Judges 11:30-38

i have been doing a study called "the bible in 90 days" over the last couple of weeks. it's just what it is titled reading the bible in 90 days cover to cover, starting in genesis and ending in revelation. i am really enjoying it and finding myself asking tons of questions. it's sad though because i haven't really been able to discuss what i've been reading with anyone, and i really want to. the old testament is so interesting. while i have read most of it before, i know i have skipped over most of numbers and leviticus before. anyways i am going to start posting questions i have about what i read starting with Judges 11:30 which is where i have been reading tonight.

my question is about God and child sacrifice? automatically my mind goes to abraham when God tells abraham to sacrifice his only son isaac, but only wanted to test abraham's faith. when he saw abraham was willing to do whatever He asked, He stopped abraham from sacrificing isaac and provided a ram for the sacrifice.

in judges 11:30-38, japhtheh makes a vow to the Lord, that if He will give the ammonites into japhtheh's hands, whatever comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he returns in triumph will be the Lord's, and he will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. well that wasn't a very smart vow to make, and when japhtheh returned home from defeating the ammonites his daughter, only child, came out first to meet him. when he saw her he cried out and tore his clothes and informed her about his vow to the Lord. interestingly enough her response is, "give me 2 months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because i will never marry." after 2 months, she returned and japhtheh did to her as he had vowed. and the story makes sure to tell us at the end she was a virgin.

what was God thinking through all of this?
why didn't he stop japhtheh?
why does God choose to interfere in some incidences but not others?
did God really accept this "virgin" sacrifice?
why did japhtheh feel the need to make this vow?
what is meant by house?
wouldn't anything coming out of the house be human?
is this story eluding to the sacrifice of Jesus? japhtheh's only child, yet she is a girl. he loves her though very much.
what would have happened if japhtheh had broken the vow? (Numbers 30:2 - just says he must not break his word but must do everything he said)
how come she needed to leave for 2 months?
why didn't she just run away?

anyways these are just a few of the questions i have on this section...back to reading

Amazing Coincidence?....I Think Not.

Yesterday i was sitting outside of starbucks enjoying the beautiful weather, when all of the sudden a man approaches me and says, "Here I just wanted to give you some interesting information on the Titanic," while handing me a postcard with a picture of a sinking Titanic. Intrigued I take the postcard, and he leaves without saying anything else.

When I finally read the writing on the back, I realized that it was a tract or a track however it is said/spelled. it claims that there are remarkable parallels between the story of the Titanic and the biblical "plan" of salvation. It is titled 'Amazing Coincidence'. i could not believe it. my feelings were so mixed. i was sad that the guy actually thought he was evangelizing to me. he thought he had shared jesus with me, the good news. also, what kind of sick mind could compare a beautiful story of love with a tragic story of pride.

Here is a summary of the track.
the Titanic = the World
the Iceberg = the Moral Law (i think i hear kirk cameron in the background)
the Lifeboats = Jesus Christ

here is one of the many tragic flaws in this comparison. the track says that only those who believed the titanic was sinking looked for lifeboats, just as those who believe they are in mortal danger (what?) will look to the 'Lifeboat of the Savior' (oh please)... but as any of us who have seen the movie know :) ...hello, only the first class passengers and women and children were let on the lifeboats first. So i guess Jesus came first only for the wealthy and women and children, and if there is room in the lifeboat then he'll take the men and the poor. thank goodness I am female.

According to this track Jesus offers us a place in the Lifeboat. I think Donald Miller would laugh so hard at this. i know i do when i think about his book 'searching for God knows what'. he specifically talks about how we have this lifeboat theory in our culture and how jesus doesn't. we look up to and admire the wealthy and powerful. we only want to surround ourselves with people who we feel are important and intelligent or can contribute to society in a positive way. Jesus however surrounded himself with 'losers' and people who had problems, made bad choices, were not considered important, were poor, etc... none of those people would have made it onto the lifeboats on the titanic. they probably would have gone down with the ship or froze to death in the water. wow!

this track brings up so many questions about the truth of christianity and i can't even write any more about it because i am outraged by it. it is ridiculous. Jesus is so much more than a lifeboat! how can we reduce him to that? God did not create this world to be a sinking ship! Where did we come up with this stuff. brothers and sisters we are in need of a change! how can we accept this as truth? Jesus, Help us! Nowhere in the entire track does it have the word Love!!!

The track ends with this sentence: "...read the Bible daily, obey what you read...and God will never let you down." Really? maybe the people who wrote this track should read the bible. Obey everything that I read? So in the OT when it talks about stoning people who sin, we should do that right? and women shouldn't teach and they should wear headcoverings? maybe i'm going a bit overboard, but i think they should put a different sentence there. why not something like,
"ask questions and seek after truth daily...and you will discover a God beyond our understanding with love beyond our understanding."

thoughts on cityfest

CityFest...yesterday Alan and i took about 10 students to Eleanor Tinsley Park to see what was supposed to be the city's greatest "christian" event of all time. the idea is great, a whole city coming together as one despite denomination and theological differences. an event to show that christians are cool and xtreme. we skateboard and bike for Jesus. i knew it was going to be an interesting event when i was waiting in-line to buy tickets to buy food (yeah you had to buy tickets to buy food) and i heard one of the skateboarders say something to the extent of "if you believe in Jesus you're going to heaven and if you don't you're going to hell. now who wants to accept Jesus into their hearts?" and that is basically the way the whole night went. now to be honest i expected it to be like that, but i went hoping i was wrong.

now to be fair i was only their for about 6 hours of the 24 hours the event took up. and i only heard 2 people talk including Louis Palaou so maybe i missed the explanation of who Jesus is. if i weren't a christian though, and i only attended those 6 hours i don't think i would be a christian and i'd still have no clue who Jesus is nor would I understand why i would want to go to heaven to be with him.

honestly, i don't want to be negative about the event. Jesus says, "whoever is not against me, is for me," and i am sure that people's lives were changed by the event. still I just wish i could have heard somebody talk about Jesus. explain from the beginning why he had to die and rise. explain what he did on earth that he came to establish his kingdom and bring redemption. explain what it means to be a christian, that it is more than just believe and go to heaven. If that is the whole story than what is the point of living on earth. God should just take us up once we believe in Jesus. I really wanted to hear some good news! i wanted to hear a story of how Jesus changed a person's life! in fact, i wanted to get up and share my life since nobody else was. along with that i wanted to hear a call to action. i'm sick of this passive christianity! Can there be such a thing as a passive, apathetic christian? is that possible? i don't know. i know that i can not be that kind of christian though. lately, i have been feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders and i know that probably sounds ridiculous, but that is how i have been feeling. i know there are christians out there serving the people of this world for the Lord and i want to be a part of that.

So now I just have to say this because it has been eating at me for the last 24 hours. Here we were in the middle of Downtown Houston surrounded by hurting people. people who are homeless and desperate. A whole bunch of christians ignoring the poor and singing worship songs to Jesus....i don't know went on the whole weekend, but i know that i am guilty probably more so than anyone...something that would have been cool is if for that one weekend you could have set up camp in downtown Houston and hung out with the homeless people and got to know them and found a way to help them. that would be a real cityfest! christians coming together and meeting the needs of their neighbors, what a thought! that would be true evangelism. lasting evangelism. evangelism that people can understand. that would be showing Jesus to the people of Houston.

Sadly, I didn't meet Jesus last night at Cityfest. i didn't see him there. maybe i didn't look hard enough. i definitely didn't see him in the prices of food. i didn't see him in the merchandise being sold. i didn't see him in the booths that i passed. I didn't see him in the police who were trying to kick a lady out for speaking her mind, and i didn't see him in the talk of "do you want to go to heaven or do you want to go to hell?" In fact you know where i saw Jesus last night and honestly it didn't even hit me till right now. As we were walking back to our car, I saw him in a little child, sleeping in the doorway of a Subway restaurant with no adult in sight, while a huge christian cityfest was going on a few blocks away. Jesus, i'm so sorry.