history

One of the things in the Bible that sticks out for me is when God took that day of rest after completing the work of creation. In my mind I pictured God constantly doing things and never resting. This is in stark contrast to that idea. At the same time, I find myself constantly doing things and never taking a day of rest. Yet, God tells me I should take a day of rest every week. Looking at what the Bible teaches and what we have seen in the world that day of rest, known as the Sabbath, can have huge implications in our lives. Here are a couple that I see.

Genesis is, possibly, the most controversial book of the bible. The way the creation story told in Genesis contradicts popular science is enough to make most people feel weird about it. Even many Christians shy away from Genesis to stay away from this weirdness. Some Christians don't believe the creation story and buy into the ideas of popular science. But, what does the book of Genesis really say? What does science say? Including scientific theories that aren't as popular and scientific knowns that are rarely taught to us in schools.

Fag is a word with a strong meaning. If one calls someone a fag there is little question as to what they mean. Yet, less than a century ago the word fag had a totally different meaning. It meant a cigarette.

Understanding the idea someone is trying to convey with words is culture dependent. Back when I was in high school my English teacher had us read Shakespeare. Because, Shakespeare was from a different time with a different culture my English teacher had to explain quite a few things about the culture so we could understand what was going on.

The same thing applies to reading the Bible. The Bible is written from a Hebraic cultural perspective which is quite different from the western cultural perspective we view things today. To understand what is written in the Bible requires some knowledge of the Hebrew culture from the time it was written. Otherwise, it is easy to incorrectly understand what is written in the Bible.

This past weekend at the church service I attended the pastor taught about some of those differences and here is a short list outlining an idea followed by the difference in how the Hebrews and western culture view them: