Bloggery-woozle

2012-01-28T16:23:00.000+10:00

Why did I bother devoting any time to thinking about whether this relationship preference or that contributed to my masculinity or femininity? I just am who I am. I think I may have even figured out who that is.

Bible time 5 - the Herods

2011-11-26T18:35:00.001+10:00

Some of these didn't get published last year!

Also, I am still planning to read some of the apocrypha - it'll just, er, happen in 2012 not 2010.

Herod

Mt 2:7-8 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

2:16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

14:1-12 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.
On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Mk 6:14-29 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
Others said, "He is Elijah."
And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago."
But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!"
For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom."
She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?"
"The head of John the Baptist," she answered.
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
he king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Lk 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.

23:1-12 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."
So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
But they insisted, "He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here."
On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Acts 12:1-4 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

12:21-23 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

25:13 A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

a visit

2011-11-13T21:38:00.000+10:00

I visited my grandmother for the first time in weeks. After waiting ten minutes for her to answer the door, I went around the back to find her in the garden, where she picked some nasturtians for me and then offered to get clippers to get a whole bunch more, iliciting the monthly lie that this offer has to be met with, on account of my mother's hatred of the way nasturtians shed. (I found out my "oh, I think we have some flowers on the dining table already..." lie actually wasn't once I got home.)

She told me the same news three times, almost in a row, something she wouldn't have done two years ago. When we went on a walk and I was talking about working with ESL learners, I realised I was using the same slow, careful speech with her that I sometimes use with them. When we got home she answered the phone, faltered, "picked her some... ah... not roses... oh, fancy me forgetting nasturtians!"

too lazy to format and expound

2011-06-21T00:49:00.007+10:00

A quick fix for same-sex marriages that doesn't involve legalising same-sex marriages: Eliminate 'sex' as a legal category.
Same-sex marriage needs to stop being about marriage, and it needs to stop being about 'same-sex'. As far as I'm concerned, the entire issue would be fixed if sex stopped being a legal category. Transsexuals who could marry through certain loopholes (sometimes, depending on a specific timeframe and whether or not they sort of lied) wouldn't have to worry about the technicalities and the whens - they could just MARRY the person they love and sort out all the sex/gender stuff whenever. Same-sex marriages could occur, and different-sex marriages, and it would be no-one's business. Sex could be kept legally relevant as things like race are.

Alien

2011-06-19T23:14:00.000+10:00

Backing up files and found a short story word file on a USB, which was apparently last altered 2006.

Here, have a party:

She hated the establishment. She tried not to think about the way the room was shaped; it wasn't really a room and she couldn't really think. If she had to come to realise that physics applied differently merely because she was in a different solar system, she'd scream - and they never liked that. She'd managed to express that humans scream and clap and jump when happy, scream and shift and throw their arms when angry, and they'd tried to ask her a question about that, but she couldn't understand. So far she just knew how to say 'human', 'Them', 'not' and 'see', as well as the names of two who studied her - though she sometimes confused them with other Them. She would have expressed that she could distinguish between them slightly and that she did realise that they did all have different names - except she didn't know how to say that.

They watched her as though she'd explode, and she hated them. When she cried, they were still wary, thinking she was trying to attack. When she set fire to more materials they had brought her, and coughed because of the fumes, they thought she was dying. When she was pressing together the ashes and sobbing because she didn't know how to make a real pencil and real graphite and she couldn't fucking draw the things she was starting to forget, they wondered if touching ash caused the hu-mans pain (they had discovered tears from pain when the red thing had been coming out of her two weeks ago. She refused to think of all that had happened then.) When she used her ash to draw, they left her alone, but the pictures made her cry because she didn't have paper. She used the ash to mark each day, and they seemed to understand that well enough. She began to wonder if they'd ever understand that earth days were two hours shorter, and with each mark she became more and more out of touch with her loved ones. When she farted it was a disease, when she scrubbed under her arms, they held her down half-naked and examined the glands. When she sang - and she did it a lot - they did not admire her voice as she was used to on Earth, but made notes. She asked them once, 'oh, Them, to make?' when they made notes, and they looked at her. She didn't know what that meant.

She was glad they were homonoid because at least that way, they were slightly understandable, yet occasionally she wished they would raise their eyebrows at her or smile. She missed her commander's smile. She wanted to shock Them, swear at them and make them back away, but if she transgressed upon one of their customs, it was that she was the hu-man, and if she did something wrong, they never knew. She was so sick of it one day, and she wanted to shock them, and she stroked herself off more furiously and desperately than she'd ever done, sobbing and glaring at them as she went. She did it because she was angry and she wanted them to look away for once. She didn't do it because she missed the feeling. She didn't close her eyes at the end and think of her lover's body arching underneath her.

They took notes.

2011-05-28T16:56:00.001+10:00

Things I have done today:

- laundry
- napped
- reading

I have a lot of things to do, but I do not consider today at all wasted.

Related: I'm rereading A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I'm up to my favourite, #7 (The vile Village). Hooray.

Smithereens, 101 Places, Country of the Blind, Brought to Bed and Lullaby

2011-03-13T22:16:00.000+10:00

- "Smithereens"

I was visiting Big City when the floods came. I had one spare t-shirt and pair of underwear, my basic toiletries, some I.D. cards and my mum’s copy of David Copperfield, which I was halfway through. It was the only book I had with me, stranded from home, with no power and limited phone signal. Two days into my gruelling routine of sitting around, reading, getting up to walk down the road and check the water level, going to the loo, sitting around more, and checking the water level again, my brother offered me his collection of books. Hooray for brothers! Hooray for Micallef! I was about to throw bloody Copperfield in the river.

If you think Micallef is fucking hilarious, you will find most of this collection fucking hilarious. I am one of these people and I enjoyed it a great deal. I think I’ve mentioned before, here, that I rarely actually laugh at funny things I read. Because of that, books that make me actually laugh are exceptional. This was one of those.

- "101 Places Not to See Before You Die"

It will come across as petty, that I am making complaints about a flippant comedy book, but I’m doing it anyway. I do think a book should try to keep to its premise. Reading through place #89 not to see, “The Inside of a Spotted Hyena’s Birth Canal”, place #21, “An Outdoor wedding During the 2021 Emergence of the Great Eastern Cicada Brood”, and place #18, “A Stop on Carry Nations’ Hatchetation Tour”, the author had read something interesting and decided to make an excuse to include it.

There are no end of interesting tidbits that could be twisted to be “a place not to visit” – for a historical event, “XVille in year” (e.g. #34: “An Island off Germany’s East Coast, January 16, 1362”; #83: “Ancient Rome on or Around the Night of January 18, 64 A.D.”; #91: “The Yucatán Peninsula When a Giant Asteroid Hit the Earth”), say. But the whole point of picking up this book is that multiple versions of “1000 Places to See Before You Die” exist, and out of all the overhyped, expensive, crowded and/or disappointing tourist traps, many overlap with suggestions in these books. It’s funny to read about all the reasons not to bother, all the places that aren’t actually that interesting, all the reasons they’re overhyped. If you’re going to include joke entries and interesting facts about body farms (interesting, yes, common tourist destination, not yet), why not 1000 Places?

We’ve got place #59, “Stonehenge” (also the title page image, natch), #37, “Mount Rushmore”, #68, “Any Place Whose Primary Claim to Fame Is a Large Fiberglass Thing”, and #3, “Euro Disney”, and some of these write-ups are hilarious. I don’t see any good reason why the book couldn’t have been what it wanted to be.

- Country of the Blind

… Some of these are really good. Because clearly the whole internet gives a shit, these two were my favourites:
- Under the Knife
- The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes

- Brought to Bed

If I ever wrote a book it would probably be a little like this, because this was more of a cracked list of interesting quotes, than a finished work. Still interesting. (This is 'Brought to Bed' by Madeleine Riley, about literary representations of the experience of childbirth in certain literature -- not 'Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950', the medical history by Judith Walzer Leavitt)

- Lullaby

I’ve read that Chuck Palahniuk writes the same book over and over, but sometimes does it a bit better. Based on seeing ‘Fight Club’ and reading ‘Lullaby’, I’m going to assume that that is true. It saves me some reading time, because ‘Lullaby’ was actually one of three books I had on a list of ‘these actually look interesting, by Palahniuk’.

So I don’t think there’s much to say about it. It’s the same story he tells again and again. Some guy has some things wrong with him and he uncovers or creates some bizarre, semi-magical way of changing the world in increments, and philosophises a little on how we are all corporate drones in the meantime. The musing on how we’re all slaves being controlled by THE MAN would be less annoying if there was more acknowledgment of the fact that this is true for everyone, every time, every place. I get the impression that while Palahniuk has some idea that this is his expression of ‘the human condition’, and not purely a railing against modern culture, he falls a little too far into the pattern of sneering at the sheeple to make it an expression of human souls, rather than an expression of being a bit of a hipster dick.

A problem I have reading a lot of books is that my brain keeps threads on what other people reading the book might get from it, and why I have a problem with that, or the actual personality and viewpoints of the author, and why I might have a problem with that. You can choose to view that as a modern problem, with everyone living inside their own heads, or just part of a wider pattern where every culture has in-jokes and sardonicism and intertextual analysis.

Book list 2011

2011-01-19T21:01:00.020+10:00

1. Smithereens	Shaun Micallef	*
2. 101 Places Not to See Before You Die	Catherine Price
3. David Copperfield	Charles Dickens	*
4. The Merchants' War	Charles Stross
5. Country of the Blind and Other Stories	H. G. Wells	*
6. Brought to Bed	Madeleine Riley
7. Lullaby	Chuck Palahniuk
8. Evolving in Monkey Town	Rachel Held Evans
9. Frankenstein	Mary Shelley (Wollstonecraft Godwin)
10. The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog	Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz
11. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	Betty Smith	*
12. Daughters of the Sun	Obi Egbuna
13. Overqualified	Joey Comeau
14. One Bloody Thing After Another	Joey Comeau
15. Adam's Curse	Bryan Sykes
16. Kissing the Witch	Emma Donoghue
17. The Liar	Stephen Fry	*
18. Dracula	Bram Stoker	*
19. Love Our Way	Julia Rollings	*
20. The British Museum is Falling Down	David Lodge
21. C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy	Jeff Sharlet
22. There is No Me Without You	Melissa Fay Greene	*
23. Unweaving the Rainbow	Richard Dawkins
24. Bad Science	Ben Goldacre
25. Red Spikes	Margo Lanagan	*
26. Quivering Daughters	Hillary McFarland
27. The Little White Horse	Elizabeth Goudge
28. The Quest for Justice	Ken Crispin	*
28. Black Juice	Margo Lanagan
29. The Things They Carried	Tim O'Brien
30. Debunking Delusions	Nathan Geffen	*
31. Flora's Dare	Ysabeau S. Wilce	*
32. No Biking in the House without a Helmet	Melissa Fay Greene	*
33. The Faith Healers	James Randi
34. Stiff	Mary Roach
35. The Year of Living Biblically	A. J. Jacobs
36. Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife	Lisa Miller	*
37. Trade of Queens	Charles Stross
38. Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?	Lorrie Moore
39. Five Past Midnight in Bhopal	Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro
40. Yellowcake	Margo Lanagan
41. The Book of Mormon	GAWD, definitely
42. The Vampire in 19th Century British Literature	Carol Senf
43. Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism	John Shelby Spong	*
44. Brothers and Sisters	ed Charlotte Wood
45. Bossypants	Tina Fey
46. Lesbians in Germany: 1890-1920	ed. Lillian Faderman
47. The God Box	Alex Sanchez
48. The ... Hunt Sisters
49. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers	Lillian Faderman

2011-01-01T00:33:00.000+10:00

Just saw in the new year with my little brother, watching the last episode of 'Better Off Ted' - a really good show, so of course I don't have to tell you that that was the last episode because it was cancelled.

Anyway, this is what I was typing an hour ago:

I think I’ll declare this year the year of the short story. I just picked up my copy of ‘Kissing the Witch’, by Emma Donoghue – a Christmas present from my mother, who’s okay with buying a compilation of short stories, some of which are ‘erotic’, for her daughter to own and lend to her other daughter, but who evidently is not okay with buying the third volume of the amazing adventures of the Gay Incest Wizards (that is, the third of Sarah Monette's series) or the Gay Werewolves What Were Terrible Gay (aka Queer Wolf ed. James EM Rasmussen) (One day. One day) – and yes, I think it’s safe to say that I’m going to read a few books of short stories. Probably, that doesn’t say much. According to my last book lists, it’s probably also safe to say that I will read a few books that aren’t really books, but are hilarious, and something by Dawn French to finish things off. (It’s not my fault, Mum keeps receiving them as Christmas presents and then I have to steal them from her for periods while she’s elsewhere.)

I think I’m also going to re-read the Bible this year. I picked it up the other day and really thought I might enjoy that again. The same group who I was reading along with last year, are repeating the same schedule this year – once again, I’ll stay on the sidelines and never actually sign up. I just don’t think it’s terribly polite to answer what is actually intended as a call for religious rebirth, with a “yeah, interested atheist snarker in the house!” Reading along with other people’s schedules keeps me in line, though. I’ve been meaning to read the Book of Mormon for years – my sister gave me my own copy that missionaries gave her years ago – but I’ve started about three times and never finished. Considering the fact that I’m ‘announcing’ (this blog is my way of trying to keep myself accountable to this decision) my intentions re: the Bible, when I haven’t even finished the BoM once, I wonder if it might be an idea to find a similar read-along for the BoM.

Of course there’s more than just reading going on – especially including the stuff that I actually think I should be journaling, for my own sake – but that’s what I’m going to say for today.

another ed note?

2010-12-27T16:16:00.000+10:00

I changed one of my tags from 'fags' to 'queer'. Increasingly, I've been using it for posts that are about or contain something about trans stuff, political stuff, stuff that isn't about me, rather than personal family stuff where I'm just muttering into the keyboard about my gay, gay self. I'm perfectly comfortable using the word 'fag' for myself; less so for others, particularly in wider political discussions. 'Queer' is still kind of problematic in its own way, but it's come further (in my sight) in its reclaiming than 'fag', and of course it covers genderqueer, bi, all that jazz :)

Tab/link dump part zoogly-six

2010-12-27T13:48:00.000+10:00

I realise that I haven't been posting actual posts for months now. It's not annoying to anyone else but me, but it's something I like to do, and something I think I should be doing, especially now - for various reasons that may or may not ever be recorded, depending on whether or not I actually get a general day-to-day post down.

Today, however, is another link-dump day. PREPARE YESELF:

1. "Things which seame incredible": Cannibalism in Early Jamestown

2. Good summings-up that happen to bundle together a lot of things that make me shout, "Yes, exactly!" (which is not to say that other parts of the series are not as good, just that they don't resonate as much with me and my particular bugbears.):

Steadfast Daughters in a Quivering World ~ Part 4: Acknowledgement & Apologies

Your child’s exertion of will [which includes anything you deem unacceptable---grumpiness, for example] is an act of war, and parenting is about the parent winning any and all battles of wills... respect demanded only for the authority figure (who may act disrespectfully to others, which is okay, but must always be respected by all underlings, unless they wish to risk punishment)...”

Steadfast Daughters in a Quivering World ~ Part 6: Soul-Binding

I no longer desire to control my offspring and call it wholesome parenting. I admit, owning obedient, compliant children and teenagers makes for a convenient and orderly life but when the price is my child’s soul, it is not a game I will choose to play again. Further, I had no idea just how very wonderful my children really were until I met them – raw, without expectation or criticism – just their fabulous selves.

3. Another article, particularly about the Pearls: Spare the quarter-inch plumbing supply line, spoil the child

4. The Chicago Tribune, "chronic Lyme disease," and demands for false balance
and
Conspiracy Thinking – Skepticism’s Evil Twin

5. Oprah's Dickens

6. Not Your Mom’s Trans 101

Cis people seem to think that self-identification is only for trans folks. They don’t have to “identify” as men and women– they just ARE! Their gender isn’t “self-identified,” it’s “self-evident!”
What they fail to understand is that self identification is the only meaningful way to determine gender.

(I'm just excitedly slapping down a quote I liked - go to the post itself to get what it's really about, because this is only one awesome bit.)

7. Zoe at A. E. Brain posted this: Employment Discrimination and the Transsexual, which is utterly fantastic - I am SO ignorant about the law, full stop as it stands for issues of transsexuality, so yay!

"Junky" by William S. Burroughs

2010-12-17T14:03:00.000+10:00

There's not a lot of heart to this. The voice, or style, or descriptive power, or whatever you want to call it, is not exactly gripping but certainly unique, and interesting. The details, themselves, that Burroughs decided to include about drugs and drug culture and addiction are interesting enough. As a story, though, it's not until near the end that any mention of any sort of internal life or deliberate action is given. And, given that one of the strengths of the book is that it makes very clear the fact that addiction is not the only thing in your life - it may take over and colour every event, but it's not as if you simply sit around shooting up all day, as Burroughs tells it - it seems like those are details that would have made certain things more interesting, or understandable.

As it is, I don't particularly need to find the actions described defended in any way, or put forward as some pathetic, pleading story (another strength - this isn't just put forward as some whining angst pile of self-pity), especially as I think Burroughs wasn't a nice person, or even really a good person*. From a bare-facts reading of his life, and of this book, you can certainly get the impression that his wife was not a large part of his life, and he didn't care about her; his son was not a large part of his life, and he didn't care about him. As I say, I don't need the guy to come across to me in any particular way, and the 'story' is still interesting, but that lack of feeling and meaning really does add up with the lack of heart, in general. Mind, this isn't meant to be an autobiography, it's meant to be an autobiography of drug addiction, but it still comes out a little flat.

I find the idea of authorial intent interesting, though, and the fact that Burroughs basically invented ‘cut-up’ novels is really, really appealing to me, after reading this. I’m sometimes very selfish about my reading, and don’t want the idea that the author owns my own reading experience, so I think to read something so clearly removed from its actual point of origin would be quite interesting. For this author, in particular. The fact that (I assume) he set out to give his views on certain things re: drugs and drug-usage, and also to give an account of his own addiction, doesn’t change the fact that I think the finished work is … well, as I said above, flat. Others might disagree with me, but it really did come out that way. To read something that retains the sort of descriptive writing voice found here, but without that downside, might be interesting. In any case, I intend to read ‘Queer’ before I ever go on to ‘Naked Lunch’.

* Some of the 'facts' put forward about drugs, addiction, crime and drug culture in the particular times and places he mentions are - well, a bit cracky, if you'll forgive me.
Junk might make you immortal, certain drugs will give you real telepathic powers, and, largest of all (although never mentioned in the actual body of the text) - Burroughs' act of shooting his wife in the face occurred when his own body was possessed by demons.

One thing that really puzzled me, when I went to decide I should read this before "Queer", was the fact that not only can you find instances of Burroughs referring to this death as an 'accidental shooting', but others as well.
The facts: He was drunk. He shot, and killed his wife. Numerous attempts of bribery were made at different points after this, and eventually he ran off to the U.S. and never stood trial. The trial still occurred and he was convicted as guilty of homicide, but he never served time. Whether he was high at the time, and felt otherworldly when he pulled the trigger, I don’t know, but he ‘demon’ thing isn’t presented as a metaphor, it’s what he claimed actually happened. Given that the story given by others was that they were playing a game of ‘William Tell’, claims that the gun fired itself are pretty weak – I’m pretty sure part of the game where you shoot at someone, is the part where you shoot at someone.

"Inferno", ed. Ellen Datlow and "The Demon's Covenant"

2010-11-17T16:56:00.006+10:00

- "Inferno"

Mixed bag. I've been dipping into it throughout the year, but I'm only going back to re-read four stories (13 O'Clock by Mike O'Driscoll, Lives by John Grant, An Apiary of White Bees by Lee Thomas [OHMIGOD], and The Suits at Auderlene by Terry Dowling). Not that the others were bad - some were unimpressive, I only really disliked Bethany's Wood (Paul Finch) and The Janus Tree (Glen Hirshberg), and the rest were generally good, but I did particularly like those four.

- "The Demon's Covenant"

I liked this much better than the first in the series, but I'm lazy, so if you're at all interested why, you're just going to be left hanging :) I feel like, with this writing, some aspect of it's so good that it makes the lacking parts glaring. That's pretty annoying. I think whatever comes after this trilogy will be better, so I'm sort of looking forward to that. This book made quite clear that there's going to be a clever overall structure to the trilogy, though, so it's not like I'm going to have to wait around for a new world to read good stuff from this author.

more little book 'reviews'

2010-11-13T20:24:00.006+10:00

- "A Thread of Grace"

This should not be my first response. It should not. But "A Thread of Grace" is about Italy during the Holocaust, and in particular, Catholics. It specifically concerns Catholics who tried, through both church organisation and in their own individual community ways, to cloister Jews away. And while I am reading it, I'm getting irritated at the defense the author seems to be putting up, about how awesome the Catholic church was. On the one hand, when the book is specifically about a (very well-done, I might add!) reconstruction of a very particular area and a very particular time-frame, why spend too much time putting it in the greater context of "Well a lot of the Catholic hierarchy were absolute dicks, in fact"? On the other hand, the author does, in fact, at one point kind-of-not-that-subtly write a defense of the Pope's behaviour during the time and the failure to speak out against the Nazis or excommunicate Hitler. (I had the same reaction to one aspect of her other book I have read, "The Sparrow". A Jesuit priest is raped by aliens, and every single Catholic priest is confused and has no idea what happened? There is a reason I did not put the previous sentence in spoiler tags, and that is that it is abundantly obvious that this is the case from the very beginning of the book. But Catholic priests can't take a hint and follow the clues. Catholic priests. And then they're shocked and appalled to hear of it. Well, forgive me if I don't quite care about their reaction. They shouldn't be reacting like these sorts of events are a fucking new thing.)

Anyway. Asides from quibbles I have with the book, and I have a few, it was well-written and just as depressing as you'd expect it to be. The characters were real, even if you had issues with them, and their deaths or bereavments or fears were all very effecting.

- "Through a Glass, Darkly"

Another bitching mini-review, because ugh. I read "Sophie's World" about ten years ago and was blown away, as were, I think, thousands of children who read it. It was an introduction to philosophy in general, and unless my brain is very much skewing my perception on this, I do think it was a well-done introduction. So years later, I read "The Orange Girl", and was... underwhelmed, to say the least. "Through a Glass, Darkly" is, I think, the final nail in the coffin as far as me and Jostein Gaarder go. Awkward half-aphorisms spoken by a weird person do not make them wise, and shoving lots of them together in sequence does not make a heart-breaking story. I wouldn't have found the book so tedious if it didn't seem so obvious what was meant to be invoked - I think this was written thinking of all the acclaims that would follow, and declarations of sageness. And it really is just kind of annoying, in light of that.

- "Iron Council"

I spoke about here :)

- "Tea"

I also spoke about here

- "Flora Segunda"

I absolutely loved this, up until the last 80 or so pages. Wonderful, and then, disappointing. Still wonderful overall, but that makes the little :( that much more :(, you know?

- "Deaf Sentence"

This book was fantastic at changing from what you thought it was, and doing it smoothly. Very funny, interesting and humane. At first you think it's about "deaf", so it's notable that the book is from the perspective of a recently-deaf men (not that there shouldn't be stories about people who become deaf, just, there don't seem to be many from people who have pretty much always been that way), but obviously it's not just that. I quite enjoyed it. Very satisfying.

- "Why People Believe Weird Things"

To be honest, I don't think this book even lived up to its title. "Vague writings on weird things people believe", or "Why these people are wrong" was the more common theme. There's some interesting stuff in there, but very little is on any sort of social theory of how these ideas catch on. It talks about witchcraft, which is interesting, and this is actually one part of the book where a discussion of how such ideas catch on is actually entered into. It also touches on the idea of a convergence of evidence building up to the scientific position and the onus of proof that follows from this. But to be honest, it really only seems to touch on interesting pieces of information before focusing for far too long on one particular 'weird belief'. Three are three chapters set up entirely to debunk - is this really what the book is for? The long focuses on things that should only really be side-notes makes the book pretty lopsided in its structure. I found most of its value in the references and footnotes.

- "Flim-Flam!"

This is about similar themes to the book above, except with a focus on 'paranormal' things (think psychic alien unicorn crystals), and no particular claim to being able to explain why such ideas are (becoming) so popular. We all know James Randi is a magician who does debunking, and I think that's kind of all you need to know, actually. This is a book about interesting topics, that is written so well that you find it more interesting. It goes along at a very nice pace, makes its focus obvious and is at times a little bitchy. Nothing profound, but well-written and enjoyable.

Some interesting facts and illustrations:
from page 57,

...if the unlikely and long-sought event that the sun, moon, and all the planets lined up in a straight line to combine their gravitational pull, the effect on the human body would be nullified if the person merely sat down from a standing position! Lowering the body a distance of twenty-five inches would bring it closer to the gravitational center of the earth and neutralize all effects of the other heavenly bodies that we are told have such influence!

concerning 'psychic surgery' (p 180),

[Dr. P. J. Lincoln, a specialist in forensic medicine] found that the blood sample [taken from the surgery] was from a cow, and that the "tumor" was a piece of chicken intestine. But, incredibly, the spiritualists have a rationalization for all this, claiming that hte miracle has now been proved all the greater! Supernatural forces, they tell us, have converted the deadly tumors into innocuous substances that cannot infect human beings.

how to tame your dragon and amazing experiences with bits of plastic

2010-11-07T02:12:00.001+10:00

I have some friends and family members who participate in a mass game that plays out over a large field. The game involves recommending a book, band, movie, author, video game or television programme, and then spending months or even years reminding your intended target that what you recommend is singularly awesome, or particularly suited to their tastes, or simply badgering them to check it out.

There are occasional wins, as my brother recently let me know he finally watched "How to Train Your Dragon". Amusingly, he also informed me that he was watching it with preconcieved notions, as he explained, "You told me it had good representation of disability, and the dragon has a round, friendly face, and... well, I just assumed..." (How to Train Your Dragon is not, in fact, a movie about a dragon with an intellectual disability.)

In related news, I've worn up-to-the-minute contact lenses and oh, I've seen the light. If my current impairment could not be corrected, I'd be about legally blind. But the amazing thing is, it can be corrected, and well, basically, I'm just nerding out because I haven't actually had 100% vision correction for a while. Did you know there are details on the horizon? Did you know trees that are further than four metres away from your eyeballs still actually have individual leaves? A real shocker, I know. And you know how they recommend looking into the distance, in natural light, at intervals of about two hours when you are studying at a computer? Turns out when you do this wearing contacts, you can actually see things, rendering the action AWESOME. I like seeing things. I very much hope I'll be able to continue doing so, and it seems likely, too. Hooray.

Finally: AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE HAS JUST OCCURRED. HOW SHOCKING. Details absolutely unnecessary, I just feel the need to "inform someone".

"Iron Council" by China Miéville and also "Tea" by Stacey D'Erasmo

2010-10-05T19:32:00.000+10:00

I just went through to make entries that concern book review...lets a little bit clearer in their titles, so it seems it's time for more tiny instant reviews and thus, kerblam!:

"Iron Council" - All I can say is that online, it seems there are a lot of people who weren't as impressed by this one, and I'm one of them. This was just not as interesting to me. There are a couple of appealing things across all three, and then some that only are in "Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar", so I'm not saying this book is especially bad or anything, just kind of lacking in comparison. Some elements - both theme and plot-wise - are shared with "The Scar", but somehow it doesn't seem as satisfying. China Miéville's apparently planning on writing a fourth, though - yay!

"Tea" - evocative and satisfying. That does not at all give an impression of the book that is accurate, it just describes my reading of it. Even when it's boring it's addicting. Based on the writing in this, I'd like to read more of this author.

2010-10-05T16:19:00.002+10:00

There's a corner in my hometown I often walk round, or past. I pass it in a bus or turn in a car on its sliproad. I've never eaten at or stopped at the stripmall there, and whenever I pass I feel that it should mean something. I can't remember one conversation that was ever going on with others when we walked passed it, even though there surely must have been many. It's like a mysery corner! I don't know why I can't remember anything surrounding it.

"The Unconsoled" by Kazuo Ishiguro

2010-09-27T12:53:00.001+10:00

This book made me profoundly uncomfortable.

I keep lists of books that I'd like to read. Sometimes, when I pick a title off the list and read that book, I don't remember putting the name on the list, or why I did it. Some are books by authors I like, that I know I'll be able to find at a library. Some are books I've been told I must read. Some are books that I became interested in when someone described an interested idea they explored. Sometimes, also, I will read requests people make, like "I would like to read books about first contact with aliens that explore romantic relationships and botany" (...I don't know). I think it's possible "The Algebraist" came from a list of sci-fi books that explore ideas of gender - though it isn't the focus of the book, a type of gas-planet aliens change sex to female only to endure the number of pregnancies required by social decency - but I really don't know.

When I started to read "The Unconsoled", I couldn't quite remember details about the plot I might already know. I knew that I liked other books I'd read by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I seemed to remember something about the protagonist having memory loss. I think the fact that I couldn't even remember this clearly is quite fitting for the book. I spoke to my brother about it, and one day he asked me whether I'd yet figured out what the book was about. "I'm halfway through, and I think the main character has a personality disorder," I said.

Basically what I'm saying here is that what the book is about is not its point. All the same, I'll fill you in on what I got from it:

It's about every stupid mistake you obsess over, every pathetic triviality that takes precedence over real human connection, and even time you prioritise some ludicrous, spontaneous, arbitrary rule over it.

It's also about other things, I guess - the way people get in the way of your dreams is maybe one thing that happens, but I don't feel that half as much as the above, so I didn't notice it so much.

I found myself having to force myself to float along with the focus of the story. That means compartmentalising and placing some important event or discussion to the side, while following a dead-end thirty pages long. (You hope that important thing will come back, but who knows!) And this links back into the stupid things people do and the stupid way they prioritise, because the pianist is constantly wandering from what the reader knows to be very important, but that he dismisses. In fact, he does not even dismiss it, because that implies a moment's analysis, and Ryder doesn't even do that - even that much is not necessary to him. Maybe this is more bothering to me because I like to keep track of little threads. But it is certainly at least a little bit uncomfortable for any reader.

That, and you're constantly dismissing very basic preconceptions, like "Ryder has gone to pick up a banana, so he will pick up a banana", or "It is midnight, so not much will happen now", or "They are travelling a long distance, so it will take a while", or, very early on, for an actual example from the book, "They are trying to find her apartment, so the fact that it has taken hours and hours is going to have consequences for her emotional state."

This is part of what I mean when I say that "what the book is about" is not that important - the actual events in the book do not seem to flow from one another as you would expect, so it really is simply experiencing whatever feelings are coming, that becomes important. For me, the disconnect in the book is like the dreams you have when you're drug-addled, or the rush when you wake from fainting.

Of course, my discomfort might also come from my somewhat nervous personality, because the plot of the book, itself, covers three days in which Ryder is supposed to be preparing for a large concert, but instead is constantly sidetracked (again, sidetracked in the sort of way you might be when desperately ill and about to faint). Why isn't he nervous? Why isn't he panicking? The concert is about to start and he does not know where it is!

This is an intense book, and it's pretty amazing for that. It's not about heavy things, it's just written so cleverly that you have to be sucked in, and consciously push yourself in. If it makes you uncomfortable, it's doing its job perfectly.

Being special and clever

2010-09-25T15:10:00.000+10:00

I have explained to my brother how I am not a real adult, because I don't do X, Y, and Z. I am basically pretty often worried that someone is going to realise I am not a real adult, when they catch me out not knowing something that even stupid people manage to do, but not me, because I'm not a real adult.

It occurred to me last night that a lot of confident people are actually confident inside, and it's not just a show they put on. It honestly hadn't occurred to me that there are people in the world who do not have crippling social anxiety, who do not feel a profound sense of worthlessness on a pretty frequent basis.

So basically there are periods of my life that go like this - I fuck up. And the reason I fucked up is because I'm essentially worthless. I feel guilty about this. I remind myself that objectively, I'm actually not worthless, and that I'm just fallible like everyone else, and that it's not productive to be beating myself up so maybe I should just try to love myself and deal with shit.

Then! I remember that in fact, I AM more fundamentally flawed than everyone else, I AM squandering my life, I AM deeply lacking some quality that human beings should have. Because, see, I'm SPECIAL. Unlike all the other people who feel worthless sometimes, I am special, because I actually AM worthless!

And yes, my brain tells me, you do feel that way, but has it occurred to you that other people feel that second level of worthlessness too? Well, of course, but I'm SPECIAL, and I ACTUALLY AM!

It is pretty amazing being this special, I can't begin to tell you.

Anyway, there are lots of things that trigger these awesome feelings, only some of them contingent in my general mood at the time.

For instance, signing things when I am already feeling pretty low, can either make me anxious and jumpy, or drive me almost to tears. I am not an adult. I cannot sign things. What if I fuck it up? Oh god I don't think I did that right, and now I'm going to be convicted of I DON'T EVEN KNOW, some adult crime that has to do with forms and identity cards and shit, because I didn't sign it right. PUTTING MY SIGNATURE ON A PIECE OF PAPER CAN DRIVE ME TO TEARS. YES.

It occurred to me that my life is pretty stagnant, when you look at it from a year-to-year basis. When you frame it like that. Actually I am doing things and achieving things and enjoying myself in various ways, just not as well as I'd like to. Because I'm a perfectionist. The thing is, when I was a perfectionist when I was ten, this led to extreme amounts of anxiety re: my school performance, but I was actually smart and good at things and got top grades. One of the big THINGS I had to deal with with COMING OF AGE was that, from when I was about fourteen, I just... wasn't smart anymore. I'm not that smart. I'm not that special. And when BEING SMART is your THING when you're ten, and all of a sudden you realise you're just... not... well, that is hurtful and confusing.

Anyway. I'm still a perfectionist, but with like, constant failing, and feeling like I'm being really presumptuous to have that personality trait (... as if I picked it out? WHAT?!) because obviously only smart people who actually do well should be allowed to be all picky about what's good enough in their personal performance. Yeah, I don't know either, okay?

Short version: I feel bad sometimes, and am unable to put it in perspective subjectively. Sometimes I tell myself that this is really because objectively, I actually AM all the things that everyone else only THINKS they are. It's pretty stupid.

And that is my stupid brain.

2010-08-25T16:39:00.002+10:00

"We have to remember he's in heaven now - he's with all his brothers and sisters, and he's happy," my grandmother told me tearfully. I smiled and nodded and pretended to agree. It's something I do a lot with her, anyway.

One of the best people in my life has died. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to record this, but I do, a bit, for various reasons, so I'll say this much.

I feel overwhelming gratitude that I have to qualify my explanation with "one of the best people". (I feel grateful that when I uncharitably wondered if maybe the worst person in my life might follow, I only had one "worst person".*) I feel grateful that he was such a part of my life that this is so devastating. I feel grateful that I'm in such a position that I can feel so torn apart by this. I feel grateful that I have people left who fall into the "best people" category, to support me in the ways they know.

We were discussing plans last week and my sister broke down - explained that she had been about to say "We need to go someplace quieter." (He was deaf.) "It's good that he was such a part of our lives that it was natural to immediately think that. It's good that we're so upset," she said. (Well, words to that effect. She's more succinct than me.)

I muttered from behind the fridge door a few hours later, "I've kept including him in my planning headcounts and wondering why people weren't going to go see him when they saw our grandmother." Muttering things from behind doors is something I'm very good at. I'm not sure I've really had a proper cry yet.

My grandmother felt freed by his death to discuss a certain forbidden family topic (... wow. We actually have a few.) She spoke about my great-aunt, the horror of the event, and then started to describe (for the first time) the body. My mother and I interrupted at the same time and pointedly redirected her, for the sake of my father and one of my brothers - both of whom do.not.cope. with things like that. I suppose we can chalk that up to some people being good at covering the interests of others, when they need it at such a time, and some people being very bad at noticing these needs and blurting out kind of out of character things.

Turns out grieving while at university and away from family makes you depressed and useless. Who knew, right? I went through a patch where I decided I wasn't going to indulge in negative self talk when I functioned poorly - just focus on getting through that period. Of course, it hasn't lasted too well. Today, I decided to do one productive thing, went and did it, felt slightly useless while doing and so walked away choking back tears and nearly breaking my umbrella with the grip I had it in. Because I felt underconfident. I still did the productive thing fine.

And now I still feel pretty crappy, but I guess I've got a little bit down and recorded.

* Stupid idea, anyway, really. I certainly don't believe in a universal balance like this.

Yet another link dump

2010-08-10T22:50:00.000+10:00

In other news, link dump:

1. Woodwork is one of those things I've never tried*, and probably never will, yet still harbor secret desires to learn: Plan: Kids' Elementary Table @ Knock-Off Wood

2. Australia's carbon pollution reduction scheme, in effect, can mean that for every Australian individual who manages to reduce their polluting behaviours, a corporation is given free-reign to pollute that little bit extra. Yeahhhhhh, we're pretty good at being gutless and giving people with lots of money whatever they want, when it comes to the environment.
I've always been annoyed by the plastic bags thing. Not that I've investigated it too much, but I've heard that a lot of the bags take a lot longer to biodegrade than a plain plastic bag, plus it's NOT bad for the environment if you're reusing them several times, or as, say, bin-liners. And there are people who think that using plastic bags is enough to do their bit (...right?) And the huge companies that now will not give out plastic bags in their stores, at all, still send out stupid amounts of paper catalogue advertising, and do not do things like re-use the packaging their stock came in, for people to use in place of those bags. They are, of course, willing the profit from you having to pay for a bag, but they'll still use fucktons of electricity and waste shit everywhere.
I was thinking about this recently - how SOME acts have become cool, but not any that seem to be actually challenge the status quo. Even if the plastic bags thing didn't come about through some environmentalists saying 'we'll take what we can get' and pushing for that, and instead, say, all these businesses realised how cool environmentalism has become and decided to cash in on it (like the GST on pads and tampons, I didn't fucking see them jumping on the problem when it started but when people seemed to start noticing). Well, it had to be cool because there was a push for it, right? How disappointing that it's come to something so lacklustre.
(Related: a friend telling me she cried over the pictures of the oil-spill birds. While we were in her car... like, do people think they do offshore drilling for shits and giggles?)
ANYWAY, the link: Forget Shorter Showers

3. This has been sitting in my head since the first time I read it, and it's something I think a lot of people, if not most, really should read: Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

4. Another good'un: Mocking Muhammad: a shallow Enlightenment

5. Everyone needs to read this too: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning. I had no idea. No idea.

*Man, there's another draft post hanging around

Updatey

2010-08-04T08:58:00.000+10:00

Blogging isn't a thing that's going on recently. I've still got about ten backlogged posts I feel I need to write (first and foremost, 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro - because holy fuck, man). At the moment, most of Australia is just starting back at uni. I've been very busy (oh yeah) and some of this busy-ness (as distinct from business) centres around actually being productive (hell to the y-e-s!). This is a good thing. This semester is going to be really hard. I've already got a fair view of how little I'm actually going to understand as time goes on. At least I will only have the struggle of staying on top of things and not the struggle of sorting out what that means - I went through the 'Oh, I'm actually not very smart!' struggle when I was fifteen, so we're okay.

In other news, following the fact that I sometimes take others' opinions on too readily... I did it some more!

Without getting into the sort of details I don't get into here :) we ended up watching a lot of the same show, with someone who became weary of it pretty quickly. When it came time to choose something to watch, they announced "I don't mind, anything at all, except THAT". After this person had left, somehow a remainder of that stayed with me, so when it came time to maybe watch a little telly again, my brain told me not to suggest it, because it was somehow bad. Even though it was something everyone there wouldn't have minded, my brain had taken that on not in relation to this person being present.

2010-07-14T23:01:00.001+10:00

(I've actually got a few book titles kept on reserve to write up little reviews. Just haven't got around to it, obviously. This is partly because -- I haven't got around to it -- and partly because one of the unfortunate things about books that make an impression is that you might foist them onto unsuspecting friends and relatives, and then not be able to check that one detail before you tell the whole world all about your thoughts. [And by the whole world I mean not.])

"Denying AIDS", Seth Kalichman

2010-07-14T22:59:00.000+10:00

I wanted to have a little post when I finished "Denying AIDS", but really, this is what I want to say:

Read it.

Although the book isn't out to debunk the arguments of denialism - its purpose is to describe denialism itself - it does get into a little bit of science and basic rational thinking, and at every turn it is astounding how stupid this stuff is.

You see, AIDS is caused by the toxic nature of HIV medications, and is not a result of the development of HIV -- despite the huge number of patients who present with already-developed AIDS, get tested for HIV and get a positive result, and because this status was hitherto unknown, only use HIV medication from that point.
The prevalance of HIV+ status in military recruits vs. the prevalance of AIDS in the entire U.S. population later on shows that HIV doesn't cause AIDS - it's not like you could follow HIV+ individuals longitudinally to see if AIDS shows up, or hell, generalise from a sample group that isn't the least likely to contain HIV+ people at all.
Growing populations in southern African countries prove that AIDS isn't killing them all off - never mind looking at actual, you know, AIDS death statistics in the countries, rather than just looking at the fact that there are enough births to outrun the deaths.
HIV can't be isolated, and that proves that it doesn't exist - never mind the fact that viruses can't be isolated, that's almost part of their fucking definition.

Actually, one of the most intellectually irritating aspects of the whole thing is the lack of follow-through:
1. Here is a possible reason these HIV+ areas might be experiencing lots of AIDS deaths (NB: Anything other than AIDS)
2. Insist the reason is true
3. ???
Kalichman explains one particular example:
Henry Bauer needs a reason for African-Americans testing positive to HIV at higher numbers than white and light-skinned Hispanic Americans. So:

He actually claims that people with dark-skin have immune systems that fundamentally differ from light-skinned people and these differences explain why dark skinned people are more likely to test HIV positive... In his own words Bauer states:
Humans evolved in Africa with dark skin for the optimum degree of sunshine-filtering. As humans migrated out of Africa into northern and temperate regions, more of the incident sunshine was needed in order to manufacture sufficient vitamin D, and so skin tones became lighter. As well as much sunshine, tropical regions also harbor a great variety of bacterial, microbial, parasitic, and viral diseases. It would therefore be curious if humans, evolving in Africa, had not acquired strong immune responses against a wide range of those challenges to health. As humans migrated to other, non-tropical parts of the world where challenges to the immune system were less frequent, it seems reasonable that the responses generated by the immune system might have become somewhat weakened.*
Needless to say, Bauer does not offer any evidence for genetic racial differences in immune system function that could lead to a false positive HIV test.

(emphasis own)

These are just a few things I found specifically interesting. If anyone's interested in the topic in general, I'd recommend AIDSTruth.org.
The denialism movement itself (more than the arguments put forward) - Seth Kalichman's blog, an extension of the book (but more than that), at Denying AIDS and other oddities.
Some HIV/AIDS denialists who died of easily-preventable AIDS complications (which are very obvious symptomatic AIDS-related complications) are listed at What's the Harm?'s HIV/AIDS denialism page, here: What's the harm in HIV/AIDS denial?

* Kalichman's notes direct me to Bauer's HIV (and not AIDS) website - the specific quote is from the third abstract posted here ("III. Why does HIV discrimate by race?").

2010-07-13T01:41:00.000+10:00

A productive day, and even acknowledgment of it. I'm up too late, but I'm about to go to bed after a little while of just basking in how safe I am.

Another movies post

2010-07-12T13:24:00.000+10:00

Because I've been talking a little bit about movies lately, I thought I'd type up two little rants that people around me have heard a few times:

1. Kids in scary movies

You know the cliché already - the kid in the scary movie is pushed into various perilous situations. It's meant to scare the crap out of you ("Oh my goooooooooosh will the zombie eat him?") except it shouldn't, you silly, because the kids always live.

This makes me kind of cranky. I think it's cheap. It's like the film producers are saying, "Anyone with half a brain will know that nothing's going to happen, but we're still banking on them thinking something's going to happen".

Obviously it's not always so annoying, for two reasons:

1- the horror/suspense is not purely about "will s/he live or die?", so it's not a foregone conclusion, so there's still the possibility of some other shock ("when will the zombie jump out? oh no!")

2- there are a lot of rules and norms of timing and the like, and movies can still be satisfying, funny or scary when they follow these exactly. You know the kid won't die - you also know the main character won't die until at least the last third (if at all), but that doesn't mean you sit fuming through an opening scene with a vampire chasing after only the main character.

When it's played out as purely "scary scary will the child live oh no!", that's annoying, though. I always feel like a bad person explaining this to people, though, because when I say "Well, Jaws had the balls to kill the kid!", as though the kid dying was a good thing (like, morally, as opposed to plot-wise), I find it difficult to explain myself.

2. Characters with amazing foresight

This is the reason I got cranky at the trailer to "Mona Lisa Smile" and didn't bother watching the day it rained so hard we all had to sit in the library and watch a movie at school. (It was a library. I picked a book off the shelves.) It's used all the damn time, to differing strengths. An obvious example is "Titanic", where Jack believes in female emancipation etc etc, and even kind of expresses his belief in a modern way.

This annoys me for two main reasons:

1. It's lazy writing. Your character magically having a modern-day appreciation of racism... and how the particular flavour of contemporary racism is bad, but btw the character doesn't have anything more radical or far-reaching than a specifically 2000s understanding of race issues and how to fix them, means the audience instantly likes your character and your character is instantly a good person, because they happen to have modern-day beliefs.
In addition to that, the fact that the character has this perk often means the rest of their character is underdeveloped, because it doesn't need to be developed - they're already awesome.
You know what's challenging? Having a horribly sexist (historically realistic) person - one who is even central to some issue, and works against it - and still having them be a loving person or an interesting character. Writing some racist person as being very loving and loyal is not saying that somehow, the racism is okay now, or the person shouldn't be held accountable and called on their stuff. People do not have only one attribute - good, or bad. Acknowledging this and writing an interesting character is totes groovy. Ignoring it, and just magically getting rid of all the bad things because you want them to be really awesome -- in complete ignorance of their surroundings and the fact that really lovely people were racist in an 1800s way in the 1800s, just as really lovely people make mistakes, really lovely people are just as likely (ie very likely) to abuse prisoners in the Stanford experiment as the actual lovely people who were there -- is lazy.
I'm not saying there weren't people who tried their best to fight against Xism way back when -- just that most didn't, to any degree that would be appreciable in a movie that is not a two-hour character study. And then there were people who fought against it in ways you could see, but even then they didn't do it the way we think today, because they didn't grow up today. They might see X group being treated badly and say, "They shouldn't be treated badly", but still act very paternalistically to the group.
But what you’ll have are characters who have some modern understanding of an issue – for no particular reason, mind – and that somehow makes them awesome. It’s annoying.
I’m also not saying that the fact that it was ‘back then’ excuses any particular behaviour or belief – I do think that it was wrong for a man to rape his wife in 1800, I believe it was wrong then and I judge it as wrong now. That kind of leads to annoyance 2:

2. It props up the audience’s ego.
This is another type of lazy writing, really. I mean, firstly it’s lazy writing because it makes everyone like the character; secondly, it’s lazy writing because it makes everyone like themselves, and that means they enjoy the movie better.
So you’re a modern-day person, right? And you believe X Y Z about race, or the gays? Well guess what! So does Old-Timey Jones, and he is a Good person for doing so, and so are you!
This totally ignores the fact that maybe Old-Timey Jones had to go through a lot more basic steps to get to that point that anyone in the audience did and that the fact that it’s really fucking easy to say “being mean to black people for being black, and calling them bad names – that is bad!” when that’s what you’ve been raised to think your entire living memory.
You shouldn’t be patting yourself on the back for person growth if you haven’t grown.

2010-07-11T22:53:00.001+10:00

One common theme found in anti-gay rhetoric is the dismissal of sexual orientation. This can be seen from Exodus’ statement that “the opposite of homosexuality is godliness” to the Family Values Coalition’s redefinition of sexual orientation to include all paraphilia to the obsessive use of “homosexual lifestyle” by virtually every anti-gay activist.

And the reason is clear. It is not overly difficult to condemn people for their lifestyle or even to justify executing them for their “behavior”, but few modern Americans are comfortable mistreating others based on an innate and immutable attribute.

...

Homophobes almost universally say, “I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your bedroom,” they just don’t want you to “shove it in their face.” And by that, they mean that they don’t want you to be a gay person. Because they don’t really truly care if you are engaging in homosexual acts, as long as you aren’t gay.

...

And behavior is not really Heck’s issue. He’s no more fond of the celibate single gay man that doesn’t sleep around outside a relationship than he is of the guy who is getting it on several times per day. In fact, he’d by far prefer a closeted shame-filled sexually active gay man sneaking off to the bathhouse than he would an out and proud celibate gay man.

The reasons behind the denial of sexual orientation, and why they are not working

general updatery boringness

2010-07-04T23:22:00.001+10:00

I’ve been doing lots of things and not doing those things online, so here is an entry/update/thing! I never really had a set theme or focus for this blog, or a purpose, even, so it’s always been this personal/impersonal mash of ‘here’s my life’, ‘here’s my problem’, ‘here’s a thought on some public issue’, with the only unifying feature to be found in their poor structure and editing.

(That’s maybe a little bit misleading, because ‘poor editing’ implies that some goes on, and for most of what goes here there is none, not some small amount of poor quality.)

But. I do keep it a little as a ‘day journal’, as the ladies would say – a moment for reflection and a record to look back on, if I’d like – and so:

I’ve finished another semester, with my usual exam period contrasting eating patterns from day to day, horror at self and dread. That’s over, I guess, so there’s that. I’m not pleased, but okay, I guess, with what I’ve been doing. I still have things I need to do in the next few weeks (god), but the semester was okay. I got some things done. I think I did all right. I kept doing volunteering and I think I treated people okay and I didn’t do as much language stuff as I wanted, no, and I didn’t go out and meet people, but that just means it wasn’t ‘great’ but was ‘okay’. And ‘okay’ (as is implied in the word!) is okay.

It’s cold. I’ve been busy with first, exams, and then some things at home, but I’ve managed to get a few little errands done up until this point, and now I think most of the things I need to do are also ‘errand’-ish. The more terrifying ones in there are the ones that have anything to do with evaluating my future (NO), but I’ll get it sorted and keep on truckin’, so that’s okay.

This very boring update has been brought to you by the letter ‘e’, and the fact that I had a moment after family dinner.

District 9 ("Even I Know Why This Shit Is Wrong")

2010-05-31T22:52:00.001+10:00

Finally watched "District 9" last night.

It had such awesome potential, and came through with it a bit, sure, but it was so overdone and obvious that I really only found the middle enjoyable to watch.

I kept waiting for the secondary character (Wikus kept referring to him as 'Christopher', I wasn’t watching closely enough to figure out where that came from – in my head he’s 'Dad Alien', and this is why all my stuffed animals had vastly original names when I was little) to show that he had some sort of flaw. Instead, for the entire film he was just this fantastic guy – dedicated dad, super-scientist, loves his friends… there was no moral ambiguity. The closest he came to making a mistake was when he didn’t happen to help the agenda of the main character (ie the audience’s camera lens), and even then, most people wouldn’t have to think for a second to find that even non-irritating, much less understandable. Maybe there’s a strength in that, maybe they were wanting to show us how lovely the 'Prawns' could be, but we pretty much knew that from the very start, so why on earth did it have to sacrifice one of the main character’s… well, character - to do so?

I said the middle part was really the only properly enjoyable part to me – the first part is overly explanatory, but in a way you can easily overlook because, you know, whatever, you do want to get the backstory. This is done in a slightly awkward pseudo-documentary way, to the point that up until about the thirty minute mark, I thought the entire movie was going to be a mockumentary. In the end it’s a film that constantly alludes to documentary footage and government reports, so it’s really just propping up the fourth wall slightly differently, and I don’t think it felt too awkward. One of the flaws of the exposition introduction, though, is that there’s nothing to distract you from the fact that every metaphor is paraphor.*
'Oh my gosh, the aliens live in a ghetto. Oh they are slums. Some of the aliens prostitute themselves. Wikus sees himself as being very nice to the aliens and tries to save them from the trigger-happy gung-ho private military men but still threatens and screams at them. The aliens’ children are forcibly aborted, and taken to Child Services'… we get it. I was waiting for some interesting take on xenophobia and really? None came. And that’s fine, I guess, for a movie where it is simply the background of some amazing story, but for at least the first third of this film, the xenophobia is not the theme but the entire story. They don’t do anything interesting with it, so you just see angry white dudes running around with guns yelling "Prawns! Fuck! Prawns! You are all dirty! I am raaaaaacist!"

And speaking of the trigger happy mean ol’ racists – oh, I don’t want to speak of them. I don’t think it contributes anything to a discussion of race to prop up some horrible bastard who just enjoys shoving and shooting the other folk (so the audience can feel awesome when he dies, but also very righteous), and then, opposite him, the alien who is simultaneously
- Awesome Daddy
- Super Genius
- Loyal to the Protagonist for really, no fucking reason (except that it makes the audience feel good, and hey, maybe if you had been a total shit to the other folk for a long time but then you were magnanimous enough to agree to help them if they helped you serve your own interests when you had no other choice … they would respond with absolutely loyalty and love for you, you wonderful person, you)

Once Wikus went to Dad Alien for help I kept waiting for the moment where we’d find out Dad Alien was just playing him to get his own stuff, and couldn’t keep his side of the deal to

» this is a spoilertag, click to open it «

. When that didn’t happen I waited for Dad Alien to do something with a priority higher than Wikus’ well-being in mind, but as it turns out, what the audience would like to happen seemed to align perfectly with Dad Alien’s (‘Christopher’, if you feel like it) own prerogative.
One scene where I have to give props to this movie, though:

» this is a spoilertag, click to open it «

But back to the point: the dichotomy of Meanie Poopie Racist who says Bad Words and Hates All the Different People (Koobus Venter), vs. Pure and Noble Minority Character Who Actually Has No Flaws, Basically (Christopher Johnson)… oh, God, could you not? The whole point of that thread seemed to be that if you spend even a second speaking to Minorities, you will find out that they are perfect, and you don’t even need to cross any barrier to communication, say, to find this out. The atrocious shit going on in this film wasn’t bad because it happened to such lovely people - it would still be atrocious shit if it happened to really fucking terrible people, or, say, people who aren’t that bad but you just don’t understand them and sometimes they’re really rude and why can’t they just be more quiet and stop being so weird, anyway?. Obviously that wasn’t the point of the film, and they were trying to bring up another point (that the different folk are sometimes just fantastic people), but the way they ignored one and focused on another meant that in a way, they did active damage to the idea of the former.

When every audience cheers unreservedly for the Aliens, they’re not being challenged. When it’s easy for anyone to empathise with the underdogs when the theme of the movie is race, no-one is being forced to evaluate their part in the system (where just maybe, they’re not the underdogs, or at least not 100%, and what does that mean, and what should they do about it?). When the character provided to embody the racist side does nothing other than running around yelling about how much he hates the other folk, the audience is not going to empathise with him in the slightest, and then, perhaps, go on to question why that is, and how that should not get in the way of a just evaluation of what’s actually going on systematically.

It might be a little misleading, though, to refer to this as a dichotomy, because it’s not just Alien Dad and Racist ARRRGH hanging around – there’s Wikus, obviously, and there’s also another community in the Alien slum - the Nigerian crime gang. Who are cannibals.
Um.
Now I’m not saying I have any deep understanding (or really, shallow at that – I have a few South African friends… and I’m probably a bit more exposed on television to South African culture than the average U.S.ian… that’s kind of it) of race issues in South Africa, but…
The Nigerian crime gang?
…Who are cannibals?

I won’t lie, I did not give the film the benefit of the doubt and wait to see if they would deal with this in a complex way. Surprisingly (huff huff), I was not wrong. You want Nigerian slum-lord cannibals in your movie? You can do that. Just… don’t do it really badly, yeah? Cannibalism exists. It’s also really fucking rare, to my understanding an anomaly, and thought to be much more common because people panic about it (and racist people go on about it. Seriously, google ‘witch africa cannibal’, tell me how many explicitly racist websites you find, okay? ...many of the others will be those Christians who actually believe in curses.) They grin and laugh and shoot their AK-47s and cackle while they’re sharpening fucking machetes to carve up the white guy strapped to a table. Mm-hmm.

And again, there is some interesting stuff behind this – how fucked up can a situation get when there is not an understanding of biology there? Witchcraft, the associated witch hunts, AIDS denialism and remedies both indirectly harmful (South African Minister of Health Dr 'Manto' Tshabalala-Msiman advocated eating garlic and beetroot as a way to prevent progression from HIV to AIDS. Eating beetroot isn't directly harmful, but doing so instead of antiretrovirals sure is**) and harmful (we all know about the babies and the albinos) come out of this. They're interrelated. That would be interesting to explore. The closest this film seems to get to it, is that when news reports come out about Wikus’ situation, the public are told that he is “highly contagious” “after prolonged sexual activity with aliens in District 9”. Hmm. What other very relevant sexually-transmitted disease causes panic in Africa? But let’s give the movie credit – at least they don’t draw the comparison any closer (beyond one scene where one of the Nigerian gang members tells Wikus he’s “one brave white man, eh?” and asks “were you wearing a condom?”)

And I’m making it sound like I hated the movie, and I didn’t. I was just snarking along fairly consistently throughout.

One final irritation from the last third:
THERE ARE NO OTHER ALIEN CHARACTERS! Again, this is quite easily a way to go with a film like this, but you end up with Dad Alien being a genius and having fucktonnes of technology – do the others? Is he smarter than them? that much smarter than them? Why is he the only one who understands the legality of the eviction notices? Hell, after decades, why is he the only one who can read English? Movies aren’t meant to answer every question they raise but I think this one was a pretty huge oversight! The last third of the film is a giant action sequence in the slum of District 9, and until the very end no other aliens appear. In the whole sequence. Where are they? How do they feel about all of this? I mean, sure, they’re staying out of the action like any civilian with survival instinct, but to me it just seems like this scene is another example of a trend that goes on the whole movie – they’re not really considered as individuals.

These are all my quibbles, though. The film was, yes, emotional, yes, interesting, and yes, in the case of Wikus, at least, gave us an interesting character. I liked that while the aliens were still bipedal and very hominid in their framework, they were at least not “rubber-forehead” aliens. I do wish that this non-hominid approach had been carried through in their personalities, beyond the surface treatment "What for an alien might be seen as something recreational - setting fire to a truck, derailing a train - is for us obviously an extremely destructive act" statements in the introduction, and Wikus’ "The Prawn doesn’t really understand the concept of ownership of property. So, we have to come there and say 'Listen, this is our land. Please will you go?'".

So yeah - entertaining enough, really, but there's a lot that annoyed me there.

* 'Meta' means 'change in form, abstraction', 'para' just means 'beside, resembling'. If your ever-so-clever allegory gets too stupid, I'm going to call it a paraphor.
** She served in this particular position 1999-2008, the president at the time was Thabo Mbeki, whose approach to HIV/AIDS was more fucked-up than just appointing her in the first place. I learned about Tshabalala-Msimang from Denying AIDS and other oddities. It's on my blogroll and maybe it should be on yours too - the blog has good articles mentioning good papers and, in the sidebar, some other good links, making it overall a great all-in-one resource when you're working at any level under publishing your own, indepth medical journal.

2010-05-31T19:56:00.001+10:00

I’ve been thinking about exclusionary communities and what sorts of ‘safe spaces’ are good. Part of being in the city is seeing how much funding will go towards geographically central things. The amount of resources pumped into, let’s give a concrete example, gay kids’ stuff, is astonishing – particularly as they don’t need it.

I suppose this all ties into representation, and where do you draw the line between positive self-expression and being proud and fierce, vs. just yelling about your arrested development. Concrete example of that: I definitely feel better, personally, seeing more representation in popular culture, stories, or even without stories that centre around a queer person or have someone on the periphery – even occasional acknowledgment that not everyone becomes romantically involved… becomes romantically involved with one person… becomes romantically involved with one person of the opposite sex… oh by the way they are both discretely one gender, and the right one for their sex… and oh, yeah, they also both have one sex!
That, vs. someone who has so much pain (for whatever reason) about their sexuality that they’re that guy – you know the one – the obnoxious one who yells “I’m gay” at any possible opportunity, who fits every stereotype not because it gives him a sense of long-sought-after belonging but because he’s gay, everyone! and unlike most who have that as a stage and move on… he’s still there at 50.*

When I say they don’t need it, I’m talking about programs, groups and what that are already well-known, well-resourced, well-staffed, set up not for gay country kids in fear of their lives, not for what the city might consider ‘normal queer folk’ – the ones who live their lives pretty much the way you’re meant to, but they might be a bloke who wears pink and likes blokes, say, and obviously because, as much as we would like to believe that hardship is just this one thing, not as wide as an ocean and omni-penetrative (like racism is just when someone uses one of those bad words and they hate alllllll the not-white people and they are always like, “Oh, I hate them!”, handily pointing themselves out to GOOD white people like US who will say “OH NO YOU ARE BAD AND NAUGHTY” and thus the day is saved [by the average subset of whites])… well, as much as we would like to believe that… life isn’t just hard for the country kids, so obviously there needs to be a discussion there as well.

And I guess that’s what I’m trying to get at, because first of all: it seems like these days, there is a huge lack of awareness of those country kids. Because that shit still goes on, it still exists. There are actually still people using the bad words and hating all the not-white people and there are some people on the sidelines going “what in the ever-living hell, are you serious?” and some people just tirelessly plugging on because they don’t have the privilege of being SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, and a few others just slowly dying in the corner because they can’t be fucked anymore, they’re just giving up. And in the city? People have no idea.

AND THEN.
On top of that!
It’s not the city folk with the problems and the, yes, absolutely average-white-folk-middle-class slanted ideas and discussions and agendas – because they exist! They absolutely exist! I, the queer (sort-of)-country person will gladly raise my hand and place myself firmly in that category!
They exist, but for a lot of the city programs they are not the ones getting served, being involved.

There are these two groups – the gay country kids in fear of their lives, the ‘normal queer folk’. And some of the people I’ve been running across recently? They’re in this third category that I thought was largely made up, really.

Gay folk who hate straight folk. Who sneer at them. Who are openly rude to you if you don’t like X pop band of the culture, if you’ve made Y choice, if you don’t Z – not because part of their political identity says that these are good things, or because they think these are things that help other people’s welfare, just because… well, it’s a handy excuse to have your little elite, isn’t it?
And I’m expressing this terribly badly, because I hear these exact words from people who lost their shit over the fact that after
introducing someone to the home they live with their differently-sexed spouse under their shared surname and taking them into their cohabited kitchen and introducing them to the children they produced by fucking and sharing quiet comments, looks, and brief touches with their spouse throughout hours of conversation, that is to say, an intense level of non-sexual intimacy that is clear evidence of the years they have spent together…
that someone then mentioned their ex-girlfriend, oh no! And then AND THEN here’s the kicker! Didn’t even apologise for it! Those rude, straight-hating queers!
Or, ‘oh the gay people they all are rich oh how they sneer their little elite humph humph harumph’.
Or ‘well I’m a subset of the queer folk but I don’t like those, you know, those different ones the butch lesbians and the slutty bisexuals and the crossdressers oh no and why do you have to be so camp why won’t you shut up about the political concerns that don’t have to do specifically with me oh no you’re ruining eeeeeeeverything!’

But… we’re not talking about politically raging people, or some interesting discussion of totally unproductive oppression olympics or a cross-section of kyriarchy or… whatever. Just people… who happen to be there… and want to take an excuse to sneer at someone, so they do it from within this minority community. And does it ever piss me off that funding goes towards social days for this. Instead of some obvious thing like a fund for the prevention of youth suicide. Or something not obvious but that actually helps, by say, fostering discussion within a group of politically out-there folk who have discussions I only begin to understand, but there’s a discussion there for the betterment of our communities…

I’m rambling more than usual and starting to forget what I really wanted to say… yeahhhh.

* I mean, I think this needs to be clarified: if you know who you are, you’ve assimilated your identity as part of yourself of your life, and you still piss people off… well, maybe you need to think about why you piss people off and whether this is something you should re-evaluate, but that’s not the “arrested development” I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who act a certain way, tread so carefully and live their lives so shallowly because they have never come to grips with who they are, in that basic way that so many do before the age of 30.

a backlog

2010-05-19T22:10:00.003+10:00

1. In Russian, certain words inflect for gender regardless of tense - including in first person. This means that in certain cases in English where gender can be made ambiguous (in a way that is not very strange, or possibly implying an intersexed or 'neither' writer), Russian has to pick one. (This is a little like French in passé composé, I suppose, except wider.)

Anyway, we were going over this and I was thinking about the implications it would have for intersexed people and transexual people, and the lecturer said, "Which makes things a bit difficult for questions of gender dysphoria," or something. Glee to no end.
(He was saying it in a ... not crappy way.)

2. I was urged to take part in a large group photo with the suggestion, "Forty years from now, when you're here with your children, you're going to want to show them you were here." Holy assumptions, Batman! And to be clear, this was directed at a few hundred people. I mean, not that I don't come to expect stupid shit from people who have previously said... some stupid shit, but yeah.

3. I am a bad ally for disability rights...

...But I still sort of do okay. The stuff I see around me is sometimes so appalling that to just throw out my own ignorant, "(Well gee I don't know jack shit but) this is what I know of the situation, in fact", seems to be one of the only things in the discussion at that time that isn't... as terrible as the general level there?

Which is an appalling indictment on how things are (sometimes) around me, but there it is.

The voice in my head that says "shut up and listen, shut up and listen, SHUT UP AND LISTEN" is getting louder, which is... encouraging, I suppose? A recent internet drama I watched unfold was all about people not knowing when to shut up and listen; the only reason I wasn't making the exact same mistakes as everyone was that I didn't happen to be talking right then; and then when everyone started discussion why this was such a stupid drama - only then - did I realise that yeah, this is another of those times where you just have to shut up and listen.

(I don't, of course, feel that need to shut up when certain stupid things are said - and in these cases I'm always thinking "Seriously, guys?" which is stupid, given the stupid stuff I've said/done/thought in the past.)

4. Animal communication is characterised by linguists by its lack of internal structure - there isno morphological building to create sentences, for instance, or 'words' with multiple meanings. People respond: well, it still has meaning.

Yes, absolutely. The difference is that rat-tatta-tat-tat, to a bird communicating with other birds, is one word. Animals are incapable of combining words in the ways we know, whether in sentences ("I am going to the shops") or in new words to explain new ideas ("reconciliation"). There are very small examples, but not to the complexity found in human language - bee dances, for instance, have some combinatorial element, to my knowledge.

The distinction may be meaningless to some, of course. The way a cat holds its tail, the direction in which my head tilts while I say something, the expression on my mother's face while she listens to my story, are all a (very important!) part of communication, that is essentially unexamined under linguistics, because they're not LANGUAGE. To many, that level of distinction is unnecessary, so for their purposes, cricket chirping is language. I don't have any experience of people calling cricket chirping 'language' forcing this definition on linguistic anthropologists or foisting their views into the light, so unless my experiences differ from the norm, I don't think it's really all that necessary to enforce the definition in daily discussion. (Unless it's required to explain something.)

5. I would love a Mortal Engines spin-offy story about a bunch of moon colonists who cut off from the rest of the world before the Sixty Minute War!

Building up and falling down

2010-05-06T23:22:00.004+10:00

There’s this collage-style building that I think might be more common in Australia than many other places. What you do is, you take a building that needs to be larger to fit its desired purpose. You saw away a wall here on the side. You take another building, pick it up, and then stick it to the side of the first building. If there happen to be internal walls remaining that no longer serve any good purpose within the new building, no matter. If the ceilings don’t match up, no matter. If the floorboards need to be matched up, just tack ‘em together mate. S’all good! I feel absolutely no fear of being too generalising when I say that this is ‘traditional Australian philosophy’.

My high school started off as a very small school, and consisted of one building perhaps four times longer than it was wide (think your typical two-storey school building*), and a large lawn. And then more students came, and… well, Australian towns aren’t well known for their fantastic urban planning, so just extrapolate from that to our ‘traditional Australian philosophy’ of thinking ahead, yeah? Looking at the buildings now makes no sense in retrospect. At the time, things just got tacked on as needed (or perhaps a little bit later than needed) with (I imagine) very little thought to what might be needed five years on.

(This is an old photo of a U.S. school – “Crothersville School” in 1929 – but the architecture is somewhat similar to what my school started out as.)

Since then, there have been random extra tacked-on rooms built one-by-one; building more rooms on the upper level required a catwalk here and a mezannine-level walkway linking onto this bizarre and rather ineffective (both in terms of economy of space, and traffic flow) here…

In fact, due to the connections around here and yar, the first side of the school was actually only two buildings (but sharing a connected roof in the alleyway between them). Each of these buildings had sections where there was an upper level but an open walkway beneath, and in a manner common to Australian building, distinct sections where you could see there originally had been separate buildings.

On another block, on the other side of the road, the rest of the school was placed, because, as I say, it was built organically.

So there were roads in between sections of the school, buildings and houses and shops, and to get down to our oval, we wandered out of the school grounds, down the street, past a business and back onto school grounds.

Anyway.

On three separate occasions, I was so focused on talking that I walked directly into a street sign, hitting my head. Friends started calling it “doing an Annie” the second time. (Thanks guys.) Only a few of us got this honour over the years; the only other one I can remember is the act of laughing so hard, you fall over. (“Doing an E.”)

This is probably indicative of more than just some random fluke. Today, kids at the community centre were watching “Funniest Home Videos”-type clips on youtube.** I kept laughing and turning to another volunteer, saying, ‘I find the feeble ones most amusing because they remind me of me.’

Seeing any minor head injury just makes me suck my teeth (because of the associations between head injury, pain, and insecure altered consciousness I got from the fits I had as a kid? I don’t know, maybe I just hate head injuries), but seeing someone smack into a wall for no reason is just too obvious for me.

That is what I do! All the time! So yeah yeah me, three cheers for the paragon of composedness. I don’t know if this inability to walk in a straight line is some ‘traditional Australian philosophy’ coming through, but I feel it’s more likely unco genetics.

* I think in Australia school buildings have largely built up from whatever they used to be, but even the purpose-built ones usually aren’t too neat. Seeing a building as neat as this a few weeks ago:

prompted my sister to remark on how bizarre such a thing really is.
**Because, you know, I do tutoring and one of the most important subject I tutor in is “looking at shit on the internet”. Actually I lie, this is more independent study.

blah blah I'm not bogan enough

2010-05-06T21:10:00.000+10:00

Recently reading some of Henry Lawson's short stories. They're meant to embody the Australian spirit and larikinism of the bush (though they're darker than Banjo Paterson's stuff, they do still seem to idealise the bush and life a fair bit.)
... I just don't get them.

I've also read a few early Agatha Christie short stories, and again, I don't get them. They're not intriguing or entertaining to me at all. I suppose I should look to her later novellas for better work, but still.
It makes me feel culturally out-of-touch, when really, they're just a few extra tiny things that I don't quite get.

I also don't understand the "Australian spirit" of the bush tales, when I think I do actually understand Australian spirit. That's not to say that it's totally distinct from other cultures - it's more like, you get this certain mix of paint and say that's "Irish", and then there's a tiny bit more blue and a bit more sheen and now everyone who knows the "Australian paint" looks at it and says, "Ah, yes, Australian!" while those who are unfamiliar blink in dazed confusion and see nothing distinct.

stress and chores and communication

2010-05-05T23:53:00.002+10:00

My life has been a bit of a flurry the last few weeks, which is a bit disconcerting as I'm really not all that busy. I'm only trying to keep up with a basic university workload (admittedly, a bit heavier due to assessment items falling in bunches of hair-ripping terror), a tiny bit of a social life, occasional political stuff and the extra time it takes to keep in contact with a close-knit family when it takes at least three hours to go for a visit.

But! I've felt on top of it, wandering from task to task, which is - different, actually. It's not that I'm running about in that tightly-wound chaos that usually only happens in my head and my hands when I'm writing the second draft of an essay. I am still doing the stupid procrastination stuff I do, and spending a lot of time doing nothing (like John Lennon said of himself, I have the amazing ability to do nothing. My sister used to joke that the reason I took so long in the bathroom was because I had absence seizures... she's not too far from the truth.)
But I'm managing to wander in time to do things! Even stupid errand things and basic chores things, which seems silly, but, say, I got into a rut of a few months last year where I usually didn't have any clothes ironed, and didn't have time in the morning to do it, and then felt terrible wearing an unironed shirt even though it didn't actually need it - psychologically, there are some tasks I seem to just need.

While I was home last, my father took down two of our doors (that lead outside) and replaced the screening. This is fantastic; we have a regular visitation from various types of spiders after rain, and a pretty consistent amount of certain other spiders never mind what rain has been, but with holes in the side of the house - we've red-belly black snakes, common brown snakes, white-tail spiders and rats in our yard, and the holes in the screen were certainly large enough to let any of these in. Particularly as we often leave only the screen door shut and locked at night, having new mesh is reassuring.

Anyway. He did this after breakfast, and I went to the dishes, and did his as well because, y'know, snakes, and only after two days realised I was actually doing a fair bit of housework, and that I liked it. I'm not saying I'd be dying of joy if I suddenly had tonnes of housework and cleaning and tidying to do; definitely if it was a situation like taking care of kids, it would take a lot of time and then I'd be stressing about university work I suppose... but in the levels you get just taking care of one house, and yourself, and maybe some other people sometimes - that's good.

My grandmother also made fun of me while I was home because I have no direction; I was going to correct her but I'm so afraid of failure (and having to explain why I actually didn't do what she thought I was going to do) that I just kind of get annoyed.

I think my brother's often in the same boat as me with university. My terror of failure seems totally logical to me, and I feel like a failure a lot of the time - this cringeing horror, even when I'm on top of things. Having avoided actual levels of terror about any assessment this semester (I have not, for instance, cried silently in a ball on the floor yet - this is a common feature to my study style and I think I'm just going to accept it as a thing I have to do privately sometimes) does not mean I haven't felt gross and worried about things as they approach. I'm never honest about this with people, though. I might become more quiet as I worry about something, but I don't ask for help or reassurance, and I don't tell my parents, certainly, because... FAILURE.

(And oh God, side note, the astounding fittingness of this as a friend told me all the astounding things she couldn't talk to her parents about - this will be one of the many things in my life that are actually TOTALLY HUGE and yet never end up here, but yeah.)

BUT after saying all that, my brother told me the other day about a story, starting with "and you know that feeling where you sleep in and you wake up and even though you get things done you feel like the shittiest human being and the most worthless failure of a student and actually you woke up on a mattress caked with dirt?" which DUH of course I knew he probably felt that way, the same as me (he stresses like there's no tomorrow, which I can see easy enough with classes we don't share and more easily with a class that we do share) but it was SAID. Maybe one day I'll actually talk to someone when I get to that horrible worthless stage.

Bible time 4 - the apocalypse is SOON (and by soon, I mean "happened 2000 years ago")

2010-05-05T18:53:00.000+10:00

The apocalypse is predicted soon or within generation of writer (and some are OT too!)

Is 29:17-21 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest? In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down- those who with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

Ezek 12:21-28 The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: 'The days go by and every vision comes to nothing'? Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.' Say to them, 'The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. But I the LORD will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious house, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign LORD.' " The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, the house of Israel is saying, 'The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.' Therefore say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "

Zeph 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near— near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there.

3:8 "Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger."

Mt 16:28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

24:22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
if believe that end times started w Jesus then... yeah

24:34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Acts 2:14-21 Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in the loud voice began to speak to the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, listen to me and let me tell you what this means. These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only nine o'clock in the morning. Instead, this is what hte prophet Joel spoke about: 'This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams...

Cor 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

Heb 3:13 Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word "Today" in the scripture applies to us.

10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

10:36-38 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

1 Pet 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

2 Pet 3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

1 Jn 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

Rev 1:1 This book is the record of the events that Jesus Christ revealed. God gave him this revelation in order to show to his servants what must happen soon. Christ made these things known to his servant John by sending his angel to him...

1:3 Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey what is written in this book! For the time is near when all these things will happen.

2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

22:6-7 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

22:10 Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

22:12 Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Bible time 3 - the resurrection and ascension

2010-04-26T01:07:00.001+10:00

The order of these headings follows the order of Matthew and Mark - some tiny variations in that order have been noted - a few passages from Luke and John are not listed in order.

BETRAYAL

Matthew (26:15-16)
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Mark (14:10-11)
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Luke (22:1-6)
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

John (missing)

LAST SUPPER

Matthew (26:17-29)
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."
They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?"
Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Mark (14:12-25)
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."
The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me."
They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"
"It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

Luke (22:7-23)
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."
"Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there."
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

John (missing)

PETER WILL DENY

Matthew (26:30-35)
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.

Mark (14:26-31)
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."
But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same.

Luke (22:31-34)
(this one seems to happen after last supper but still there, rather than after last supper they go to mount of olives)
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

John (missing)

GETHSEMENE

Matthew (26:36-46)
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Mark (14:32-42)
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Luke (22:39-46)
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

John (18:1)
When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

ARREST

Matthew (26:47-56)
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him.
Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for."
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"
At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Mark (14:43-52)
Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
"Am I leading a rebellion," said Jesus, "that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled." Then everyone deserted him and fled.
A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Luke (22:47-53)
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."

John (18:2-11)
Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"
"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."
"I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)
Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

TRIAL

Matthew (26:57-68)
Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.
The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.
inally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' "
Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent.The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66What do you think?""He is worthy of death," they answered.
Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"

Mark (14:53-65)
They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.
The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' " Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"
They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.

Luke (22:63-71)
The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, "Prophesy! Who hit you?" And they said many other insulting things to him.
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. "If you are the Christ," they said, "tell us."
Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."
They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?"
He replied, "You are right in saying I am."
Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips."

John (18:19-24 - the order in John goes “arrest, betrayal, trial, betrayal, before death”, not “arrest, betrayal, trial, before death” )
Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said."
When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded.
"If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

PETER BETRAYS

Matthew (26:69-75)
Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said.
But he denied it before them all. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."
He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!"
After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!"
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Mark (14:66-72)
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him."You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
But he denied it. "I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.
When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."
He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."
Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.

Luke (22:54-62)
(this occurs directly after arrest - in the same area. before trial)
...Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."
But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them."
"Man, I am not!" Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."
Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

John (18:15-18, 18:25-27 - the denial happens simultaneously with the first trial bit, so they are interspersed.)
Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
"You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter.
He replied, "I am not."
It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.
…
As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?"He denied it, saying, "I am not."
One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

JUDAS' DEATH

Matthew (27:1-8)
Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood.""What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

Mark (missing)

Luke (missing)

John (missing)

Acts (1:18-18)
With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.

BEFORE EXECUTION

Matthew (27:11-26)
Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?""Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor."Barabbas," they answered.
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.They all answered, "Crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Mark (15:1-15)
Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
"Crucify him!" they shouted.
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Luke (23:1-25)
Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."
So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
But they insisted, "He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here."
On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him."
With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!" (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
For the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him."
But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

John (18:28-19:16)
Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover...
[LAST SUPPER PASSOVER MEAL OCCURRED LAST NIGHT ACCORDING TO MT MK]
... So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"
"If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."
Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"What is truth?" Pilate asked.
With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"
They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"
As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."
The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."
When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"
Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."
From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."
When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.
But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
"Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.
Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

DEATH

Matthew (27:27-56)
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

Mark (15:16-41)
The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"
In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

Luke (23:26-49)
As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then
" 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" ' For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
There was a written notice above him, which read:|sc THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

John (19:16-30)
... So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

BURIAL

Matthew (27:57-66)
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Mark (15:42-47)
It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Luke (23:50-56)
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

John (19:38-42)
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

RESURRECTION

Matthew (28)
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Mark (16)
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Luke (24)
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him. 17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morningbut didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

John (20-21)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."
Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"
This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Bible time 2 - Is God physical and can be seen? are Jesus and God separate?

2010-04-25T18:45:00.000+10:00

Seeing God

Gen 12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Ex 24:9-10 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.

33:7-23 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses and the Glory of the LORD
Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."
The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

1 Sam 4:2-7 Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."
So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
When the ark of the LORD's covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?"
When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before.

Ps 18:6-16 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.
The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

Is 6:5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Jer 23:23-24 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?
Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

Ezek 1:27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.

Mt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

6:17-18 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

23:21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.

6:45-46 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.

Acts 7:48-50 "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: " 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?'

1 Cor 3:16-17 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Heb 8:1-2 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

Jesus and God separate

Mk 10:18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone."

Jn 14:28 You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

17:6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

Heb 1:1-4 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

5:5-9 So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

1 Cor 3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

11:3-10 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

Bible time 1 - why we should do good things, "everyone has sinned & none are righteous", unexplained punishments, backsliding, and speaking in tongues

2010-04-23T01:36:00.001+10:00

Motivations to do good things

So obviously, so God won't smite yo ass, but also...

Ps 65:1-2 O God, it is right for us to praise you in Zion and keep our promises to you, because you answer prayers...

Is 37:35 "'I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honour and because of the promise I made to my servant David.'"
(God)

Mt 7:16-18 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

11:19 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, 'Look at this man! He is a glutton and a drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results.

Heb 6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

Incidents of people doing something that goes unjudged, uncondemned, un-commented-on, and possibly even praised... that, if they were punished, people would say "Ah, yes, that was wrong!" Random arbitrary stuff, and times when they seem to be doing something with extreme hubris or sinning, and yet... it's held up at virtuous by the Bible's standards
(... I couldn't find a short heading)

Gen 20 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."
Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' "
Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.

34:30-31 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."
But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"

Ex 4:24-26 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

Judges 14:1-4 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"
But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

1 Sam 14:24-46 Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, "Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, "Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man who eats food today!' That is why the men are faint."
Jonathan said, "My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?"
That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. Then someone said to Saul, "Look, the men are sinning against the LORD by eating meat that has blood in it."
"You have broken faith," he said. "Roll a large stone over here at once." 34 Then he said, "Go out among the men and tell them, 'Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the LORD by eating meat with blood still in it.' "
So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. Then Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first time he had done this.
Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive."
"Do whatever seems best to you," they replied.
But the priest said, "Let us inquire of God here."
So Saul asked God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?" But God did not answer him that day.
Saul therefore said, "Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today. As surely as the LORD who rescues Israel lives, even if it lies with my son Jonathan, he must die." But not one of the men said a word.
Saul then said to all the Israelites, "You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here."
"Do what seems best to you," the men replied.
Then Saul prayed to the LORD, the God of Israel, "Give me the right answer." And Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. Saul said, "Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son." And Jonathan was taken.
Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done."
So Jonathan told him, "I merely tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now must I die?"
Saul said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan."
But the men said to Saul, "Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God's help." So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.
Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land.

2 Kings 13:14-19 Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"
Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
"Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."

1 Chr 11:16-19 Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. "God forbid that I should do this!" he said. "Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?" Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

2 Chr 28:9-11 But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, "Because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sins against the LORD your God? Now listen to me! Send back your fellow countrymen you have taken as prisoners, for the LORD's fierce anger rests on you."

Job 3:1-3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He said: "May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, 'A boy is born!'"

16:7-8 You have worn me out, God; you have let my family be killed. You have seized me; you are my enemy. I am skin and bones, and people take that as proof of my guilt.

Ezek 4:14-15 Then I said, "Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth."
"Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."

Everyone has sinned; none are righteous

Gen 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

2 Sam 22:20-25 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.

Job 2:3 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."

Ps 15 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

119:1-4 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways.You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.

Prov 17:15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—the LORD detests them both.

Is 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

57:2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

Lam 4:13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.

Ezek 14:14 even if these three men—Noah, Danel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Mt 5:43-48 You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

19:21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Lk 1:6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.

Lk 19:8-9 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."

Jn 13:10 Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."

Rom 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one"

Gal 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!

3:10-11 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."

Phil 3:6 ...and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.

3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Titus 1:7-8 Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.

Rev 14:3-4 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

Backsliding

Jn 10:28-30 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

15:5-10 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

Tim 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Heb 6:6 6:6 And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.

10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

2 Pet 2:20-21 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Rev 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Speaking in Tongues

Mk 16:15-18 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Acts 2:7-13 In amazement and wonder they exclaimed, "These people who are talking like this are Galileans! How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our native languages? We are from Parthia, Media, and Elam; from Mesopotamia, Judea nad Cappadocia; from Pontus and Asia, from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene. Some of us are from Rome, both Jews and Gentiles converted to Judaism, and some of us are from Crete and Arabia - yet all of us hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things that God has done!" Amazed and confused, they kept asking each other, "What does this mean?" But others made fun of the believers, saying, "These people are drunk!"

8:15-17 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

10:45-48 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

11:15-17 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

1 Cor 14:2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.

14:13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.

14:21-25 In the Law it is written: "Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

14:34-35 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

BATS

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are awesome.
Just reminding anyone who may have forgotten.

BIBLE MASTER POST

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My first post about the matter has become a bit of a mutant with edits and updates and little additions, so I'm posting this as the "master post" to each separate entry.

I will add to it if I end up making posts of my apocrypha notes later.

For now:

After, gathered notes on:

how big the "world" of the Bible actually is
slavery
the place of women in society
people coming back to life
the nature/mercy/promises/punishments of God
the old Law

These are the apocrypha, etc:
Tobit
Judith
the last bit of Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (aka Ecclesiasticus)
Baruch
the last bit of Daniel (I need to find a link to this somewhere)
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
3 Maccabees (still need to find an online copy of this one)
4 Maccabees
1 Meqabyan
if I can find them,
2 Meqabyan
3 Meqabyan (these are sometimes referred to as the "pseudo-Maccabees")
The Letter of Jeremiah, as it is the sixth chapter of "Baruch"
Enoch, but not 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch
The Gospel of Judas
The Gospel of Thomas

and these, all at interfaith online:
the Didache
Epistle of the Apostles
Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena
The Gospel of Mary
The Nativity of Mary
An account of John
The History of Joseph the Carpenter
Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea
Acts of Thaddeus

Plus:
A letter of Ignatius
Acts of Pilate
The Infancy Gospel of James
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Dialogue of the Savior
Pistis Sophia 1 and 2
The Apocryphon of James
The Sophia of Jesus Christ

Here are the links to the posts I made after reading the apocrypha, etc:
---------------------------------------------------

Bible time z - the relevance of the Old Testament and OT Law in the New Testament and today

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Bizarrely irrelevant stuff:

Gen 30:32-43 "Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."
"Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.
Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Ex 29:38-41 This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning—a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire.

Judges 19
(a concubine is gang-raped to death because.... uhhhh...)

Josh 15

Deut 28:15-18 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Job 37:16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?

38:6 What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the world?

40:15 Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.

41:1 Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?

Neh 3:27-31 Next to them, the men of Tekoa repaired another section, from the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.
Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the guard at the East Gate, made repairs. Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. Next to him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the room above the corner;

1 Sam 2:8 He lifts the poor from the dust and raises the needy from their misery. He makes them companions of princes and puts them in places of honour. The foundations of the earth belong to the LORD; on them he has built the world.

Song 1:5 Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful...

4:2 Your teeth are as white as sheep that have just been shorn and washed. Not one of them is missing; they are all perfectly matched.

all the references to owls in abandoned Israel. We don't consider owls dirty, or omens!

Rom 16

2 Tim 4:9-13 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

OT Law still to be followed:

Lev 23:14 Do not eat any of the new grain, whether raw, roasted, or baked into bread, until you have brought this offering to God. This regulation is to be observed by all your descendants for all time to come.

Deut 11:1 Love the LORD your God and always obey all his laws.

2 Chr 2:4 I am building a temple to honour the LORD my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices, where we will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and where we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honouring the LORD our God. He has commanded Israel to do this for ever.

Ezek 22:8-10 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. In you are those who dishonor their fathers' bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.
menstrual blood still dirty after emphasis on 'proper sacrifices' (obedience and kindness vs. lambs)

32:32 Although I had him spread terror in the land of the living, Pharaoh and all his hordes will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, declares the Sovereign LORD.
(and the insult 'uncircumcised' is used repeatedly. God uses is at as an insult; if it were an insult only to the people of the time, you would expect it only to be used among them.)

46:13 Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD; morning by morning you shall provide it.

Mal 4:2-5 "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes."

Mt 5:18-20 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

8:1-4 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

19:3-8 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

23:1-3 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

Mk 7:14-19 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "
After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

Lk 16:16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

Acts 15:22-29 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Gal 2:21 I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!

3:15-20 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.

5:13-15 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Eph 2:15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,

Phil 3:6 ...and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.

Bible time y - is God honest? Faithful? Merciful? Just? Loving?

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God lies and breaks promises

Deut 28:68 The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

2 Chr 2:4 I am building a temple to honour the LORD my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices, where we will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and where we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honouring the LORD our God. He has commanded Israel to do this forever.

Prov 1:24-28 1:24-28 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,
I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you-
when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
"Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me."

10:3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

10:7 Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but the wicked will soon be forgotten

11:21 You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape.

12:21 Nothing bad happens to righteous people, but the wicked have nothing but trouble.

Zech 11:10-11 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD.

See section "Generation curses" on God continuing these after he redacted them.

Mt 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Heb 7:18-19 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

Does God listen? Does God show mercy? What about if you ask for it?

Lev 25:39-46 If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Non-Israelite slaves, however...

27:29 No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death.

Num 5:1-4 The LORD said to Moses, "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them." The Israelites did this; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

Deut 20:13-14 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.

21:10-14 When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners, you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry. Take her to your home, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails, and change her clothes. She is to stay in your home and mourn for her parents for a month; after that, you may marry her. Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her.

22:13-20 If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death.
So if you don't have a hymen, you'll get stoned to death! Sorry bitch, God ain't got time to let them know they're wrong before they torture you to death.

22:23-24 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
raped with knife? Time to be tortured to death!

22:28-29 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

25:11-12 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

Josh 7:19-26 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."
Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.
Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Judges 11:29-40 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
"My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
"You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

1 Sam 8:18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.

Job 2:4-6 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

Ps 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

17:14 O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life. You still the hunger of those you cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

22:1-2 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

77:9-10 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High."

Prov 1:24-28 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,
I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you-
when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.

Is 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood

9:19-20 By the wrath of the LORD Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire; no one will spare his brother.
On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring

59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Jer 4:10 Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, 'You will have peace,' when the sword is at our throats."

13:14 I will smash them one against the other, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.

13:21-22 What will you say when people you thought were you friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth. If you ask why all this has happened to you - why your clothes have been torn off and you have been raped - it is because your sin is so terrible.

Lam 2:2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.

2:17 The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.

3:37-38 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

3:43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.

Ezek 5:8-10 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.

18:26-28 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.

20:3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Have you come to inquire of me? As surely as I live, I will not let you inquire of me, declares the Sovereign LORD.'

Dan 9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands..."

Hos 2:4-5 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'

5:6 When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

Joel 2:12-13 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Amos 5:4 This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live"

7:1-7 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said.
This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.
This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"
"A plumb line," I replied.
Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

8:11-12 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it."

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

Zech 14:1-2 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.
I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Mal 1:2-4 "I have loved you," says the LORD.
"But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'
"Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."
Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins."
But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD.

2:3 Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

Mt 10:35-36 For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

12:32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Mk 7:24-30 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."
She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

13:9-11 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."

Jn 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Rom 11:2-6 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Col 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

James 5:11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

If something bad happens to you, is that proof God is punishing you?

2 Chr 28:5-6 Therefore the LORD his God handed him over to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus.
He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah—because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Prov 3:33 The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

10:3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

Jer 13:21 What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?

All of Job implies no.

Mal 2:3 Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

4:2-5 But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall. On the day when I act, you will overcome the wicked, and they will be like dust under your feet. "Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the laws and commands which I gave him at Mount Sinai for all the people of Israel to obey. But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah. He will bring father sand children together again; otherwise I would have to come and destroy your country."

Mt 7:16-18 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

12:33-37 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

Jn9:3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

Heb 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

1 Pet 3:17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Is God's punishment immediate and on Earth, or is it just an utterly arbitrary distinction?

Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." and 5:5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

Lev 10:1 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Num 16:16-34 Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also." So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' "
Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins." So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt."
As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"

Prov 5:10-11 Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else. You will lie groaning on your deathbed, your flesh and muscles being eaten away

11:31 Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished

20:20 If you curse your parents, your life will end like a lamp that goes out in the dark.

30:17 The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

Acts 5:1-10 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
"Yes," she said, "that is the price."
Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

12:21-23 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

God loves everyone

Lev 20:23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

Mal 1:1-4 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."
Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins."
But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD."

Ps 11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

Hos 9:15 Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Rom 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

9:13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

1 Cor 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!

Eph 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Amos 9:7 "Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites?" declares the LORD. "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?"

Dan 9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands..."

Generational curses

Gen 9:21-25 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

20:18 ...for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.

Ex 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

34:7 ...maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

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

Deut 23:2 No one born of illegitimate birth nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.

24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
(Note that this is a prohibition of human law, not an expression of ultimate morality.)

28:18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed...

Josh 7:19-26 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."
Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.
Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

1 Sam 3:12-13 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.

1 Kings 21:29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."

2 Kings 5:27 "Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

Is 14:21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.

Jer 32:18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them...

Ezek 18:19-20 Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
(Note that THIS, however, seems to be a statement of God's future rules. And yet...)

Hos 2:4-5 I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'

Mal 2:3 Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

Bible time x - coming back to life

2010-04-16T17:44:00.001+10:00

Coming back to life

---Before Jesus

1 Kings 17:17-24 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
"Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!"
The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"
Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."

2 Kings 4:11-37 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' "
She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
"What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."
"No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head!" he said to his father.
His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."
"It's all right," she said.
She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' "
"Everything is all right," she said.
When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."
"Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"
Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
But the child's mother said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."
When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

13:21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

Ezek 37:4-14 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

Mt 9:23-25 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

Mk 5:39-42 He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" ). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

Lk 7:11-15 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Jn 11:13 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

11:43-44 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

---After Jesus

Mt 27:52-53 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Acts 9:32-43 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"
Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

20:9-12 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!" Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

Books: Dexter in the Dark and The Last Unicorn

2010-04-15T19:48:00.000+10:00

... perhaps an odd pairing, there.

Just briefly noting:

Dexter in the Dark
Like a lot of people, I am baffled by the game-changer of this book, but I did find some of the exploration of personality and identity interesting. Which parts can split from your 'self' with your self remaining? (Particularly for a sociopath!)
That's actually saying a lot because these books are usually books I don't think about between setting down and picking back up - they're mindless, enjoyable trash, and I really don't understand critics gushing about the amazing characters and writing, because to be perfectly honest a lot of the writing seems so self-satisfied.
...Also, a lot of openings weren't tied off by the end, and I know they won't be in the future, so that's frustrating.

The Last Unicorn
Urban fantasy seems quite in vogue at the moment, so I've read a little about the genre here and there, its strengths and weaknesses, why authors like it and what people can do with it overall.
I've never really understood what was so good about the way it does the world within a world and the balance of profane wonder with magical dread (sometimes the adjectives get switched around, but people seem to think that this is the rarer mix-up - not in my reading). Reading "The Last Unicorn", as much as I enjoyed the beginning in particular and for large portions of the book found a passage a page I loved, I sort of understand the strength of urban fantasy, because "The Last Unicorn" really isn't. I much preferred the world of "A Fine and Private Place" (I suppose this is sacrilege to many) and I think some (not all, but a large "some" [God I slay me]) of it has to do with the world setting - every amusing reference to modern-day phrasing and concepts felt ... weak. I don't think Peter S. Beagle can really help himself not to include these things, so a more "urban fantasy"-type setting works better for his style.

(The style actually reminded me of the style of "The Princess Bride", except that "The Princess Bride" pissed me off and this book didn't.)

Bible time w - women

2010-04-14T20:54:00.004+10:00

Rape

Gen 16:1-4 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

19:6-8 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

30:1-5 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?" Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family." So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.

30:9-10 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

34 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her. His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. And Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl as my wife."
When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home.
Then Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. Now Jacob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter—a thing that should not be done.
But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it."
Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife."
Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."
Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us." All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."
But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"
"took Dinah from Shechem's house" - they actually hand their sister over to her rapist (the injury of the rape is not that she is devestated, but that they have been mocked). They immediately then steal some women from the city so they can rape them. When Jacob gets annoyed, they explain that raping that specific woman was wrong (not rape in general) because it insulted their family (not because it was an awful thing for her to go through.)

Ex 21:7 If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.

As mentioned in the slavery entry - in pretty much every single war campaign, women are taken as slaves and raped.

Deut 20:13-14 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.

21:10-14 When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners, you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry. Take her to your home, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails, and change her clothes. She is to stay in your home and mourn for her parents for a month; after that, you may marry her. Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her.

22:23-24 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

22:28-29 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

Lev 19:20 If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

Judges 21:20-23 So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.' "
So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

2 Sam 12:11-12 This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'

Jer - Israel is god's slutty wife so if he wants to rape, beat the shit out of, murder her, that's cool.

Zech 14:1-2 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.
I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Virginity

Ex 22:16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

2 Cor 11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

General value of women

Gen21:9-14 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."
Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

Gen 29:18-30 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"
Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

35:16-18 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, "Don't despair, for you have another son." As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.

38:12-24 After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."
"And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked.
"I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said.
"Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked.
He said, "What pledge should I give you?"
"Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again.
Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?"
"There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here," they said.
So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.' "
Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her."
About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant."
Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!"

...basically all of Exodus.

Lev 12 The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding. When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.' "

Lev 15:19-20 When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening.
If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge.

Num 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.
12:10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy

25:14-15 The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
When a woman is mentioned in conjunction to a relative by name, it's a noteable exception.

31:15-18 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man."

Deut 25:5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

25:11-12 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

2 Chr 11:18-23 Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. Then he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah to be the chief prince among his brothers, in order to make him king. He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.
an odd exception

Ezra 10:2-5 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel. Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it."
So Ezra rose up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath to do what had been suggested. And they took the oath.

Neh 13:23-27 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?"

Esther's position and submission through that entire book.

Proverbs - all of fucking Proverbs. Nagging wives whine whine whine

5:22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.

21:19 Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

27:15 A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day

30:21-23 Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:
a servant who becomes king, a fool who is full of food,
an unloved woman who is married, and a maidservant who displaces her mistress.

31:3 do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.

The entire thing is addressed to men. Every quiverful quote talks of "blessed men"; every "Israel will fall to ruin" says "your wives will be raped", not "you", because women aren't important.

Ecc 7:25-28 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-
while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

or
But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is. I found something more bitter than death - the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net; and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who please God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers. I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman. This is all that I have learnt: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

Is 13:14-18 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.
See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.
Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children.

Jer 8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

Ezek 16 The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
" 'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.
" 'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
" 'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.
" 'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you—the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
" 'And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.
" 'Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, offering your body with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity. So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.
" 'How weak-willed you are, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute! When you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
" 'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.
" 'Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children's blood, therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare. They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers. Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
" 'Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?
" 'Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter." You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
" 'However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you. You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD.
" 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "

Mt14:21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. :D :D

Lk 1:34-38 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

8:43-38 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
"Who touched me?" Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."
But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."
Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

Jn 3:29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

Jn 8:1-11 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Rom 16:1-4 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

1 Tim 2:8-15 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Cor 11:3-10 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

14:34-35 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

Eph 5:21-24 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Rev 7:3-8 Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

14:3-4 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
The 144000 saved are all men.

Bible time v - Biblical slavery

2010-04-14T20:45:00.000+10:00

Gen 15:4 Then he heard the Lord speaking to him again: "This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir."

47:15-26 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone."
"Then bring your livestock," said Joseph. "I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone." So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, "We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate."
So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other. However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children."
"You have saved our lives," they said. "May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh."
So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's.

Exodus 21:2-4 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

21:7 If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.

21:20 If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.
(note that the punishment for murdering a non-slave man is death)

Lev 19:20 If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

25:39-42 If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.

25:44-46 Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

25:47-48 If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him

Deut 20:10-14 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.

21:10-14 When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners, you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry. Take her to your home, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails, and change her clothes. She is to stay in your home and mourn for her parents for a month; after that, you may marry her. Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her.

Every single time they invade another country, it is at g=God's command. He also commands them to take slaves. There are a LOT of groups attacked, killed and enslaved; I won't bother to list all of them as there are so many.

Psalms 18:43-45 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me.
As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.
They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

Jer 13:21-22 What will you say when people you thought were you friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth. If you ask why all this has happened to you - why your clothes have been torn off and you have been raped - it is because your sin is so terrible.

Lam 3:37-38 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Amos 2:6-7 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.

Nahum 3:4-10 ...all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contemptand make you a spectacle.
All who see you will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?"
Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall.
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies.
Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains.

Malachi 1:6-8 The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "Children honour their parents, and servants honour their masters. I am your father - why don't you honour me? I am your master - why don't you respect me? you despise me, and yet you ask, 'How have we despised you?' This is how - by offering worthless food on my altar. Then you ask, 'How have we failed to respect you?' I will tell you - by showing contempt for my altar. When you bring a blind or sick or lame animal to sacrifice to me, do you think there's nothing wrong with that? Try giving an animal like that to the governor! Would he be pleased with you or grant you any favours?"

Mt 5:18-20 Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with - not until the end of all things. So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teachers other to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven. I tell you, then, that you will be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharissees in doing what God requires.

10:24 No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.

Lk 7:1-10 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Jesus heals the Roman soldier's gay slave lover, and does not take the opportunity to condemn either homosexuality or slavery. (Note that in the story of the adulterous woman, he helped her and then told her to sin no more.)

Acts 16:16-18 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

Col 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

Col 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

1 Cor 7:17 Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

7:21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.

Eph 6:5-9 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

All of Philemon is a letter Paul writes to a master to accompany the slave he is returning.

Bible time u - the WHOLE WORLD

2010-04-14T08:32:00.000+10:00

A global famine
Gen 41:57 People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

A global flood
Gen 6:7 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
Gen 7:24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

A global proclamation
Jesus preached to everyone?

Taaabs

2010-04-13T19:27:00.001+10:00

The comparison for this isn’t, “I shouldn’t be surprised if I get robbed if I leave my door unlocked.”

The comparison is, “I shouldn’t be surprised if I get robbed if I carry a purse or a wallet, or spend money in public, or leave the house wearing anything but a burlap sack (thus indicating I have money to purchase clothing), or have a job, or talk about my job, or reveal my salary to friends, or have a bank account and go to the bank in public. I mean, let’s be reasonable, anybody could see me doing any of those things and intuit that I have money, and so naturally they’re going to try and take my money.”

Insurance executive says banning gay men from giving blood is unfair

Another Tragic Case of AIDS Denialism: Kim Bannon

Science writer Simon Singh wins libel appeal

'Decades before Kinsey, Stanford professor Clelia Mosher polled Victorian-era women on their bedroom behavior—then kept the startling results under wraps.'

Bible time t - Revelation

2010-04-09T17:24:00.000+10:00

REVELATION

!! excited!

Rev 1:1 This book is the record of the events that Jesus Christ revealed. God gave him this revelation in order to show to his servants what must happen soon. Christ made these things known to his servant John by sending his angel to him...
SOON

1:3 Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey what is written in this book! For the time is near when all these things will happen.
SOON

1:20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
seven churches
contradiction against sects?
the seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea) suggest SOON
that or that they'll somehow exist again...

2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
"ten day" - events within account are on either a small timescale, or a massive one (a thousand years)
SOON

2:16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
...that would be an interesting fight to see. Actually I seem to recall my little brother and I putting paint brushes in our mouths and trying to paint each other's arms when we were little. It was one of those stupid things kids come up with, and it looked pretty stupid too.

3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
backsliding

3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
SOON

3:12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
huh

3:14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
...weird.

4
hmm. compare OT prophecy - Daniel, Ezekiel creatures

6
THIS IS COOL

6:13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
stars fell

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
four corners of the earth

7:3-8 "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
144 000 saved. All Jewish

8:12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
um

9:4-6 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
hasn't rapture already happened? ...?

9:14-18 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.
1/3 killed

12
...
You know the end of "Pink Elephants" in Dumbo, where everything just starts screaming and flashing and falling and crashing? This is what this reminds me of.

13:8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
can't be saved once it all starts?

13:14-17 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
a prophecy evangelicals talk about today (they think 'the mark' is a chip installed under the skin of your arm like a credit card)

14:3-4 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
men, virgins, faultless
can anyone else go to heaven?

22:6-7 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
and 22:10 Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.
and 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
and 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
SOON

19:20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
first mention of hell fire? (description at least)

21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
aren't all the impure in hell?

22:14-15 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
huh. Guess not.

... wait, what? What about going up to heaven?

Bible time s - Hebrews, James, 1 2 Peter, 1 2 3 John, Jude

2010-04-08T21:23:00.002+10:00

HEBREWS

Heb 1:1-4 1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
separate and underneath
2 - through him created the universe. Extra detail.

1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"]? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?
angels are called "God's sons" in OT.

1:8-9 But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."
MINDMELT

2:14 Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death.
Devil - power over all death? sounds like Christians shouldn't spend any time dead but immediately rise

3:13 Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word "Today" in the scripture applies to us.
nice and unambiguous, huh?

4:12 The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart.
Good writing

5:5-9 So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
separate, lower, BECAME perfect

6:6 And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.
can't unbackslide

6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
and then broke some later

6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
so we have hope. It has always worked before, ∴ it always will., ∴ we trust it always will. Some logic there (missing otherwise) even if it's flawed at the very beginning.

7:18-19 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
permanent law?

8:2 ...and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
physical God question

8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
huh

8:7-12 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
but this isn't what happened. People are still telling one another about Jesus and then telling then what's right when they're converted. God's still getting pissed off at people and making them drop dead.

9:19-22 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
GROSS

9:25-26 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
SOON

10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
but it was handed down as how to be perfectly clean before God, not as a few concessions

10:4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
say wha'?

10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
but they don't say 'go and commit any sin', and breaking rules of Law IS sin. Seriously... what?

10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
SOON

10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left
sin even once afterwards and you're fucked
backsliding

10:36-38 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
SOON

11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
that's an act, actually

11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
different spin on it

11:23 It was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born. They saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's order.
...faith is not the motivation!

11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
seven days or seven times?

11:39-40 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
nice ending (!)

12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
bad stuff is punishment

13:17-18 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.
leaders can't fail and can know they're sinless
knowing own heart thing - contradictory to previous letters

JAMES

Jas 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone
contradicts a few things

2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
YES THANK YOU

2:21-25 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
acts

4:11-12 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
judging

5:13-15 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
I want to see a double blind study please. Actually, no - only one group (it doesn't say "heal more than otherwise", it says "WILL heal the sick") and it doesn't have to be doubleblind or even blind - just study 200 various ailments and you won't need to do an extensive study before it ends (∴ not expensive) because it'll fail pretty soon.

PETER

1 Pet 2:2 Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved.
milk (which is for BABIES - bad [from previous letters]) is good
you need to develop spiritually before you can be saved

3:1-2 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
even though you see it fail, it always works. Schrodinger's bullshit lies

3:17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
suffering is punishment?

3:18-20 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water

4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
SOON

2 Pet 2:20-21 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
backsliding

3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Apparently this verse means that the numerous instances of humans (the ones for whom 1000 years is NOT a day) clearly saying it's coming soon, not mentioning the word 'days', either, and clearly speaking within a specific lifetime/generation. This verse cannot, however, be used to suggest that when God (the one for whom 1000 years IS a day) talked about creation happening in six days, it didn't mean that literally.

JOHN

1 Jn 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
no righteous

2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
universal salvation?

2:5-6 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
acts

2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
SOON

3:4-7 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Christians will never sin again
backsliding
(which means people are capable of never sinning - not just of being forgiven for their inevitable sins)

4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
physical God

4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
I've never really understood these as opposites

5:16-17 If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
you can take away another's sins (like, not just humans being acceptable of granting another person's forgiveness when they ask for it - you can just take away the sin, poof)

5:18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
doesn't that kind of contradict it..?

2 Jn
none

3 Jn
none

JUDE

Jude 1:7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Sodom and Gomorrah "perversion" (most other mentions talk about its 'inhospitability')

1:9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
WHAT? I want to hear THAT story! Knew there was stuff about angels up in heaven but didn't know that one.

Bible time r - Colossians, 1 2 Thessalonians, 1 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon

2010-04-01T20:21:00.000+10:00

COLOSSIANS

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
physical God

3:18-22 18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
22 is rather like 18 to me.
Don't deserve it, wrong, no benefit, obey this anyway because it comes from God.

4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Christians can own slaves. Therrrrrre it is.

THESSALONIANS

1 Thes 2:14-15 For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men
Holy fuck!

4:3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality
all the "acts" he brings up - I order you to do this and that - usually sex

2 THESSALONIANS
none

TIMOTHY

1 Tim 1:4 ...nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith.
...

1:9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers...
... in context of "Law"

1:19-20 ...holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
...

2:8-15 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
THROUGH CHILDBIRTH!?

3:2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach
church leaders = higher standards (throughout)
implied okay polygamist Christian?
wouldnt' have thought so but it really seems to be what this verse implies

4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
backsliding

5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
contradictory. "If you don't hate your father... abandon your family... ps I, Paul, abandoned my wife..."

6:1-2 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them.

2 Tim 2:24-25 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
great example you're setting of that, too...

4:9-13 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
...relevant today?

4:16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
What about forgive others, pray for them?

TITUS
none

PHILEMON

Phlm 1:8-9 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus
...

1:19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.
...

he's returning his slave, right? just...