Scripture Reading
Today’s Scripture reading had me in Matthew 1-2 which includes the genealogy of Christ, the infancy narrative, the story of the Magi, and the return to Nazareth. The genealogy was of particular interest to me for a couple of reasons. First, there are a number of Gentiles in the mix like Rahab and Ruth. Second, though the genealogy is sectioned out into three fourteen generation segments, this is clearly either a tool for memorization or an example of gematria, the Hebrew language phenomenon where each letter has a numeric value associated with it. In this case, as David is the fourteenth name on the list and the name for David in Hebrew adds up to fourteen, the genealogy is emphasizing Jesus’ Davidic descent.
Another observation I made came out of Matthew 2 and the implications of the warning of the wise men. Matthew 2:16 says that “when Herod realized he had been tricked by the wise men, he became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.” But the wise men were told not to go back to Herod “in a dream” (Matthew 2:12) which came, presumably, from an angel of God (see Matthew 2:13). This would mean that God orchestrated the events that caused what has come to be known as the Slaughter of the Innocents for God must have known that by not permitting the wise men to return to Herod, Herod would have become furious and slaughtered those children. I need to do some more thinking about all the implications of this section.
Reasonable Faith
William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith (3rd edition) is one of the textbooks for an Apologetics class I’m taking for my M.Div. program. Though classes haven’t started yet, I wanted to get a head start so-to-speak on it. So far it’s been an incredible read. I am currently in chapter two, “The Absurdity of Life Without God,” and have learned about men like Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Soren Kierkegaard, and Francis Schaeffer. (Of course, I was already familiar with these men but Craig discusses their apologetic framework for Christian faith.) Craig also discusses his own thoughts on the matter and says, “If there is no God, then life becomes meaningless. Man and the universe are without ultimate significance.” (Craig, 74) I look forward to finishing this chapter tomorrow.
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
John Fea, associate professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College, has written an engaging book answering that question. Today I devoured the first three chapters and learned about the religious history of our nation from the Revolutionary era to the days of Ronald Reagan. What a push there has been to define our nation’s founding as a Christian one! And while Fea does not doubt the religious and even Christian nature of of the American people from the beginning, he does demonstrate well the highly political motives of many of the ardent supporters of the belief in a “Christian” nation. It has been an excellent and informative read.
“The Gift of the Magi”
I am reading through a collection of famous short stories and finished O. Henry’s brief story called “The Gift of the Magi.” Though pointedly ironic, the stories message about giving and love make the story a timeless classic. If you haven’t read it, you should.
