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My New Favorite Translation
And Yahweh is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. – Deuteronomy 31:8 (LSB) Does that verse sound a little off? (In an intriguing way?) It’s from my new favorite translation – the Legacy Standard Bible. It’s basically a tweaked NASB 95, my old favorite translation. The biggest difference is the use of Yahweh when YHWH appears in the Old Testament text. If you read my posts last year on the names of God, you know how I feel about names. GOD IS NOT HIS NAME! In south Texas it’s common…
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Are You Inclusive or Exclusive?
I’ve been researching the pre-exile period in Judah for several years now, and one thing that baffled me was how the Judeans tolerated idol worship. The passages below reveals just how crazy things had gotten: Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the heavenly lights; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 2 Kings 23: 3-4 And the king defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had…
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Why THIS Rule? Part 2 of Why All the Rules?
We’ve looked at the why of God’s first commandment to man. This post looks at the what. Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” – Genesis 2:15-17 Those three verses are innocuously wedged in between the geographic details of the garden and the statement that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. Am I the only one that finds that frustrating?…
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Why All the Rules? Part One
The Source of Imagination
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Why All the Rules? Part One
Imagine that you’re at your friends’ house, and their adorable little girl is wreaking havoc in the living room. She’s dumped her bowl of sodden Cheerios on her head, and the milk is streaming down her body onto the antique Persian rug. Legos and beheaded dolls are strewn over every surface. She’s babbling and singing at the top of her lungs, making it impossible to carry on a conversation. Worst of all, she’s diabolically pulling on the cat’s tail. Yet your friend sits there sipping her coffee, blissfully unconcerned. If no rules are laid down, has the child misbehaved? The Bible teacher who took my faith life from trying to…
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First Chapter Monday – Pride of Babylon
I’m waiting on the FINAL proof, but here’s a peek! Chapter One Hillah, Former Ottoman Empire April 1917 Ana Before the British troop transport truck shuddered to a halt, Ana Brown jumped to her feet. Hillah, a humble village made significant by the nearby archeological excavation, hummed with activity. She itched to join the bustle of the street below and push thoughts of Vernon Capehart out of her mind—again. A herd of sheep ambled by in a billowing cloud of dust. Ana squinted against the rays of the Mesopotamian sun and raised her scarf to shield her nose from the pungent odors the sheep and their sun-ripened handlers…
