- Read the Bible like the way you read any book.
- Read it as if you are reading it for the first time. Like you never heard the story.
- You need to set aside your presuppositions about the stories in the book. Do not bring in ideas and teachings you learned in Church or in Theology class.
- Humanize the characters in the book and think of them as acting like you and I would (except God).
- Put the stories in their proper context and sitz im leben.
- Do not refer to any literature explaining things in the Bible. There is a high probability that it’s crap. There is lots of crap written about the Bible.
- Let the text be difficult and contradictory. Do not homogenize them.
- Do not assume the Bible will agree with you or that it will agree with itself.
- Get a good and honest version of the Bible. If your Bible talks about the Bible referring to Saddam or Osami Bin Laden, stop using it and use real Bibles.
- . . . Do not read into the Bible what you have in mind. Let the Bible tell you its story.
This is a blog of the everyday, anything goes life of a lol philosopher and his love hate relationship with everything and anything.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
How to read the Bible?
Thursday, September 22, 2011
PATAS’ first try of blood donation
Beauty Pageant Wannabes
Saturday, September 10, 2011
PATAS KYR at the Victory Church (Robinsons Galleria)
Monday, August 29, 2011
Excuses
Who has no excuses? We live in a world where excuses have governed our very lives. We always have to excuse our selves most of the time just to be polite and sociable.
We need an excuse when we can’t make it somewhere or even to get somewhere. We need an excuse called love so that we can say that we are happy. We need an excuse called work so can say that we are not bored. We need an excuse called diet just to said that we want to be healthy again. We need an excuse called media just to make the impression that know things. We need an excuse called friends just to say we are not alone, let alone a thing called relationship.
Frankly I am getting sick and tired of making excuses for people I don’t even care about.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Atheist Songs (?)
It is often said that the arts is the best way to learn philosophy (I heard this from a Christian preacher). People will not bother to read books or listen to philosophers when it comes to their belief system. I agree that people would get their philosophies through the arts, like music, painting, etc.
The problem I have is that most of the so called atheists’ songs are not of my genre. I have nothing against rock music and stuff but the thing is that I find them too noisy.
Then there was Nerina Pallot. My first encounter with her was with the song, “Sophia.” I really liked the way she sang, and then I forgot all about her. Then I decided one time to listen to her songs. I then learned of “Everyone’s Gone to War.”
She says in some lines:
“If God's on our side, then God is a joker,
Asleep on the job, his children fall over”
That for me presents some sense of doubt for the goodness of God.
The good thing about this singer is the way she says her words. For me it’s how words are said that makes them more meaningful.
The last song I’ll be presenting is “Damascus.” It’s the reverse of the story of the conversion of St. Paul done in a very poetic and heartbreaking way. The lines go:
“I saw the light-I saw the light!
But hey, it never saw me,
Oh, conversation has just left me heathen”
And “It's hell, hell is where I'm gonna be,
The devil my intimate friend,
And hell is other people's hearts,
And knowing that everything must end.”
So go ahead and pick up her albums. You won’t regret it, even if you are not an atheist.