Sometimes Scripture Messes With My Head

September 15, 2010 in Religion with 6 Comments

When was the last time you read something in the Bible and it really messed with your head? It happened to me really bad on Saturday. What I mean by messed with my head is that I didn’t like what I read. Not even a little. I was reading from Judges 11 about Jephthah and his “Tragic Vow” (that’s an understated heading from the ESV). Here’s a rundown of what happend and the verses that really bugged be.

  • Jephtah’s dad, Gilead, had a wife and other kids, but Jephtah’s mom was a prostitute. Not the greatest start to life.
  • His brothers drove him away from the family to keep him from getting any inheritance. Being an outcast isn’t fun.
  • It’s noted that he was a “mighty warrior” and that Israel turned to him for help against an enemy.
  • He agreed to help them if they put him in charge once he came and destroyed their enemy.

Alright that sets up the part of the chapter that really, really bugged me:

Judges 11:30–39 (ESV)
And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them. . . . Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. . . . [Jephtah] tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow.” And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth. . . . And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made.

As a father of two young girls this chapter bugs me. In fact, it makes me nauseous. Why in the world would a dad do this to his daughter? Why would God allow this to happen? Why is this even in the Bible?

So I did some digging and some things started to rise to the surface. There are a couple takeaways I learned:

  1. Jephthah’s background was with foreign gods whose religions taught that child sacrifice was one of the only ways to appease them. This no doubt shaped the way he thought of Yahweh God.
  2. The major difference between this episode and Abraham’s near sacrifice is that God initiated the sacrifice, but here Jephthah was in a sense testing God. In fact, throughout this narrative God’s voice is never heard.
  3. Jephthah’s reaction to his daughter was selfish. He was more concerned about his own feelings of loss than his daughter.
  4. His daughter was completely accepting of the “fate” that was dealt to her. There’s no mention of God’s role here.

There’s quite a bit more that I could write about this because I have a lot more thoughts and feelings on the matter, but I want to know what you think. What does this passage teach you about God? About how people put God to a test? About the Bible as a whole?

I’ll share some more thoughts tomorrow, but share your thoughts today in the comments below!

UPDATE: Read more of my thoughts about Jephthah here.

New Twitter.com Looks NICE!!!

September 14, 2010 in Tech with 4 Comments

Just watched this video preview of the new interface for Twitter. The interface looks great and reminds me a little of the iPad Twitter app. It’s being rolled out gradually, so I hope I get to check it soon! Video promo is really well done, too.

What do you think?

Logos 4 Mac Official Release Coming October 1

September 14, 2010 in Religion, Tech with 0 Comments

I’ve been a Logos Bible Software user for a long, long time (since the mid-90s), but I’ve just recently jumped into the Mac world last summer. One of the things that was keeping me from making the switch was Logos being Windows only. I knew I could do parallels, Boot Camp, or something similar, but I didn’t like the idea of not having full access to the computer resources to run the software (that’s showing my geek card right there).

But I took the jump last summer to Mac mainly because they announced a Mac version for their software. But the first attempt at the Mac version was a miss. So bad in fact I asked for a refund and they gave it to me. Logos has some of the best customer service I’ve ever dealt with. When they gave me the refund they told me they were working on a new version, which made me happy.

That new version made its appearance unofficially last fall in alpha/beta testing stages. I’ve been using these versions and I can tell you from experience that it’s incredible. They’ve added some incredibly useful tools to make it easier to study your Bible and take your study as deep as you want to go. It’s amazing what you can find out with just a couple mouse clicks.

Well, the official release of Logos 4 Mac is coming October 1 and they’re giving away some really nice prizes to celebrate. If you’re a Mac user and love the Bible you should really consider purchasing a copy of the software. A cool part of the software is that the license lets you use both the Mac and Windows versions of the software in addition to the cool Logos App for the iPhone/iPad.

Check out the info below from Logos.

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

Awkward Handshakes

September 13, 2010 in Humor with 8 Comments

Photo by Ashley Good

Today I had a moment with Frank, our Student Minister at BridgeWay, that I believe there isn’t a word for, but there should be: an awkward handshake. I could also call it an accidental handshake, but it felt more awkward than accidental.

Here’s what happened. We were rating Will, our Worship Minister, on how much of a metrosexual worship leader he is. When we were done I stood up and started to point at Frank to get Will’s final score and that’s how it got started. He thought I was reaching my hand out to offer a handshake (like we lived in the 1930s or something where I guess people shook hands every time they entered or exited a room), so he reached out and shook my hand.

I don’t know why it felt so awkward, but it did. To try to ease things up, Frank reached over to shake Will’s hand, but I didn’t follow suit. I just felt awkward then left the room.

There are other times that the awkward handshake shows up, especially in church:

  • Forced handshake during greeting time in worship. I’m considering going exclusively with hugs because I think that would be less awkward, right?
  • Missed grip. This happens to me when I’m keeping eye contact with the other person and end up not getting a full hand, just fingers. Not good. I always reboot and do it right.
  • Wet noodle. I don’t know what you call it, but that’s what I feel like I’m grabbing when the other person doesn’t do any grip at all in the handshake. It’s not just awkward it’s also a little oogy.
  • Fist bump. I’m not sure why this has become so popular, but it seems like some people think it’s a better alternative than the handshake. It’s not.
  • No free hands, so let’s pinky swear. When I’m holding my daughter and carrying my iPad (which has my Bible in it) I can’t even offer the lefty shake, so sometimes the other person feel obligated to do something, so we end up with some hybrid between a handshake and pinky swear. It makes me feel like somehow I’ve done some weird warp into middle school.

Those are just a few that I can think of. Do you have any moments in your world that the awkward handshake makes an appearance? Share in the comments.

Sunday Night Unfiltered

September 12, 2010 in Personal with 4 Comments

I’m going to try something new this week that I might make a regular Sunday night practice. Tonight I’m going to just do a random fire of thoughts that come to me based on the stuff that happened today at church or throughout the week. It may be entertaining or completely useless.

Let me know what you think.

  • Bugs. Bugs everywhere!
  • I’m wondering if trying to do our own bug spraying is smart or if we should hire some professionals?
  • Asked someone new to do the lawn mowing at church. Old guys haven’t mowed for two weeks. I should probably let them know Monday their services are no longer needed.
  • First half of Cowboys game has been BORING…right up until the last play.
  • Switching the church to the new kiosk check-in system will be really, really good in the long run. Right now it’s kind of a pain. I’m glad we have some great volunteers to help out!!!
  • We got our connection group back together for the first time in months tonight! Had a great time, but I wish everyone could’ve been there. Looking forward to getting some momentum going.
  • Having a lobby/foyer that’s too small for your church is not great, but it’s awesome at the same time. It’s not great because there’s not enough room for people to hang out. It’s awesome because there is a TON of energy when the place is packed!
  • The barista at the Kroger Starbucks seemed bummed. Praying he finds some joy this week.
  • My wife is awesome at hospitality. She had a great idea for a snack that was super simple to make (I think, she made it) and added some nice personal touches to the house to make it feel more warm and welcoming.
  • Forgot to bring a snack for Emory for between services. Would’ve been bad if BridgeWay didn’t have an awesome, ready for anything Children’s Minister in Lisa Rowland!!! The church is blessed to have her.
  • It’s cool to see friends from our old church at our new church.
  • Christians should look at others with the eyes of a doctor, not a judge. Great challenge from Art tonight.

Okay. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. What did the day look like to you?

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