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Bible Insights

Amos Protests and God Relents

Amos Protests

Amos was a shepherd, called by God to be a prophet.His story is found in the book of Amos in the Bible.

Amos says what God tells him, but after a while, the people of Israel—the primary target of his God-given proclamations—get tired of Amos and what he says, telling him to be quiet and go back home.  Interestingly, Peter, the disciple of Jesus, is given a similar warning by the authorities. Both Amos and Peter decline, insisting that they must do what God tells them to do.

At first Amos has no qualms about sharing God’s judgments regarding other nations, but he does eventually object. God shows Amos what will happen and Amos protests—and God relents. (Similar things happen when both Moses and Abraham plead with God.)

God then gives Amos another stinging word. Amos protests and God again relents.

Then God gives Amos a third oracle. This time Amos says nothing.

I wonder if Amos gave up too soon. I wonder if we sometimes make the same mistake.

[Amos 1:1, Amos 7:10-15, Acts 4:18-20, Numbers 14:11-20, Genesis 18:16-33, Amos 7:1-9]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

How Do You Read the Bible?

How Do You Read the Bible

Some people read the Bible like a textbook—to amass knowledge. Other people read the Bible like a book of law—looking for precedent and loopholes to justify themselves, ideas, and behavior.

Still, others read the Bible like a “how to” book—noting the things that they should do and the things that they shouldn’t.

However, all of these approaches miss the point. The people in the Bible—times understood and appreciated it as narrative. That was how it was written and is its best use —for them, and for us.

Not only should we pursue the Bible as narrative, but also with the knowledge that the narrative is best comprehended when it is experienced in the community.

Although personal Bible study and reflection is helpful and enlightening, it is also ego-centric and intellectually narcissistic. It is through the lens of community dialogue that a deeper and fuller understanding can best be discovered.

So, the Bible is best read as a narrative and—whenever possible—in a group environment.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

The Third Time Is the Charm

school election

Yesterday we had local school elections. There were three people running for school board and a millage renewal. It was about as simple as a ballot could be. I did my homework and was ready to vote. At the polling precinct, I filled out the paperwork, showed my ID, and was handled the paper ballot.

In a hurry, I did not look at the names, but rather their position on the ballot. I intended to vote for the first and third candidates. At least they were the first and third alphabetically. Alas, the ballot was not in alphabetical order. 

I marked the first name on the ballot only to discover that was not one of my candidates.

I told the election official that I had made a mistake. Could I have a new ballot? He was most accommodating, but doing so took longer than the original process of getting my ballot. 

My soiled ballot needed to be saved in a special folder. To my embarrassment, after 11 1/2 hours of polling, the folder was empty.  Apparently, I was the first voting-challenged person of the day.

I cast my votes on the new ballot and went to turn it, only to be told that there was one open seat, not two. I had spoiled my second ballot.

The process of getting a replacement ballot was repeated. I voted the third time, this time correctly.

My bride completed her voting and picked up an “I voted” sticker. She offered one to me. I declined, at which point the election official quipped, “He can have three!”

I’m glad she was amused; I just wanted to leave—as quickly as I could.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

The Petals Have Fallen

petals

Two years ago, I posted some photos of the spring colors in my yard. The first photo in that batch was my flowering crab apple tree. It is now a bit larger than a couple of years ago, meaning it has more blossoms. 

This year I was able to enjoy its color for a couple of weeks.  (Technically, white is an absence of color, but it seems wrong to say I enjoyed its absence of color).

Alas, that time is now past and the petals have dropped off. At a quick glance, it looks like a bit of snow has fallen!

Below is a close-up of the driveway and lawn. (There are even more petals in the lawn, but they are harder to see, as they have fallen into the lawn and are obscured bu the grass.)

When the flowers were at their peak, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of honey bees milling about it’s countless blossoms.  I don’t know where their hive is, but I think that they owe me some honey!

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

What’s the Deal with Evil Spirits?

evil spirits

When reading the gospels (the stories about Jesus) in the Bible, it doesn’t take long to run across the phrase “evil spirit.” (Some translations use “unclean spirit” or a “corrupting spirit.”)

What is an “evil spirit” anyway?

  • As a teenager, I thought that an evil spirit was merely ancient man’s way of understanding mental illness.
  • As a young adult, my perspective flipped and I thought that mental illness was merely modern man’s way of explaining evil spirits.
  • Later on, I began to consider that both mental illness and evil spirits existed, but as separate, disparate phenomena.
  • More recently, I’ve been thinking that they may just be two different ways of looking at the same thing, two sides of the same coin.

Although contemplating the meaning of an evil spirit may be intellectually inviting, the central point is to remember that regardless of what it was, Jesus healed people who had evil spirits—and he gave his followers the authority to do the same!

Now, that’s something to think about.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Matthew 8-10, and today’s post is on Matthew 10:1.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

God’s Sovereignty Allows Him to be Benevolent

God's Sovereignty

God is sovereign; it is one of his characteristics. To be sovereign means to have supreme rank, power, and authority.

The word sovereign appears hundreds of times in the Bible (mostly in the Old Testament) and is usually used as a title for God or in addressing him, as in “Sovereign Lord.”

Many people object to the idea that God is sovereign; it offends them or causes fear. That may be because of a tendency to see sovereignty from a human perspective.

They assume that God’s sovereignty allows him to be malevolent. That is, he is just waiting for us to mess up and then he will do us harm—or give us grief just because he can. But that is not his nature.

God is good and just. His sovereignty actually allows him to be benevolent.  He wants to do good to us, to offer us good things we don’t deserve (grace) and to withhold punishment that we do deserve (mercy).

God’s sovereignty allows for benevolence; his love prohibits malevolence.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

The Implications of Omniscience

Omni God

The entry “Omni God” mentioned that God is “omniscient.” This means that he has total knowledge, knowing everything.

This is a huge and all-encompassing thought that God knows everything about everything everywhere. It is grand and a bit overwhelming.

Embedded in this idea that God knows all things, is the reality that he also knows me—and he knows you. He knows all there is to know about us, including the things we keep to ourselves and even the things about us that we are unaware of.

He knows us individually, in every detail, totally and completely.

It is true that God’s omniscience is huge and all-encompassing, but it also means that he knows us fully and intimately.

God may know all, but he also knows me—and you!

[Also see “The Implications of Omnipresence” and “The Implications of Omnipotence” and for other similar considerations.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Do You Wear Glasses When You Read the Bible?

bible

When you read the Bible, do you wear glasses? I mean metaphorically. Seriously, do you?

Communication experts tell us that we take in and process information through filters—or lenses. Often this selective process is helpful, removing the minutia of life so that important and relevant information can be observed, remembered, and contemplated.

Sometimes, however, this filtering process blocks us from seeing—and knowing—what is really significant and meaningful. Such is often the case as we read and study the Bible.

As we contemplate what the Bible says, our filters cause us to see and understand it through the perspective of our childhood upbringing, our education, and our formed beliefs. If we are socialists, we see socialism in the Bible.If we are capitalists, we see capitalism in the Bible.

Similarly, we see democracy or theocracy or even monarchy as possessing Biblical support. Be we Democrats or Republicans, our political views are also mandated by the Bible, with the opposing party’s views squarely nullified.

Never mind that both sides are able to do so with equal vigor and aplomb.

This all happens because we tend to filter out those things that mess with our preconceived ideas and the status quo of our lives.

To garner a fuller, more holistic understanding of the Bible, we need to endeavor to remove our “reading” glasses, considering the full text and embracing the complete narrative—not to support our point-of-view, but to confront it and challenge it.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Humidity Be Gone

humidity

During the warmer part of the year, I run a dehumidifier in my basement to remove dampness and maintain it as a comfortable environment.

Being that it is now that time of the year, I went to turn it on last week—and couldn’t find it! After scouring all the possible storage areas and double-checking that it wasn’t sitting in plain sight—twice—I remembered that I disposed of it last fall as it ceased to properly dehumidify. 

The plan was that I would have all winter to secure a replacement.  That was a good plan, but alas it had been forgotten.

The replacement unit was on sale for 170 dollars and is now happily purring away as it dutifully lowers the humidity in my subterranean level.

I hope this one lasts a while. The prior unit cost 150 dollars and lasted a mere two seasons, for an effective pro-rated annual cost of 75 dollars.  It was noisy, too, sounding like a jet engine taking off—well almost that loud.

Ironically, that unit was bought to replace an aging workhorse that despite dehumidifying well, had a squealing motor bearing of which I had been unsuccessful in quieting—despite repeated attempts. 

That unit cost 89 dollars and lasted 18 years, before its well-deserved retirement, for an effective annual prorated cost of fewer than 5 dollars.

Although I don’t expect to achieve that degree of longevity with my new unit, I certainly hope it makes it for more than two years. It seems that nothing lasts like it used to.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Responding to Temptation

Temptation

The Bible says that when we are tempted to do wrong, God will provide a way out so that we can avoid it. That is an encouraging promise, but does that really mean that every time—or just some of the time?

I think it is every time—really, I do.

The challenge is to be able to recognize the alternative and then to go down that path as soon as we see it. So, in anticipation of this, I ask God to give me the eyes to see the way out that he will provide—and then to have the will to take it.

In that way, with his help, we can stand up under the temptation—just as the Bible promises.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 11-13, and today’s post is on 1 Corinthians 12:13.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.