Bible Study Rehab

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:”
“But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”
“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
“And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”
“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?”
“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.”
“And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”
“And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
“And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:”
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;”
“Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;”
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.”
“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:”
“Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.”
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
“These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,”
“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground.”
“But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”
“And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”
“The name of the first [is] Pison: that [is] it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there is] gold;”
“And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone.”
“And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.”
“And the name of the third river [is] Hiddekel: that [is] it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river [is] Euphrates.”
“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:”
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
“And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
“And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof.”
“And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”
“And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
“And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.”
“And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.”
“And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
“And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
“And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.”
“And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”
“And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
“And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”
“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.”
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
“So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
“And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

“Christianity began as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
When it went to Athens, it became a philosophy.
When it went to Rome, it became an organization.
When it went to Europe, it became a culture.
When it went to America, it became a business.”

I find this very true indeed. As much as I strive for the ‘personal relationship’ model, I usually end up very close to the ‘philosophy’ model. As far as the organization, culture, and business goes, sour grapes all around. As much as I believe in the philosophy of Christianity, I struggle to functionally have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Our society is filled with sermons, songs, and corny wall plaques that remind us that we should love Jesus {John 8:42}, God {Deuteronomy 6:5}, and that our relationship should be that of a friend {James 2:23, John 15:14-15}. It’s not so much about the conversation. {Matthew 6:5-7} I don’t struggle with using the King’s English when I pray. I pray with the same accent and slang that I’d use to order a bowl of chili. (As a side note, if you ever find yourself in Springfield, MO, you must eat at Casper’s Chili Parlor. You can thank me later.) I’ve heard people speak of falling in love with Jesus, and I’ve seen folks that I honestly believe had a closer relationship with God than their own parents, siblings, or spouse. I’m just not sure how they got there. Maybe it’s a matter of imagery. I can’t say that I’ve ever fallen in love with another guy. Maybe if all the imagery of Jesus was in the form of a 6’5” Hispanic woman who spoke with a Russian accent I’d have an easier time. In accordance with my trust issues, I have difficulty having a relationship with God in the same way I would find it difficult to carry on a relationship with someone who had died and was no longer tangibly present in my physical life. I wonder who actually had a harder task. The disciples had a physical, tangible man to talk to, hang out with, eat with, walk with. However the consequences of being a “Christian” were a bit more extreme then than they are now. I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a beheading, stoning, crucifixion, or the like. The social consequences of being a “Christian” are now usually little more than mild annoyance. I would surely enjoy having a physical, tangible man to direct all my questions to, preferably over a bowl of Casper’s chili. I guess my struggle is with trying to relate to someone like Superman in the same manner I’d banter with a simple farm boy like Clark Kent. This is an unlimited being that I have trouble comprehending, much less asking to help me with some work around the yard. Yet part of me wonders if I would believe it if this wish were granted. {Luke 16:31} Usually folks who show up on our porch and claim to be God incarnate, here to help us with all the issues that life brings, are met with skepticism and a straitjacket. That said, I continue to work toward this goal, and when asked about my beliefs I choose to say that I’m trying to be a follower of Jesus.

I say ‘trying’ because I’m not sure that with all my human faults, I could ever attain or accomplish ‘Christianity.’ I struggle with it daily. Growing up, we used to sing a song, “Ain’t it grand to be a Christian.” Its folksy exemption from the rules of grammar aside, I have problems with its implications. On the surface it implies that by becoming a ‘Christian,’ your days of struggle are erased from existence and you get a ticket to Freeridesville, complete with rainbows, unicorns, and entire groups of people bursting into joyful song and dance through the streets. Perhaps my experience has been, yet again, of the anomalous variety, but in the words of my grandpappy, “Don’t pee down my leg and tell me that it’s raining.” My grandpappy gave me other nuggets of wisdom, usually in reference to what foods, if consumed to excess, would ‘plug your hole,’ but I digress. I’ve found that the harder I work to follow all the ‘rules’ of Christianity, both written and unwritten, the more struggle I get from life. The few times that I’ve strayed from the path have been surprisingly smoother rides. All of this seems to point to my current state of frustration with organized religion and its followers. It sets up its followers for failure, and then when they fail, teaches them to ‘bear false witness’ {Exodus 20:16} as to their true experience in life. We are trying to become better Christians, and it’s a rough go. {Acts 14:22} What happened to this kind of simple honesty? Drop the ‘Holier than thou’ persona. Side note, per (through) + sona (sound) comes from the mask that was worn on stage in the early days, as the sound of their voice was amplified by the megaphone‐like mouth hole in the mask. Second side note, the word parson also comes from this root, a mask. Funny, or is it?

Trying to be a follower of Jesus. Why? I’m sure everyone could give a different answer here, but in light of my rant on honesty, my answer isn’t a pretty one. I’ve been told all my life that I should love God. I want to love God. Why? Fear. {Job 28:28} Fear stemming from the fact that I do believe everything that the Bible has to say, not just the feel good quotes printed on our bookmarks and greeting cards. {Psalms 111:10} Fear that I may not be enlightened enough to understand the true interpretation of scripture. {Proverbs 1:7} Fear of eternal punishment. {Proverbs 9:10} Fear of not becoming that which I was born to become. {Proverbs 15:33} That said, is this a ‘good enough’ reason? Not sure. It’s kind of like saying that I know I’m selfish and prideful. I know that I should not be selfish and prideful. I want to be less selfish and prideful. Why? Because I would, as a selfish and prideful person, feel more proud of, and love myself more if I were able to accomplish it. You see my point.

As one who has a hard time maintaining a personal relationship with God, I tend to lean toward learning about God. {1 Chronicles 28:9} One becomes interesting by becoming interested, and such. Similar to the way one might check up on a girl before asking her out, I find myself studying religious texts and listening to teachers. As I am quite confident that I could never know enough, let alone too much about God, I don’t worry about knowing so much that I won’t have anything to talk about, should the opportunity present itself. This reminds me of time I spent with a Zen master. I asked if he could teach me about Zen, he declined and said there was nothing to teach or learn. He offered a cup of tea, I accepted but did not drink as it was still hot. While letting it cool, I asked again if he would be willing to share his perspective on life with me. He proceeded to take the tea pot and pour more tea into my cup. Slowly he poured and allowed the cup to overflow onto the saucer and then the table and then the floor. I was confused by what had just happened and looked at the guru for explanation. He said, like the cup, I was already full of my own ideas about what Zen was, and therefore any new ideas he would offer would simply overflow and go to waste. I would first have to empty my cup so as to prepare myself for the new perspective he would share. Sometimes I wonder if in my search to know about God, I sabotage my opportunity to know God.

God truly does move in mysterious ways. Sometimes it takes drastic measures to wake us from the unreality of our reality. Our eyes have been blinded to the blessing all around us. Our hearts hardened to the love and joy that encompass us. Our minds distracted from the truth of who we are, what we are, why we are, how we are, and where we are to be. Sometimes we grow so comfortable in the lies and deceit that the world feeds us morning, noon, and night, that we fail to be aware of the reality of our existence. {Jeremiah 16:19} Sometimes it takes an outside party to wake us from this false nightmare of a life we have grown so accustomed to. In the same manner that people who are born and raised within a cult can grow accustomed to lies, deceit, and theft of their worth, character, and humanity, so can we become brainwashed by the lies, deceit, and theft perpetrated on us by our culture, society, media, even friends and family. Likewise, we often need someone outside our circle of experience, to point out the truth of our situation. We are not built for this place, this world, this circumstance, this life. We are truly aliens in a foreign land. Our residence in this country does not make it our home. {Philippians 3:20} Our residence in this life does not make it our home {John 18:36}.

Am I now void of the disappointment, confusion, anger, and fear that started me on this journey? Not at all. However they have all been redirected. I’ve learned that this universe, this dimension, this life that we currently occupy is one of balance, of harmony, of equilibrium. Negative emotions, thoughts, feelings, ideas, situations, and circumstances are not bad, but rather simply one side of the equation. They are just as valid, important, necessary, and useful as their positive counterparts. For every up there is a down, for every in there is an out, for every left there is a right, for every plus there is a minus. You can’t have black without white, on without off, song without silence, light without dark, sweet without sour, hard without soft. Until this place is no more, until the rule book is thrown out, until this existence is changed, these truths will continue forward {Matthew 5:18}.

Use everything, leave nothing. For every problem there is a solution. I remain confused by why we allow ourselves to be sold a bill of goods that we don’t want, didn’t order, and then suffer the effects of misplaced loyalty. I will never lose the righteous anger that I feel when I see princes and princesses treated like slaves and objects, sometimes of their own free will. I still fear that if we don’t wake up soon from this illusion, that we’ll become so indoctrinated into its lies and misinformation, that we will find ourselves farther down the wrong path, and so lost that we fail to notice how many are following us in the wrong direction.

Despite what you may believe about yourself or those around you, we are all who we are for a reason. {Exodus 9:16} Get out and find your reason for being. Take no hostages, accept no substitutes. Sometimes we are unhappy with our lives, because we’re trying to be something that we are not. Don’t give in to the pressure from all the elements around you to be someone that you are not, but rather embrace the reality and truth of who you are and be proud of who you are, what you are. Whatever you learn about yourself on your journey, don’t discount its significance. Even a negative truth is a truth. Use it to find the positive truth that is longing to balance the problem you face.

I was slowly learning and following a false impression of who I was, and thus becoming less satisfied with the life that I was creating for myself. I was on a goat path to nowhere, and at a fairly significant clip. It may take losing a grandparent, parent, spouse, child, sibling, pet, or perhaps a country, house, car, job, or small fortune to gain clarity, truth, patience, and strength. {Job 1:21} Hopefully your journey won’t require such a high price tag. Learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of others, accept yourself, find your place, become the you that you are built to be.

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

Let’s get something straight, I have trust issues. There are two ways to look at my distrust. Maybe I trust only myself, or perhaps it’s only myself that I distrust. Why do I worry as I drive through town? Is it the other people’s lack of focus, or lack of skill that I distrust? Or merely my own ability to react quickly and correctly to their actions? They both lead to the same symptoms of behavior. So in the interest of taking the responsibility on myself, we’ll make this my inability to trust others.

As a child, I was raised under a “Christian” roof. Specifically the Assembly of God variety. Let me state first and foremost that I’m generally put off by the whole concept of “religion.” I find that religions are simply groups of beliefs that have been categorized for the benefit of self propagation. I have a hard time with this because it limits the ability to be truthful about what you believe. I’d like to believe this, but I’m a Baptist. Maybe if I weren’t Catholic I could believe that. What if the “this’s” or “that’s” are the only things standing between absolute truth and ignorance? I also find that this subdividing of beliefs usually doesn’t lead to any kind of interpersonal harmony. Sure on a small scale it might make me feel better about you because we go to the same place of worship. So surely we’re more alike than not, and surely that helps us fit in with each other comfortably. If reading religious texts has taught me anything, it is that most of the major religions don’t favor comfort. I can’t remember any wise proverbs about how becoming comfortable gets one closer to attaining any semblance of holiness or truth or wisdom or enlightenment.

Perhaps this is where the roots of my disappointment, confusion, anger, and fear can be found. There are so many things that we all stumble across in life that beg a countless number of questions to be asked. Most of these questions go unanswered. So which religion is the real deal? I have studied all of the more established religions of the world to find an answer that I could trust. Ultimately I seek truth. {John 8:32} This is a tricky quest, especially when you have trust issues. To add another level of difficulty to this quest is my tendency to favor a simplistic black or white view of life. Shades of gray have no place in my quest. Shades of gray are nothing more than degrees of justification for those who can’t handle truth. Since truth is what I’m searching for, gray is out. Whereas I view the Heinz 57 varieties of every major religion, usually termed “sects” or “denominations,” as nothing short of shades of gray, my view of these should fast become apparent. Despite all this, I have come to a certain set of beliefs that I hold to.

As some might suspect, this set of beliefs don’t fit comfortably under any particular religion’s umbrella. I believe that there is a certain amount of truth in each and every holy book. The problem I have is that I find more than a fair share of outright bologna in most of them as well. As one who enjoys philosophy, I far too often find myself following some random goat path to nowhere. I am constantly reminding myself to keep on subject. That said, forgive me if I stray in my attempt to literate the set of beliefs that I hold myself to.

God? This is where my quest begins. I believe in a God who is first and foremost, unlimited in any and every way. This lends to such philosophical puzzles as “Can God create a rock so large that He can not lift it,” and the like. These puzzles stem from the basic truth that people are limited, and we can’t wrap our heads around anything that isn’t. Right from the get‐go we have a bit of a dilemma. In order to continue beyond this, we have to come to the understanding that even our language and its ability to discuss the limitless is itself limited. As God is unlimited, several of the nit‐picky questions that arise can be easily and summarily dismissed. Is God a man or a woman? Is God a force, a spirit, a being? God can’t be boxed in by such questions. God is God, period. By definition, unlimited. {1 Timothy 6:16}

Creation or Evolution? I believe that evolution is a process created by an unlimited God. Only an unlimited God could create anything from nothing. God created all that we know, experience, and feel. {Genesis 1:1-2:3, Colossians 1:16} God put limits on it all as well. I am very comfortable living and thinking in a world with limits, or rules, or laws. Whether I enjoy being limited or not, I tend to favor limits and the order they bring. I once spoke to a man who was, incidentally, in a mental facility at the time, whose mind was not bound by this acceptance of such limits. He would not expect a ball that he threw up into the air to slow down, stop briefly, and then return back to his hand. He told me that he was in no position to decide what limits were in effect at any given point in time, and therefore the ball could at some point, continue off into space. He said that probability was not equal to rule. This man’s perspective fascinates me to this day, however I still expect the ball to come back to my hand, or at least back down to earth if my ability to throw or catch said ball is in question. We have limits everywhere around us. From the self imposed limits of public dress codes, to limits like gravity. We even have names for various groups of limits. Names like physics, mathematics, law, etiquette, and religion. We tend to focus a lot of energy and attention finding all the limits, measuring them, trying to escape them, and when we get desperate, even making up some of our own. I can’t buy into any religion that preaches that we are all one cumulative entity that is expressed in various essences. Usually this “entity” is what I would call God, and we are all the “essences” or “expressions” of the “entity.” Although this is a fascinating concept to think through, I have a hard time believing that I am, or any other human is at root, “entity” or God. I think if any of us were God, we’d figure out how to reach parts of our own planet that still remain unexplored, or how to practically apply string theory and travel through time, or how to get our kids to obey us the first time we ask, or keep a hard shell taco in one piece after the first bite.

Birth, Death, Neither, or Both? What happened to “me” before I was born, and what will happen to “me” after I die? Many holy texts speak of experiences pre and post our current experience called life. I feel that these questions fall right back into the categories of “limited” vs. “unlimited.” God, unlimited. Everything else, limited. I believe that “me” existed prior to my entrance into this life {Jeremiah 1:5}, and I think that “me” will exist after my exit {Job 14:14}. I know that this current expression of “me” exists in a world with specific, and recognized limits. I don’t subscribe to the belief that “me” was ever, or will ever, become unlimited in nature, or God. Therefore any possible pre‐ or post‐life “me” experience would also be limited in nature. There are similarities between the various holy texts regarding pre‐ and post‐life experience. After I pick which version seems most viable, I can start to narrow down what limits might plague a pre or post‐life “me.” I’m more interested in whether or not it is even relevant to the current life “me.” Perhaps if I could recall or had record of what experiences the pre‐life “me” encountered, I could use that to help guide my current life “me” in the right direction. Unfortunately I don’t recall my own entry into this current life experience, much less anything previous to it. That coupled with the fact that I have trust issues, makes it doubtful that I would rely on anyone else to have recorded it for me. That only leaves the post‐life “me” to discuss. Here I tend to lean toward the Judaeo‐Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell {Romans 2:7-8}. I’m amazed how little detail there is of either of these places in holy texts, as compared to the amount of detail we tend to write in ourselves. The basic concept is that Heaven is very close to unlimited goodness, whereas Hell is very close to unlimited badness. The obvious choice here is Heaven. Some seem to believe that Heaven will be perfection. I’ll have to jump ship here and say that I equate perfection with unlimited. Since God is unlimited, and Heaven is not God, Heaven can’t be unlimited. I tend to imagine that the Heaven experience is the next level for “me.” Not unlimited, but rather less limits, or at least a different set of limits. A new game, with new rules {Hebrews 7:11-13}. And before you ask, I’m not concerned with the new rules of the new game, just like an infant isn’t concerned with the new rules of calculus.

Holy Trinity? This one gets fun. The Bible says that God (remember that unlimited part here) has three personages, commonly referred to as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three personages combine to form the Trinity. {1 John 5:7-8} This is something that makes no sense to people. How can this be? Simple. God is unlimited. However we can’t help but try to fit this unlimited concept into our limited understanding and explain it with our limited vocabulary. I’ve heard this concept destroyed by the best of theologian, so I’ll try to make it simple. Think about water. Water can be a solid, or a liquid, or a gas. No matter what state or form it is in, it’s always water. This is the best I can do.

So what about this Jesus character? Well, back to explaining the unlimited with limited terms again. I’d have to use two words, Superman and baseball. I’m not going to delve into the intricate details of Superman lore on this one, just the basic mythology. So you have this guy, who is very ordinary in his native environment, who gets dumped into a foreign environment in which he becomes extraordinary. {John 1:10-14} Superman would be ordinary on Krypton, but on Earth he has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. I think of Jesus in this way. At home as an equal part of the Trinity, He fits in nicely, but dump Him on Earth, and He sticks out like a sore thumb. Jesus is what happens when you take something unlimited, and put it in a limited environment. This is why people don’t know how to handle this concept of Jesus. It messes with the rules that we’ve learned. How can something unlimited, fit into a limited place? If you’ve read the Bible, you come to the conclusion that it doesn’t fit well at all. The beauty is, because of that unlimited part, it doesn’t have to fit. Before Jesus, there was a pretty good list of stuff you had to do a certain way to get a ticket to Heaven. So far, man had managed to achieve two strikes at bat. Garden of Eden {Genesis 3:22-24}, strike one. Strike two involved a lot of water {Genesis 7:23} and a rainbow ending. God seemed to be done playing this game and wanted give man one last chance to knock one out of the park. The way I figure it, God thinks, “These guys are doing such a bang up job of dealing with the basic limits of this world from the first part of the manual that I gave them, maybe I should knock the level of difficulty down a notch. I’ll send a visual aide and loop hole all in one. Somebody who will walk the walk, and talk the talk.” Enter Jesus. {Galatians 4:4-5} Had he not been unlimited in a limited environment, he wouldn’t have been qualified to also become a loop hole. Now we just try to do what Jesus did {1 John 2:6}. Sure, we won’t all hit home runs, but at least if we fess up to being a wuss at this game, ask for more practice, and at least get on base (even if only by being “walked”), we have the blessed hope of getting brought home when the ultimate clean up batter steps up to the plate.

So what about this “miracle” issue? Let’s recap a few things. First, God is unlimited, and everything else is limited. Second, I’m extremely comfortable around all things limited. Third, skeptical of all things appearing to be unlimited. That said, I consider it a “miracle” when anything “limited” is encountered by the only thing “unlimited” (aka God), in such a way that it is granted an exemption from at least one of its limits. I do believe that this has, does, and can again happen. However, this is not to say that I am in any way comfortable with it. There are numerous accounts of such craziness in the Bible, however I have also personally witnessed some of this as well. It’s not at all easy for me to accept it when it does happen. When a person’s deformed‐from‐birth leg grows about a foot in length in a matter of minutes, I classify that a “miracle.” I personally witnessed this occurrence, and quite frankly, it freaked me out a bit. I have also witnessed things that I would classify as “spiritual phenomenon,” with a similar feeling of discomfort. However, despite any discomfort that these situations cause within me, I can’t deny the fact of their occurrence.

What need does the unlimited have for the limited? I say, “None.” For whatever reason God saw fit to create man in the first place, we are here because He “wanted” us here, not because He “needed” us here. Why is there a seemingly growing list of folks trying to turn that concept on its head? If I’m allowed to live another day, it’s because God “wants” it that way. If I were to wake up healed of my less‐than‐perfect vision, it’s because God “wants” it that way. That said, I don’t believe God “needs” anything. So forgive me when I summarily dismiss the statements of folks that state the opposite. When I hear someone say that I need to sell all my earthly possessions to fund their “ministry,” I tend to laugh out loud. Especially when they seem to lose track of how many mansions, vehicles, jets, suits, gold chains and rings, and extramarital affairs they have. I don’t believe God requires heavy financial funding. I think things like honesty, integrity, self control, and obedience, might work out better for any real “ministry.” You haven’t been physically healed, or escaped poverty, or found that special someone yet because your faith isn’t strong enough, or perhaps you haven’t chanted the right phrase the right number of times or in the right order, etc. What a bunch of bunk! The bottom line is, God “wants” you this way. The very instant He doesn’t, you won’t be, period. Oh, but God wants us all to live free from handicap in any form. So we should therefore all be perfect, right? Whoops, not perfect, just free from the limits we don’t like. That doesn’t track either. How about this, God wants us to be what He wants us to be.

What if I were God? First, let’s all be grateful this is not, nor will it ever become anywhere near the truth. I have no difficulty recognizing that I am not God. Coming from a completely “limited” experience of existence, my first hurdle is figuring out what to do with the utter lack of limits. I have a hard enough time when one thing in one situation in one point in time doesn’t play by one of the existing limits. I would take joy in knowing the answers to several questions that I, as a previously limited person, have struggled with for years. That said, the answering of this question by anyone other than God, is where things go horribly awry. This is where my definition of “religion” stems from. It comes from regular old cats like me. This is scary and pompous, yet also usually humorous and entertaining. The results of this action are fun to discuss, think about, play with, etc. However, when we start to take these musings of man as “truth,” we lose our only hope of finding it. God gave us Himself, not religion. We (to the exclusion of the Rastafari) like to pick people, or things, or places, or processes, and add the suffix “ism.” We then structure a way of being around this term we’ve made up. We create rituals and rules for ourselves to follow. {Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7} No religion, philosophy, or belief system is beyond this failure. More of the same, trying to make the “unlimited” understandable, or even controllable by the “limited.” People tend to go one of two directions on this. They either write down only the rules that they won’t have any trouble following, or inversely, only the rules they could never follow. When you have one of these systems that becomes very popular as measured by a number of adherents, you call it a religion. When your ideas get a little too restrictive, or perhaps not restrictive enough, leading to a lower number of adherents, you have a cult. Sometimes a cult can, change its rules to better suit its adherents, and then with this newly gained popularity, become a religion.

I have come to the conclusion that I would make a horrible deity. The closest I will ever get is being a father. At first, the rules start out short and sweet, like in the Garden of Eden. {Genesis 2:16-17} However when these fail to adequately explain your expectations, you tend to create a striking amount of somewhat arbitrary rules. Although these rules are created for the intended benefit of the child, they sometimes get ridiculous. I tend to follow the protocol set forth in the Ten Commandments. {Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5} Proof that I would make a horrible deity? Try my commandments out. Thou shalt try to figure crap out thyself before thou cometh asking for mine help. Thou shalt learneth and useth logic. Thou shalt embraceth technology. Thou shalt gaineth appreciation for all form of music and art. Thou shalt haveth a dog. Thou shalt learneth from thine own mistakes as well as the mistakes of thine brethren. Thou shalt acteth thine age, until thou learnest comic timing. Thou shalt not be a poor loser. Thou shalt cleaneth up thine own mess. Thou shalt hitteth the hole whenest thou goeth pee. Thou shalt eateth and liketh whatsoever thou shalt findeth on thine own plate. Just to nameth a few.

For approximately 2.5 billion people, the Bible is considered to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. This collection of sacred texts or scriptures are held as the inspired and inerrant word of God by Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Rastafarians, and several others. It is the source of their religious beliefs.

The Bible is widely considered to be the most influential and best-selling book of all time, and is has certainly had a tremendous influence on literature and history. The Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed using movable type. Estimated total sales are over 5 billion copies, and approximately 100 million copies are sold annually.

This translates to nearly everyone, whether believer or atheist, having at least one copy. Yet few who have or believe in the Bible have actually read it. The Bible is not an easy book to read, nor is it a short book to read. So it is not surprising that that those who begin reading at Genesis rarely make it past Leviticus. Most tend to leave this Bible reading business to their pastor/priest/rabbi. Which portions of the Bible you hear recited generally depends heavily on which House of God you attend. In any case, usually only a fraction of the Bible is ever referenced. I intend to remedy that with you here and now.

“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

“Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, [and] he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered [them] from their destructions.”

“This [is] my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.”

“LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”

“They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all [are] thy servants.”

“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they [are] ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies [are] my meditation.”

“Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”

“NUN. Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform [it], that I will keep thy righteous judgments.”

“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they [are] the rejoicing of my heart.”

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

“Thy testimonies [that] thou hast commanded [are] righteous and very faithful.”

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.”

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

“And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

“For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”