Your Vocation

I'm always intrigued by what seem to be logical inconsitancies and how we try to justify them. One example:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;

and

"Because you listened to your wife and ate

from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground ...through painful toil you will eat of it ... (i)t will produce thorns and thistles for you...(b)y the sweat of your browyou will eat your food ..."

But suppose we replace the words "to put", "to work it" and "take care of it" with the perfectly acceptable translations of "cause to rest", "to serve (God)/worship" and "keep a vow/obey."

This would allow us to read Genesis 2:15-16 as
The LORD God took the man and caused him to rest in the Garden of Eden to worship and obey. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden...

This puts a different twist to the God's curse as it exists on this earth and the rest his children will enter. It likwise removes the difficulty of trying to explain how work is a blessing and a curse at the same time.

My vocation is to worship and obey.

Classic Christian Literature

One author that I especially appriciate is Alfred Edersheim.

Three of his works that deal with the Jewish culture and its influence on the New Testaments are:

1. Sketches of Jewish Social Life
2. Temple--Its Ministry and Services
3. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

When Jesus said to Nicodemus,

3:10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?

he fully expected the rabbi to know about spiritual things. Notice that He didn't say, "of course you couldn't know these things."

This helps us to "get into the mind" of that epoch and better understand the "Word of Life."

Review of Introduction to Gospel of John 9/11/05

Review some of the lesson on the Introduction to the Gospel of John 9/11/05. See some of the links to modern gnostics!