1 Sam 25-27 - meals and marriage

The readings - Day 93 - 1 Samuel 25-27

The nice thing about actually keeping up with the readings and posting with them on time is that I have the luxury of much more bite-sized posts, at least for now.

I'm a big, big fan of the storylines that are involved with David's rise to power, as you may have gleaned from yesterday's post.

In the "times have changed" department, I should mention that one of the things I'm most looking forward to in life is getting to tell youngsters (grandchildren and the like) that I'm older than the Internet, and watching their tiny brains smolder and spin as they try to grapple with the very notion of a world without it.

Deut 21-23 - I guess it's a good book that can make you this mad...

The readings - Day 65 - Deuteronomy 21-23

Without wanting to sound tired and make people bored, can I just say how inexpressibly thankful I am that society does not follow Old Testament laws as a model for how 21st-century Canada should run?

That may sound overly broad, but I have never been more convicted in that statement than I am today. Yes, there are many laws in the OT that would greatly benefit people in this day and age (regular forgiveness of debts, obligatory help for the underprivileged, respecting the property of those around you, not murdering each other, etc)... Then there's this one:

Day 7 - Genesis 22-24

For the longest time, my general response to the "God-testing-Abraham-by-telling-him-to-kill-his-son" story was that it must have been excruciating for Abraham to go through something like this, and must have been an unspeakable relief for him when God stopped him and said "don't worry about that, here's a sheep instead."

Many people will point to this episode as proof of God's cruelty, insensitivity and arbitrary authoritarianism, but I've never believed that. I just don't see a way that this story could possibly have ended with Isaac dying.