May 2012
3 posts
The C-word
No, this post is not about what you may be thinking. The word I had in mind was…CHURCH. This word, which has been in the English language for a very long time, has also had times of unpopularity among people who consider themselves followers of Christ. I’ve been involved lately in a discussion on Facebook about what the Greek word εκκλεσια (ekklesia) meant in its New Testament...
CBA Bible Bestsellers- June 2012
http://www.cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf Posted via email from Bible Bookshelf | Comment »
Book Review- Called to Controversy: The Unlikely...
[I received a free copy of this book in ebook format from the blogger program at Booksneeze.com.]I thought Called to Controversy: The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus (by Moishe Rosen’s daughter, Ruth Rosen) sounded like it would be an interesting story, despite its ponderous title. Boy, was I wrong. It was dull, excruciatingly dull. And although the...
April 2012
7 posts
In the beginning? #CEBTour
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃ Genesis 1:1 In the beginnning, God created the heavens and the earth… (most translations) In the beginning of God’s creating the skies and the earth… (Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah) When God began to create heaven and earth… (Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses) When God...
Chances of dying
This is interesting, but it occurred to me, why has no one worked out an infographic on chances of living? <br />Source: Best Health Degrees Posted via email from CORYBANTER II: babble and banter, bypassing banality | Comment »
Easter resolution
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anyone making an Easter resolution, and I didn’t make this one on Easter Sunday, but nevertheless, here it is. During this Easter season (from Easter to Pentecost), I am trying to kickstart my self-study in Greek and Hebrew. Frankly, it hasn’t gone real well thus far. I have been practicing reading Hebrew words, to really get the...
A new, faithful spirit to go with a shorter beard?...
“Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!” Psalm 51;10, CEB Oh, if only our sins, our worries, our fears, our prejudices, etc., could all be trimmed as easily as a forty-day growth of beard hair! Trimming the Lenten beard was a matter of about a half hour with clippers (I also cut my hair.) Bingo, all that extra hair ended up in the trash...
Last day of the Lenten beard! #CEBTour
You must not cut off the hair on your forehead or clip the ends of your beard. (Leviticus 19:27, CEB) Yes, this is the last day I shall have the beard I have been growing throughout Lent! I shan’t be shaving down to bare skin, as I prefer having a trimmed beard. But I shall be losing this Charlton-Heston-as-Moses-style beard that I have been cultivating for the past 40-odd days. Oh...
My big girl
Su just seems to get smarter and smarter every single day. A week ago, we noticed Lucy really loved to play with a ball that looks a bit like this: I told Su it wasn’t really strictly a ball, as it has 24 sides. We looked online to see what a 24-sided polygon would be called, and one of the terms for it was “icositetragon.” The next day, I said to Su, “Can you get...
Wrapping up Lent #CEBTour
Here we are, and it’s already Maundy Thursday! The end of Lent is only a couple days away. Where has the time gone?A couple of posts ago, I quoted from Psalm 39, about time slipping away so quickly. I think I’ve been conscious of this process throughout the Lenten season this year. As I watch my baby daughter grow so quickly, and as my five year old daughter prepares for...
March 2012
13 posts
Faith vs. Works #CEBTour
During Lent, I often ponder the connection between faith and works. Or perhaps I should say the tension between faith and works, as this has often been a point of contention among Christians, particularly between Catholics and Protestants. Much of the argument comes from the inherent problem of reconciling passages like the two quoted below:We consider that a person is treated as righteous by...
Pet Shop Boys- "It's a Sin"
I don’t know if I’d ever heard this Pet Shop Boys song before. It’s an interesting lyric to consider in this season of Lent. Pay close attention to the recitation of a couple lines from the Confiteor at the end of the song. You can hear the original Pet Shop Boys version of the song on Spotify.
It’s a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys
(Twenty seconds and counting… T...
Time #CEBTour
“Time keeps on slippin’ (slippin’, slippin…) into the future,” as the old song by the Steve Miller Band goes. The psalmist puts it this way: “5You’ve made my days so short; my lifetime is like nothing in your eyes. Yes, a human life is nothing but a puff of air!” (Psalm 39:5, CEB) However you look at it, time does indeed keep slipping into the...
Dies irae, dies illa #CEBTour
Dies iræ! dies illaSolvet sæclum in favilla:Teste David cum Sibylla! The day of wrath, that dayWill dissolve the world in ashesAs foretold by David and the sibyl! -Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and anxiety, a day of desolation and devastation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and deep darkness… -Zephaniah 1:15, CEB ...
All you need is love #CEBTour
Psalm 89:2 “Your loyal love is rightly built—forever! You establish your faithfulness in heaven.” (CEB) “…love is built to last for ever, you have fixed your constancy firm in the heavens.” (NJB) This morning I first read this psalm in the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), and then looked it up in the CEB. I like both readings: the phrase “built to...
Eating and drinking appropriately #CEBTour
“This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way. Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment.” 1 Cor. 11:27-29, CEB I have...
The Bible: the Church's Book #CEBTour
“I tell you that you are Peter. And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it.” Matt. 16:18, CEB “…if I’m delayed, you’ll know how you should behave in God’s household. It is the church of the living God and the backbone and support of the truth.” 1 Tim. 3:15, CEB I...
My crown of glory #CEBTour
“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is found on the path of righteousness.” Proverbs 16:31, CEB I am quite fond of quoting this verse, which takes on more and more personal meaning with each passing year. At first, it was my thought that posting a meditation on this verse wouldn’t fit at all with my Lenten blog posts. But then I began to consider it more carefully. For...
All have sinned... #CEBTour
“All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory…” Romans 3:23, CEB I was just thinking, as I began to type this post, that I’ve kind of dropped the ball, as far as my Lenten blogging. When Lent began, I truly meant to do a post every single day, and I was pretty faithful for the first several days. But, as usual, my various other commitments (and sometimes my...
Law vs. Grace #CEBtour
So you must carefully do exactly what the LORD your God commands you. Don’t deviate even a bit! You must walk the precise path that the LORD your God indicates for you so that you will live, and so that things will go well for you, and so you will extend your time on the land that you will possess. -Deuteronomy 5:32-33, CEB In our Bible study on Romans today, we got talking about that...
My two girls
As I write this I’m sitting on the couch with both of my girls. Lucy is now 4 months old, and Su is 5 years old and anticipating going to kindergarten at an excellent school in the fall. It’s been awhile since my last post, in which I was still adapting to life with TWO children. I don’t know if I’m completely adapted (it still wears me out sometimes), but I have gotten...
Ye gods! #CEBtour
Do you really speak what is right, you gods? Do you really judge humans fairly? No: in your hearts you plan injustice; your hands do violence on the earth. Psalm 58:1-2 (CEB) This is one of the passages in today’s Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer. It strikes me as more than a little odd that David, a monotheist, would address “you gods” like this. Of...
Blogging the Good News
This is going to be brief. Sorry I haven’t been very faithful about blogging for the past several days… Today the following passage popped into my head: 5This is the message that we have heard from him and announce to you: “God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.” -1 John 1:5, CEB The message is transmitted in so many ways these days, not the least...
February 2012
15 posts
Every scripture? #CEBtour
Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good. -2 Tim. 3:16-17, CEB This passage is so often used to “prove” the inspiration (as well as the inerrancy) of the Bible. As such, it actually fails miserably, as far as I...
Love your enemies #CEBtour
“You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.” -Matt. 5:43-45, CEB I guess I don’t really...
Lifestyles of the rich and famous #CEBtour
Looking around, Jesus said to his disciples, “It will be very hard for the wealthy to enter God’s kingdom!” His words startled the disciples, so Jesus told them again, “Children, it’s difficult to enter God’s kingdom! It’s easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.” They were...
John Deacon is NOT a recluse
Some of my regular readers (I think there are some of you out there) may not have any idea who John Deacon is. He was the bass player for legendary rock band Queen. Shortly after lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991, Deacon retired from rock music, and has not been involved in any of the numerous projects carried on by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. (Just so you know, Queen...
To a Cloud
“Where goeth thou, fair maid?” quoth he, “Cloud, in your white drapery; Why do you drift across the sky And hide your face from human eye? I lie here on the soft green grass, With half-closed eyes, and watch you pass; But when I doze beneath the sky, I wake to find you’ve drifted by. I tramp the hillsides everywhere In weary search, but you’re not there. “Where...
Jesus Hugs the Little Children #CEBtour
People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would bless them. But the disciples scolded them. When Jesus saw this, he grew angry and said to them, “Allow the children to come to me. Don’t forbid them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people like these children. I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.” Then...
Jonah and the Missing Sackcloth #CEBtour
“And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant.”-Jonah 3:5, CEB During Lent, a time of penitence, I am always reminded about the story of Jonah, and his preaching to the people of Nineveh. Some who are very familiar with the story as it appears in many translations, may notice the...
Jesus' pastoral prayer
9 “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. 10 Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. 11 I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are...
A clean heart
Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! (Psalm 51:10, CEB) We read this psalm last night at our Ash Wednesday service, as most churches do. It’s always been one of my favorites. I know the 23rd Psalm always tops the list of most people’s faves, but I’ve always preferred number 51. I think there are several reasons. First, when I was...
CEB Lenten Blog Tour
Once again, Ash Wednesday is here, and the folks at the Common English Bible (CEB) are hosting a Lenten Blog Tour, entitled “Change Your Heart and Life.” You can read details about the tour here. The title of the tour brings up an interesting facet of the CEB as a translation. We all hear the word “repentance” quite often during the season of Lent. As far as I know, you...
Book Review: Then Sings My Soul, Book 3
Several years ago, when I took my current position as Director of Music at a small Methodist church in West Nashville, my Sunday School class at my previous church gave me a beautiful gift: the binder edition of the combined Books 1 and 2 of Then Sings My Soul by Robert Morgan. I have often used the book as a resource in my ministry of church music. So of course, when I saw Book 3 of Then Sings...
My updated Bible list
The following PDF is a list of all the Bibles in my collection. There’s a very good possibility I may have skipped a few, as I haven’t been all that meticulous at adding new Bibles to the list lately. But it should be a pretty close representation of all the Bibles I have, in their various formats. Now I’ve just got to figure out where to put them all… ...
Lenten slide show
If you’re interested, the slide show below is available for free download at the Common English Bible website. <div style=”width:425px” id=”__ss_11469041”> <strong style=”display:block;margin:12px 0 4px”>The Common English Bible - Easter Sunday</strong> <div style=”padding:5px 0 12px”> View more PowerPoint...
CEB Lenten Reading slideshow
CEB_Lenten_Readings_Complete.pdf Download this file Available for free download at the CEB website. Posted via email from CORYBANTER II: babble and banter, bypassing banality | Comment »
Anti-intellectualism in the church
Jesus said to him, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Mat. 22:37, NET) It has been a neverending source of dismay to me over the past several years, as I have discussions with other Christians, how opposed some believers are towards any sort of intellectual inquiry in matters of faith. There seems to be a widespread...
January 2012
4 posts
My review of the updated Voice New Testament
See my review of The Voice New Testament (2011) here. [Originally posted on my Bible Bookshelf blog.] Posted via email from CORYBANTER II: babble and banter, bypassing banality | Comment »
Yet another new English translation?
In case anyone’s interested, there is yet another new English translation that has shown up on the already crowded Bible scene. It’s called the International English Bible, and as far as I can tell, it is the work of one man. I believe his name is Andrew Jackson (at least, that’s how he’s credited on the Kindle Version of the IEB’s New Testament), and the website...
CBA Besteselling Bibles List- January 2012
Bible_Translations.pdf Download this file I really thought, by this time, that the CEB would be making a little better showing. Of course, the stores represented by the CBA presumably tend to have a pretty conservative clientele. So it’s possible that this list doesn’t really reflect the actual performance of the CEB. The NIV is certainly holding its position at the stores...
The Voice New Testament (2011 edition)
[I received a free ebook of The Voice for my Kindle through Thomas Nelson’s blogger program at booksneeze.com.] I have blogged about the original edition of The Voice a few times on my main blog at caspianrex.posterous.com. So I was naturally curious to see what changes have been made in this new 2011 edition. Before I give some of my thoughts, I would like to point out that one point...
December 2011
4 posts
Shepherds, angels, and other odd creatures
Announcement to shepherds 8Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. 9The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. 10The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people.11Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ...
Happy news
Some readers of my blog may remember the battle I had with the Metro Codes Department a little while back, over the nasty duplex down the street from us. (I appeared on the news and everything…) Well, we received the wonderful Christmas gift this year of having the thing torn down. Here’s what it looked like a few days ago… And here’s what it looks like NOW… ...
The King is troubled
Matthew 2:1-3 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.” When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. Common English Bible...
The Day of the Lord
Amos 5:18-27 A statement of divine disgust Doom to those who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or sought refuge in a house, rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. Isn’t the day of the LORD darkness, not light; all dark with no brightness in it? I hate,...
November 2011
7 posts
Handel's Messiah and the Bible: Part II
I won’t be writing my thoughts on every single chorus of Handel’s Messiah, but I would like to cover a few of the other really good ones in this post. Why don’t I begin with the ever popular “Hallelujah Chorus”? Technically, this one belongs to the Easter portion of the Messiah. In fact, when I performed the Messiah at a church I used to sing at, the director...
Handel's Messiah and the Bible
As a member of the Nashville Symphony Chorus, Advent season is always the time of year in which we prepare for our annual performance of George Frederic Handel’s famous piece, Messiah. If you’ve never heard at least the “Christmas portions” of Messiah, do yourself a favor and attend a performance (or a sing-along) this season. It’s an amazing way to experience the...
1st Sunday in Advent: Come, Lord Jesus
64:1If only you would tear open the heavens and come down! Mountains would quake before you 2like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil. If you would make your name known to your enemies, the nations would tremble in your presence. 3When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations; when you came down, mountains quaked before you. 4From ancient times, no one has heard, no ear...
Advent vs. Christmas: some thoughts
Before I begin blogging in earnest for the CEB blog tour (see my last post), I wanted to share a few thoughts about Advent and Christmas, and how they are interpreted in our modern consumer-driven culture. A few things you should know, though: First, I have worked in retail for the past twenty years, and currently work part-time at a large department store in Nashville. (Those who know me...