walking by a Lutheran church: this we believe

As I mentioned before (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-no-930.html), I started reading "This We Believe" from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod website (http://www.wels.net/). I'm including two quotes that have made me think what it means to be a "true" Christian. Of course, I might be wrong.

Although I've heard the concept that the Old Testament predicted the coming of Jesus many times before, the words in the following quote made this concept clearer to understand and believe.

"5. We believe that the entire Bible is Christ-centered. In the Old Testament God repeatedly promised a divine deliverer from sin, death, and hell. The New Testament proclaims that this promised deliverer has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus himself says of the Old Testament, 'These are the Scriptures that testify about me' (John 5:39)."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation

Maybe I'm desperate to understand and find God that I'm too naive to be eagerly attracted to any likable text (not saying that such text could be wrong, as of yet). I just fail to question my beliefs at times. I also fail to remember that people are imperfect and that human understanding and comprehension are painfully limited.

Then again I should point out that the following quote also from "This We Believe" makes lots of sense. We should keep in mind that some books referred to as the "true" or "best" interpretation of the Bible aren't quite the Word of God. Some of these translations could be biased or simply erroneously false willingly or not.

"11. We believe that the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament are the inspired Word of God. Translations of the Hebrew and Greek that accurately reflect the meaning of the original text convey God's truth to people and can properly be called the Word of God."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation?page=0,1

Of course, we should admit and understand that it's hard to say which Bible's truer or better than another (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-bible-vs-your-bible.html). For the time being, I keep jumping from NRSV to KJV to WEB.

In all, the WELS website's got lots of good information to understand and reaffirm what it means to be a Christian. Nonetheless my curiosity doesn't mean that I'm planing to change churches any time soon. If there's one thing that I've learned and that's changed me, it's been the opportunity to be a servant of God by serving others. This last concept -- heavily driven into our minds at FAPC -- seems to be the truer meaning of being a Christian, at least to me within my limited humanoid understanding.

what not to do, touch, see, listen, taste, smell, feel, have sex with, etc

I still have issues trying to understand what are proper or correct things to do as a Christian -- well aside from anything that breaks the Law of Moses of course.

Some would say that horror movies are not godly correct. The same has been said about music (for example, rock & roll), art (nudes, how sick), food (pork, non Kosher/Halal filth), clothes (miniskirts, oh such horror), flesh (sex, how dirty) and probably every single thing in the cosmos (including aliens in other worlds).

Considering all this, most of the universe if not all is from the devil and will trigger our eternal damnation. That means that we're surrounded by devil music, devil art, devil food, devil clothes (Halloween costumes most likely included), devil flesh (devil in the flesh) and a devil universe/reality. This assumption is absurd as you can read especially in Genesis 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18 and 1:21.

"1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
-- Genesis 1:1-28 (KJV)

God made everything across the whole cosmos and then proclaimed it GOOD. We make things good or bad, pure or filthy. It's all in our minds and souls. Hence trying to be completely honest to ourselves and leaving our selfish prejudice aside, what's godly correct and what's not? Maybe the best answer came from a minister who told me to avoid anything that takes us away from the Light.

I guess this means that watching a gory movie with zombies and other monsters is fine as long as it doesn't affect my faith. After all that movie's merely a piece of fiction to take our minds off our problems for an hour or two (four hours in the case of Lord of the Rings) and make us laugh.

Geneva Bible (1599)

The English language has changed in the past four centuries or so (well 411 years to be precise).

For the past three weeks, I've been reading (or trying to read and make sense of) the Bible brought to the Americas by the Pilgrims -- the Geneva Bible of 1599 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Bible). It all started as a comment from a minister when we were talking about the different translations of the Bible and all the possible errors that these translations might have as the result of erroneous interpretations. As usual, I got curious.

For this little project that I decided to take, I installed the Geneva1599 module (http://www.crosswire.org/sword/modules/ModInfo.jsp?modName=Geneva1599) on Xiphos (the Bible study program that I currently use; http://www.xiphos.org/). This way I can read this version of the Bible side-by-side with other versions -- like KJV (1759) and WEB -- in order to have a guideline to the language used then -- many differences in the spelling of words (like "euill" instead of "evil").



For a better idea of what I mean regarding the possible errors in translations or interpretations, I'm including one of my favorite quotes of the Bible -- Psalms 23:1-6.

1 A Psalme of David. The Lord is my shepheard, I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to rest in greene pasture, and leadeth me by the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soule, and leadeth me in the paths of righteousnesse for his Names sake.
4 Yea, though I should walke through the valley of the shadowe of death, I will feare no euill: for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staffe, they comfort me.
5 Thou doest prepare a table before me in the sight of mine aduersaries: thou doest anoynt mine head with oyle, and my cuppe runneth ouer.
6 Doubtlesse kindnesse and mercie shall follow me all the dayes of my life, and I shall remaine a long season in the house of the Lord.
- Psalms 23:1-6 (Geneva Bible, 1599)

Without a doubt, the language used then is beautiful. It delivers the word of God with the proper drama and visuals.

Of course, the comparison between versions makes me wonder how mutilated, mutated, wrong and changed the original Word of God -- written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek; translated to Latin then to German -- is in comparison to the Word that we currently have and hold as true. Perhaps this is the reason why we have many translations of the Bible in English -- not to mention the whole lot of translations and interpretations in all other languages worldwide.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want

It's funny how ignorance can affect us in all aspects of life including our faith.

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
-- Psalms 23:1-6 (KJV)

I always thought that Psalm 23:1-6 meant that, yes, God's our protection and guidance (shepherd), but we'd still reject him.

In other translations of the Bible, it clearly says that we need nothing else since God's our protection and guidance (shepherd).

1 Yahweh is my shepherd:
I shall lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in Yahweh's house forever.
-- Psalms 23:1-6 (WEB)

Ignorance can be painfully bad, aside from making us look stupid at times (like in my case with these verses). This is yet another reason why we should study the Bible (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/no-need-to-read-bible.html).

my Bible vs your Bible

There are several versions and translations of the Bible in any given language (about 20 in English alone). Ever since I started being curious about being a "true" Christian (about a decade or so ago), I've really realized that there are so many Bibles. I've since also wondered about the differences between the different versions and/or translations of the Bible.

What's my choice? I personally opt for the easiest to read and understand. I have
1. KJV on my phone (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/bible-in-my-hand.html) and my old Palm Visor Deluxe,
2. NRSV (http://www.nrsv.net/) that I bought at church,
3. KJV (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/)/ESV (http://www.esv.org/) side-to-side comparison that I got as a present,
4. KJV (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/), NET (http://www.enetbible.com/) and WEB (http://www.ebible.org/) if not more modules at different times on Xiphos (http://www.xiphos.org/)
5. and NET (http://www.enetbible.com/) and NLT (http://www.newlivingtranslation.com/) bookmarked.

All these versions and/or translations say pretty much the same sometimes using exactly the same words. Nonetheless many groups of Christians would argue that their Bible of preference is the "correct" Bible. This is clearly a stupid argument and it has become one of the biggest excuses that we -- Christians -- have to quarrel and separate into factions.

Said all this, am I right or wrong to read and try to make sense of the Bible in its numerous versions and/or translations? Well let's just say that I hope I'm not wrong.

By the way, for Trekkers there's a Klingon (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/aliens/article/70638.html) version of the Bible (http://www.kli.org/wiki/index.php?Klingon%20Bible%20Translation%20Project). For those who think that this might be of bad taste, let me point out that Klingons -- if they existed -- would also be part of creation and hence also children of God. Besides religion should be enjoyed and not experienced as a punishment of sorts.

Bible in my hand

Having Go Bible (an application built on the Sword Project framework, with the KJV module; http://gobible.jolon.org/) installed in my phone or other version of the Bible in my hand at all times doesn't make me a better Christian or a Christian at all for that matter. I only installed Go Bible because technology allows me have a searchable version of the Bible in my phone for reference. It's also a cool program to have. Well I just wanted to put this out in the open and keep myself honest.

Said the latter, many Christians have their copy of the Bible at hand all the time. These are the same folks who either (1) live and die by the Bible trying to the righteous in a desperately honest way or (2) are simply too hypocrite to realize or admit that they use the Bible (the word of God) to commit and excuse their selfish actions like condemning others.

One shouldn't follow the Bible blindly, but rather study it and acquire wisdom from it. At the same time, no one but God has the right to judge and condemn. After all, God's invited us all to his Kingdom, but we still have to check in to go through his door.

being a geek and Christian

My major areas of interest are computer science and other technologies, music, movies (foreign, independent and just plain weird), poetry and prose, religion and television (my TiVo) as well other areas in science (mental disorders, physics, etc). I listed these fields of interest alphabetically for fun and because of my OCD.

After bragging about myself, I must humbly explain why I did it. There's the belief that a person of science (computers in my case) is too skeptical due to lack of hard evidence to have faith in the Godhead regardless of religion.

Said the latter, at times I think too much in what science has revealed to us mortals as true and have difficulty having the kind of blind faith that religion as a cultural norm demands. My deviant behavior at times can be too much to take. For example, the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-15) wasn't consumed and my comment during Bible study was about the lack of fumes (chemical and physical changes in the carbon-based living organism) to emphasize on the miracle described in the Bible. As a matter of fact, I'm still trying to place dinosaurs in the creation of the world as explained in the book of Genesis. Sometimes it's practically impossible to marry scientific facts with religious beliefs.

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up. 3 "This is amazing," Moses said to himself. "Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it."

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

"Here I am!" Moses replied.

5 "Do not come any closer," the Lord warned. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey--the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt."

11 But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?"

12 God answered, "I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain."

13 But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?"

14 God replied to Moses, "I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you." 15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.

Exodus 3:1-15 (KJV)

In all how does God affect science and the universe? I'm still trying to find out. Does this make some kind of science expert? No, it only makes me curious to learn and relate science and God in a way that I can argue to my atheist friends.

Isaiah 53:5

So I mentioned Stryper (http://www.stryper.com/) early today (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-music-saved-my-soul-dance-of-life-pt.html) and I haven't been able to stop listening to their music. I also looked up what Isaiah 53:5 (part of their logo) means. It's been such a long time since I read this verse. These words practically summarize who Christ was and is -- the Christ, the savior of the world.

Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)
"But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed."