredible that some copies of these manuscripts still exist and now, with the sophisticated technology available, anyone can view pages online that for years have been reserved for an elite few.

Recently the oldest surviving version of the Bible became available online.  Codex Sinaiticus was written in the fourth century in Greek.  Thanks to the desert air, it was preserved in a monastery in Sinai until the nineteenth century.  It has now been split up and resides in a number of places, including the British Museum.  And now, after hundreds of years, the different pieces have been united online.  The manuscript's contents are rather different to the one we have in our homes today, however.  It includes the Apocrypha, and some sections now accepted as canon are missing (either because they weren't included in the first place or because of missing pages.)  It also contains many corrections that were added over the centuries, so many do not consider it to be a totally reliable document.  However, it remains one of the most historically important manuscripts in the world.

The priceless and beautifully illustrated Lindisfarne Gospels represent the pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon art, written and decorated at the end of the seventh century by the monk Eadfrith.  It written in Latin and translated (at a later date) into old English, making it the oldest surviving copy of the gospels in the English language.

The Jewish Lisbon Bible dates from the fifteenth century and is a wonderful example of medieval hebrew illustration.

The Gutenberg Bible, the first book ever printed, can also be viewed online.  This fifteenth century book was translated into Latin, so that it could be used in churches throughout Europe, as this was the universal language of the upper classes of the era.  It is based on the Vulgate, as translated by Jerome in the fifth century. There are two copies online: the vellum and paper versions and they can be directly compared. 

The first Bible to be printed in English was the Tyndale Bible; unlike the big church bibles in Latin this was a small (but still rather beautifully decorated) book that anyone could carry around with them.  Tyndale wanted to bring the Bible to everyone (who could read) and the translation was Lutheran in tone, based on manuscripts older than the Vulgate.  The bibles were printed in the early sixteenth century, before the Reformation, and for a long time they were read in secret.  The full text of his translation is available online.

The King James Version printed in 1611 drew heavily from the Tyndale Bible.  By then the Tyndale Bible has introduced words such as "Jehovah", "passover", "scapegoat" and "atonement" into the English language.  Britain had now split with Rome and it was no longer an offense to own a Bible in the English language.  The King James Bible was both for private use and was appointed to be read in church.  It is the most widely read text in English, and of course is still popular today for both its religious and literary merits.

Sisters & Brothers

Cain Leadeth Abel to Death

A recent BBC article reported that researches found that families with sisters have a greater chance of being happy than those without, whereas those who grew up with brothers were more likely to suffer discord within the family home.

On the surface this could be seen as just another negative comment about boys.  However, remember some of the key stories in Genesis, written over two thousand years before this study took place:

• the story of the first brothers in history, Cain and Abel, ends in fratricide when Cain murders Abel because the latter's sacrificial offerings were more pleasing to God 
• several generations and a flood later, Jacob steals the birthright of his brother Esau and then has to go on the run to stop Esau murdering him in revenge

• in turn, Jacob's older sons plot to murder their younger brother, Joseph, but instead throw him down a pit and then sell him into slavery

The motive in all these brotherly crimes, of course, is jealousy.  Sometimes when reading Genesis I think it nails all the worst and most fundamental human flaws and failings. 

It's not a great leap to think that brothers are biologically more inclined than their sisters to be competitive at best and destructive at worst.  I can't think of any stories of sisters in the Bible causing this kind of upheaval for the family.  Of course, according to the research sisters create more cohesion and communication within a family, binding it together rather than breaking it apart. 

The difference is particularly marked if the family splits up; as if meltdown can be avoided by having sisters to share your feelings with and hold everything together.

Of course, this is more evidence for the natural difference between men and women and it also implies that women's have a greater natural talent for family than men do.  This is not, of course, to suggest that men and boys should not be part of a family but that their inborn independence and aggression, which is of no use for spreading happiness within the family unit, is put to better use in the harsher world outside.  At this point we are close to saying that the traditional roles of women being responsible for the home and family and men for dealing with the outside world are the ones we are naturally suited for.  I daresay the researchers were not expecting to provide evidence for anything so controversial, but it seems the natural conclusion.

Genesis & Biblical Hospitality

Abraham and the Three Angels

As early as the book of Genesis the Bible tells us that all human beings, including strangers, need to be treated with respect.

In Chapter 18 Abraham is visited by three strange men.  His reaction is to become the generous host par excellence, begging them to stay, preparing the best feast he can for them and sitting with them while they eat.  He does this on the (correct) assumption that thereby he is somehow entertaining God.  Note that he was given no warning that God was about to send visitors and the text merely describes the visitors as "three men", as oppose to, say, "three beings surrounded by a halo of shining light".  Here we see Abraham perfectly illustrating Hebrews 13:2:

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

If anyone didn't get the message we have Chapter 19 to provide a nasty alternative.  When the same men go to Sodom a horror story unfolds when, with one exception, every man in the town seeks to brutalise the strangers, violating every notion of hospitality.

If only this were a one-off story used just for illustration.  Yet who can deny that throughout the world there are, and always have been, those who have so little regard for other people that, if they think they can get away with it, they will not hesitate to behave in the most inhumane and monstrous way possible.  Their consciences are eased by the belief that the person they are violating is not one of them.  The strangers to Sodom were not Sodomites, so the men there reasoned that it was all right to abuse them.  Examples of what we tactfully call "ethnic cleansing" involve the torture and murder of one group of people by another because they are perceived as being not one of them, and therefore not worthy of the respect we show one of our own.

Abraham didn't look at the three strangers approaching and think "They're not from my group of people, I'm going to do them harm".  He didn't even think "I don't know who these people are, they may or may not be trouble. Live and let live; if I leave them alone hopefully they'll leave me alone."  He thought something like "Here are three strangers.  Let me behave towards them as if they were sent by God."

Later on in Chapter 24 we find Rebekah, on meeting a stranger, going beyond the call of duty on two occasions.  When asked by a man she had never met before for a drink of water, she not only gives him one but also provides sufficient water for all his camels.  Later, when asked for simply a room for the night, she (presumably backed by her family) provides shelter and food (a feast) for both man and camels. 

There are plenty of other verses in the Bible which urge us to practice hospitality to those outside our circle of friends and family.  The truth of the matter is that we are very suspicious of strangers, even when we mean them no harm.  How many of us welcome the ultimate stranger, immigrants, into our country or our neighborhood with open arms?

Hospitality means offering strangers:

• shelter
• food and drink
• basic comforts, such as water to wash in
• respect (let us at least find out more about them before we judge them)

It also means not waiting to be asked for help and giving more than is requested.  It means interrupting your busy schedule and it means being open to the message that has been sent to you.

Next time someone I don't know knocks on my door or approaches me outside my home I'm going to try to remember these things.

Humility - do we need it?

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet

Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. 
Proverbs 16:19

I've been thinking, how unfashionable is humility these days?

We are told we must stand up for ourselves and our rights.  We must let no one oppress us or think that they are in any way better than us, and we must give back as good as we get, or better.

Is it possible to show humility without being a doormat?

I think yes, because humility is a gift that you can choose to give.  If someone is trying to force someone into humility they are being a tyrant and the person who has been forced into a meek position is probably not truly humble in their heart.  They are almost certainly resentful. 

There are plenty of quotes and stories from both Old and New Testaments that illustrate the importance of humility and the danger of pride.  Taking all of them into consideration, how should we express humility?

1. Following God's laws rather than trusting in our own judgment.  In Numbers 12:3 we are told that Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else.  Moses was a man of extraordinary gifts but his will was only to be pleasing to God. 
2. We can listen to that "still, small voice" and recognise the guiding hand in our lives.  Though we can achieve fine things we should know, like John Ruskin that, "really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them".
3. We can willingly accept various forms of legitimate earthly authority.  This means being willing to take orders and not chafing against submission.  What makes this particularly hard is that our society currently places no value on deference.
4. At the same time being careful not to treat only those in authority over us with respect.  There is nothing worse than the person who fawns over their boss then gives their underling a good kick.
5. We can show humility in the way we behave with others.  That is to say, loving our neighbour as ourself by not always putting our interests above another's, for doing so assumes that what we want is more important than their desires; hardly a humble point of view.
6. However, true humility goes further than this because it means having a servant's heart.  When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he was beautifully illustrating that "whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:26-28).
7. This is a difficult one, but when we are criticised we can respond humbly.  It is a human failing that as soon as we feel attacked we become very defensive, and this makes it difficult for us to consider objectively the observations that someone else is making about us.  Our first thought is always to find excuses or to explain how the person is wrong and has misunderstood or even to attack the person right back.  I suspect that probably 90% of the time that we are criticised there is some truth in their words, we just don't want to hear it because it hurts our pride.  To be open to hear the truth about ourselves takes humility.
8. Those times when we are genuinely unjustly attacked we can respond with humility by refusing to attack back, and staying in a position of love towards that person.  We have been taught: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you"  Matthew 5:44
9. When we do wrong we must confess not only to ourselves and God but be prepared to apologise to the one we have wronged.  This is incredibly humbling and very hard to do.
10. When things go well, rather than congratulating ourselves or taking our blessings for granted we can remember to have thankful hearts.  (See Deuteronomy 8.)

Also see: What Exactly is Humility at Gathering Grace
Humility at Bible.org
The Nature of Humility at Ankerberg.com

Bible Poll Results

The Bible: Still Life

Earlier this year, 50 people from around the world cast a vote in my poll about how they viewed the Bible.  The results were as follows:

The majority (58%) said they believed the Bible was literally true and the word of God

The next biggest group, 20% said they believed the Bible was inspired by God, but some of it is symbolic.

18% said there was much wisdom in the Bible, whether or not it comes from God.

16% said the Bible was inspired by God but came through a human filter.

Only 4% said they believed the Bible has nothing to offer us.

There was one clear geographical influence: people in the United States were more likely to say that the Bible was literally true whereas people in Europe were more likely to say that there was much wisdom in the Bible, whether or not it came through God.  There is obviously a polarisation going on in the United States, however, because this is where the 4% who said the Bible has nothing to offer us came from.

The important thing is that whilst not everyone is agreed on their approach to the Bible, 96% still saw it has being a source of wisdom which, when you think how much time has passed since even the last document in the New Testament was written, let along in the Old Testament, and how much society has changed in that time, is quite an incredible testament.

As GotQuestions says: There are so many questions that philosophers and people have asked that God answers for us in Scripture: What is the purpose to life? Where did I come from? Is there life after death? What happens after death? How do I get to heaven? Why is the world full of evil? Why do I struggle to do good? In addition to these "big" questions, it gives a ton of practical advice in areas such as: What do I look for in a mate? How can I have a successful marriage? How can I be a good friend? How can I be a good parent? What is success and how do I achieve it? How can I change? What really matters in life? How can I live so that I do not look back with regret? How can I please God? How can I gain forgiveness? How can I handle the unfair circumstances and bad events of life victoriously?

You may be interested in reading the results of a Gallup pole of the US's view of the Bible in 2007 which found 31% believed it was literally the word of God, 47% that it was inspired by God and 19% that it is man made.

Guided by God

Into The Light

In Exodus 13 we read how God guided the Israelites towards the promised land as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, which remained always in front of his people.

Though the details are very different, isn't the principle the same for each of our lives?  We are not alone; if we are willing to lean fully and submit our lives into God's control we can be confident that he will do a better job of running our life stories than we would do ourselves.  We will be provided for, comforted, advised, given many blessings and receive guidance when the time is right.   We don't necessarily know where we are being taken, what we will be doing in one year's time or how things will work out for the best, but we must relinquish our desire for control and place our trust in him.

How are we guided by God?  We can assume, of course, that guidance can come in any form and God is not limited in his means of communication, neither is he silent.  The trouble is that as humans we don't only have the voice of God in our head, we also have a lot of other voices.  The voice of our parents, the voice of our selfish wants, the voice of negativity or escapism, the voice that demands that we compromise and fit in with what everyone else is doing, the voice of anxiety, that little bit of us that just doesn't want to give up control...and so on.

In Knowing God, J.I. Packer explains how God's guidance should work for us.  In summary, we can divide many of the decisions we have to make up into those for which we already have clear guidance and those we do not.  The Bible gives us very clear instructions on all the most important areas of life.  As J.I. Packer says:

Turn from evil and do good (Ps 34:14,37:27) - this is the highway along which the Bible is concerned to lead us, and all its admonitions are concerned to keep us on it

However, the Scriptures are not going to give you guidance on whether or not to marry a certain person, or whether to take one job or the other, whether to live in the town or city or a whole raft of other decisions where one thing will be right for one person and something else for another.  When, then, we are listening for that small, quiet voice, looking out generally for clues that we should turn right or left and wondering what feels "right" to us and what feels "wrong", how can we be sure what is true guidance and what is just static interference?

1. When we feel "lead" to do something, we should check it out against Scripture
2. We must give the matter rational thought, remembering to think through long-term consequences
3. Are we absolutely clear about our motivations?  This is very hard as we are all superb at dressing up what we want to do to look like what we ought to do.
4. If it is of any moment, we should discuss the matter with someone else who will be honest with us and whose judgment we trust.
5. We must be willing not to have the whole picture but be lead one step at a time; in other words, to be patient.
6. If, our decision made, we suffer either a serious knock back or a whole series of minor ones, it could be we made the wrong decision and it would therefore be wise to carefully reconsider our current path, reviewing 1-5 above. 
7. However, it is also possible that what seems like a problem to us is part of God's plan and that good will ultimately come of it.  There are many cases in the Bible when something bad happened and, whether willed by God or simply used by him, it was turned to good in the end.  Examples would be the story of Joseph sold into slavery and imprisoned, or of Moses whose requests for the freedom of his people to Pharaoh were turned down so many times.
8. When it turns out we have gone wrong (as happens to everyone at some time) then once we have realised it we should not despair.  Again, God can bring good out of bad and no damage we can do will be irrevocable.  We must simply do our best to follow his guidance back onto the correct pathway again

The Path to Biblical Womanhood

Beachside Stroll

We probably have a fair idea of what Biblical Womanhood once meant, but the world we live in has changed beyond measure from those ancient days.  Can these words realistically have any meaning for us now?  Well, I have found some interesting resources online about what Biblical Womanhood actually could mean in this day and age.  Of course, much of it runs directly contrary to the modern expectation of womanhood or girlhood.  However, if you're interested in taking the road less travelled you might want to check out some of these signposts along the way. 

Keeping the elusive Proverbs 31 woman as our guide as we walk along the path we should remember to:

Honour our parents

Set apart our "inner sancturary"

Expect to be challenged by our Faith

Celebrate our femininity

Consider the differences between the sexes

Understand the importance of Servanthood

Remember that old fashioned virtue: chastity

Try out  A Month of Modesty

Refuse to Gossip

Always Cultivate Wise Habits

and for those of us not married, consider the busy Ministry of Single Girls 

Reaping as you Sow

Isaac Blessing Jacob, circa 1520

Reading through the stories of the Old Testament one can't help but notice how they continually illustrate the theme that much of what happens to us, good or bad, is a direct result of how we have behaved towards others.  In other words, as we sow so shall we reap; God's law of cause and effect is fundamental to our understanding of his laws and of sin.

One striking example of this is in Genesis when Jacob is cheated by his father-in-law and, after 7 years' labour as agreed, married to Leah instead of Rachel.  Who can fail to feel for the young man who finds himself duped in this callous manner?  And yet, if we look back at Jacob's behaviour in the past we can see an element of divine justice, for Jacob himself duped his own father, Isaac, in order to receive the blessing planned for Esau.  How appropriate that he himself should later be similarly so cyncially hoodwinked!

Later we see how Kind David, righteous in so many things, caused an innocent man to die and, as a consequence, found that the sword would not depart from his house: his own beloved son turned against him and was willing to kill him. 

Psalm 18, probably written by David, touches on God's law of cause and effect.

Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

How often when something unpleasant happens to you, espcially when someone behaves dishonourably, is your first thought to consider what you may have done yourself to earn this treatment?  Most of the time we are too busy blaming the person who wronged us to look with an critical eye at our own behaviour.  Laban was not right in his treatment of Jacob, but he provided a tremendous opportunity for Jacob to learn something about both his own righteousness and the inevitable desserts of his sin.  Are we not told our sins will find us out?  If we really believe this, that there will be a consequence for our misbehaviour, that as Galations 6  tells us we do reap what we sow, and, consequently, we see ourselves as the authors of our own undoing, instead of as the victim of occasional unjustice, what then would our behaviour look like?

Lies Women Believe

Today I am posting over at A Booklover's Journal where you can read my review of Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  Why not come and visit and read some of the other posts?

You can read another review of this book over at Biblical Womanhood.