Review: New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus: Insights from His Jewish Context

New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus: Insights from His Jewish Context by David Bivin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having just the other day finished what I guess is the first book on this topic by the author, Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, this one seemed like an easy transition to move right into. I will say though that this one flowed a bit better and was a bit more cohesive of a story, even though it appeared this book is mainly made up of individual writings by the author that have appeared over time on their web site.

Review: Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus by David Bivin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my continued studies on the Hebrew backgrounds to the Bible, including the New Testament language and culture, I ran across this title and scooped it up. I found it to be very informative, even though somewhat brief. The major part of the book is set out to prove that the New Testament books, most specifically the four gospels, were originally written in Hebrew, and later translated into Aramaic or Greek.

Review: Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels - Kenneth E. Bailey

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very well written book that delves into the cultural surroundings and understandings of things during Jesus' days. It provides many great insights and adds such depth to many scriptures and stories that we "Greek minded" readers would gloss right over. Not for the light reader, as it is small print,many pages, and lots of information. The student of theology and cultural history will find it a gem most likely.

Restoring America One County at a Time

Join Joel McDurmon as he lays the groundwork for restoring America one county at a time. I also highly recommend Joel's "The Bible & War in America". Enjoy the series as we return to Biblical principles of government.

Lord's Supper Devotion: Looking Forward

Devotion presented at church 1 April 2012:

Luke 9: 61-62 tells us the last part of Jesus speaking to various people about following him, and this last person in the discussion says:

‘I will follow thee, sir, but first permit me to take leave of those in my house’; and Jesus said unto him, ‘No one having put his hand on a plough, and looking back, is fit for the reign of God.’ (Luke 9:61-62 YLT)

I recently read through this in my daily reading, and decided to stop and figures out a bit more about what this whole looking back thought meant.

Lord's Supper Devotion: Jesus – The Promised Messiah

Devotion presented at church 4 March 2012:

Matt 12:9-16: And having departed thence, he went to their (the Pharisee’s) synagogue, and lo, there was a man having the hand withered, and they questioned him, saying, `Is it lawful to heal on the sabbaths?' that they might accuse him.

And he said to them, `What man shall be of you, who shall have one sheep, and if this may fall on the sabbaths into a ditch, will not lay hold on it and raise it ? How much better, therefore, is a man than a sheep? --so that it is lawful on the sabbaths to do good.'

Then saith he to the man, `Stretch forth thy hand,' and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole as the other.

Lord's Supper Devotional: Remember Who Jesus IS

Devotion presented at church 29 January 2012:

When we think of god the father, we rarely think of anything physical – at least hopefully that is the case. We may have mental thoughts along the lines of things we’ve actually seen in movies like the Ten Commandments – this images that come to mind when we think of the workings of God the Father with mankind.

I have always wondered what it was Moses saw when he saw God’s back:

Jehovah also saith, ‘Lo, a place is by Me, and thou hast stood on the rock, and it hath come to pass, in the passing by of Mine honour, that I have set thee in a cleft of the rock, and spread out My hands over thee, until My passing by, and I have turned aside My hands, and thou hast seen My back parts, and My face is not seen.’ (Exodus 33: 21-23)

Juice Fast - Day 8

Hey - Jeff here. Yes, here I am, and yes, I am still hanging in there. It has been juice, and nothing but freshly ground, mostly organic juice now for seven and a half days. Nothing major to report since the last time. Weight loss seems to have slowed some, but it is always harder to tell with those cheap spring loaded type scales. It appears to be close to 12 pounds lost as of this morning.

I have noticed a decrease in the amount of juice needed to get through a day. This was kind of expected though, based on everything I have heard and read. See, basically the reason we eat so much and so often is because our body craves nutrition. Unfortunately, most of the processed trash we take in, has little nutritional value, so it does not "feed" the body's need. So we find we need to eat more stuff, more often.

With juicing, I am taking in fresh, highly nutritious substances, which is immediately being absorbed by my body, and therefore satisfying that craving the body has for nutrition. After a few days of doing this, the body is better fed than before, and therefore seems to require less.

When I started this, I was bringing to work six 8-ounce glasses of juice to work each day, and consuming one about every 90 minutes, which got me through my nine hour work day fine, with no hunger pains at all. I noticed after about four days of this, that at the end of the day one day, I still had one of my juices left unconsumed. The next day, I found I ended the day with two left untouched. So, for all of this week, I have only been bringing four 8-ounce jars to work, and doing fine, often "forcing" myself to consume the last one before leaving work for the day.

So, it seems for sure that my body is more readily getting what it needs, and therefore is less needy overall. I still go through the entire day without being hungry, but I also still fight against the desire to taste my favorite foods. Being at work all day is fine, but going home in the evening is killer. Often times it is just that board eating that is desired too - snacking on my favorite chips, or whatever someone else may be snacking on. I guess idle hands causes this the most.

For now, all is fine, and my plans are to finish the ten days and resume eating on Sunday with a big family meal after church. Then I expect to resume a mostly juice diet following that; probably juicing at work all day, but eating a meal each night. That is the plan at least for now.

Juice Fast - Day 5

OK, keeping it brief this time as there is nothing majorly new to report. I survived yesterday - day four - by the skin of my teeth. Again, it is not the hunger pains at all that get to you at this stage, it is the desire to eat and taste foods you love.

That desire was ten times worse when being at home all afternoon yesterday while the family has one of my favorite home cooked Lord's Day meals. It started with the smell of the roast beef and potatoes, but was greatly made worse when the smell of hot garlic rolls filled the house. This torture was then followed by the house-filling smell of warm brownies.What a day, what a day.

I am glad to say I survived, and am now back at work for the new work week. It is obviously easier to handle here since there are no real food smells around me, and I am busy with work, keeping my mind off of any desires.

No changes appeared on the scales this morning, still a solid ten pound loss at this point. Also, the kidney discomfort I felt over the weekend seems about 90% gone at this point, so we're getting things straight.

So, we push on to then end!

Juice Fast - Day 4

OK, so far so good. Today is the start of day 4 of this (at least) ten day juice fast. My first semi-mistake was not really paying as much attention to the book as far as some juices. It turns out that beet juice needs to be consumed in smaller quantities because it is a very potent liver cleanser. I had a few small baby organic beets and decided to use them in a few consecutive days. Friday, after consuming my juice, I started feeling an odd discomfort right under behind the bottom of my rib cage, right under my breasts, on both sides. It later moved to my sides and back. So I weened off of the beets and the discomfort has slowly decreased, though still a little there this morning. So, be careful with the frequency of drinking beet juice - they say only do about half of a beet only a couple times a week.

So, stepping on the scale this morning, after three full juice days, and I am down ten pounds, so that makes me happy. I would like to see a bunch more go, but this is a great start.

As I mentioned in my previous post, hunger is still not an issue. Juice is quite filling and satisfying. The biggest thing with food is just the great smells and desires of tasting. It is very odd how it becomes less about the need or hunger to eat, and mainly about the desire to taste. Eating is somewhat of a habit that we often do more for taste than need. Juicing takes away the need, but the desire is still there to taste good food. I have read and watched videos that explain this as what will happen, and that juicing for a length of time helps to retrain the body away from this somewhat over time - but for now, it is a battle. Food smells great - and I want to taste it - but I have stayed the course so far.

My goal is to make it through the ten days, which would end next Saturday. However, the more and more people I hear about who did this, once they reached the ten day mark, felt so god that they continued on for even more time - sometimes 30-60 days. I am not committing to that at this time, which seems to make sense from what most people experience between the 3-8 day mark, but we'll see what happens later in the week.

Anyway, I am doing fine, feeling fine (aside from the bet discomfort), and will post more as it happens.