Buzz King: Grace & Joy thru Scripture

When I was a boy, someone stole a shotgun from a police car - and the only witnesses were kids who all described the thief very differently.  We use this as a sort of "negative" analogy and consider the four Gospels of Jesus and what we should think of their differing stories about Jesus, the way they differ in the order of events, and their somewhat different foci.  Is this a problem - or is this actually a good thing?

We look at two ancient prayers that are very similar - both are called "Creeds".  We consider why they were written, what they mean, and how they differ.  We look at the broader issue of differentiating mechanical beliefs from a deep seated, personal, holistic notion of faith and what it means to emulate Jesus.  We also consider a very large rat that was living in my garage.

My father's father served in the trenches in World War I - and came home very mentally ill.  He proceeded to abandon his family and live on the street (in Quebec) - and commit violent crimes.  We look at the millstone metaphor of Jesus'.  He told us that it was better to put a millstone around our necks and jump into the sea than draw someone away from a life of faith.  We'll look at this story, at Capernaum (where ancient Israel made massive millstones and where Jesus was speaking from), and at why my grandfather thought that he was living by this lesson.

We consider a passage from Isaiah - from three different translations.  We focus on one word from Hebrew that is translated alternately as "wait", "trust", and "hope".  Which translation is correct?  We decide which is the best translation, and from this, we determine that there is a huge lesson in this passage about how Christians should live their daily lives.  It tells us what to do when nothing seems to be happening, when God does not seem to be active in our lives.  It gives us an opportunity to use our time in the most fruitful and faithful way possible.

We look at the Gospel of John, the thoughtful, literary Gospel, from which we derive much of what we believe.  We see that Scripture can be very subtle and can be filled with double entendres.  Looking at the foot washing scene in John as a primary example, we consider the depth and the nuances that are often missed by modern readers of English translations of the Bible.  We see just how magnificent of a gift is Scripture.

We look at a book that most Christians are not that familiar with - Malachi.  He is "the Messenger" from God who tells us that God will refine us like gold and silver.  We look how God works to refine us, largely by building our confidence that we can indeed live as godly, good people.  We consider what we as Christians look to as our leader through life.  We don't have a prophet like Malachi as our Messenger.  Who do we have?

We look at the word "logos" ("λόγος") in the Bible.  We look at its true, deep meaning, a meaning that is very difficult for a non-Greek speaker to appreciate.  We discover that translating this word correctly and looking at the magnificent, poetic intro to the Gospel of John, we learn about our role as the faithful, the reason Jesus came to us, and what we can find in the face of God.

We look at rendering of 3D wireframe images inside a computer into 2D, simulated 3D full color video.  We draw an analogy of God rendering us from empty wireframes devoid of color and life into full color living human beings who have been forgiven.  We consider Psalm 116, which notes God has rescued the Psalmist from Sheol or Hades, and which asks how the psalmist can render an appropriate act of thankfulness to God.  Finally, ask what we can do today to render our thanks to God.

The title of this podcast comes from something my boy, who is 32, said when he was 3.  We're going to look at the derivation of the name "Jesus", and learn some intriguing things about it.  This will help us understand a parallel between the story of the conquest of Canaan with the story of Jesus.  It will teach us something about language.  It will also teach us something about what really matters on this Earth.

For a millennia and a half, the Silk Road provided a vast avenue of exchange for trading commercial products, carrying on philosophical discussion and for the transmission of faith.  We look at how this might have impacted the development of Christianity.  We also look at the new Silk Road - the Internet, and we consider its positive and negative impacts on Christian faith.