Following the truth, God's way, will over time lead to happiness and prosperity. Both Israel and the United States followed His way for an extended period of time and flourished. They then entered a time of error during which they consumed all of the good that previous generations had built up.

Although a people may be enslaved quickly by means of conquest, more often it is that they abandon their liberty. This abandonment generally begins with an abdication or avoidance of responsibility. They decide they want government to do something that they should be doing by themselves. Having shed responsibility, they then begin to tell themselves comforting lies to justify their situation.

It appears that spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of tongues, were being used pridefully. Paul admonishes the church that spiritual gifts are given to benefit the body, not the person through whom they operate. When the church gathers, it is more important to be understood than it is to be envied by others.

To the extent that our society and its education system derive from classical Greece they ill equip us to understand Scripture. The Bible's way of presenting truth is very different. We read Scripture and think we understand it because the words are familiar. Jeremiah will correct our understanding if we will allow it. Judah did not.

The generation that left Egypt under Moses' leadership fell into bitter disappointment when they believed the bad report of the twelve spies. Korah took advantage of that depression to mount a challenge against Moses and ultimately against God Himself. His dream of assuming leadership was wrecked upon the rock of reality. God had decided and no amount of rabble rousing was going to change anything.

In response to a question on spiritual gifts, Paul admonishes the Corinthians that all of the gifts are necessary for the well being of the body. Apparently there was some status seeking on the basis of having one gift over another.

Truth is so precious and rare that people go to great lengths to counterfeit it. In this introduction we discuss the difficult problem of separating truth from opinion.

The journey from slavery to freedom ended for the wilderness generation when the spies brought a bad report about the land. Upon hearing that report, they gave up and asked to return to Egypt (and slavery). This represents one step in God's millennia-long project to develop a good relationship with the people that He created. The project began in the Garden and will culminate in the New Jerusalem.

Among the difficulties in the Corinthian church, there seemed to have been confusion or contention about gender roles. In addressing this, Paul starts with the order of creation and proceeds to then current customs. The upshot is that Scripture forbids dress or behavior that would confuse the two genders.

In the parable of the great banquet, the invited guests all make transparently false and insulting excuses why they cannot attend. This leads the master to cast a wide net and bring others in. In the parable of the wedding feast, the Pharisees assume they will have places of honor in the kingdom. In the parable of the narrow door the Pharisees are assuming that because they are Abraham's descendants, they will be admitted.