Refugees like Jesus

It has been nearly 3 weeks since the photos of little Aylan Kurdi made world headlines after he, along with his mother, older brother and several others, drowned at sea when a boat carrying them from Turkey to Greece capsized in rough waters. By now, at least for those of us living outside of Europe, the shocking images have somewhat faded away as both time and the demands of daily life have distracted us from the hell that others are currently going through on the other side of the world. Facebook is once again filled with pictures of hamburger dinners, minion memes, ‘share this if you are not ashamed of Jesus’ and ‘like this if you have an awesome son or daughter’ pictures.

Nevertheless, in between all of this, if you follow the right people and pages, both the news and social media have still continued reporting on the refugee crisis. We have heard some of the personal stories of those who are fleeing, we have seeing how certain countries have taken a hard stance in saying “no more” and then we have also read inspirational stories of ordinary people opening their homes up to refugees or providing food, water and clothing to those in need. This post however is more concerned with the Christian response to the crisis, particularly those on the right who have shown a lack of love and biblical ignorance in how we are to treat ‘outsiders’.

So my goal today is simply to point out what the bible has to say about foreigners and refugees and how we should treat them and then I want to challenge people to take these commands more seriously. It is worth pointing out to the local readers here in SA that we too have a large number of foreigners among us and because of our xenophobic history this post is just as applicable here as it would be to those in the U.K., Iceland or Hungary. So let’s have a look at a few verses:-

Do no neglect to show hospitality to strangers… - Hebrews 13:2

So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:19

Thus says the Lord: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless or the widow… - Jeremiah 22:3

“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 22:21

You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. - Exodus 23:9

So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty. – Malachi 3:5

You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance, declares the Sovereign LORD. – Ezekiel 47:21-23

The thoughts in the Old Testament carry over into the New Testament as well. Jesus and his parents, like Israel before them, were foreigners in the land of Egypt, forced to flee as refugees when Herod ordered the execution of all male children in Bethlehem who were two years old or younger (Matthew 2:13-18). This is the same Jesus who later told us that the greatest of all the commandments was to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). He then goes on to explain who our neighbor is, the parable of the good Samaritan reveals that our neighbor is not defined by those who share our ethnicity, our citizenship, our common beliefs or even our religion. No, our neighbor looks like the Syrian, the Iraqi, the Zambian and the Zimbabwean.

The bible seems to have an awful lot to say on the subject and its teachings are pretty consistent and clear, yet this does not sit well with many of us. Perhaps it stems out of fear which is a reasonable response when ones feels that their life and freedom is being threatened. Maybe it is our instinct to look out for number one and when push comes to shove we are just not comfortable sacrificing our own comforts for the sake of others. We are happy to help so long as it does not cost us anything. Many fear that terrorists are secretly infiltrating Europe under the guise of helpless victims of war. Perhaps this is a good place for me to put in a picture of what these ‘soldiers’ look like.

As followers of Christ, we are not called to follow the ways of the world. We overcome in the same way that our Lord did, by laying down our own lives (Revelation 12:11). As followers of Christ, we are commanded to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate and persecute us (Matthew 5:44). The sad thing is that these people are not even our enemies. They are fleeing from the same people who would love to destroy us as well.

“The law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).

Evil abounds in our world and it will not be overcome by building up our walls or closing up our borders. It may work for earthly kingdoms or if our goal is self preservation but for those under Christ’s Lordship, evil is conquered by doing good (Romans 12:21). Victory is not defined by being the last man standing but in persevering in Christ.

If your enemy is hungry give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. – Proverbs 25:21

This article is part of a September Synchro-Blog on the Middle-Eastern Refugee Crisis.  Read more MennoNerdy articles on the topic by clicking over here.

Things that will surprise you in the Mosaic Law

A while back I wrote a post on whether or not Christians should be keeping the Mosaic Law. It is an interesting topic for me as many of my friends and acquaintances would answer that question in the affirmative. For whatever reason the Hebraic Roots Movement has taken off and is growing at a rapid pace in South Africa. Pretoria is actually home to the largest formal messianic educational institute in the world and I have heard it said (but cannot officially confirm) that South Africa is at the forefront of this movement. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to study this topic as much as I would have liked and so my views remain pretty much where they were in my previous article. I have however managed to spend some time going through the actual 613 laws that are contained within the Torah.  What I found was rather surprising and so I thought that I would share those findings here as well as sharing some reflections on them at the end.

To be clear, let me start by saying that I do believe that the Law was from God and while I may not always understand it, I accept that it accurately reflected Gods commands to the Jewish people from the time of Moses until Jesus. Most of what is contained therein makes sense and is good but as the title of this posts suggests, there are some exceptions in there that stick out like a sore thumb. I have split those laws into three categories below, the ones that are weird, the ones that are just plain disturbing and then the ones that people, even those in the Hebrew Roots Movement, don’t seem to be following.  

The weird

These laws I can only assume have some significance in being shadows of things that were to come in Christ. One example would be that it was (or is) prohibited that you would wear an item of clothing that is made from two different materials like having wool mixed with linen (Deuteronomy 22:11). Another one only applies to the Nazarites but is equally bizarre; the Nazarites are not allowed to eat raisins or anything else made from grapes like juice or wine (Numbers 6:3). That however is nothing compared to Leviticus 21:20 which says that hunchbacks and dwarves are prohibited from making offerings to God. Similarly, anyone unfortunate enough to have had his testicles crushed suffered similar exclusion and was not allowed to enter the assembly of God (Deuteronomy 23:1 – read the KJV for the funniest translation of this verse).

Then there are a few laws where you have to wonder what had to first transpire that it was deemed necessary to make these rules in the first place. Did someone actually boil a young goat in its mother’s milk triggering Exodus 23:19 to be added to the list? Or did two men one day get into a fight and the wife of one of them grabbed a guy by the testicles to try and help her husband out prompting Deuteronomy 25:11-12 (which has a rather extreme punishment tied to it) to be written?

What?

Some of the laws are just hard for the 21st century mind to even consider; they are nothing short of horrific and unthinkable and seem more suited to groups like ISIS than followers of Christ. Let’s start off small and work our way up. The Israelite's were not to make loans carrying interest to fellow countrymen (Leviticus 25:37) but at the same time it was mandatory to charge interest to aliens (Deuteronomy 23:21). Numbers 5:11-31 contains instructions on how to deal with a wife whom one suspects of being unfaithful. To summarize what it says, you take her to the priest who would make her drink water mixed with dirt from the temple floor; the priest would then write a curse in a book and scrape it off into the drink and if the woman was indeed guilty on drinking the concoction her “thigh would rot and her belly would swell”. Can we even go downhill from there? Unfortunately yes, "if a man beats his male servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property" (Exodus 21:20-21). According to Leviticus 25:45-46, you can “buy the children of the strangers among you” and “they will become your property”.

There are several other laws that are totally incompatible with one who calls himself a follower of Christ; Deuteronomy 13:13-17 commands that you slay the inhabitants of a city that has fallen into idolatry. Then Exodus 21:20, Leviticus 20:10, 14 and 26:25 tell us that the Court shall pronounce the death sentence for certain crimes by various methods which include decapitation and burning with fire. The last two that I will mention here concern parents and their own children. Leviticus 20:9 says that anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death (which would account for every teenager in the world at some stage I think) and then Leviticus 21:9 tells us that if a daughter of a priest plays the harlot she should be burned alive. Unfortunately the list goes on a little longer, some other laws that fall into the ‘uncomfortable’ category can be found in Deuteronomy 20:16, 21:14, 23:7 and 25:19.

Laws that you probably are not keeping

 Religion tends toward selective reading; many in the Hebrew Roots Movement have taken to wearing tzitzit’s as commanded in Numbers 15:38 but for some reason the tefillin’s do not seem to have caught on (see Deuteronomy 6:8) among the same people. Similarly, many Christians like to quote Leviticus 19:28 in condemning tattoos but very few seem to take the command to “not shave around the sides of your head or disfigure the edges of your beard” in the verse hat precedes it equally seriously. Then while many of us have a certain time in the morning or evening when we like to set some time aside to read the bible, how many of us have obeyed the command to religiously do both morning and evening readings (Deuteronomy 6:7)? To take it a step further, how many of us have made hand written scrolls of the Torah which we have written out (Deuteronomy 31:19)? How many people choose to dwell in booths for seven days during Sukkot (Leviticus 23:42)? If you have any ornaments in your house you are breaking Exodus 20:4 and if you pray before your meals you are breaking the law which is stated in Deuteronomy 8:10 which says that a prayer of thanks should be given after the meal. Lastly, the tithe mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:26 should be spent on yourself and your family, sharing whatever food and drink your heart desires.



tzitzit                      tefellin

Final thoughts

I cannot call this a conclusion as it is an ongoing thought process for me, as a Christian I have a high regard for scripture and so I sincerely have a hard time accepting some of the things mentioned above that come out of the law. As highly as I view scripture, I regard Christ to be infinitely higher; He is my Bread, my Truth, my Way, my Word and my Authority. It is Him who the scriptures testify of and so when I see something that seems contrary to the Jesus that we see in the gospels, I have to follow the greater command of love that He demonstrated for us. In Jesus, I see someone who does not take lives but lays down His own life for others. In Jesus, I see someone who calls for enemy love rather than enemy slaying. It should not escape our attention that the Jesus who completely fulfilled the law is the same Jesus who touched dead people and rescued a woman who was about to be stoned when the law demanded her life.

Our minds should not be as concerned with the carrying out of religious tasks as much as it should be fixed on Christ. One can practice law without ever being changed internally. As my online blogging friend Jeremy Myers rightfully said, “By living in love we naturally fulfill the instructions and guidelines of the law. Living according to law is living according to the actions of love where there is no love. Living by law is practicing the actions of love without the attitude of love.” This is the law that is written not on tablets of stone but on hearts of flesh.

To end this off, these are the questions that I would ask of my Hebrew Roots friends (who I must say have all being gracious and accepting toward me and I hope that they can recognize the spirit which this post was written in). I sincerely want to know, if the Mosaic Law has not been done away with and we are still bound by the whole of the written word (as far as it is still possible), then what do you do with the commands like the ones mentioned in this post? Do the Laws of the land override the Law of God (John 18:31)? Relating to the current refugee crisis, would you be okay with people taking the refugee’s children away and forcing them into slavery (Leviticus 25:45-46)? Lastly, regarding the section above on “Laws that you are probably not keeping”, do you recognize them as part of what Torah commands? Is there a reason for not keeping them or are they simply not as widely known as some of the more popular commands like not eating pork and keeping the Sabbath?

John 3:16 from the Sons perspective

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. - John 3:16

It is probably the most widely known verse in the bible; most of us were familiar with it long before we were even capable of reading it for ourselves. So much of our evangelistic programs are built on and around it and for good enough reason. But have you ever read it from Jesus’ perspective? One could be excused for thinking that Jesus may have felt like He was getting the short end of the stick here but that line of reasoning would nevertheless be incorrect.

Modern Christianity is largely blinded to the depth of the love, the complete unity, the single mindedness, the exact likeness, the perichoresis and the shared attributes within the Godhead. I was reading through the book of John recently and when I came to the last verse of chapter 14 my heart just jumped. It reads:-

“But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”

The context here is chapters 14 through 17 and is sometimes referred to as ‘the Farewell Discourse’. Jesus is speaking to the disciples the evening before He will be crucified. A great deal of the content within the 4 chapters reveals the intimacy found within the Trinity and our glorious inheritance received in Him. “In my Fathers abode there are many dwellings…the Father dwells in Me…I in the Father and the Father in Me…and He will give you another Helper that He may abide in you forever…He dwells with you and will be in you…I will come to you…At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you…We will come to him and make our home in him…Abide in Me…He who abides in Me, and I in him bears much fruit…by this the Father is glorified…As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you, abide in my love” (snippets of chapter 14 and 15).

One should see immediately that Jesus was not talking about inheriting a 5-bedroom mansion up in the sky one day as is so commonly believed. What a pitifully diluted picture of heaven that is... But getting back to that last verse in chapter 14; I was suddenly struck when reading it that it so echoed the words of John 3:16 but from Jesus’ own perspective. What it says and reveals to us about Jesus is this:-

For the Son so loved the Father that He gave Himself, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life; found only in Him.

Short, sweet and amazingly beautiful.    

Embracing a more holistic view on what it means to be pro-life

This month the Synchroblog which I often participate in is all about what it means to be pro-life. At the end of this post you will be able to click on some links to see how other bloggers tackled the same topic. 

I want to start this off with a quote from Joan Chittister that was part of the prompt that I received for this topic :-

“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”

While I have no idea who Joan Chittister is, I have to say that I completely agree with her perspective on what it means to be pro-life. While in the popular sense all the term means is that one who is pro-life is opposed to abortion. Yet the word itself suggests a far deeper commitment to something beyond just a person’s right to be born. Consider for a moment some other areas which may reveal just how pro-life we really are.

Pro-life means ALL life.

Many Christians are strongly opposed to abortion yet at the same time they are in favor of capital punishment. I have always felt an uneasiness toward the death penalty even when pastors tried to prove that it was 'biblical'. But when Jesus told us to love our enemies, I am pretty sure that that included not killing them. The one that we claim to follow is the same one who stopped the execution of a woman caught in the act of adultery even though the law demanded her death. To be pro-life means to err on the side of mercy and always hope for the possibility of redemption and restoration for all. I remember several years ago reading Tex Watson’s (a former member of the Manson family) book, “Will you die for me?”. It is the story about how he got caught up with Charles Manson, his participation in all sorts of evil deeds and and how his life turned around in prison. During his trial he was sentenced to death for his participation in several murders (although the state laws were changed before his execution). While in prison he later came to know Christ and make some sort of a life for himself from within the walls again. But it makes you wonder just how many people never had the opportunity he did because justice (execution) was dealt out more swiftly? 

If true life is found in Christ then as far as I am concerned to seek the death of one’s enemies, whether it is by the electric chair or on the battle field in some war is to commit an act of spiritual abortion. To end a life prematurely is to rob someone of the possibility of redemption.

Pro-life includes the middle and end bits of life.

The bible has much to say about the poor, the downcast, widows and orphans. It is clear that God cares about the quality of life that we have and this was reflected in Christ’s ministry which included healing people of their afflictions and helping them out of the pits that they found themselves in. So it should be natural to us as Christ followers to be concerned with people’s needs beyond the maternity ward. Food, clean drinking water, healthcare and education for all are just some of the more obvious areas that should all fall under the pro-life umbrella. Each person should be allowed to live with dignity and have their basic needs met.

Pro-lifers should not oppress others.

In my part of the world issues like racism and xenophobia are still major problems that we are trying to deal with. The bible has much to say about how we treat foreigners, the Israelite's were foreigners in the land of Egypt as was Jesus Himself and so when the shoe landed on the other foot they were commanded not to oppress the strangers in their land (Exodus 22:21). Many people over the world are denied certain rights simply because of their sex, race or nationality. Rather than protecting our positions of privilege we should, wherever possible, be advocating for others and giving a voice to those who have none. 

This is only a start but it is probably further than most of us have considered going already. While the abortion topic is certainly an important one, I believe it is necessary that we expand the conversation to consider the plight of those who have already been born as well so that we might wear the label of pro-life in a more holistic sense.

Be sure to check out the links below to see what other people who contributed posts to the August Synchroblog have written.

Justin Steckbauer – What Is The Truth About Abortion?
Tim Nichols – Firm Foundations
Tony Ijeh – What It Means To Be Pro-Life
Glenn Hager – Pro All of Life

John Hagee, September 28th and another facepalm moment for Christianity.

It is probably safe to assume that by now you have heard of the latest dates set by the end of the world prophets and conspiracy theorists. This time around we have not one but two authors, John Hagee and Mark Biltz, who are claiming that the end is nigh and the signs are there in the heavens for all to see. The basic idea is that the occurrence of four ‘blood moons’ during 2014 and 2015 are a sign that Jesus will return on or around the 28th September which is the date of the fourth and final blood moon in the series. Hagee is far vaguer than Biltz here and only says that something big and of eschatological significance will definitely take place sometime in 2014 or 2015. Believers point to scriptures like Revelation 6:12 and Acts 2:19-20 which speak of the moon becoming like blood before the end of days and Christ’s return. Some of the additional reasons given to back this theory/prophecy up are that these moons coincide with some of the Jewish holidays. September 13th for example marks the end of the Shemitah cycle and the start of Jubilee. The Pope will visit the US around about this time and the Jade Helm military exercises end in September as well. There are also a bunch of Armageddon type movies (Mad Max, Mission Impossible etc) which have end of the world scenarios with September dates in them which are said to be conditioning the masses using subliminal messaging. Some also say that a giant asteroid is headed toward earth and will crash near Puerto Rico around about the 24th September.

So what should we make of these claims? Ignoring the more outlandish claims, over here I would like to look at just two things, starting with the blood moons themselves and then looking at a few scriptures that relate to the topic at hand. Firstly, Hagee and Biltz suggest that these blood moons in the past have coincided with significant events such as the Jewish people been expelled from Spain, the discovery of America by Columbus, Israel becoming a nation and then the Six Day War in 1967. This may sound more than coincidental to some but those who have gone and checked the actual dates of these moons and events will tell you that the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478, some fourteen years before the particular tetrad been associated with it. The actual decree ordering the expulsion of the Jewish people was in 1492, also a year before the tetrad. Similarly, Israel regained its statehood in 1948, a year before the tetrads of 1949 and 1950. The dates don’t appear any more significant with the Six Day War either with three of the four eclipses happening over the year and a half that followed.  If I start prophesying events a year after they actually take place, how much credibility would you give me? Blood moons are not actually as rare as one might think either, there have been 62 of them since the first century and the reason that occasionally some of them (eight) coincide with the Jewish feasts is that the feasts and Jewish calendar also follow the lunar cycle. Critics have also pointed out that only one of the four current eclipses will be at best only partially visible from Jerusalem. So at the end of the day what we are left with is a sign that won’t be visible to the people it is for which in the past has only appeared after the events actually occur and usually passes without any significance either.

What does scripture have to say?

Let’s look first at the scriptures which the theory/prophecy is based around:-

And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. – Acts 2:19-20

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood. – Revelation 6:12

While John Hagee’s argument is built on Acts 2:19-20, it should be noted that it forms part of Peter’s epic speech made on Pentecost. The Spirit had just fallen on the 120 who began to speak in tongues and Paul quotes from Joel 2:28-32 to explain to the skeptics what is going on (Peter’s implication is that Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled before their eyes rather than it being directed at other people some 2000 years later). Additionally, whether we are reading Joel 2, Matthew 24 or Revelation 6, we read of only one eclipse and it is accompanied by what is possibly a solar eclipse and a great earthquake as well. To my knowledge these other elements have been left out of the prophecies concerning Israel for next month. Also, nowhere does the bible mention a tetrad of eclipses so claiming it carries a special significance seems to be a bit of a stretch.

Despite the fact that Jesus tells us that no one knows the date of His return (Matthew 24:36), despite the fact that Christians have a long and embarrassing track record of failed date settings and despite the fact that the bible specifically condemns divination and astrology (Deuteronomy 18:10, Jeremiah 10:2, 27:9-10, Isaiah 47:10-14) we just can’t seem to keep away from this sort of thing.

Why do we keep buying into the ideas of men who have a history of throwing dates out that repeatedly come to naught? Based on what I see on my Facebook feed I am aware that I run the risk of offending many of my friends with this post (which is not my intention at all). If your instinct is to dismiss this post as rubbish I implore you to come back here in October and reread this last part again. Every time we promote a false prophet the church loses credibility in the eyes of the world. Every time we share a news story that turns out to be false we sow untruth in the name of our Lord. When we as the church lose our credibility with others Jesus does as well. People out there don’t read these outlandish claims and say, “Yeah John Hagee, Edgar Whisenant and Harold Camping are nutters”. No, they think Christians are gullible and always the most likely to fall for a good conspiracy theory. I know the intention behind posting these warnings is good; many of the people I know personally who believe September will be a big month for biblical prophecy are wonderful brothers and sisters who I look up to. But come October the only people who are not left broken and disillusioned are the authors who are left counting the revenue made from their book sales and speaking engagements.

A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thoughts to his steps. – Proverbs 14:15

Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear, and do not dread it. – Isaiah 8:12.

The symbolism in the feeding of the 5000

Christ’s feeding of the five thousand with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish has to rank up there with His most famous miracles. But most people see it as nothing more than that, a display of divine power. Yet reading through it the other day I realized that there is more to it than that; I kept noticing the word ‘sign’ popping up (see John 6:2, 26 and 30) all over the place. So when a friend of mine happened to mention the other day that he thought it was strange that Jesus requested after the feeding that all the remaining food should be gathered up and to “make sure” that nothing was lost, a light bulb suddenly went off.

Allow me to expound, when scripture speaks of something being a sign it means that there is something deeper going on than what we see on the surface. For example, the cleansing of the temple was not a sudden outburst on Jesus’ part but a symbolic action being played out signifying something prophetic. After turning over the tables and driving out the animals the Jews did not say, “I knew it! I knew that eventually he would crack and reveal his true colors!” No, they responded by saying, “What sign do you show to us, since you do these things?” (John 2:18).  So here too in the feeding of a great crowd, we see a similar scenario. First, we see Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 men (not including woman and children) and then specifically requesting that the remnant of food be gathered together which added up to twelve baskets. It is no coincidence that the following day Jesus rebukes the crowd (v26-27) and tells them that He is the true bread from heaven. Jesus tells them that they were only following Him because He filled their bellies. The feeding of the five thousand is then immediately followed with the teaching that Jesus is the bread that gives eternal life to those who eat of it. This confused and offended those who heard His words as He shared them in a synagogue in Capernaum and from that day on many of His disciples turned away from Him. But when Jesus asked the twelve if they too wanted to go away, they said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

So here is the sign of the feeding of the 5000. Many were fed on just two fish and five loaves of bread and when everyone had satisfied their flesh, only twelve baskets remained. When the bread from heaven was offered to the same people, only twelve disciples (vessels for the bread of life) remained with Him. I think that Jesus knew what was in the people’s hearts and prophetically demonstrated what was going to take place the following day.

Interestingly, I noticed a chiastic structure contained within John 6 as well which is illustrated below. Notice the parallels throughout and then the culmination in part E, emphasizing the central theme of the chapter, Jesus, the bread of life!

A – 12 baskets (v13)
  B – Great wind (same word for spirit) was blowing (v18)
    C – Food which endures to everlasting life (v27)
      D – Faith in Christ (v29)
        E – The bread from heaven (v31)
        E - The bread of life (v35)
      D – Rejected by His own (v41-42)
    C – Food which leads to everlasting life (v54)
  B – The Spirit gives life (v63)
A – 12 left (v67-68)

What do you think? Am I reading too much into it or does it make sense?

4 legged snakes, creation and evolution

                             Tetrapodophis catching a lizard. Credit: James Brown, University of Portsmouth

Even though I personally find the whole creation vs evolution debate quite interesting, I have purposely avoided writing about it in the past. I find that those on both sides of the fence are completely closed off to the possibility that they may be wrong (even on a single point) so the whole conversation nine times out of ten seems pretty meaningless. But a recent article I read written by Ed Yong was to fascinating not to bring up. The post is about the discovery of a four-legged fossilized snake called Tetrapodophis. The specimen should be great news for young earth creationists. How in the world did the people of old (from Adam to Moses) know that snakes used to have legs? According to evolution, snakes lost their legs more than 90 million years ago which would remove them quite far from the time period that Genesis was written let alone the time that mankind appeared on the earth.

                                      Tetrapodophis hindlimb. Credit: Dave Martill.

But the discovery is not all good news for creationists, the mere fact that you have a dead 4-legged snake presents a problem already because most literalists believe that there was no physical death before Adams transgression in the garden. Then to complicate matters further, found inside the stomach of tetrapodophis were the remains of his last meal, the bone fragments of what was most likely a lizard or frog. If you were not aware, most creationists believe that all animals were herbivores before the fall. What was a snake, which at the very least predated the fall, doing with a meat sandwich in his mouth? These are interesting questions which I have my own theories and opinions on. But as someone once said, "you are entitled to your own opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts”.

Wouldn’t it be great if people on both sides of the fence here could learn say to one other, “you know what, you raise some good points; overall I still think that you are wrong but I concede that I may need to reevaluate one or two things on my side as well”. I can't see it happening but still, it would be nice...