The Tackle Box: the Bible

Tools, materials, equipment, gear: no matter what you call them or what you do for a living, you know what I'm talking about because you use them too.

Students use books, paper, and Internet resources to do homework and school projects. Carpenters need fasteners, a tape measure, wood, and a bunch of tools that they usually carry around in a tool box. Lawyers, copywriters, doctors, teachers, and scientists use computers to access information, do research and publish their conclusions. In fact, every profession requires certain instruments and materials, and every religion has reference books, objects and rituals to support their traditions, organize actual practice of the religion and claim authority.

Fishermen use a tackle box for their hooks and other small fishing equipment, so this is the first of a series of articles about the tools and practices that Christians are supposed to use.


Let's start with the Book: the Bible.

1929 King James Bible
Photo courtesy of King James Bible Online

It was written of a period of around 1500 years by 40 different people, and the original manuscripts were in three different languages. Scholars are aware of the existence of hundreds of ancient copies of the original texts and several translations.

Scribes copied the original documents by hand, and that practice continued through the centuries. When the printing press was invented, it was used to make copies of Bibles in common languages so that everyone could read it (provided they knew how to read).

In the beginning, it was written on scrolls - long rolls of parchment attached to two sticks. It was really hard to find individual paragraphs. The concept of chapters and verses was consolidated in the 1200s.

"Biblical notation" is the system of abbreviations and numbers that lets us find particular sentences (verses) quickly. For example: John 17:3 means to look up verse 3 in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John.

The Bible's purpose is to give people the possibility to find out who God is. In fact, the first commandment that Christians are given is to love God, so it is really important to know about him. Jesus said that knowing God is actually eternal life.

Some other "tools" that Christians use are: prayer, church, and faith. We'll be looking at those in the future.

The Way

Everyone is looking for happiness and serenity.

Every religion in the world offers a "way", and points out how to achieve inner peace or receive eternal life. They promise you'll go to heaven, be happy and sometimes even get rich, and in any case they offer a philosophy of life.

Jesus said he was the way the truth and the life*, which is just a mysterious way of saying that if we make him our role model, we'll be able to see things more clearly.

So Jesus is supposed to the way... 
To where? And just why should we follow him? What do we get out of it?

Many people are still convinced that being a Christian means following a set of impossible-to-obey rules, but instead, Christianity is really a lifestyle.

The word "lifestyle" is defined as "the way we interpret ourselves inside the reality that we live in", and it is the collection of attitudes, reactions to social issues, interests, opinions and behaviors of a person, a group or a culture.** In other words, it's a set of conscious and unconscious choices, some of which have meaning only within our specific context.

A Christian lifestyle starts with a decision, and good decisions are made after a lot of thought and consideration. I think that when we start to clash with the culture around us - the events, the politics and the customs - we begin to think about what other things life could offer. If you don't agree or you're unhappy with your world, how can you change it?

Convictions are really hard to change. 

How much do you really know about the Christian lifestyle? Are you sure that what you think you know is actually true? If not, how can you tell the truth from the lies?

Through the centuries, thousands of people have interpreted the Bible in different ways based on their cultures and convictions. We are supposed to start with the Bible and see what it says, instead of trying to graft verses onto our culture to reinforce our own views.

In the next month, I'll be posting a few articles about how to read the Bible: the easy stuff, like notation and the difference between the Old and New Testament content; and the more intellectual notions, such as how cultural context influences interpretation. We all know that Biblical text is centuries old, but we don't always take that into consideration.

The biggest obstacle to Bible study is the notion that we've heard it all before, and the only way to overcome it is to challenge it.

*John 14:6

** http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stile_di_vita

Treading water

Just going through the motions? Are you tired of the routine?
You're actually keeping things going. Don't be hard on yourself.

If you stopped, life would not come to halt. Things would keep happening, but order would be gone. If you did something else, in just a little while, the new would wear off and you'd only have a new grind. If you ran away, you would only create a second timeline: more activities, responsibilities, and work.

When you tread water, you swim in place with your head above water, moving arms and legs in order to stay afloat. You can't touch, and you don't go anywhere. If you stop, you sink. If you choose a direction, it only takes two extra kicks to get going that way.

Treading water is great exercise: it builds stamina and endurance.
Let's go over those questions again.

Just going through the motions? Are you tired of the routine?
Don't be disappointed for the apparent lack of progress. You're getting stronger by the minute.

Resurrection

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I got busy and time just flies.

I never really abandoned the blog. There were just other things that demanded my attention. Now, I wish I could say the house was in order and the laundry was done up, or that my novel is finally going to hit the bookstores. Life just got in the way.

But despite all that, right now I have 646 followers on Twitter. Thank you!

The thought for the day is "resurrection" naturally, as the title foreshadows. We do it every day. We get up and start all over again. Usually, our habits kick in and we don't think about it all that much. But when you're ...

stuck in traffic
waiting for the bus
typing at the office
ordering lunch
changing diapers
feeding the baby
stopping the fight at the playground
drying the tears
turning in your assignment
starting a new job

... remember that you get another chance.
You're resetting the game and hitting go, one more time.

Jesus gave us another chance. Let's make it count.

Happy Easter!

Open Waters

This is my contribution to the Christian Writers Blog Chain (please check the sidebar) for MARCH (insert day job between blog and deadline...sorry readers). The theme is "open", and my blog is all about opening up to God and our own callings.

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We're all on this journey we call life. Some of us have plans, some don't. If I've learned one thing in the past year that's worth sharing it's this:

A plan is vital for success.

Without a plan, there will be no getting there - in fact, there'll be no destination! I'll exist in survival mode, and end up with a lot of unfulfilled dreams I never "had the chance" to carry through on.

Here's some food for thought.
God makes a lot of promises to the people who will consciously decide to follow him. In some cases, He even tells us to put Him to the test. He promises to not abandon us, to heal us if we return to Him and to bless us by giving us back more than we give Him. He sent Jesus to die for our sins, which allows us to spend eternity with Him. In Revelation, God leaves us with a list of promises for those who persevere and win. Embracing those promises feels a bit like setting sail out into the open sea.

Open waters don't have visible boundaries, but sailors follow the shipping lanes that have been mapped out so that they don't take a chance on a collision. The second thing I've learned worth sharing is that we have to think carefully and CHOOSE our boundaries, otherwise we'll be all over the place.

Protective boundaries include bedtime, personal hygiene habits and a healthy diet ("diet" means "food intake plan" not "starve to death on things that taste terrible"). I've realized, though, that most of my boundaries are provided by other types of choices: my profession, my friends, my philosophy of life, and so on. I think of these boundaries as "rudders" that keep me focused and "lanes" that help me avoid overflowing into areas where I don't need to waste time.

We need to reset "unhealthy boundaries", which manifest as mental blocks and bad habits. They can also be the results of conscious or unconscious choices.

Unhealthy boundaries often start out as defense mechanisms, but they evolve into a framework for mental and emotional prisons. Captives of these mindsets seem to be snagged on something that is just under the water's surface, leaving them unable to more forward. They drift with the current around that spot and the movement of life around them gives them impression that they are also moving on. Jesus came to free the captives and release the prisoners from darkness, so we don't have to live that way.

Planning and boundaries amount to structure and decision, but getting from point A to point B requires one more thing: a reference point to steer by.

As sailors used to navigate by the stars, we also need something to guide us that will help our decisions be on target. Out in the open water, there are no road signs or landmarks - just the sky and the weather - and we have Word and His teachings to keep us on course, and above all that we have the opportunity to have a relationship instead of just following directions.

Jesus came so that we could have abundant life, and that includes fulfilled dreams. I'm charting my course right now. I'd love to have you aboard.

Opportunity knocks .... sometimes

This month I've joined the Christian Writers Blog Chain, and our theme is "opportunity", so that's what I've decided I'll write about all month long. Please check out the sidebar!

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They say opportunity knocks, and it's a good idea to be ready to open the door if it does. We get new chances every day, but if we lack something - such as knowledge, time, energy or resources - we cannot take advantage of opportunity. In general, we cannot rise to the moment if we are not prepared. I can't bake a cake if I'm out of sugar, and I can't have lunch with my friends if I don't have the time or money. I can't accept a job if I have a prior commitment, or lack the knowledge to do it . 

The second point is the aspect of waiting for the right opportunity - or even the right time to take advantage of that opportunity. There are things that we know are right for us and we have enough time (or knowledge, energy or resources) to go ahead with the project, but something isn't on target. Just like planting a vegetable garden in November isn't a good idea if you live up north, sometimes it is necessary to wait for the right conditions to start a business or take a vacation.

My third consideration is that there are mindsets that block opportunity: mainly fear and procrastination. Success entails risk and work. Being set in our ways protects us from both.
Do you want to open a business? Do your homework, check the math, then decide and carry through.
Would you like to learn a new skill? Tell yourself that you will do fine instead of being afraid of failure. Too much of life is wasted on procrastination.

Occasionally, I've felt like time was running out, and it turned out to be true. Opportunity does not last forever, and often it's like a window opening with a very limited timeframe for the decision.  

But where is God in all this? He is the one making the opportunities, and He wants us to act when we've understood his will and got his approval. We often want Him to "help" us before we start and throughout the entire project (in other words, do it for us) but God wants us to courageously step out onto the waves even as we trust in his assistance.

The best example of that is Moses, standing in front of the Red Sea with the Israelites while the Egyptians were catching up fast. 

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. Exodus 14:13-16

Like Moses, we often sit there waiting for God's mighty hand to intervene, but if we were listening, we would hear Him say "quit waiting and get started". Sometimes God's plan is for us to kick the door open and step into the action.

 Bible verses taken from the New Internation Version, www.biblegateway.com

Ripartiamo?

Tutti parlano di nuovi inizi durante la prima settimana del nuovo anno, e anche se mi piacerebbe potere "ripartire da zero" ogni tanto, il meglio che si può fare è prendere un paio di giorni per pensare a cosa abbiamo fatto e ai programmi per il futuro. Ma non è certo un nuovo inizio.

Semplicemente, continuiamo il nostro cammino dal punto a cui siamo arrivati.

Nelle traduzioni in queste ultime due post, possiamo leggere il pensiero dell'apostolo Paolo su questo argomento. Vi suggerisco di consultare più traduzioni perchè ogni traduttore interpreta il testo secondo la propria sensibilità e, anche se le traduzioni non sono ispirati come la prima versione della Parola in lingua originale, Dio usa tutte queste versioni per darci informazioni sulla Sua natura divina. 

Naturalmente, nel brano proposto, Paolo parlava della fede e la comprensione di Dio, ma io credo che possa essere applicata a qualsiasi situazione che cerchiamo di migliorare. La cosa fondamentale è di andare avanti, imparando dal passato senza soffermarci troppo a rimuginare.

Non che io abbia già ottenuto tutto questo o sia già arrivato alla perfezione; ma proseguo il cammino per cercare di afferrare ciò per cui sono stato afferrato da Cristo Gesù. Fratelli, io non ritengo di averlo già afferrato; ma un cosa faccio: dimenticando le cose che stanno dietro e protendendomi verso quelle che stanno davanti, corro verso la mèta per ottenere il premio della celeste vocazione di Dio in Cristo Gesù.

Sia questo dunque il sentimento di quanti siamo maturi; se in qualche cosa voi pensate altrimenti, Dio vi rivelerà anche quella. Soltanto, dal punto a cui siamo arrivati, continuiamo a camminare per la stessa via.

Filippesi 3:12-16 NR