Posts Tagged ‘Four Gospels’
Thursday, January 7th, 2010 by JEL
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the “prosperity gospel” and how it fits (or doesn’t) with the gospel teachings of Jesus. Now, one minister, Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, is claiming that the Jesus we all thought was poor was, in fact, wealthy.
Rev. Anderson points to three pieces of evidence for his claim: (1) the expensive gifts baby Jesus received from the three wise men; (2) the fact that Mary and Joseph rode a donkey (“Cadillac”) to Bethlehem; and (3) that Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ undergarments.
Others disagree. Bruce W. Longenecker, a Baylor University religion professor says, “The only way you can make Jesus into a rich man is by advocating torturous interpretations and by being wholly naive historically.” You can read more about the debate here.
Tags: Four Gospels, Jesus, piety, prosperity gospel
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by JEL
As December 25 quickly approaches, I, like many of you, am up to my eyeballs in shopping lists, tree tinsel, and back-order stress. Yes, Christmas is coming. I think many people forget, while deep in Xbox vs. Wii debates, that Christmas = Jesus’ birthday.
Should we really break out the candles on the 25th?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John never mention the 25th as the birth date of Christ in their Gospels. So where did it come from? This article provides an answer.
Tags: Christmas, December 25, Four Gospels, Jesus
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by PJM
Now that we are in the Christmas season, I have been spending some time in the margins of What He Said. The Gospels of Mark and John begin when Jesus is an adult, but Matthew and Luke both give accounts of Christ’s birth. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting about some aspects of the two birth stories that interest me.
The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus, as told by Matthew. Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Jacob who was the son of Matthan who was the son of Eleazar… But, Luke (in Chapter 3) tells us that Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Heli who was the son of Matthat who was the son of Levi… What’s going on? Was Joseph the son of Jacob or Heli?
I’ve read that Jesus’ ancestry in Matthew is through Joseph and His ancestry in Luke is actually though Mary. When Luke says that Joseph was the son of Heli, he really means “son-in-law.”
This seems to be consistent with another difference in the two accounts of Christ’s birth story. Matthew has an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph (whose ancestors he has just listed). The angel explains to Joseph the circumstances of Mary’s motherhood and tells Joseph to name the child Jesus. But, Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to reveal the mystery of her being with child and tells her to name the child Jesus. So, it makes sense to me that Luke would trace the genealogy of Christ through Mary.
I would love it if a more astute Biblical scholar would step in to let us know if my thinking is off-base.
Tags: Bible, Christmas, Four Gospels, Genealogy, Jesus, Joseph, Mary
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, The Bible | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 19th, 2009 by JEL
Please note that this post is filed under the “Irreverant” category. Also note that the source of article being discussed is Weekly World News.
Now that that’s out of the way, Dr. Wayne Stanton, “a mathematician and leading expert on the four gospels,” has discovered some new meaning in Jesus’ words. According to the good doctor, Jesus was speaking on two levels. One, about the Kingdom of Heaven and two, about future events.
Taking the twelfth, seventh and third letters in Jesus’ words and then using them to create new words, Jesus was apparently sending us coded messages about some startling prophesies. Read the article to find out about a very exciting year in 2010.
Tags: Bible, Four Gospels, Jesus, prophesies
Posted in Irreverant | No Comments »
Friday, November 13th, 2009 by JEL
Seems as if we were not the only ones crafting a book the last couple of years centered around the Four Gospels. I recently came across Mary Gordon’s Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels. Her take is fascinating:
“In the introduction to this remarkable book, Mary Gordon is riding in a taxi as the driver listens to a religious broadcast, and she reflects that, though a lifelong Christian, she is at odds with many others who identify themselves as Christians. In an effort to understand whether or not she had ‘invented a Jesus to fulfill my own wishes,’ she determined to read the Gospels as literature and to study Jesus as a character.”
You can read Newsweek’s review of the book here.
Tags: Four Gospels, Jesus, Mary Gordon
Posted in Four Gospels | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 by JEL
If you’ve watched the original Star Wars (1977) lately, you quickly notice how things can get dated when viewed through the lens of current day. In reading through the Four Gospels as many times as we did in creating What He Said, what struck me was how timeless the text seemed.
Except for the demons.
Demons are everywhere in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus casts them out of people right and left. Sometimes they are even visible as they slink away. Other times, they speak (Matthew 8:31). Every time I come upon a demon passage, I “wake from the dream” for a bit, as I ponder how odd those narratives feel in a modern context.
Tags: Bible, demons, Four Gospels, Jesus
Posted in Four Gospels, The Bible | No Comments »
Friday, November 6th, 2009 by JEL
In these days of Blackberries, iPhones, text messages, IM, and Tweets, the English language has taken a beating. The thumbs are in charge and they don’t give a hoot about proper punctuation, capitalization, or grammar. Which makes this quote so refreshing:
“Cheer Up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.” — Matthew 14:27
Jesus knew that the verb to be always takes the nominative case.
Tags: Four Gospels, grammar, Jesus
Posted in Irreverant | No Comments »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009 by JEL
I have a feeling Jesus might have a few things to say about the compensation of top executives today. Like maybe:
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.” — Matthew 19:24
Barclays CEO John Varley has a slightly different take on the matter:
“The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest. We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.”
You can read some more of Varley’s thoughts here.
Tags: executive pay, Four Gospels, Jesus, wealth
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009 by JEL
Since the mid-90s when it first opened its virtual doors for business, I have done the vast majority of my shopping (personal and for others) at Amazon.com. The prices are great, the shipping is fast, and the customer service has been extremely solid.
Which makes seeing What He Said now available at Amazon so incredibly cool! And, if you throw in that CD you’ve been meaning to pick up, you can get free shipping to boot. You can purchase our book by clicking here.
Once you get your copy and have spent some time getting acquainted, we’d be grateful if you left a user review. Many thanks!
Tags: Amazon, Four Gospels, What He Said, Words of Christ
Posted in What He Said - The Book | No Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009 by JEL
You ask four people to write an account of the same incident, you’re bound to get differences in the final narrative. The Judas betrayal is just one example:
- Matthew – Judas goes to the priests and asks what they’ll give him in return for turning over Jesus. He gets paid 30 pieces of silver on the spot. The betrayal, itself, is done with the kiss.
- Mark – Again, Judas proactively goes to the priests, but is only “promised” money. The kiss is repeated.
- Luke – In this account, Satan enters into Judas and gets him to go to the priests who, this time, “agree to” give him money. This is the only gospel with Jesus’ quote, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (22:48)
- John – Satan enters Judas’s heart during the Last Supper. There’s no mention of going to the priests beforehand; Judas just appears with a detachment of soldiers and officers. There’s no mention of a kiss or of any money changing hands.
Tags: Bible, Four Gospels, Judas, What He Said
Posted in Four Gospels | 2 Comments »
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