The Aardvark's PLUMBLINE

Thursday, July 05, 2012

I remember when reading the Bible was like eating a balanced diet that changed your life for the better, instead of being a buffet where you could eat all the sweet-and-sour and pudding, and leave off the broccoli.

16 comments:

Giraffe said...: Better yet, today we can eat USDA prime and pretend it is a hot dog.; 05 July, 2012 16:48
Michael W said...: But I love the broccoli. And I don't like sweet-and-sour sauce (preferring, instead, the Texas Pete).

(And I've yet to meet anyone who'll eat buffet-line pudding.); 05 July, 2012 18:38
The Aardvark said...: @Giraffe - ??!?

@Michael -Then you have completely undone my bleat, rendering me inaccurate, and having no need to write any further...Wait, wut?; 05 July, 2012 18:50
Michael W said...: @Aardvark -- At least you didn't base your comments around Brussel sprouts. I know of only two people in the world who'll eat Brussel sprouts, and I married one of them.

But the Bible as a balanced diet? That's food for thought.; 05 July, 2012 20:13
Doom said...: I've just received my first two lesson books for Latin, to read a more pure version of the bible, the vulgate (or... in my circles). Depending on how those lessons go, Hebrew might be next. Then again, I have learned, and was profficient in German and French, plus had a smattering of Italian and Spanish, so Latin 'should be easier' than Hebrew.

Oh, I eat the pudding! I love the sauce! Hush, Michael. Or... more for me? hehe As for a balanced diet? Sure, meat. Meat, with meat, under a meat sauce, with meat desert, after a classic meat salad! hehehe Balanced as a one and a half legged man, as they say?; 05 July, 2012 22:31
Michael W said...: @Doom --- Hebrew might be next?

And all this talk about food?

If ever a song cue existed, this would be it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlT_M6xiWdE&list=FLgu3frvwl52o0iYU34lhZqQ&index=66&feature=plpp_video; 06 July, 2012 01:47
Doom said...: Oh, or... oy vey! Now I'm hungry. You have a very strange mind, Michael. How you got from Latin and food to... well, Yiddish and Nashville? Hehe I'll take it, if now I am way too hungry to just go to bed. Hmm, AND, I think I am going to thaw the corned beef brisket I have in the freezer. Thanks, thanks a lot. I'm drooling.

Uhrm, of course, I... may have started this whole thing. Sorry about that. Oh. And... Meat, meat, with meat juice, and... :p

Oh, wait, 'teh' Ardvark started it! I just got caught in the vortex, it spilled on you, then came back to me. I hope HE is hungry now too!; 06 July, 2012 02:29
Michael W said...: @Doom --- "You have a very strange mind, Michael".

Thank you. Sometimes it's been a problem, but at least I'm seldom bored.

And yes, every time I hear that song I want to go find a genuine kosher deli and dig in (or at least go to Nashville and try the original Noshville Delis. You should see their menu).; 06 July, 2012 09:05
Giraffe said...: I was continuing your Bible as food theme. Some people read the Bible and pretend that it says what they want it to say.; 06 July, 2012 09:06
Doom said...: Giraffe,

Yes, that is annoying. Though I have to admit, after having read the NT about a half dozen times and the OT at least three times... over and above what I get in Church or through bible studies I have been party too, I am always surprised, somehow, by what it really does say in my most recent reading, and quite often. It's like... it changes it's mind!?! There is no book like it in the universe, it cannot be owned. Even scholars are... careful... not to box themselves in, add caveats, and use others for support of their notions. Thems is deep waters, God waters.; 06 July, 2012 10:32
The Aardvark said...: @Giraffe- Thanks...I must have been suffering low blood sugar or summat!

Most cogent: taking the ineffable greatness of the Word, and stuffing it into the sausage casing of our own shortsightedness.

@Doom- Corned beef brisket? OY!; 06 July, 2012 10:48
Giraffe said...: Yes, Doom, Aardvark.

I am probably guilty of both. I focus on the parts that suit me for one reason or another. I miss a lot that is aimed right at me. I also have my own biases.

To tell the truth, I don't spend enough time reading the Truth. I have read most of the Bible, parts of it many times, but I have not read all of it.; 06 July, 2012 13:44
The Aardvark said...: We recently had a speaker at church who challenged us to read ten chapters a day of the NT for three months (works out to reading the whole NT three times). Do a Gospel, then some epistles to give a break, then another gospel...like that.

It is a surprisingly tough challenge, esp. with the "busy-ness" that haunts 21st century living.; 06 July, 2012 13:48
Doom said...: I'm lucky that way, Aardvark. Being retired and alone, my time is my own. I spent last summer re-reading the NT, but that didn't quite get it so I re-read the OT, then the NT again in that light. I followed links within the bible, when something was referred to, which added to the time, complexity, but too the understanding. It took about two months at six hours of reading, perhaps four to six days a week.

I'm still not heavy on it though. Every time you think you have an idea cornered, you find yourself in the middle of a circle all over again with just a bit more reading. Quite a maze. But it becomes sense, if it doesn't always seem to make sense... sometimes. Zen-like? Hmm, maybe.; 06 July, 2012 17:54
Jay said...: Giraffe-"Some people read the Bible and pretend that it says what they want it to say."

I "like" it where this "celebrity", in a recent interview, chose the "loving God pudding" & left out the "drunken step dad God" brocolli.; 08 July, 2012 00:06
The Aardvark said...: @Jay- Who and where is this??; 08 July, 2012 00:15