7B
RELIGIOlWJe CSarlone #o«
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Job’s reflections, part n
Continued from page 5B
2. What images did Job employ to drive home the finahty of
death? (v.. 11-12)
Having lost his children in a sudden and shocking manner,
Job was confronted with the fact that he would never see them
again on this earth. The finahty of death is painfully apparent
to him. God has set limits on man’s lifespan (v. 5), and although
a felled tree may seem to spring to hfe again, a man does not
reappear once he is gone (vs. 7-10).
The images fix)m the natural world give Job’s argument poet
ic power. In the Near East, it is not imusual for a body of water
or a river to go dry What once was a hvely source of refi:esh-
ment is suddenly barren and empty In the same way someone
can be hvely and full of energy one day and suddenly be still and
lifeless as death claims him.
When we sleep, we he down, but we get up. This is not the
case with death. We can imagine Job’s sadness as he noted that
as long as the earth lasts, no one who has ched will ever rise
again. (We know that (Sod later worked resurrection miracles,
and Jesus would rise from the grave, but Job correctly observed
the normal course of this world of someone hving in this world.
3. How can we account for the complexity of Job’s thoughts
concerning hfe and death?
Grief, especiaUy the grief that Job went through, has a way of
leading to complex and conflicting thou^ts. Job seemed to
desire death and protection at the same time. He felt that God
was angry at him; but he also wanted his dehverance as well.
When it comes to hfe, we love it, but we hate to sxiffer. This is
part of the reason why Job had complex thoughts concerning
hfe. In his finitude, a person may beheve in God but have no
due as to what God is doing in his hfe.
Job was obviously a very perplexed man, but he showed his
heart by continuing to call out to God, and he imderstood that
God was his only source of hope.
When God puts people through tov^ times. He is the only
one who can bring th«n out. God has a purpose for everything
that happais in a Christian’s hfe, and He should be trusted
until the end. It is only natural to ^press grief durirg troubled
times, but as we see later in this lesson, these thoughts of grief
should not go against God.
4. What might Job have been thiriking about the possibihty
of resurrection fixm death?
Job’s situation had led him to think about the ultimate issues
of hfe and deatii. He was thinking out loud about the possibili
ty of resufrection. Job knew that man did not normally return
to hfe, so if he died, he wanted the assurance that there would
be a “set time” (Job 14; 13) when he would be restored and expe
rience his “change” (v. 14).
In keeping with this interpretation of these verses, Elmer
Smick pointed out that the word translated “change” (or renew
al) is the same as that used in verse 7 in reference to the tree
sprouting to new hfe (Gaebelein, ed.. The Expceitor’s Bible
Commentary Zondervan). So Job may have been thinking
about life after death.
There is a desire in man to hve forever. Each person, howev
er, will experience death at one time or another. Christians
have Ihe hope of hfe after death (or living with the Creator Him
self). Those who do not have Christ as his or her Lord and Sav
ior will suffer eternity without God and bum in hell. Thank
fully those who are saved will have their bodies resurrected at
the rapture d Th. 4:16-17).
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Latest effort to reconstruct Jesus
Continued from page SB
suspicion, and his theories
dispute what they report.
His assumptions are clear:
‘Women do not get pregnant
without a male—ever. So
Jesus had a human father,
whether we can identify him
or not. Dead bodies don’t
rise—not if one is clinically
dead— as Jesus surdy was.”
He figures, people stole
Jesus’ corpse fium the tomb,
most likely Jesus’ mother
Mary and sister Salome.
Tabor assumed there’s a ‘fam
ily tomb” containing Jesus’
bones somewhere around
Jerusalem but—like Bajgent
and his secrets—tried to track
down evidence without suc
cess.
Since Tabor deems the vir
gin birth impossible, he
thinks Mary was ei^aged to
Joseph but became “a teenag-
pregnant out of wedlock
with an illegitimate child” by
some unknown other man.
From that unpromising
start, Tabor contends, Jesus’
nudear family and disciples
followed bim as a messiah
and the “legitimate King of
Israel” who rmfortunately was
^ecuted as a political threat.
The alleged “Jesus dynasty”
was perpetuated by Jesus’
half brothers, who he thinks
were actually foiur of the 12
(Here Tabor follows the
Protestant view that Jesus
had real brothers and sisters;
Roman Catholicism and East
ern Orthodoxy believe Mary
remained a lifelong viigin.)
The New Tbstament identi
fies Jesus’ brother James as a
“pillar” of early Christianity
who led the Holy Land
churches while Peter and
Paul took the message else
where. Tabor thinks James
and the “royal family” didn’t
worship Jesus as God but
that Christians who did even
tually took command.
Baigent, whose past writ
ings fed into “The Da Vind
Code” attempt to debunk the
Bible and early Christianity,
is far less hkely to affect seri
ous thinking than is Tabor.
“Jesus Papers” recycles the
shopworn “swoon theory”
which has Jesus faking his
death on the cross, thus elim
inating the Easter miracle of
resurrection from the grave.
Instead, Jesus conspires with
Pilate to survive death by cru
cifixion and becomes a mys
tery guru in Egypt, living
with the Mi^., Mary Magda
lene.
There’s “incontrovertible
evidence” Jesus weis alive a
decade after the crucifixion,
Baigent writes, though it
turns out proof is lacking.
Baigent switched signals
entirely on NBC, saying ‘Sve
don’t even know really that
he (Jesus) existed” because
outside the New Ifestament
he’s only mentioned by Tad-
tus. Result: Non-crucifixion
and non-resurrection of a
non-person.
Actually Jesus was men
tioned early on by four Jewish
or pagan writers and in
Christian works outside the
Bible. For that matter, why
exclude the New 'Ifestament
evidence if other andent texts
are used?
Tabor would laugh off
Baigent’s “swoon theory”
about crucifixion fraud, of
course.
Now comes the fun as schol
ars pick apart the plausibility
of both men’s speculations.
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April, 2006 Newsletter - Part IV
My old school teacher from back in the 50’s taught the Bible class in school. They won’t
allow teaching the Bible in the schools now. My old school teacher back then taught;
“The Bible speaks of a greater punishment in hell for a liar that a murderer". Was my
old Bible teacher teaching the truth? I’ll leave the answer with you. If you don’t agree with
my old school teacher, write me this next week and tell me why. I’ll read what you say
and I won’t get mad with you about it. But when a person can just straight-face lie, or go
along with a lie like all my three cousins did in this case, that is a good sign of God
reprobating sinners. I do not know altogether what my Lord meant when He said: “Woe
unto doctors and lawyers". (Lk. L1:46,52) My family members, I would not be in your
place for ten thousand worlds of gold and silver. You only see the present. When you are
brought in at the Great White Throne Judgment, you’ll be brought in with your head down
and regret for all eternity the life you lived on this earth. And i’ll have to witness against
you there on that day. I thought along these lines as I sat there and wept in my heart in
the courtroom. And on the other hand, I rejoiced in Christ and in God electing me in
Christ before the foundation of the world. On the eighth of March (2006), my late
secretary’s husband accompanied me some 200 miles from here to visit a piece of
prope^ my late wife and I had bought in 1984. The man, Charlie Rodwell, who lived in
Virginia years ago, had blocked our right-of-way road to keep us from entering the
property. When we arrived over there shortly before noon, we left the car outside the
gates at the entrance and proceeded to walk down the road. I quickly saw a woman way
back coming out of Charlie Rodwell’s house, but could not recogiiize whom it was. As we
proceeded in, she walked toward us. When she got close to us, she questioned why we
were there and whom we were with. I kindly answered her and told her: “I own the
property back there". Immediately, she let out a cussing at me and said she was going to
call the police. My friend and 1 just kept walking and ignored her. I wish I could just get
you to see that you need to keep your mouth shut when before the enemy as much as
possible.
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