The Most Natural Thing

Some people say we humans are hard-wired to believe in God, that that is the natural state of mankind.

Forty-eight years ago this Christmas Eve human beings circled another celestial body for the very first time. Stretched out beneath them the crew of Apollo 8 could see the dry, gray, cratered wasteland of the Moon. And there, floating serenely in the ebony blackness, precious and lovely, was a tiny blue and white sphere that held every person, every form of life, every idea and deed they knew.

All at once, in a single photograph, mankind saw its seeming insignificance against the vast sweep of the universe, and the pure, vulnerable, crystalline beauty of the Earth, our home.

I have always thought it was interesting that in that moment the thing that seemed most natural was to speak God's primordial words of creation back to him:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good,' (Book of Genesis, chapter 1 verses 1 - 10, King James Version)."

"...and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth!"



[This is a reprint of an earlier post because Christmas!]

2015: Alive and Moving

"...sharper than a double-edged sword..."

Welcome to 2015 everybody. You may remember that I declared last year as one of "reading the Bible again for the first time," and used the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) as much as possible in my posts. It turned out to be an outstanding translation that really conveyed a lot of what the Bible says without using a lot of religious slang. I plan to do a review of the ERV here soon and recommend it to anyone who wants a simple, refreshing Bible translation this under-girded by top quality scholarship.

My wife and I follow a Bible reading plan to keep us focused and we have also gotten in the habit of switching out the translations we use each year. The point is to hear the Bible in a way you haven't before and evaluate the differences you find. It's easy now in our push-button, high-tech 21st century world thanks to sites like the Biblegateway where most versions are available for free. In 2014 I used the Easy-to-Read Version, of course, and my wife chose the New American Bible, a Catholic translation.

For 2015 Rose asked me if I could recommend a translation that would "shake her loose from her King James mindset." And I couldn't think of any better than the feisty little rebel Bible called The Voice. It's a version that renders the words of scripture in the language of modern story telling, stubbornly refusing to use any traditional Christian jargon at all. It's also not afraid to add information to the text (in italics) that was plain to everybody when the Bible was written but utterly lost on us modern western readers 2000+ years later.

So I've decided that for me this will be another "year of reading the Bible for the first time," only this time using the Voice as my version of choice. Naturally I'll still turn to the NET or other trustworthy version (or just translate it myself if I have to) if the Voice goes off the rails. But I like the Voice because it's translators remember that the Word of God is not just a book of comforting, familiar platitudes...

The word of God, you see, is alive and moving; sharper than a double-edged sword; piercing the divide between soul and spirit, joints and marrow; able to judge the thoughts and will of the heart.

Letter to the Hebrews 4.12, the Voice

What Seemed Most Natural

Forty-three years ago today human beings were circling another celestial body for the very first time. Stretched out beneath them the crew of Apollo 8 could see the gray, cratered wasteland of the Moon. And floating serenely in the ebony blackness, precious and lovely, was the blue and white sphere that held every form of life, every idea and deed they knew...