Go to the Ant

"Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest."


- Proverbs 6.6, NIV -

What an example, we are given here by King Solomon. I picked this part of the passage out because it speaks so clearly to all of us. Look to the ant, see how the ant flourishes. And why does the ant flourish? Because it does as it is suppose to do. Without no one barking orders, or anyone staying on top of it telling it over and over again to do something.

This passage from Proverbs 6 is part of a message to warn against folly. Well what is folly you may ask?

Folly: A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight
Dictionary.com

So Proverbs 6 is about warnings against having a lack of understanding or sense. And we are told in Proverbs 6 that having lack of sense will cause us to sin, cause poverty. We are even told of the seven things the LORD hates.

• Haughty eyes
  
• A lying tongue
  
• Hands that shed innocent blood
  
• To devise wicked schemes
  
• Feet that are quick to rush to evil
  
• A False witness
  
• Someone who stirs up dissension among brothers
  
  So taken from Proverbs 6 we are taught that a man who sleeps to much or is a sluggard will fall pray to poverty and most likely act in such a way that the LORD hates. We are to presume, and led to believe that folly will lead to one or more, if not all of the seven listed things.
  
  And we are given a good example, a creature that to us seems simple but moves on doing what it is suppose to do. Which is not being a sluggard. We should go to the ant and study how it toils and works. We harvest comes the ants will have food to eat. Will you?
  
  Prayer:
  Heavenly father please guide us in every step that we take. Thank you for your word, and for the action of the word becoming flesh. Please guide us to take what we learn from you and help us apply to our daily lives. I pray for those who have not heard your word, or who have heard but have not listened. May you lay upon their hearts your love, and may we all take comfort in that your will, shall be done. -Amen!
  

Wow!

Well lets see, over the past few weeks I have successfully registered at Southern Christian University. (SCU). I start August 23rd for all 3 of my first classes. I am in pursuit of my B.S. in Biblical Studies. Anyway, I have also started to write for crossmap.com. (which the post are taken from here!)

But more important that these things are the lessons I have learned, and the chances I have gotten to serve YHWH God. I have to admit that with all these new things and the recent travel to Nashville Last week and slowed downed my studies of the OT, and the lost in translation series. It has also slowed down my writing.

This is of course ok, because I will not lose sight of these things... just going back to the dice and rolling... (refer to previous post)
One of the things that YHWH God has allowed me to work on is my relationship with my wife. We are growing together, and growing through YHWH God, and Christ.
At any rate, this is more or less an update post. Look back soon for crossmap.com columns, updates on my adventures at SCU, and the continued (not lost) lost in translation series of the OT.

I am just very thankful that YHWH God has placed all these things in my life, good and bad, so that I may become the servant he needs me to be!

The apple is green

There was once a teacher, who argued with her student about the vadiality of the Holy Bible. The teacher would go on and on about human error, and make claim that the Holy Bible was at best a set of stories retold, most likely added to and not much truth existed in them.
The Christian student would argue back about how God's message will get through no matter what.

Well one day the teacher thought she would teach the student a lesson. She lined all 45 of her students up in a line, and put the Christian student at the end. She then went to the other side of the room and stated a loud that she was going to tell something the the first student and they were instructed to pass the message along to the end.

So she then leaned over and whispered into the first students ear "The apple is green."  After that the first student leaned intot he ear of her fellow class mate and stated: "The apple is green, and has spots."  That student then told the next, "The apple has no stem, does have spots, and is green." Well needless to say this went on and on until it reached the last Christian Student. The next to last student leaned over into his ear and said: "The piece of fruit that the teacher has, is an apple. It has some spots on it, and someone has taken a bite out of it. If you look close you can see if has no stem, and that it is also green."
 
With a smirk on Her face, the teacher said out loud to the Christian student to state what was just told to him, to state the message. He looked her dead in the eyes, and plainy said


"The Apple is green."
The teacher, stuned to a step back and her face dropped. He then went on to state that God's word will get through no matter what, for God is in control of all things.

So in this story we learn, from the message that God's word will always come through. We also see that even though the teacher did not realize it, she was being taught something. Not the student. This time, the student taught the teacher.

God is great, all the time!

Dear Heavenly Father

Dear Heavenly Father,
 
            I was a failure. I fall short of your grace everyday. I was a cheat, I kept records of wrong, I lusted, I was greedy, I was found wanting.
My desires drove me, and my actions were that of a malice man. I was cold hearted, no care, and no plans on doing so.
Yet still you loved me. Even when I questioned everything about you and your power, you still loved me. You allowed me to go through the pit, and allowed me to be brought to my knees. I will never forget the night I prayed, for the first time in a long time. Tears rolling down my face, thinking that you would kill my body and soul at that moment. Instead, to my surprise, you loved me. You never left me, you waiting for me to turn back around. Every where I went, there you were waiting on me.
I deserve not your love, and grace, but rather every form of punishment that exists. Still you loved me.
And because of your loving and grace I am here today writing you this letter. The journey since that day I cried out to you has not been easy, but you never said it would be. I have been made fun of at times, I have embarrassed myself through my ignorance. Still you loved me, correct me, and showed me the way. I have fought battles since that day, some easy, some hard. Either way you where always there never leaving my side. When the clouds of fear, and tribulation came rolling in, you reminded me that you are bigger that any problem I will ever have. In fact you taught me that the things that happen in my life are only because you allow it. You have waited on me, and now I am here. I am ready, to serve you with all that I am. I hand myself over to you YHWH God, and ask that you would make me the man and servant you need me to be.
 
I am still a sinner, and will be until the day that I am made holy and kneel directly before your throne. I will fail, and have moments of weakness, but I am ready to serve you oh Lord or Lords. I am answering the call that has been placed upon my heart. I am tired of going my way, even though I love you and follow you. Even though I have accepted Christ into my heart and life, I have still chosen the path that I thought was best. Guide me down the road that you need me on. Show me your way.
 
In closing I also wanted to tell you thanks for not ever giving up on me. Even when I cursed the very ground I walked because you made it. Even when I turned so much that I could see you ever where and I hated it. Even when I committed every form lust, and had the heat of my emotions guide me. Thank you. That love, the love that you have shown me and still do to this day is unlike any love I have ever received. My parents can’t love like that, even though they come close, neither can my wife, kids, friends. Only you show and have that kind of love. So thank you of heavenly Father, for you have took this sorry dark soul, and made him a spirit of light!
 
-Your son through Christ,
Brandon George

Testimony from a friend

Hello All. Thought I would change things up a little bit today and post a testimony that one of my old co-workers and friend sent me. After reading it, I know how John feels because I too feel the same quest for the word of God. And urgent push, if you will to learn and never stop learning.
 
Without any further ramblings, please wecolme John T. Pape, Jr. to biblerama with his testimony. I know you will find it touching and heart felt:
 
I was born into a Roman Catholic family descended from Italian and Irish immigrants. Like most newborns born into these types of families, I was baptized and christened soon after birth. I followed along in the Catholic faith and proceeded to do the motions, so to speak until, at age 14, I was confirmed. I wish I could tell you what, exactly that means, but I can’t. You see, my family had been teaching me from my birth that Catholicism was the way. After high school, I realized that I could not go on through this life just blindly accepting whatever my folks told me about God. Something did not seem right.
            In August of 2001, a job opportunity led my family to Rainbow City. In 2002, after discussing things with my wife, who was raised Baptist, I decided to attend a church other than a Catholic church. Soon after finding Meadowbrook and her family, we became members. We continued attending for about a year. Then we simply stopped coming altogether. I cannot speak for my wife, but I can only say that I turned from God. He simply wanted too much from me.
            We returned to Meadowbrook in the early months of 2004. I experienced several weeks of powerful, inspired messages from Pastor Randy’s sermons. These messages were absolutely amazing for me. It was as if Randy and I were the only people in the church during service and his sole purpose was to tell me what God wanted me to do. My wife, Diane, was baptized soon after this and during invitation at the end of that service, something happened to me. I felt a “tugging” at my heart, like the consistent tug of a toddler on your pants leg. I realized that my life, as it was, was utterly worthless. I could not do anything to save myself from what I now knew to be waiting on me upon death. Through all of the hardships and down times in our family and marriage, we succeeded through no actions of mine. It was only by the grace of God that carried us through it all. What joy I felt that day! I had been saved, baptized in the spirit, and had become a servant of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
            From that day on I can only tell you that the hunger for the Word in my life has been insatiable. It is clearly the driving force in my life now. Sensing of God’s Holy Spirit in your life and the calmness of speaking to our God through prayer is something I could never have understood before I committed my life to Jesus. Thanks be to God.
            The most important thing I have learned in my walk thus far is the very thing I want to leave you all with today. Let me ask you this: Can you look back at the years of your life and see our Lord leading you through every footstep along the way? You see God has laid out every step you would take in this life as part of his plan for you. Even before I became part of the body of Christ, he led me down the path he would have me take. Everything had a purpose. I see that now. If that is not evidence of a sovereign Lord that is in complete control of His creation, I don’t know what is. Remember this: God’s will, will inevitably be done. No matter how much we falter, God is waiting to guide us to that next footstep in life. Let me leave you with this passage from Romans 8:31:
 
“What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
- John T. Pape, Jr.
 
Well as I stated before I know that after reading this you will either be moved, or have some old fimilar feelings of your salvation revisted. I pray and hope and YHWH God will continue to bless John and his family as they go through this journey of life! In Christ name I ask this. Amen!
 
P.S. You can find John on his blog at: http://a_fallen_mind.blogspot.com/

Being an authoritative parent

posted at crossmap @: http://columns.crossmap.com/column.htm?id=133
 
In psychology we are taught that being an authoritative parent is the best kind of parent to be. So what does this mean?

Well the definition given to psychology students about being authoritative are parents who have strict rules and guidelines, and who push their children to follow them. Discipline their children when these rules are not followed, and then reaffirm this discipline with the parents love and warmth.
 
 Now I know that this is not verbatim, of what some psychology books teach, but you get the idea. Now lets look at what being a good parent means, according to scripture.
One of the must often quoted and sometimes maybe abused statements of the bible is "Spare the Rod, Spoil the child".
These are wise words, but to often are used to justify someone who beats or uses the Rod but does not follow up with love to reaffirm the discipline.

If you would Turn to Proverbs 13:14 (Holy Bible - NIV): "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."
 
I think we should pay close attention to this. "...he who love him is CAREFUL to DISCIPLINE him..." Careful. This must be emphasized. You must carefully discipline your child. Now when these words where written by David they were in Hebrew. What occurred in the NIV version of the bible was common English of today (NIV was composed in the late 60's early 70's) was used in place of Old English that had no striking meaning to today's common bible reader.
So the careful selection of the word 'careful' is very intuitive to what the Hebrew word Meant. Now I am by no means qualified to judge on the translation but I believe it to mean that we should take great care, when dealing with children and how we discipline them. Let's take this a little further and look up the meaning of the word careful.

According to dictionary.com careful means: "Attentive to potential danger, error, or Harm. Cautious, Thorough, Protective." Some of the synonyms of the word careful are: "heedful, mindful, observant, and watchful."

So taking what we have just learned about the word careful, which is stated and applied before and to the word discipline. We can see that we should be mindful of how we discipline, watchful of it, and thorough with our discipline. We should take time to talk through our discipline.
For me this goes back to anything that is good, takes time and effort. So in order to raise children correctly and according to scripture we should be mindful, and thorough of our discipline concerning them. And we should follow it with CAREFUL love that reaffirms that discipline. This will in turn, also answer in the child's mind the question of "Why" they are in trouble.

Now many papers, and much research can go in further and great detail into the internal psyche of the child mind and the effects of discipline, but that is not the point of this article. Instead the goal is to point out that I believe modern psychology is correct in the statement that authoritative parents is the best style of parenting to be. I also believe that modern psychology is just restating something that is taught to us from long ago. Right out of proverbs. (Even though some of them may not admit it!) That We should all strive to be authoritative parents, reaffirming to our children through love by example.

May YHWH God guide us parents to love our children as he wants us too.

Crossmap.com Columnist

I love how the LORD is working in my life. I have been praying to YHWH God, and asking him to guide me, and make me the servant he needs me to be. Well the other day I talked with Roy from crossmap.com. I don't know if you recall but biblerama.com was mentioned as a feature on crossmap.com.

Anyway it just hit me to talk with Roy and see if he would like for me to write for crossmap.com. Their is no pay involved, and it is a service I feel honored to do. I boast in the LORD about this, and give thanks to him that created us, because I am just his servant!

So the post before this one called 'Are you a father?' is the first article of hopefully many more to come! I will post on here my column entry first, and then you will see it appear on crossmap.com. Being an inspiring writer this has really gave me new vigor to persue such an avenue. I just pray, and ask those who read this, to pray for me so that when I write that I not write from my own will but that of YHWH God's, so his will may be done.

At any rate, if you would like to check out my articles there will be a link on the menu to your left to my crossmap.com bio which will contain all the articles I write. Also I will make a best of pratice attempt in trying to mark each post that is placed on crossmap.com, but coming back to it and adding the link to the post to where it also lives on crossmap.com.

Again, I would that you would pray for me, so that I can serve the LORD in this and boast in him for all things!

My crossmap.com bio: http://columns.crossmap.com/authors/BrandonGeorge.htm

Are you a father?

posted at crossmap.com @: http://columns.crossmap.com/column.htm?id=126
 
Are you a father? Or do you just have kids? You may be asking yourself is there a difference. All the difference in the world. My little 4 year old daughter, Emily helped me to realize this. You see I realize not to long ago that I was a father. Not because I have kids, but I am a father based on my kids reactions and love towards me.

When you are a father, your kids show it in their love, obedience, respect for you, and the wanting to always be where you are. This comes, as I have found out, from time invested into your kids. Being a father is just like anything else that is good. It takes time, time to invest into the moments of your children's life.

Let’s take now, a look at Psalm 127 (Holy Bible - NIV):

[Psalm 127]
"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they content with their enemies in the gate."

"Blessed is the man who quiver is full of them." "Children [are] a reward from him." Sound and wise words from a man after God’s own heart. Read, for all of us who are or will be fathers.

Do you take a reward that is given to you and toss it aside for TV? Do you take a reward that is given to you from God, and toss it aside as worthless trash? No, never! But to often today, children are tossed to the side. Fatherless, though they have fathers. Expected to raise themselves, which in turn they do. To many times, this fatherless or better term "father-gone" atmosphere causing the child to take up worldly views about himself, his actions, and his beliefs.

Let us as Fathers, act as we are called. Be upright examples for our children. Let us not go by the old worldly saying of "do as I say, not as I do." For this causes madness and unrest among the gifts that were given to you. The reward that God gave you. To often children are looked upon as unwanted burdens, or objects that are in "our way." We must make our children, become the focal point of our lives, second only to God. We must live in a way, to not only set an example for our children but to also give them a chance to be better that we can possibly dream.

Thank YAHWEH God, for the parents I had. Were they perfect? By no means! But I had a real Father and a real Mother that not only cared for me, but lived for me. And by them I have learned how to love, care, discipline, and respect my children as they did for my brother and I.

So I ask the question, as the title states. Are you a Father?

If you feel that you have neglected time with your children, there is always hope. Trust and seek out the Lord, Our Heavenly father. Go to Christ, and ask for forgiveness and guidance. Then go to your children, and give them one of the best gifts they could ever receive. A Father!

Lesson Learned

YHWH God really worked in my life the past fews days. You see I had become slack in my work, focused on all kinds of things and in my head I was still getting a lot done. I would work, surf, work, surf (the web) and read, read, read. Well my Boss talked to me about this, and he told me he was not 'going to slam me for it'. But he did address it, and the main problem was not that I may have been growing as a person (he encourages that) but my work was falling a little behind.

As this was going on, I have been praying to YHWH God to make me a better person. Well my prayers were answered. You see the "extra" surfing started out ok, learning a little bit, but the breaks became longer and longer. I would loose track of time and then some of my task started to take longer and longer.

I even came to a point to were I was turning off our internet tracking software so that where I went and how long I was on the internet would not be tracked. My boss, being a smart man, tracked me for a little while with another tool we have and noticed that the reported traffic did not add up. And that was the moral issue, the sin. I was un-ethical, and lied, or tried to cover up not where, but how long I had been on the internet.

Thanks to YHWH God, I have been giving a chance to change! I admit that once comfronted by this I felt down, but then right after prayed and thanked God for the change I knew was going to take place.

To conclude, it is YHWH God working in my life to make me the Servant he needs me to be. Like Paul states "There shall be no Slander, deceitfulness, etc." And there was in my work attitude. I admit this to the world, because (1) I am thankful for the change that YHWH God is doing (2) because I am thankful that I have a good boss and a chance to change.

Now I know that most people would not talk about such things, but how can I be an example if I only talk about the good things or times?

On a personal level I hope that anyone in my family is not worried about this post, but would rather take it for what it is and be thankful that I could share this.

I have since started doing what I should, and stopped doing as much surfing as I was doing. In the end I am now a better person and I no longer have something hanging over me that would make me not happy from time to time.

Thank you YHWH God for all the things you have given me and revealed to me. Thank you for giving me the courage to share this fault of mine, and for giving me the stregth to change. Most of all thank you for sending your son Yehsua / Jesus Christ to die for my sins and the worlds sins.

Research, Research, Research

Lately my research has been taking up as much time as the day can allow. I of course have to work, attend to my family, so I find myself pacing the local Books-a-million during lunch and reading as much as I can during my breaks on the web.

My research is a like a 12 sided dice. I roll it, and what it lands on I seem to focus for a while. I must admit here, though that I have made improvements on focus because my research used to be 7, 12 sided dice. So just to give a re-cap (for anyone who cares) I am currently researching:

• The Torah, Holy Bible (NIV, NKJV) on the subject of the book of Genesis which is the start of the "Lost in translation series".



• The 2x2 movement started by William Irvine in 1897. (refered to today as "the truth" or "the way")


• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. most sought after and revered sermons.


• Family based Pyschology (sacred based, not secluar)


• Internet and best uses for it in today's Christian Ministries


• Possible Christian based software products

Now that about sums up my Christian based research. You notice the last few items are also technology based. You see I am a software engineer and I believe that YHWH God and called me to use this gift in some form or fashion for his will. Now the other side to my research is based on technology, which currently pays the bills and supports my family. (thank you YHWH God for these things because without you and your grace I would not be able to do!)

These include:

• PocketPC development research for future applications


• MS SQL Server best practices and examples


• VB.Net, ASP.Net, and other web based techonolgies


• Blog technologies for creating services and software that help to promote, edit and use blogs

So as you can see I get torn back and forth, well because I love to learn, and I have a passion for these things. Now what is the purpose of my sharing this. Well as this blog matures into the current state and further certain aspects of all these research items will som how, some way appear on here. I hope that in the end, this spread out research can lead to focused outputs that are beneficial to all those who may read or use them.

I also plan to stick with the "slogan" of this blog, which is for the study of the bible, and my journey to better understand God and myself.

If you have any comments, or would like to partner with biblerama.com please use the contact me link to your left to get in touch with me. I am always looking for other wonderful Christians to work with and development with!

The Rainbow

With my continued study of the Torah, I have been reading of the flood, Noah, and the covenant that YWHW made with Noah and all of mankind.

The Rainbow is the symbol that YWHW God said would mark and remind him of the covenant he made to never flood the earth again, and destroy all that is flesh. When reading Richard Elliot did not really touch on the point that the rainbow was used to remind YWHW God.

I think this is more of an implied safety, that when we see we are reminded of the covenant, because YWHW knows all and see all. It falls in line of YWHW asking and questioning Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit of the Tree of Good and Bad.

At any rate, the word Rainbow is the same in Hebrew and English. It looks different in Hebrew but the same meaning, no other words to get confused with!

Richard Elliot mentioned how he heard someone refer to the Rainbow, because (a) it is created during the rain, (b) it is shaped like a bow pointed to heaven. Pretty simple.

Now taking what YWHW God says, he shows his compassion for us. The love that created us, that displinces us, and that guides us is shown with this first covenant.

Also in my readings, I have heard hwo the account of Noah and the covenant is also found in other anicent writings. I myself believe the Bible/Torah to be true. But it is an argument point for a lot of scholars that would love to trash the Torah or Bible. What is intersting, is that YWHW God uses the Rainbow to mark the Covenant or promise instead of marking a great moment. The empashise is placed upon the relationship between YWHW God and his creatation, instead of one moment in time. To me this shows wonderful love, compasion, and care from YWHW and how YWHW regards us.

Another day with Dr. King

Today was another filled with me reading Dr. Kings Sermons. Today I read and focused on a sermon he preached called a Knock at Midnight. It was based on the parable taught by Yeshua / Jesus:

Which of you who has a friend will go to him at
midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three
loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a
journey, and I have nothing to set before him?"


-Luke 11:5-6 (RSV)

Dr. Kings starts out his sermon on a Knock at midnight with pointing out how this parbale is focused on the power of persistent prayer, he makes it his basis for concerns of the church. All throughout this sermon Dr. King talks about how the Chruch has become selective, and how some has either implemented classism while other implement Actionism in place of God's word.

At the time of this Sermon the Civil rights movement was still going on, and so at the time the so called "White Churchs" (so called because how can a church exists that is selective of who can come!) were most likely the most selective of them all.

In the end, though Dr. King takes a stab at how preachers are only trying to help people feel good, or learn how to relax. During this sermon Dr. King said that the world was at Midnight, sociallay, morally, and spirtually. He also mentioned how each generation has it's hour of midnight. I myself believe that these sermons should be revistsed because they apply to todays world. Not take away from God's word, or give Dr. King praise. (should always give YWHW and Yeshua the praise) But to admit that today we are at midnight, or at least it is 11:50 PM!

People today are knocking on the door, of churchs, self help groups, looking for the three loaves of bread. Faith, Hope, and Love. Do we give it to them? I would hope so, but from what we read and hear about it seems not. I believe that as Christian we must revisit the past in order to help prepare us for out future. The hour is at hand! Will we answer the knock at the door? Or will we turn and let it go unnoticed?

A break with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I took a break from my regular focus and study of Gensis and the now what I have dubbed "lost in translation series" and instead focused on a book that I have been reading. The title of this book is called "A knock at midnight" It is a collection of the believed to be best sermons writen and preached by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in different times in his life.

At any rate, tonight I read about "Love your enemies." This is something that Jesus/Yeshua talked about. He instructed us how "An eye for a eye, and tooth for a tooth" is NOT the way. But instead we should rather love those who would hate us.
For most this seems as an impratical command rather than am implementable command. If we look deep into this, though the Greek word used for this "Love" was not one of emtional, or given because you or loved, but rather a form of love that is deep, and mostly refered to as God's love working through men.

The Greek word to describe this kind of love is called: agape

We should have agape in our souls for one another. You see someone who has this, never hates the person or persons that are part of an evil system rather loves them, and set focus to destroy the system instead of those in the system.

This is a great point made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We should never hate someone for what they do, rather love the, no matter what.
Dr. King, suggests that in order to achive this agape for one another we must first look inward at what might cause someone to hate upon us. If we look deep enough we will see that there are faults in us, as well as love. And so the true is for everyone else. Once this is reconized, then the personal revelation takes place that we shuld focus on the good in each person and love them as God does. Hence, we then achive agape for one another.

Dr. King, even though this was writen and preached in the early 60's, was talking about a problem has has existed nearly as long as man has. Think about when Cain killed Able. If Cain would have had agape for Able then he would be able to find the good, which would in turn give him the ability to over look the trait that made him hate Able.
And even though this was talked about in the late 60's the problem still is here.

To many times we as Christians become selective to who we talk you, or what situtations we will "let" ourselves encounter. We must learn the ability of looking past the bad to see the good in all, so in turn the immediate result is agape for this sinful, dying world. We must drop the Demonations, and Human instituions, and focus primarly on the Christ, and YWHW God's word. Then and only then, do I believe (and this is just my thought and feelings, could be wrong) that we, as Christians, can start to fullfill the duty that was set forth long ago by Christ and the Early church.

Genesis

With my stuides of the Torah, the Holy Bible and the Dead Sea scrolls I have started out the first book. The book of Genesis.
With mt reading of the book of Genesis I am finding the commentary by Richard Friedman very intersting. He brings up a good point in the start of his book called: Commentary on the Torah. About how questioning and looking into the meaning of what was writen.
Now don't get me wrong, people seem to think that questioning the "bible" is wrong. I am not questioning God's word. What I am looking into is the translation from the original Hebrew, to Latin, To Greek, To The Kings English, to Todays English.
And when looking, I am noting and comparing the words of choice that were used by the scribes who orginally did the translations. Again the goal is to document the difference and try to extract the true meaning of the origial text.

So to get back to my current reading. I have found some very good observations, like how the Ark. The Ark, is not really a boat. The demisions given to Noah was for a casket of the time. Noah, his family, and the animals were sealed in a large casket, which was tossed about the water guided only by God. There was now stern, or guiding ores, just the casket and the water. For me this brings a new light to the fact that even more dependance is given to God for the safety of the future of the world.

This is just one of the points though that is missed from the translated English of todays Bibles. Another great point is Adam. Adam is the Hebrew word for Human. So when God addressed Adam, he called him Human. Nameless as first.
Another great point that is missed is in the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. Were if you take the Torah and translate it to English today, it read like: "When YHWH God Created heavens and the Earth." You see this lends to the point that the Bible is not a History book from the start of time but rather from the point of creatation on Earth.
This is a big point for a lot of people who try to prove and dis prove the time theroies, how old the earth is, etc. When YHWH God started to "Form" the Earth, some kind of substance was already here. (most likely from when YHWH God created the Universe) And YHWH God took that formless substance and made the Heavens and the Earth.

The Heavens is another point. Does this refer to all of space? Or does it refer to the Sky that "surronds" the earth?

I will be posting more and I go on in my studies. Again I must make a statment here. This is to help better understand YHWH God's word and in doing so become a better servant. This has no goal of proven God's word because YHWH God's word is already proven. It is the truth! What remains is for us current humans to better understand it, and the way I believe this can be done is through a better understanding of the wording used by the oringal text and to understand what was trying to be applied.

My pray with this would be YHWH God guide me so that I would not add to the dis-information that is in the world, but rather help add to the light, or good side!
In Yeshua's name I ask this! Amen!