Loose Ends

Some times I lie awake a night pondering the deep questions of life. Questions like: "Are those green fuzzy things on apokalupto's title bar leaves or what?" and "Why didn't I add another perspective to that post?" Well, today those loose ends get tied up--partly because I need to get them out of my head and partly because I'm heading south for campmeeting today and don't have time to do a "Sermon Summary". Well...I guess I could do a little summary.

Here's my one paragraph sermon summary--1,2,3,go! When King David got Abigail for a wife (1 Sam 25) he trusted in God to provide his needs and didn't take revenge on Nabal. When David took Bathsheba for a wife (2 Sam 11,12) he sinned because he didn't trust God to provide for him and committed murder to get what he wanted. Psalm 51 shows why David was a man after God's own heart because as soon as something came between him and God he confessed it and asked God to get rid of it.

On Thursday's post I said that if I had a rocket launcher and a helicopter was attacking a refugee camp, I'd probably use it, but I didn't really explain why. I believe non-violence is the best way to solve problems, and therefore I don't own firearms and will not carry them with intent to harm others. (I'm not opposed to using rifles or bows to hunt animals, but I'm a vegetarian so I don't own them.) However, I also believe that one must also protect human life, I believe this to be a corollary to the command "Thou shalt not murder" (Ex 20:13). Therefore, in the unlikely event that the was a rocket launcher at hand, I would use it. However, I would not walk into the situation carrying one.

In my lengthy post on the New Living Translation (NLT) I did a fair bit of "source criticism", if you will, on the Today's New International Version of the Bible, and almost none on the NLT. The NLT was originally conceived as an update to the accuracy of the Living Bible (LB), a paraphrase by recently deceased Ken Taylor. At some point the translation committee decided they wanted to start over from the Greek and Hebrew texts, but still keep the style of English of the LB . The result was the NLT. Here's a comparison of the LB and NLT and "A Critical Review" of the NLT.

I'm going to be gone to campmeeting until August, so apokalupto will lie dormant until then. Cheers.

The painting of Bathsheba showing David her seductive ankles is by Lucas Cranach the Elder.