Genesis
Interesting clip of N.T.Wright talking about Genesis 2-3 and comment at Jesus Creed.
Originally from here.
I found Wright's comments helpful anyway!

Valiant Men
Been reflecting on a 1 Samuel 10:26. Saul has been anointed king and it says in the NIV he went home "accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched".
I deliberately didn't put a picture with this post, because it would have set the tone (probably with a stereotype) about what a "man of valour" would look like.

Different translations render this phrase quite differently, from "young men" to "men" to "brave".
But I think the key is the 2nd part "whose hearts God had touched".

Anyway it got me reflecting personally about my heart. But also about all that "church is too feminine" stuff that you hear recycled around and (in my opinion) the awful "wild at heart" stuff (that I posted about back in 2005). How do we raise up "valiant men" without pandering to sexist, machismo type models?

Red Letter (again)
My issue with "words in red" Bibles has continued.
I found an edition that fits what I'm looking for but the Anglicized text (without the dreaded words in red) is literally twice the price of the US edition with the dreaded words in red (even from a UK seller). Bonkers!

I have also discovered Tony Campolo and others are using the title "Red Letter Christians" as a way of showing they want to take the teaching of Jesus seriously. An admirable thing, but Scot McKnight as always has some interesting things to say about "Red Letter Maestros" and how we read Scripture.

Seeing Red
Yesterday I went to a Christian bookstore to pick out a new Bible for Christmas. Just something nice in terms of binding, reasonable size to preach from, NIV as that's what most churches I go to seem to use.

There were plenty on offer, but why have we succumbed to the trend (I'm guessing from the USA) of "words of Jesus in red"? I don't get it. Visually it makes the text harder to read. Theologically it makes no sense to me, and if the point is an accurate translation surely this is a distraction? (and before anyone suggests the NIV is not accurate, I also have a small ESV, with you guessed, words in red).

I know this is a privileged Western English speaking problem. Many people are desperate for any scriptures in a language they understand, so I applaud the work of organisations such as Bible Society and Wycliffe.

But come on - how about we ditch the red print stuff and get on with focusing on what Jesus did, as much as what he said?

The Bible says..
I stumbled across this site a couple of days ago which suggests that "The Bible Says" has been "the mantra of Baptists throughout their history". (Amusing that a conservative site would suggest that Baptists have a mantra!).
So it was even more apt to find Sean commenting on that very phrase on his blog today. Check out his post and the post from Doug Chaplin he links to for an alternative view of that loaded phrase...

Reading Scripture as a whole
Recently my home church has been doing a series on “Listening to God” and looking at various genres of Biblical literatures. It gave me an excuse to use an old school Bible Bookcase image!
The pastor is on sabbatical so I got to do 3 of these on Old Testament themes: history, wisdom and prophecy.

With that fresh in my mind and listening to some stuff (not least some of the revivalist stuff around Lakeland) I was struck by how Christians either ignore the OT or get really into it. It’s not an original thought (I may even have been taught it at Spurgeons) but it is amazing how much “leftfield” teaching and biblical justification for stuff is based on the OT, and often without reference to (or interperting in light of) Jesus and the NT.

You can see that in everything from prosperity teaching to liberation theology. And it seems to me a lot of “anointing”, “glory”, “presence”, "impartation" stuff that is popular in the revivalist circles is very OT, without acknowledging the difference the coming of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost makes. Seems to me the Epistles place little emphasis on this stuff (and yes I know it is there a bit e.g. 2 Tim 1:6), and more on faithfulness to Christ and the church living out the gospel.

Scripture Memorisation

Scripture memorisation's probably not the most "hip" concept, but worthwhile.
Sometimes more than one verse or a longer passage can be helpful for context etc.
But this "Walking Bible" could be a useful (and also at times amusing) tool produced by some friends of mine (English version anyway), and I-tunes linkable too. It'll have you huming those ditties while learning those verses in no time...