left-handed power after feeding 5000

Robert Farrar Capon  (In 

"Kingdom, grace, judgment: paradox, outrage, and vindication in the parables")

also sees the Feeding of 500 as a huge shift in the gospel, both as a literary division:

______________

...and in Jesus' thinking...

 away from "right handed" power to "left handed"

 FIRST, A TEST FOR LEFT-HANDEDNESS:

GET TOGETHER WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS AND HAVE A GO AT THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES. REMEMBER THAT EACH TASK MUST BE CARRIED OUT INSTANTLY AND WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT.

1. Imagine the centre of your back is itching. Which hand do you scratch it with?
2. Interlock your fingers. Which thumb is uppermost?
3. Imagine you are applauding. Start clapping your hands. Which hand is uppermost?
4. Wink at and imaginary friend straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
5. Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand is doing the holding?
6. Someone in front of you is shouting but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
7. Count to three on your fingers, using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
8. Tilt your head to one shoulder. Which shoulder does it touch?
9. Fixate a small distant object with your eyes and point directly at it with your forefinger. Now close one eye. Now change eyes. Which eye was open when the fingertip remained in line with the small object? (when the other eye, the non-dominant one, is open and the dominant eye is closed, the finger will appear to move to one side of the object.)
10. Fold your arms. Which forearm is uppermost?

                     (LINK)

CAPON...ON JESUS LEFT-HANDEDNESS..WHAT DOES HE MEAN?

IN THE FEEDING OF THE 5,000, JESUS' RELUCTANCE ABOUT SIGNS BECOMES MANIFEST (P. 14)...IT IS PIVOTAL (OAGE 21, 22)

 AFTER 5000 ARE FED, THE CROWDS ATTEMPT TO GET JESUS/TEMPT JESUS TO OPERATE IN RIGHT-HANDED POWER (28)...THIS IS A MAJOR SHIFT IN HIS THINKING TOWARD MOVING ONLY IN LEFT-HANDED POWER (55)

NOTE: JOHN'S GOSPEL DOES NOT MENTION JESUS' THREE TESTATIONS...THUS THIS WHOLE "RIGHT-HANDED" TESTATION IS HIS TTP VERSION OF THEM

“BUT JESUS WILL SAVE THE WORLD BY DYING FOR IT – UNDERGOING GHASTLY, UNIMAGINABLE SUFFERING. HE WILL NOT BE A CHARISMATIC, CONVINCING POLITICAL LEADER. HE WILL NOT BE AN INCOMPARABLE WARRIOR. HE WILL NOT RULE BY WINNING, BUT WILL WIN BY LOSING. HE WILL BE, TO THE CONTRARY, THE EERIE EXAMPLE OF WHAT ISAIAH HAD SEEN IN THE SUFFERING SERVANT CENTURIES BEFORE (ISAIAH 53:2-3)” (H. KING OEHMIG, SYNTHESIS 4/6/03). 

 

"UNFORTUNATELY (RIGHT-HAND POWER) HAS A WHOPPING LIMITATION. IF YOU TAKE THE VIEW THAT ONE OF THE CHIEF OBJECTS IN LIFE IS TO REMAIN IN LOVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE, STRAIGHT-LINE POWER BECOMES USELESS. OH, ADMITTEDLY, YOU CAN SNATCH YOUR BABY BOY AWAY FROM THE EDGE OF A CLIFF AND NOT HAVE A BROKEN RELATIONSHIP ON YOUR HANDS. BUT JUST TRY INTERFERING WITH HIS PLANS FOR THE SEASON WHEN HE IS TWENTY, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS, ESPECIALLY IF HIS CHOSEN PLANS PLAY HAVOC WITH YOUR OWN. SUPPOSE HE MAKES UNAUTHORIZED USE OF YOUR CAR, AND YOU USE A LITTLE STRAIGHT-LINE VERBAL POWER TO SCARE HIM OUT OF DOING IT AGAIN. WELL AND GOOD. BUT SUPPOSE FURTHER THAT HE DOES IT AGAIN ANYWAY—AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT IF YOU ARE COMMITTED TO STRAIGHT-LINE POWER? YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE A LITTLE MORE NASTILY EACH TIME TILL YOU CAN’T SHOUT ANY LOUDER. AND THEN YOU BEAT HIM (IF YOU ARE STRONGER THAN HE IS) UNTIL YOU CAN’T BEAT ANY HARDER. THEN YOU CHAIN HIM TO A RADIATOR TILL… BUT YOU SEE THE POINT. AT SOME VERY EARLY CRUX IN THAT DIFFICULT, PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, THE WHOLE THING WILL BE DESTROYED UNLESS YOU—WHO ON ANY REASONABLE VIEW, SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO USE STRAIGHT-LINE POWER—SIMPLY REFUSE TO USE IT; UNLESS, IN OTHER WORDS, YOU DECIDE THAT INSTEAD OF DISHING OUT JUSTIFIABLE PAIN AND PUNISHMENT, YOU ARE WILLING, QUITE FOOLISHLY, TO TAKE A BEATING YOURSELF.” (CAPON, PAGE 18-19)  

“EVERY ONE OF US WOULD RATHER CHOSE THE RIGHT-HANDED LOGICALITIES OF THEOLOGY OVER THE LEFT-HANDED MYSTERY OF FAITH. ANY DAY OF THE WEEK—AND TWICE ON SUNDAYS, OFTEN ENOUGH—WE WILL LABOR WITH MIGHT AND MAIN TO TAKE THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SAVE ANYONE AND REDUCE IT TO A SET OF THEOLOGICAL CLUB RULES DESIGNED TO EXCLUDE ALMOST EVERY ONE.” 

 THE MESSIAH WAS NOT GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD BY MIRACULOUS, BAND-AID INTERVENTIONS: A STORM CALMED HERE, A CROWD FED THERE, A MOTHER-IN-LAW CURED BACK DOWN THE ROAD. RATHER IT WAS GOING TO BE SAVED BY MEANS OF A DEEPER, DARKER, LEFT-HANDED MYSTERY, AT THE CENTER OF WHICH LAY HIS OWN DEATH.

"THE MESSIAH WAS NOT GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD BY MIRACULOUS, BAND-AID INTERVENTIONS"-CAPON

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF POWER IN THE WORLD. ROBERT CAPON CALL THEM RIGHT AND LEFT HANDED POWER. CAPON CAREFULLY SHOWS IN HIS BOOK, THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM, THAT JESUS TALKED IN PARABLES SO THAT OUR RIGHT BRAINS COULD GRASP WHAT OUR LEFT-BRAINS CAN NEVER. HE SAYS THAT THE GOSPEL IS A GOSPEL OF LEFT-HANDED POWER, THE POWER OF WEAKNESS, SUBMITTING, AND OBEDIENCE. HE SAYS THAT GOD USED  RIGHT-HANDED POWER IN THE OLDEN DAYS, WHEN WE WERE STILL YOUNG IN OUR DEVELOPMENT,  BUT THAT SINCE THE INCARNATION, GOD PRETTY MUCH STICKS TO THE NON-INTERVENTIVE APPROACH. ACCORDING TO CAPON THE WHOLE THING TURNED AT THE FEEDING OF THE MULTITUDE. JESUS HAD BEEN DOING MIRACULOUS SIGNS OUT OF COMPASSION, BUT THEN HE REALIZED THAT HE WAS IN DANGER OF BEING MISUNDERSTOOD AS A PROVIDER OF RIGHT-HANDED POWER. WHEN PETER SUGGESTS THAT HE UNDERSTANDS WHO JESUS IS, MEANING THAT HE WANTS HIM TO BE THE PROVIDER AND PROTECTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE, JESUS SAYS, "GET OUT OF MY FACE, YOU SATAN."  IT IS WHEN WE THINK WE UNDERSTAND WHAT GOD IS UP TO, ESPECIALLY WHEN THIS KNOWLEDGE IS LINKED TO RIGHT-HANDED POWER THAT WE ARE IN THE MOST DANGER.  LINK

READ THE WHOLE SECTION OF CAPON  HERE.

 JESUS' SHIFT TOWARD  LEFT-HANDED POWER..

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J

 

first last

week 6 

What did you learn about Kingdom Culture from Matthew 5?

How would you decide what verse 48 means about being perfect?

1)When you see a therefore..

2)Drop down box: what does the same sentence say in Luke 6:36? -

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a provocative threefold question 

Which would you choose:

• 1)Drink wine mixed with rubber, alum, and garden crocuses?
• '2) Eat Persian onions and yell out'Kum, Kum, Kum !'?
• 3) Carry around the ashes of an ostrich egg in a cloth?

You can read more about the intriguing reasons WHY at this link..


..but you'll remember an amazing "historical world" lesson:


These were the main options/remedies that would be given in that culture the bleeding woman we meet in Matthew  9..


And if you look at how the story is obviously INTERCALATED in three gospel accounts with another story (the young girl, daughter of Jairus, a synagogue ruler..


you'll be able to do some quick comparing/contrasting the two stories,
and note that we are to get the "Literary world" message that 


Jesus is indiscriminate and inclusive in who he heals:


Older (a woman suffering for 12 years  and younger  ( a 12 year old girl),


poorer  and richer...

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looked in detail in this week's BIG TICKET assignment  6.2

--

--Inclusio:  a literary world technique.

Something is repeated at beginning and end of a text or book to give you a clue as to main theme.

 a literary device in which a word, phrase, or idea is included at the beginning and ened of a  text (and sometimes in the middle).  Example: the "with you"s of Matthew 1:23 , 18:20 and 28:20

Len Sweet is on to something, suggesting a Bible-wide inclusio. How wide and big can these things get? Wouldn't this cue us and clue us in to the heart message of the whole Book?
Check it out!

Ever notice Matthew starts with "His name will be called Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.'
And ends...very last sentence...with "I will be with you."?

No accident.
And neither is the midpoint and message of the gospel: "I will be with you" (18:20).
In Jesus, God is with us.
Jesus is the With-Us God.

Inclusio with chiasm.

You knew God was with us in Christ.. But now you see it as you look at Matthew structurally..

n internal inclusio:

Twice, Matthew makes almost identical statements, which might lead us to draw an inclusio around them:

And he went throughout all Galilee,
teaching            in their synagogues and
preaching         the gospel of the kingdom and
healing             every disease and every affliction among the people. 
(Matt. 4:23)


AND

And Jesus went through all the towns and villages,
teaching            in their synagogues,
preaching          the good news of the                                         kingdom and
healing              every disease and sickness.  
(Matt 9:35)

Maybe Jesus only did three things in this section.
 Q Who is Jesus in Matthew?  
               The one who does three things



Since this threefold ministry is so intentionally signaled, might it not mean that in other places in Matthew
that when one or two of the three is mentioned, the third is implied, hidden somewhere, or conspicuous by its absence?

How about 11:1?:

"After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to
teach and

preach

in the towns of Galilee "

Where is the healing?
-
How about  15: 29-30:
Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he
went up on a mountainside and sat down (implies teaching ).
Great crowds came to him (so now you expect to see him teaching, but he is healing instead...or is healing a form of teaching here?)
bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.
--

For some helpful commentary on the "literary world" (Hauer and Young) implications of Jesus' three activities...

teaching
preaching    
healing 

.....click to read these sections of David Bauer's commentary.
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One writer comments:

• These three activities were his chief occupations in public ministry. Think of what Jesus did:
• He was teaching in their synagogues. What was a synagogue service like? We have some insight in two New Testament passages: Luke 4:16-21, where Jesus began to teach about his own ministry. We also have Acts 13:15ff, where Paul used the invitation to speak as an opportunity to preach the gospel based upon the history of Israel. In the service, a reading from the Law and the Prophets, which followed prayers, would be followed by a distinguished Rabbi, either resident or visiting, being invited to teach concerning a point of the Law or the Prophets. He would read a text and explain and apply it. This is what Jesus evidently did. And the traditions of the synagogue required that the teacher be attractive in his appearance and presentation, as well as intelligent and godly. Interestingly enough, such a teacher did not have to be ordained. And his message was to be tactful and not too personal. That Jesus taught often in the synagogues of the land, tells us that he was a welcome teacher and respected. No wonder he was referred to as "Rabbi."
• The text tells us that he also was actively preaching the Gospel/good news of the Kingdom. You are of course aware that the word, gospel, means good news. And the substance of the gospel is given in verse 22, to wit that the Kingdom of Heaven was near. It is referred to elsewhere as the gospel of peace (Rom 10:15), the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 9:13), and its message was simply that the Kingdom of Heaven had come. To the Jews this would be good news, as it would mean that the Lord was announcing the reign of Messiah (Isa 9:6,7) and peace between Himself and Israel (Isa 52:7). God had come to rule and thus to show his love and concern for his people. And that is the essence of the gospel.
• We want to be careful not to distinguish too closely between teaching and preaching, though, because he did both at the same time, cf. the next three chapters. Teaching would emphasize a systematic presentation of the truth. Preaching or proclamation would emphasize declaration of the truth, as opposed to giving a systematic presentation of it. In his teaching he gave the details of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
• Finally, and this is what usually catches our attention most in this passage, he healed the sick. The text says, he healed (literally) all chronic diseases and all occasional sicknesses among the people. The word, all, would place him in different category from other healers that were also going about the land. Perhaps the word would best be translated as the NIV does, every, because not all in the nation were healed. These other healers did not heal every case. They had their successes and their failures, but Jesus healed every disease he came into contact with, with no failures. The question needs to be asked, though, why? ..
• Notice how these three ministries are tied together. What ties them together is the Kingdom of Heaven. The public teaching of Jesus focused upon the grace of God in coming to rule over his people and show his love and concern for them as their King. The healings were a tangible, easy to understand demonstration of the truth and power of the Kingdom. Jesus did not simply heal for the sake of making people feel better or improve their quality of life. Rather, those who were healed had an obligation to worship and serve the Lord, even to repent-cf. John 5:1-14. That is why, when Jesus preached he proclaimed the message that he did, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. This is an important point, one that is missed by some in the healing movement in Pentecostal Church circles. We are mistaken if we separate healing from the gospel's message and focus on it or any other miraculous part of the gospel instead of on the Kingdom of God.  -Link

NOW: WHAT INCLUSIO DID WE FIND IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT?
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Dave Wainscott, B.S. (:  VIDEO:  WE COVERED 1:22-9:05

Bonus: If you like Dave's charts, there are more of his, with more detail and craziness: Click here and here,  you know you want to (:

Parable

 The usual number of times KINGDOM shows up on the TV assignment: ZERO.

Final count for our class:

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We read about Jesus and the leper (not leopard, lol( in Matthew 8, then we watched this re-enactment of it.  What did we notice about it?

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This   photo is of the 17-mile walking road from Jerusalem to Jericho we read about In Jesus' parable of the "   Good Samaritan"  .   Not quite Highway 99, or the 17-mile Drive in California! Think how far people walked back then.  Read the parable, and picture robbers along this road, and the Good Samaritan helping a robbed and beaten man here.  That's the power of knowing the historical world.  Even more important: stay tuned to learn what a "Samaritan" was.  It will blow open the parable for you.

I hope to take some of you to see this road in Israel next year.  Who's game? Text me .

Thanks to Mennonite pastor  Mike Furches,  a grad of FPU's sister school, Tabor College in Kansas (did you know we has a sister college?) and his wonderful "Faith and Film" seminar, for the tip on  this heavily-edited excerpt of South Park's "Do The Handicapped Go to Hell?" episode below.

The rest of the episode may be terribly offensive to some, I am not endorsing it all...but this section is funny and  prophetic, and is  the section Mike shows at church seminars, which is a  wonderful conversation starter on a number of important questions, including the two questions of class.  Yes, it might be as offensive as a loud fart, but lots to think about.
When I show it in class, I draw a bounded set on the board, and ask "What are the assumptions made by any of the characters about how one gets into the bounded set of heaven (or salvation, or Kingdom).
Text me a short review of the video, mentioning a part that got your attention, and one answer to the bounded set question
here it is:

 

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Think of words that come to mind when I say "parable"  . 

Did "a startling and offensive story" come to mind?  Probably not.

Ask people what a parable is and  some say something like "a nice story with a moral, " or "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning".  But  Bible parables; especially  Jesus' parables, are far more intriguing , mysterious  and radical than that-- much more subversive and  shocking than that.  One scholar compares them to "loud farts in the salon of spirituality."  Your Upside Down Kingdom  makes clear they are "biting sizzling and shocking" ; and intended to confront people with "their attitude being the opposite of God's."

By now you have heard that Pastor Eugene Peterson calls metaphor..and thus parables, "a loud fart in the salon of spirituality."  So always look for the part of the parable that would have that same effect:
It surely will offend someone somewhere.

Right now, think of something you could do that would offend/trip someone up in a similar way.
It can be anything in any area of your life: home, school, work, in public.  Just think of something you could do in a certain setting that would be received like a loud fart in a salon, library,  church, etc.. You can make it funny if you like, but remember your story, you may get a chance to use it in an assignment coming up very soon.

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a quick Prodigal Son experiment: we did this in breakout rooms..

The other  most famous parable, besides the one often called the "Good Samaritan" (the one you have been studying)  is the one often called "The Prodigal Son."  Quickly read this parable, either from Luke 15: 11-32  in your class Bible, or just click here to read it online.  Read it once,  just trying to get the basic story, plot twists, etc.  For this assignment, you are not worried about figuring out deep meanings, just getting the story, flow  and important parts. 

Then close your Bible, and retell the story to your partner., summarizing and paraphrasing the basic story, plot twists, etc. Simply tell the story in your own words.

Then, once you are done...and not before (don't ruin the fun and important lesson),  click to read  this  short article, and come back and

Questions for Moodle:

First of all, don't feel dumb if you didn't mention the famine,  Most  FPU students miss it..and when I do this in the classroom, I actually have the word "famine" on the screen or on the whiteboard while they are doing the retelling, and they still miss it, even if they see the word.. And in the reading above, you see most American seminary students miss it..

Question 1: Did you mention the famine in your retelling?  When you think back to your reading of the story, did you even notice it?

Question 2: What did you think about this experience, and the importance of Three Worlds and what we might miss in the Bible simply due to our culture and context? How might we overcome these cultural blinders?

--

Watch these two videos on the parable traditionally called "The Prodigal Son":

Kenneth Bailey:

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2 Read this, by Jay Guinn:

Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: On the Prodigal Son and Thinking the Eastern Way, Part a

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Jay Guin

The Western mode of thought comes from the ancient Greeks. We think abstractly. We like to take what we learn apart, see how it’s made, and extract the underlying principles.

RVL’s students in high school have to dissect a frog in their biology classes. When they cut a frog apart and look inside, they learn many truths about the frog. They learn how his heart works, how his lungs work, and so on. They never learn who his girlfriend is. You can only learn who the frog’s mate is by observing him in the wild. You can’t take him out of the pond and learn how he lives.

The Western approach to a frog is to dissect it. The Eastern approach is to learn the frog’s story. Both approaches gain truths. But you can’t truly understand much of what’s written in the Bible unless you study it in its native environment before you take it apart. After all, many of the scriptures were written by Easterners for Easterners.

Consider the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

(Luke 15:17-22)  “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”

Notice that the father ran to the son. In Palestine, fathers do not run. It’s considered extraordinarily undignified. And they certainly don’t run toward a sinful son. Rather, honor requires that the son come to the father. For the father to run toward the son, before the son has apologized, would have been shameful. And yet this father was willing to suffer humiliation just to reach his son a few minutes sooner.

The father embraced the son before he expressed his repentance. Indeed, the son only intended to ask for a job so he could eat. He had no intention of asking for forgiveness, only a little mercy.

We typically ignore both the cultural environment of the story and its textual environment. The story is preceded with —

(Luke 15:1-2)  Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

What did the father do in the story? He ate with the prodigal son — a son who’d been shamed and humbled. The father suffered humiliation to do so. And who is the father?

The father is God. And who was suffering shame for eating with humble sinners? Jesus. Jesus was doing exactly what the father does in the story — hurrying to meet sinners coming toward him, before they even realize how much grace is available — and eating with them, in that culture, a sign of acceptance and even protection.

Jesus was claiming to be God — and to be a God who acted in this wondrous way, a way of behavior utterly foreign to those who criticized him. Indeed, his critics were being caricatured as the older brother —

(Luke 15:29)  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.”

This is a rebuke. This older son never learned to be like his father and reacted to his brother’s return selfishly and lovelessly. And yet God is gracious even to the older brother —

(Luke 15:31-32)  “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'”

Imagine being in the crowd and hearing Jesus treat both the “sinners” and Pharisees with such compassion, while putting himself in God’s place. It would have been obvious that the Pharisees were God’s children, but children who were severe disappointments who had totally misunderstood their father’s heart. And the God that Jesus portrays would be far more attractive than the God presented by the Pharisees.

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Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: On the Prodigal Son and Thinking the Eastern Way, Part b

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Jay Guin

Now, there’s a much more subtle point that Jesus makes, that the teachers of the law would likely have picked up. In the Psalms, nearly every metaphor used for God is about his power, his strength, and his holiness. But three metaphors are used of God’s gentleness —

(Psa 23:1-3)  A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

(Psa 131)  A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

(Psa 103:13-14)  As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

David compares God to a shepherd, a mother, and to a father to show his gentleness and compassion. In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about eating with sinners —

(Luke 15:4)  “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lo”st sheep until he finds it?”

(Luke 15:8)  “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”

(Luke 15:11)  Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.”

God is compassionate toward his people — even the sinners — as a shepherd cares about each of his sheep, as a mother guards a coin, and as a father loves an irresponsible son.

In the Old Testament, God speaks harshly of the people’s leaders, calling them bad shepherds.

(Ezek 34:8-9)  As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

By comparing himself to a good shepherd, Jesus implicitly compares his critics to the wicked shepherds in Ezekiel who did not search for God’s flock — leading to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The parable surely stung.

Barclay notes that married women in the First Century wore ten coins on a chain, rather as women today wear a wedding ring. The coins were so important to a woman that they couldn’t be taken from her, even to pay a debt. The loss of a coin was not only a financial disaster, it would be deeply embarrassing that she failed to protect this symbol of her marriage. Imagine her husband coming home and asking how she could have lost the coin had she not taken the necklace off — and why take it off?!

Jesus taught at several levels at once. If we abstract the parables, reducing them to: “God loves people” or “God wants all to be saved,” we lose much of the message. The message is rich and complex, and bears repeated study and reflection at multiple levels. We musthagah the lesson — not reduce it to abstractions.

RVL says that the Jewish approach to the parable would be to ponder it for months, asking daily, “Did I live the parable today? Which character in the story was I?” It’s much more than a life-application moral at the end. It’s to enter the story to try to see myself through God’s eyes as Jesus reveals God to us. Hagah the story.

Church of Christ application

I grew up in the Churches of Christ. I attended David Lipscomb College. And when I finished college, my view of Jesus was that he came to earth to teach some simple moral lessons and to die on the cross so we could be saved via the Five-Step Plan of Salvation. Our job is to pursue God by getting the steps exactly right and then living a moral life, centered on regular church attendance involving 5 acts of worship. These parables were conventionally interpreted to mean that our churches should have “lost sheep” ministries to recover members who’ve become irregular in their attendance.

Jesus tells us that, rather than sitting back and waiting for us to repent and come to him, God pursues us, even to the point of suffering humiliation. God searches furiously and desperately for sinners, like a wife searching for her lost coin in a dark room before her husband gets home and asks how she could have been so careless! God goes into the desert alone, searching for a sheep for fear that the sheep might die — even though the shepherd, wandering the wilderness alone at night, puts himself in danger of hyenas and lions. He risks his own life for the sheep who can’t survive without him.

God does not, as a condition to saving us, give us challenges and tests to see whether we truly love him. God leaves the comfort of heaven to seek those who need him — even though they are impenitent sinners who no more deserve his forgiveness than the prodigal son. God is willing to be humiliated by eating with sinners — in a culture where eating with someone implies acceptance. God is willing to risk the embarrassment of running toward an impenitent son, embrace him, and wrap him in new clothes, because he can’t bear being separated.

Jesus is God. Jesus tells us and then shows us who God is. And yet we play the role of the elder son, resentful that the Father may actually forgive those less obedient than we. We feel unappreciated when God lavishes his love on sinners, and wonder where our kid goat is? Haven’t we been loyal? Haven’t we followed the rules? Why would the Father embrace those who don’t try as hard as we do?

As a result, we re-interpret God to be a God just barely gracious enough to approve us, and certainly not gracious enough to approve others. Our God is a God who waits on people to come to him in perfect obedience to all five steps. Our God keeps his pride … his dignity. Our God would never eat with sinners.

And yet … and yet God came to earth, took the form of a man, and suffered shame and humiliation, showing us his true character. And the lesson is that we should be like God.

The character in the story we should play is someone who used to be like the older brother but is now like God. And like God, we should be looking for prodigal sons, on the road but not yet all the way home, rushing toward them to embrace them, showing them a grace far beyond anything they imagine they deserve. And if we suffer embarrassment because of it, that’s good. It just makes us that much more like Jesus link

Titles in Matthew

You'll remember how radically Kraybill reads Jesus being on titles...at least for human leaders.

Kraybill, The Upside Down Kingdom:

• "In one stroke, Jesus erases titles (Matt. 23:8-10). Tagging each other with titles has no place in the upside-down kingdom where everyone stands on equal ground" (226).
• "Titles are foreign to the body of Christ. Terms like Doctor and Reverend perpetuate status differences unbefitting the spirit of Christ."  Titles pay tribute to position, degree and status rather than to personhood.  Members of flat kingdoms call each other, as the sign of highest personal respect, by our first names" (239, emphasis mine)
• "We call each other by our first name, for we have one Master and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (256).
  

  
  

BUT consider  the "titles" of  Jesus, which clue us in to the "Who is Jesus?" question. Check out this chart and note re: each title 

• where in the gospel  (and why?)
• how often?
• and on whose lips
• where  (what section of gospel) each title clusters
• inclusios etc.

click chart(and then click again once on a new page) to enlarge

-Son of God                         (7x..or 8, if you count 3:17)

-Son of the Living God         (once, hmm)

-Son of Man                         (29x.....and all by one person!)

-Son of David                      (9x)

>>Click to read the context of each time each title occurs:

• Son of God
• Son of the Living God
• Son of Man
• Son of David
• Son of Abraham
• Son of Adam

To get more info on the titles, and a sense of how they are used in other biblical books, see this.

Titles

 Some  titles really kick in in chapters 8-10 section: Son of Man and Son of God particularly.   It would seem obvious that these two titles are opposite in meaning: Jesus as human and God, respectively....but a study of the literary/historical world reveals that "Son of Man" was often used as a messianic connotations (and in a sense could mean "God"..see especially Daniel 7:

NT Wright 

Febbie Dickerson: African American Single Moms and the Canaanite Woman, author of Texts@Contexts chapter 4

Matthew 15

^{Matthew 19-20:''
ch,19
h27} Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” ²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or^[e] children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold^[f] and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

ch20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵ When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. ⁶ And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ ⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have gone first  borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you first. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’<sup>[a] 

16</sup> So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^[b]

 

Week 1 social work 61

-

What do you remember about these pics?

--
Philemon:

Remember what "saints" means in the Bible? Christians

Remember when I asked who was a saint in class?

Remember St. Bernard>

Remember what "church" means in the Bible?  Philemon? Never a buikding.  People.

And how large was a "large" church?

---

 

 Movie Night: The Ten Commandments are a ___________

===================

a)

Watch this interview of  a congressman  on Colbert about the Ten Commandments.  Post a short response: What did you think about it?

b)What are the first five things that come to mind when I say "The Ten Commandments"?
Don't think hard, don't Google, just post your first instinctive answers, bulletpoint is fine
This is word association, so say anything ..words or phrase..you think of : images, characters, feelings, anything.
Make one or two of you answers actual examples of the commandments.  That is, name a commandments if you know any, or remember any from the

  Colbert video. 

'='  If not, guess.

We asked which list is the REAL ten commandments:

Exodus 20 or 34?

Se 2.1

MYSTERY TO SOLVE FOR NEXT CLASS:

Which list of the Ten Commandments is the "real" list??

We joked you could win $100 by saying, :

Let me read you a list of the Ten Commandments, the only list the Bible explicity calls the Ten Commandments.  Tell if this is the list.  A hundred bucks says I'm right.  Then read them the Ten Commandments from Exodus 34!!:

                      Exodus 20                                                                     Exodus 34: Note: this list, NOT THE 

                                                                                                       OTHER, is the one that says "THESE ARE    

                                                                                                        THE TEN COMMANDMENTS"                                                          

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.		1. Thou shalt worship no idol. (For the Lord is a jealous god).  Smash all idols,
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.		2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.		3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep in the month when the ear is on the corn.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.		4. All the first-born are mine.
5. Honor your father and your mother.		5. Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest.
6. You shall not kill.		6. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
7. You shall not commit adultery.		7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.
8. You shall not steal.		8. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.		9. The first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God.
10. You shall not covet.		10. Thou shalt not boil a baby goat in its mother's milk.

These look only loosely related to the list we've all heard from Exodus 2O. Hmmmmm

-------------

=

Who noticed the buckets in the room?  

I wonder what they meant? Who remembers?

By now, you may have noticed talk about "the grid":  Everybody has one, even if it's unspoken or intuitive.  By the end of class, we would love for you to be able to articulate what  you think is the best "grid" for discerning which scriptures (usually Old Testament commandments, like against mixing threads in clothes, dietary laws like no shrimp,  or the no tattoos text we have looked at  etc,; as well as  the New Testament commanding slaves to obey masters--is slavery OK?      , and apparently demanding wives to submit, and women not to speak in church) are binding for today?  Which texts are descriptive, and which are descriptive?  What is the grid for deciding which commandments we  are intended to keep "literally" or as they are, in our  contemporary world?  Chapter 9 of Fee and Stuart offers some help. 

Another metaphor for this, though it may sound crude, is "buckets." You may have seen two (or three) buckets in some of Dave's classes and  videos.  This is based on  Ron Martoia . Survey Ron Martoia's post on the "two buckets"   ), as well as    Adam Hamilton's  (see this  on THREE buckets), as they  challenge us to decide which bucket we place certain Scriptures in, and why. 

------------------

a

==A!

 =

Songs as text: 

=

= Song as Text : "Venn it" on the Nameless Streets

Great job "practicing" Three Worlds interpretation by listening to songs, especially songs that come in two versions.

Sometimes it's a music video that tells a story, sometime the venue or occasion shifts the song's meaning or application.

Here's a very different U2 song , with two different performances from the same year

Watch both versions, and post notes about each.   Jot down as you watch and listen:
 Lyrics you can discern, theme, emotions, message, possible meaning of the title etc.  Especially watch for visual/nonverbal clues.   How were they the same/different? Which did you like better and why? 

This idea of comparing and contrasting two versions of the same song to detect meaning(us), we will call "Venn it!",

Draw  a version of this diagram (two interlocking circles in a  "venn" diagram, color is up to you)  and in the left hand circle, jot observations and notes about version a of the song, in the right  hand circle, jot observations and notes about version b.  In the middle, write anything you like about what the songs have in common, and post a word abut common theme or feel.  You can do this in paper and screenshot it, or draw mechanically.  ) In class , we do this for all our songs and analysis of two scriptural texts, commandments vs wedding etc,)   Examples? ; see last week  to see a "Venn it" of : the two creation accounts, 

Note: for the second version, some "historical world" info will be given to help.  This is like reading Philemon cold, or having a bit of backstory (who was Paul, slavery etc).

Resist the temptation to google the song, as the idea is to practice YOUR skills.

Version a :'

version b:

=

Version b: U2 is not a "Christian band" in the sense of being in the Christian market or on a Christian label.  But all members are Christian, and the lyrics are full of biblical and faith references.  The band is from Ireland, and Bono (singer/lyricist) grew up with a Catholic parent and a Protestant parent, in times when those two groups (bounded sets) were often enemies, and even killed each other.  The setting for this version of the song is their huge homecoming concert at Slane Castle, with 80,000 fans reserved.  BUT the night before, Bono's father passed away.  The band and families are very close, and Bono and the band are heartbroken.  But what do you do, cancel a huge homecoming concert, to which fans were coming from several countries? No, you keep the date, and perform this song:'

Read this... and watch this video  after you have finished ZOOM 3 on the U2 song "Where the Streets Have No Name" 

Before you watch, try one word for what the song seems to be "about"...even if the word isn't mentioned in the lyrics.

The lyrics can be hard to hear..they are here, and may give a clue.

Bono, the singer/songwriter says all their songs can be turned into a prayer.

And he says about this song: "We can be in the middle of the worst gig in our lives, but when we go into that song, everything changes. The audience is on its feet, singing along with every word. It's like God suddenly walks through the room. It's the point where craft ends and spirit begins. How else do you explain it?" 

Dave reveals the "historical world" secret to "Streets Have No Name" in his video here  Remember, this is the first Super Bowl after 9/11, and U2 had already been booked to perform (Hmm, how might an Irish band speak to America's shock and grief?).  Dave reveals in the first video what Bono says at the beginning, and what's on the screen,  of this Super Bowl version of the song.

:

==

TATTS  Remember the adjunct prof at FPU with the Leviticus 19:28 tattoo? =

=

Extra credit: The FPU magazine implied this cross was on the school sign for decades,  But it was only there for three hours, and I (dave) put there...and almost got kicked out of school fir doing it.,  Google  for that story and text it to Dave by Week 3 class

--

We did the first two minutes of this video, especially the EASIER VS HARDER QUESTION.

We talked about how Jesus shifted the law.  We will do the rest on Moodle this week

Thursday, August 12, 2021

bib 451 week 1 content

1.2 Class Debrief : Texts, Sets, Worlds and Final Exam (post by Thurs.11:59 PM, reply to one other by by Friday 11:59 PM

Quickly scan to review  below. 

 A post that includes:

• How did you feel about the class and why?  Different than you were expecting?  Why?
• Two  highlights or interesting lessons and why they were
• A response to the question Dave asked for at the end of the set theory video .

If you missed class. read and watch all the above, and post a list of observations and questions, in addition to the three questions above

__________________________

Remember the  easy extra cred assignment on this two-minute video, see first class announcement email  

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, our beloved coworker Philemon,  to our sister Apphia, to our fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church in your house:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I mention you in my prayers,  because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the partnership of your faith may become effective as you comprehend all the good that we share in Christ.  I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. For this reason, though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing,  yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.  Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful  to you and to me.  I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me so that he might minister to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel,  but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.  Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for the long term,  no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.  If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to me.  I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. One thing more: prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

---

Agenda                                                                    =

• Intros
• "Final Exam"
• Three Worlds and Texts
• Set theory/Class "exercise"
• Field Trip
• Timelines
• Genesis 1 and 2 :Venn it
• Song of the Week: Venn it

--

 class content

Remember his opening line:

I
===

What did you learn from this video ? 2700 people got it wrong:

• -----------------------------------------------------------------------
• What does  FPU Campus Safety officer, Robert Brewer, say is the secret of his job, in one word?

Remember Robert's answer:

 PATTERNS!

....a key word for reading the Bible.

               Or any text.

PS: who did I say was the most important person on campus tonight ? 

His name is :______________________________

 ==

PHILEMON.. your "final exam".  Your signature paper is on the Bible book of Philemon.  We read and discussed it

PHILEMON: 

              Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus,

      and Timothy our brother,

        To  Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker

   also to Apphia our sister and

               Archippus our fellow soldier

                                            —and to the church 

                                    that meets in your home:

3 Grace and peace 

to you (plural) 

                                                  from God our Father

                                               and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,

          5 because I hear about your  

                                   love               and                          faith

     towards                 Lord Jesus     and               all the saints    

6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective 

                in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

7 Your love has given me great       joy

                                         and        encouragement,

 because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. 

8 Therefore

 although in Christ I could be bold, and order you to do what you ought to do,

                                                                            9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.

 It is as none other than Paul—                   an old man (elder)

  and now also                                             a prisoner of Christ Jesus—     

10 that I appeal to you for my son--

                                          Onesimus,["Useful"]" 

                  

 who became my son while I was in chains.

11 Formerly he was                           useless                                  to you,

 but now he has become                   useful                            both to you and to me.

12 I am sending                         him

                    —who is my very heart

                                                    —back to you.     

13 I would have liked to keep him with me

 so that 

                                           he                  could take 

                                           your                   place 

                 in helping          me 

while I am in chains for the gospel.     

14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, 

so that any favor you do would not seem                forced 

                                            but would be             voluntary.     

15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while

 was that you might have him back forever—

        16 no longer as a slave,

                  but more than a slave, 

                               as a dear brother. 

He is that to                                  me, 

             but even more so to         you, 

both                         in the flesh

 and                         in the Lord.

17 So..

 if                                            you consider me a partner, 

                               welcome  him

          as you would welcome me.

 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes          you                      anything,

                                           charge it to                me.

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)

 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit or usefulness from you in the Lord;

                                   refresh my heart in Christ.

 21 Confident of your obedience, 

              I write to you,

                          knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

22 And one thing more: 

             Prepare a guest room for me, 

                            because I hope to be restored to you     (plural) 

                                                   in answer to your  (   plural) prayers.

23 Epaphras,

 my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, 

sends you greetings. 

 24 And so do Mark,

                       Aristarchus,

                        Demas 

                  and Luke, 

                                      my fellow workers.

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your  (plural) spirit.

HERE's most of what I said about Philemon....and more.  It should help!

Keep observations of Philemon, already preparing for your signature paper. Remember to look for any clues/cues to tome/emotion/volume.

Your observations:

---

-------

Some comments from class discussion on Philemon:

-

1) Don't trip on  the word "saints."  In the Bible it just means "Christians."  Even Dave is a saint, not just holy people like Ashlee (: Remember Paul wrote two letters to some bad Christians who were getting drunk at communion and having sex with relatives (1 and 2 Californians, I mean Corinthians), and he called even them "SAINTS."

-2) 

Don't trip on "the church that meets in your house."   The Bible knows nothing of official church buildings; they didn't exist yet.  They met in homes, and churches were small.  This doesn't mean Philemon had a large house, or was necessarily wealthy.

IMPORTANT: WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THIS PAINTING?

See this video for the question about the  painting (27 sec-50 sec mark)-, then the 4:25 min mark for the question about it
(ignore the rest, it's from a prior class.  How many of you got the answer right??)
--

 

We covered this content on texting found in the video below.

It also includes the famous/infamous BUTT CHEEKS story, 

and an extra credit challenge:

             

---

--

These FPU Bible classes are famous (and infamous), and have  been for years. For decades, everyone has had to take a version of this class. There is some fear involved.

At first, it can be hard to get a handle on what these classes are about. If you are not well-versed (pun intended!) in the Bible and its background, you may worry you are not equipped.

It sure scared me to register for it!

Here's a pic of me in my main campus dorm room  c. 1983, writing my signature paper for this class on something called a typewriter.

I think it helps to know that all of us are already experts in the key discipline needed in this class: 

texting!

I know what you're likely thinking: "Huh?  Texting??"

FPU professor (and 'textpert') Greg Camp introduced the brilliant idea of having students text the instructor during class as a way of demonstrating that we all are experienced in sending and receiving messages...and reading texts, and discerning context and subtext etc.  We all intuitively use the skills of what we will call "The Three Worlds" in making sense of messages we receive/read. 

This will prepare us for the reading of our textbooks, especially the "text" of the Bible.

What is  a 'TEXT'?
TEXT:  the word does not  anymore mean just written words, or text message.

a TEXT is

 "any message,

                    in any medium,

                                 designed to communicate anything"

... so obviously the Bible counts as a "TEXT message."

We will be reading the Bible..and even if it is a new book to you, and even if you are not a  believer, you are already a good interpreter of texts.  

You do it every day.

Watch this video, which should help.  Be sure to follow the instructions you will hear at the beginning.:

When you interpret a text, it can be crucial to discern emotion, volume, atmosphere, tone, context and "CONTEXTURE" (atmosphere, tone).

These texts will become our curriculum as we interpret them. Remember the "Three Worlds" concept your instructor talked about in the video (review just the 2 min to 3 minute mark).  The worlds help us interpret a text in context and "contexture," and are the key approach we take in FPU Bible classes to interpret texts, especially the Bible.

--

The Three Worlds approach to reading the Bible 

.

This  below is how one student summarized the worlds (she has more detail here)

Literary World--The literary world of the Bible is simply the text itself, apart from anything outside the text.  We mean the world (or, better, worlds) created by the text; the words on the page, by the stories, songs, letters and the myriad other types of literature that make up the Bible.  All good literature (and the Bible is, among other things, good literature) creates in readers' minds magnificent, mysterious, and often moving worlds that take on a reality of their own, whether or not they represent anything real outside the pages (Hauer and Young ch 2).

Historical World--The historical world of the Bible is the world "behind the text" or "outside the text".  It is the context in which the Bible came to be written, translated, and interpreted over time, until the present.  In studying the historical world of the Bible, we look for evidence outside the text that helps us answer questions such as, who wrote this text, when was it written, to whom was it written, and why was it written.  We also probe the text itself for evidence that links it to historical times, places, situations, and persons (Hauer and Young 2)..



Contemporary World--The contemporary world is the "world in front of the textt" or the "world of the reader."  In one sense, there are as many contemporary worlds of the Bible as there are readers, for each of us brings our own particular concerns and questions to the text.  They inevitably shape our reading experience.  We are all interested in answering the questions of whether the Bible in general, or particular texts, have any relevance to our personal lives 

---

Remember Dan Nainan?

Why do people say he is HALF ASIAN, 

if he is half Japanese/half Indian?

What continent is Israel on?

"What continent is Israel on?"

How did you answer the question? 

Answer it in your mind, and then scroll down.

There is only one right answer, obviously. 

 But every time I ask the question--in Israel or in class--people stumble, and tentatatively give the wrong answers: Europe?  Africa?  Middle East?

The only right answer is:

 Asia.

Does that sound surprising or shocking?

Sooo..that means:

 Jesus

 was                                        

Asian.

People laugh when you say that.  But it's true...and important that Jesus lived in Asia;  born and died there. That was his home. In our contemporary world, we think Asian means only Chinese, Japanese etc.

Jesus was Asian! Note I didn't say He IS Asian, as I believe He is bigger than that now, but while on earth as a human he was ethnically  Jewish...and  Asian.  So He thought and lived an Eastern, Mediterranean, Hebrew, Occidental, ASIAN worldview.  This will become important later in class.

Video we didn't watch: 

Want to have some fun? .. POST the phrase:

 "Jesus was Asian" 

on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter..or text or say it to at least one person Then post below  one or more of the responses you got.  Some people will

accuse you of being crazy.  Post your results at the bottom of this summary /

--------------------

Field trip: =

All I said is go L on Plaza, R on Goshen to the shopping center on Akers.  On the trip, find the following:

--

The answers I was looking for (though you found some better ones (send the pics, so I can post:

1)

2)

3)

• 
  
• 4)
• 
  
• 5)
• 
  

  -------------------------------------

of discussing the only thing we ever engage in, and the only job we have:

interpreting text messages.

Huh?

Increasingly, the definition of text is becoming:

"any message, 
in any medium, 
intended to communicate anything"

Movies are texts; conversations at St. Arbuck's are texts. etc

So the primary discipline/skill/art we should cultivate is that of sending and interpreting text messages.

All of life is a text message.

Of course, when dealing with The Text (Scripture), how much more...

Text, subtext, and context is everything.

Text me..

Thanks for texting me in class.  

exts:

TEXTS

 TEXT:  the word does not mean just written words, or text message..

a TEXT is technically 


":any message
  in any medium,

 designed to communicate anything"

so obviously the Bible counts as a TEXT message. 

.

But so does everything.

  All you ever do is send and receive and interpret texts:

Every conversation, film,  book is a text.

Because several of the classes I teach have to do with how to read and interpret texts (particularly biblical texts) , contexts, and intertextuality...I actually encourage students to send me text messages in class.

They often look at me as if I am kidding, even afraid I will confiscate their phone if they do.

..

FPU professor  (and Textpert) Greg Camp introduced me to thebrilliant idea of having students text me in class. 

I ask them to send me a random text message (anything) or to forward me a text message from their inbox.   These become our curriculum for the next few minutes as we interpret them.

This opens great discussion..

What do you remember about  the BUTT CHEEKS (BUT CHEEKS)  story?

Texts need contexts.

__

Set theory: First, we did this class "exercise":

TO ILLUSTRATE SET THEORY, WE DID AN IN-CLASS EXERCISE. STUDENTS HAD TO DECIDE WHICH SIDE OF THE ROOM TO STAND ON. BASED ON WHICH OF EACH PAIR THEY PREFERRED.
PICK A SIDE OF THE ROOM TO STAND ON FOR EACH PAIR:

THIS HELPED INTRODUCE SET THEORY:

ONE OF THE MOST HELPFUL WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE...AND LIFE..IS SET THEORY.
YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW THE THREE SETS FOR MOODLE 1.5  AND OTHER ASSIGNMENTS.
MANY SUCCESSFUL SIGNATURE PAPERS INCORPORATE SET THEORY.


ALL THREE SETS EXPLAINED WITH EXAMPLES IN THIS VIDEO:

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_______________________________________

Genesis 1 and 2

Even many people well-seasoned in the Bible don't realize there are two accounts (not one) of creation in the Bible.  A helpful Three Worlds discipline to hone is this: when there are more than one version of a story (ex. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell the story of the miraculous feeding), it is productive to compare and contrast accounts. Read the first account of creation in Genesis Chapter 1, continuing through Genesis 2:4.  Then read the second account (beginning with Genesis 2.4 through the end of chapter 2. What are the characteristics of each account?  How are they the same/different?  Did they feel like they were written in different styles, genres, even by different writers?  Jot down some informal notes about your observations in the forum below, bullet points might be helpful.  Respond to at least two classmates about their observations.--t.

Glance at the faculty notes on  Two Creation Accounts i below this.  Regarding the item printed in red there: answer below in your post whether  or not you noticed that as you made observations .  Think about  power of not missing significant observations/differences in reading texts, and in life in general.

--

Greg Camp and Laura Roberts (FPU faculty) note:

The two accounts are separate but complementary, like the four gospels. They can be read at different levels, from literal to figurative, with no bearing on the truth of it. Poetry is not less true than a newspaper, just a different kind or mode of truth. And, one must always ask the question what the implied author intended and what the implied audience would have understood. Ancient notions of history are very different from ours.

Genesis 1:

repetitious, tabular, formal

days of creation reported in the same way, formulaic

authority and brevity

style of ordering material into a series of similar solemn commands are unchallenged

content presents major divisions of creation known to writer

catalog or tabulation of events and commands

vocabulary = create (bara), humanity as likeness/image, male/female

DIFFERENT NAME FOR GOD USED IN THE TWO ACCOUNTS,  IN GENESIS 1, God = "God" (Hebrew word is  Elohim, characterized as powerful cosmic organizer, speaks things into being, stands outside of cosmos and controls it

Humanity = created as vice regent, created in image gives representative status

polemic against mythical concepts of life and creation

Genesis 2:

relationship of characters emphasized

language is picturesque and flowing, poetic terms, colorful

God's actions more interrelated than separated by divisions of time or set expressions (idioms)

no two acts are alike and none are preceded by divine command

vocabulary = form (yasar), humanity as living being, man/woman

DIFFERENT NAME FOR GOD USED IN THE TWO ACCOUNTS,  IN GENESIS 1, "GOD" AND IN GENESIS  2, "Lord God" (In Hebrew  language, "Yahweh," characterized by immanence, personal nearness, involvement on human scene, intimate master, depicted humanly (hands, walking, digging)

Humanity = ready contact with and immediate responsibility to God. Humanity's creation linked to ground (word play on adam = man and adamah = ground) and curse is alienation from the land, is distinctive because Yahweh personally addresses him

polemic against fertility cults in Canaan

===Song of the Week: Streets Have No Name (by Sun 11:59 pm)

NOTE: We did the first song in class already, so just do the second and post

Instructions

Strangely enough, one of the best practices or "labs" for successfully interpreting a text (including the Bible) is by remembering and rehearsing something you already do well: Interpreting a song. The main reason will become clear in two weeks. But a key reason is also that when we listen to/read a new song for the first time, it is a great practice in reading and interpreting a "text" using the Three Worlds.

I assume the song below will be a new song to many of you, if not all of you. Good; it was the same way with Philemon.

There are no second first reads. You will see/hear things that I miss. And it's okay of you feel you don't get much. Use the usual skills: recurrences? mood? theme? storyline? characters? clues as to message/backstory that occasioned it?

Lyrics and music below. Don't Google or research the song. Just listen, read, and make notes below. Include what you would guess the song is about (be as specific as possible: who is being addressed, what's happening)

Song as Text : "Venn it" on the Nameless Streets

We will be  "practicing" Three Worlds interpretation by listening to songs, especially songs that come in two versions.

Sometimes it's a music video that tells a story, sometime the venue or occasion shifts the song's meaning or application.

Here's a v U2 song , with two different performances from the same year

Watch both versions, and post notes about each.   Jot down as you watch and listen:
 Lyrics you can discern, theme, emotions, message, possible meaning of the title etc.  Especially watch for visual/nonverbal clues.   How were they the same/different? Which did you like better and why? 

This idea of comparing and contrasting two versions of the same song to detect meaning(us), we will call "Venn it!",

Draw  a version of this diagram (two interlocking circles in a  "venn" diagram, color is up to you)  and in the left hand circle, jot observations and notes about version a of the song, in the right  hand circle, jot observations and notes about version b.  In the middle, write anything you like about what the songs have in common, and post a word abut common theme or feel.  You can do this in paper and screenshot it, or draw mechanically.  ) , o

Note: for the second version, some "historical world" info will be given to help.  This is like reading Philemon cold, or having a bit of backstory (who was Paul, slavery etc).

Resist the temptation to google the song, as the idea is to practice YOUR skills.

Version a : 

Version b: U2 is not a "Christian band" in the sense of being in the Christian market or on a Christian label.  But all members are Christian, and the lyrics are full of biblical and faith references.  The band is from Ireland, and Bono (singer/lyricist) grew up with a Catholic parent and a Protestant parent, in times when those two groups (bounded sets) were often enemies, and even killed each other.  The setting for this version of the song is their huge homecoming concert at Slane Castle, with 80,000 fans reserved.  BUT the night before, Bono's father passed away.  The band and families are very close, and Bono and the band are heartbroken.  But what do you do, cancel a huge homecoming concert, to which fans were coming from several countries? No, you keep the date, and perform this song:

• goog_58681551

The College Essay is Dead: Will ChatGPT Kill the Student Essay?  

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• Using OpenAI and GPT3 for Biblical Studies

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• Google Exec Warns of AI Chatbot 'Hallucinations.'

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• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: ChatGPT 'will change our world'

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• Could ChatGPT ever preach a sermon? - Mike Frost

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• ChatGPT AI robots writing sermons causing hell for pastors

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• Impact of GPT3 for social workers

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• Understanding Chat-GPT, And Why It's Even Bigger Than You

  ChatGPT worries professors, excites them for future of AI

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• Five Ideas for How Professors Can Deal with CHAT GPT-3 .

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• ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor

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• Potluck next week

Generous Justice from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Generous Justice from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.