Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Sunday Walk 52 – Biblical Archeology

I recently went on a tour of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago led by Ted Wright, Executive Director of Epic Archeology. After exploring his site here are a few of the many topics I found of interest.

Among the top 10 things to know about Biblical archeology are that “every major New Testament village and town has been discovered”, the Book of Acts records accurate geographic references, and there is an “historical synchronism” between the Assyrian record and the Old Testament regarding Sennacherib’s sacking of Lachish and the siege of Jerusalem. The prism containing the annals of Sennacherib is on display in the Oriental Institute.
The uraeus representing the Egyptian goddess Wadjet was a cobra often seen on the heads of statues of the pharaohs. When the Israelites yearned to return to Egypt, God sent them poisonous snakes to remind them what would be waiting if they went back (Numbers 21). As a cure for the bites Moses hung a copper snake on a pole which was how John 3 represented Jesus on the cross.
The references to Pharaoh hardening his heart is evidence that Exodus was written by an eye-witness who knew the Egyptian Book of the Dead where a weighty, hardened heart meant a miserable afterlife.

In the video below Ted Wright reviews one of the documentary films in Timothy Mahoney’s Patterns of Evidence series. Some of the questions asked in these documentaries are whether the Exodus and Conquest happened in the 15th century BC, where was the Red Sea crossing and whether Moses would have been able to write the Torah.

Ted Wright, Patterns of Evidence

There is also the question of whether Hebrew is the language of “the world’s oldest alphabet”, a position held by Douglas Petrovich. The discovery of the origin of the alphabet involved the discovery of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim at the beginning of the Sojourn in Egypt at Avaris. As Petrovich presented the data, they would have been the most likely inventors. This alphabet made it possible for Moses to write the Bible and for the Israelites to read it.

Weekly Bible Reading: 1 Samuel (Audio), 2 Samuel (Audio), 1 Kings (Audio), 2 Kings (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, 1 and 2 Samuel, Part 2 of 2, 1 and 2 Kings, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Distraction – Six Sentence Story

Six months after Brian was hit by the bus, he looked for and found Martha in the Art District Park. He told her that he tossed his pendulum and tarot cards in the trash and stopped doing those “mindless kundalini meditations”. Although this was the first time he spoke to her since his accident and in spite of being aware of her “unfortunate distraction” with George, Brian asked Martha if she would marry him in a real church.

Martha wondered if the “real church” Brian was thinking of was Brother Jeremy’s chapel recalling how they both bullied that pastor mocking him to his face for his “delusions”. She also wondered if Brian expected her to give up her yogic devotions to that unresponsive energy field identified by people like herself as Shakti.

Martha hoped so, and knowing Brian she knew so, and so she answered, “Yes!”

Denise offers the word “distraction” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story is a continuation of Shift – Six Sentence Story and concludes the series.

GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley's six-sentence-stories icon — GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley’s six-sentence-stories icon

Lake Michigan Through a Nearly Leafless Tree

Beach – Décima

The ocean’s waves press to the beach.
They soak the sand then move away.
Some rough, some calm, throughout the day
indifferently the waters reach.

Persistently the pastors preach
repentance; Kingdom! Some don’t care,
but others do. Stay standing there.
Sing words, like waves upon the shore,
to offer praises ever more.
May all who’d hear join in the prayer.

Ronovan Hester offers the prompt word “beach” to be used in an A line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image — Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image

Drain the Color

Dale offers the theme “drain the color” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. More specifically, he writes, “I would like you to capture the brightest, most vivid subjects you can find and then; Drain the colours.”.

Sunday Walk 51 – From Witchcraft To Pornography

Derek Prince called witchcraft the “religion of fallen humanity” and associated it with rebellion, idolatry and the occult. Occult practices include the use of horoscopes, pendulums, or tarot cards. To give the devil his due, these practices work to some extent, but that’s just the bait, the demonic deception, the worm that makes the hook look attractive. When we take the bait we push the Holy Spirit aside.

When we yearn for the supernatural we should yearn for the real thing, not a demonic substitute. No fancy yoga position could ever replace repentance. No fortune teller could ever replace a real church.

Witchcraft can also be associated with activities that appear to have nothing to do with the occult such as watching pornography. People who think they are too smart to be fooled by fortune tellers are readily hooked by lust. If you are involved in this addiction, stop submitting to its demonic influence. If not, there’s a basket full of other addictions including gluttony, greed, fear and anger to avoid as well.

Lion of Judah, This Happens in the Unseen World When You Watch Pornography

Most of these ideas are relatively new for me and you are welcome to set me straight in the comments below.

Weekly Bible Reading: Judges (Audio), Ruth (Audio), 1 Samuel (Audio), 2 Samuel (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Judges and Ruth, Part 2 of 2, 1 and 2 Samuel, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Soaring Leap – Décima

Without repentance, anxious, I
try hard to mindlessly sit still.
In lotus pose I’ll stay until
I save myself and learn to fly,
to levitate before I die
as gravity brags it will win.
My baggage stores a weight of sin
that keeps me from a soaring leap.
I need to find before I sleep
that way I’ve blocked, the true way in.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “leap” to be used in a D line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge and Eugenia offers “soaring” for this week’s Thursday Prompt.

Shift – Six Sentence Story

“Authenticity is all that matters,” George asserted to an attractive woman who just bought ten of his paintings and commissioned five more where she would be the model used for the “queen of the dragons”. They would begin work immediately. George told Martha she had to go back to her own apartment to give them space, but he would call her when he got a chance.

Martha saw how the woman’s body filled her dress, how her smile hypnotized, and how those eyes, so recklessly inviting, so wicked, could easily dominate any intimidation George might later try to exert against her manipulations.

Habituated as George was to his authentic selfishness Martha knew he would never call her. Their parting, however, could have been an opportunity for Martha to shift her views and change her ways, but her lack of courage only allowed her to reinforce her humiliation by blaming George for every demon he let in as she walked back to her apartment.

Denise offers the word “shift” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. This is a continuation of Center – Six Sentence Story. This story of the occult will conclude next week.

In the Trees

Dale offers the theme “in the trees” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Sunday Walk 50 – Good At Heart?

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, King James Bible 1769

When I was a teenager my family and I watched the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank in our living room. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp, but she left behind a diary of the events that occurred while her family was in hiding. A memorable part of the movie was when she expressed her belief that people were good at heart.

George Barna of the Cultural Research Center wrote recently that one of the top 10 most seductive unbiblical ideas embraced by Americans is ‘the idea that people are “basically good”’. That suggests that the memorable part of the movie about Anne Frank was seductively unbiblical.

The reason the idea that we are good at heart is wrong is because it is sentimental. It is a false form of consolation, because it looks for goodness in the wrong place. Rather than acknowledging that God is good, it claims that somewhere deep down inside of us we are.

To a society that rejects Jesus, we mythologize the Kingdom of God rather than preach it. To a society that blatantly intimidates with sexual addiction, we downplay the need for repentance. Alisa Childers wrote that one of the five signs that one’s church was becoming progressive is “[t]he heart of the gospel message shifts from sin and redemption to social justice”.

I’m still trying to figure this out. You are welcome to tell me what you think about people being good at heart.

I am grateful to Michael Wilson for presenting George Barna’s research and to Bruce Cooper for pointing out Alisa Childers’ criticism of progressive Christianity.

Final thought: After David impregnated Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah killed to avoid scandal, and was called out for it by Nathan (2 Samuel 11-12), he didn’t think much of his heart. He wanted God to create in him a clean one (Psalm 51).

Weekly Bible Reading: Joshua (Audio), Judges (Audio), Ruth (Audio)
Commentary: David Pawson, Joshua, Part 2 of 2, Judges and Ruth, Part 1 of 2, Unlocking the Bible

Unforgotten Street – Décima

So unfamiliar, everything –
You’re sure we lived here years ago?
This trail goes where? I do not know,
but there are birds ahead who sing.
I’m wearing still your wedding ring.
Some unforgotten, busy street
should have a place where we can eat.
Then at a table with two chairs
we’ll tell each other all our cares
and taste the dreams that turned out sweet.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “street” to be used in a C line of a décima having rhyme patter ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge. Eugenia offers the word “unforgotten” for this week’s prompt.