Verge13 Notes via Evernote

Here are my notes from the Verge13 conference. I took copious hand-written notes and then captured them with the notebook feature on Evernote for the iPad. If you scroll to the end, you can save them to your own Evernote account. Some of it is more detailed than other parts, so fire away if you … Read more

Obedience in Mediocrity vs. Sacrifice in Action

Hosea 6:6 NET 6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. I’ve been learning this in an unhappily repetitive way lately. It’s come in the form of eager children and eager adults. People tend to really like to please you or really … Read more

You Say That To All The Deities

Hosea 2:11  I will put an end to all her celebration:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities –
all her appointed festivals. Look at what is on this list–It’s all of the religious things that Israel was doing! Somebody might say, “Wait, didn’t God ask them to do all of these religious things?” … Read more

Judaism at the time of Paul

Here is an interesting quote from the opening pages: “Temples were still erected for the old gods, priest continued to serve and sacrifice to be offered, but these were obsolete; and the myths about the gods were a spent force, no longer capable of satisfying the individual’s longing fr protection and blessing, salvation and redemption, in this world and the next. … “This is the background against which we have to view Judaism with all its differences and strangeness, its belief in the one, invisible God, Lord of heaven and earth, the rigor of its law, its ethical and ritual commandments (observance of the Sabbath, the dietary laws, etc.), its uniform way of life throughout the whole world, the venerable antiquity of its history, its call to turn away from all idolatry and moral confusion, and its proclamation of the judgment about to overtake the impenitent and of the peace and righteousness which the Messiah, soon to come, would bring in his train.” – p.7 It kind of boggles my mind to realize that people were attracted to the rule of law and the moral standards of Judaism.