Not much Reading the Bible lately!

I admit. I have been lazy. On tuesday, we went on a small vacation. We rented a place by the sea, and have spent the days fishing, picking flowers and enjoyed some pleasant walks.

We're not going home until Sunday. I brought a laptop - one I borrowed since mine went to wherever computers go when they die - I just hope my laptop can recover or rise fromt the dead...

We have not had the best weather, but had a nice time anyway. Looking good tomorrow though. The reports say it's going to be sunny.

But I left my Bible at home. Got a few other books, but not the Bible. To bad really. Could easily have read a few pages now. But since I didn't bring a Bible - I will try to pray tonight - something I haven't done since I don't know when...

Computer Trouble

I have been reading. However, I haven't blogged about it. Yet. I have had some problems with the computer, is it called Blue Screen of Death?

I might have to send it in for repair - not sure yet. In the meantime I don't have my own dedicated computer to use. This is at work!

Not much reading lately...

I have just had too much to do. Not an excuse but an explanation. At the weekend I'm planning a small read-the-bible-marathon. It is certainly the plan to read the whole bible. But I do not want to spend several years on this. Or is that normal? Do people spend several years to read the Bible from cover to cover?

I'm not a monk, I do not live in a monastery and I do have lot's of things taking up my time. Job, family, kids, football, friends. And it does happen, that I just fall asleep the minute I lay my head on the couch as soon as I come home in the evenings while watching TV.

Just a minor update. I will read. I will finish.

Genesis 1:9 - Genesis 1:13

It's been a while since the last update, but here goes another few verses. Still Genesis 1.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 

As you can see, I've decided to read several verses at a time, at least as often as possible, otherwise I would probably never finish. How many passages and verses are really in the Bible as a whole?

I tried Google and found that the Bible has 7959 verses... That is a lot, to say the least. It would have taken years to complete if I only did one verse a day, something that I actually planned to do at the beginning of this blog. Alas, so little I once knew...

Anyways, Genesis 1 - chapter 9-13, a summary.

• We got dry land.
• It was called Earth and it was good.
• We got grass, herbs, fruits and such. Probably also marijuana and other illegal stuff. More on this later on. But whatever, we got fruits and plants we need for survival, and plants people abuse today.
• The end of Day 2.

The World is really starting to take shape. I'm not fully convinced yet, but it's a long way to go. 

End of Days?

In the last couple of years there has been an increase in accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars and other destructive and horrible events.

I got to think about this when reading about the volcanic eruption in Iceland. It is only natural to think about the End of Days. Is it near?

Swedish singer Carola apparently has said something about this, just take a look here: Carola answered her critics. She said something along the lines of not beeing surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, because the End of Days was near.

She is a devout Christian. But is it appropriate to think this way? Or is she onto something here? Are we really in fact close to the End of Days, if such a thing even exist?

I wonder...

Hollywood is trying to make millions on our fear of the unknown, our fear of Armageddon. A lot of people even believe that the Mayans were onto something, Nostradamus and other figures throughout history. The Bible? Of course, even the bible.

I haven't read the bible from cover to cover yet, give me a break, I will do it, but when I do, I might get to read for myself what the Bible says about the End of Days. Looking forward to it. Hopefully I get to read the Bible all the way through before the End of Days...

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/ / CC BY 2.0

Frequent posts?

Not so much. I planned to post a bit more frequent than it has turned out to. But most likely, the frequency will vary, depending on what else is happening in life. And last week was a bit hectic.

This weekend however, has been very nice. Been on wonderful day trips with my family, both at the coast and into the forest. I have really charged my batteries and I'm ready for a new week.

Genesis 1:7 and 1:8 - The First Day

God had a desire in the last passage, or a thought. And in this passage, Genesis 1:7 it was so:

Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

It was so. The story continues in Genesis 1:8 and Heaven gets its name:

And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. 

 Well, that's the end of Day 1. Pretty straight-forward.

A little bit too tired

It's been a very hectic day, work and work and more work - then a couple of hours of training - playing soccer with some friends - something we do almost every tuesday. And sometimes fridays aswell.

So today, I haven't read anything except for work-related stuff. But I'm dead tired and because of that I decided to not read the Bible today and just enjoy the rest of the evening with my family.

My son, the youngest, five year old was also with me at the office today. He and me worked side by side, doing a bit different stuff though; he was working on playing computer games. And drawing. And for lunch we went to a local cafeteria, eating cakes. Always a hit.

All in all, it's been a nice day, but I'm tired and playing soccer for two hours has made me very sleepy and tired - which is quite fine.

And as this blog is as new as it is, it doesn't really matter anyhow, I'm the only one reading it. But still, I can not avoid feeling bit guilty...

Genesis 1:6 - Waters

I actually don't grasp this, I even took a sneak peak at the next passages.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

The waters? The oceans? Water in the sky and water on the planet Earth? Can it be something about the whole planet consisting of waters and gases, high up into the atmosphere? That it really was no seperation between the sky and the planet itself?

Had God already created Water? It is not mentioned earlier, but perhaps hinted to in Genesis 1:2 - that God was hovering above the waters - but still, it isn't said that he actually created water. Still, he could have made water, earth, gases, rock and everything else in Genesis 1:1 already, just that it isn't mentioned specifically.

Run, Baby, Run

I believe I have mentioned it already, but by grandmother was a dedicated and good Christian. Throughout my childhood she used to give me books, different kind of books, but all of them was Christian. And allthough she coulden't convert me to Christianity while she lived, some of the books still made an impact.

One of those books are Run, Baby, Run by Nicky Cruz - a book about his past as a gangleader of a New York streetgang called the Mau Maus and how he found his way to Christianity. Because of this blog I have spent a few hours today, both in the attic and in the basement, looking for it, unfortunately without success. But I haven't thrown it, so eventually it will appear I'm sure.

And to my surprise Run, Baby, Run will also appear as a movie! I will most definitely go see it, that is, if it is playing in my local cinema. Otherwise I have to wait until it's available on DVD. But it is a must-see movie in my opinion. A strong story, whether you are Christian or not, the story of Nicky Cruz is still very relevant to today's youth.

But as they say, you should have read the book first, I can highly recommend it.

Genesis 1:5 - Day and Night

It starts to become more and more interesting, the next passage goes like this:

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The first day out of many. And this was the first day. This is open to interpretation, does a Day mean, in fact, a single Day, or is it a metaphor for a period of time? I haven't really been interested in the Bible in the past, but this I have heard debated before. There are those that means that the Earth is 6000 (something) years old, and there are those meaning that the Earth is older, according to science, but that the Bible is still correct, because it's only metaphors.

I haven't got a real conclusion, but this was interesting at least. I found a nice article about it here: How old is the earth according to the bible? Interesting and easy to understand, but I still haven't landed on any conclusion. What about carbon-14?

Would you let your child see this movie?

There is a new movie, a movie, seemingly made for kids, with superheros and even a superhero-child in it. Kick-Ass is the movie called. Haven't seen it, so shoulden't be too judgmental here.

But this doesn't seems like it suitable for children anyways, even though it's clearly meant to attract kids with superheros and even a child acting as a superhero. The only trouble is that it seems this movie is quite violent and as this review in the Daily Mail states, also says:

It deliberately sells a perniciously sexualised view of children and glorifies violence, especially knife and gun crime, in a way that makes it one of the most deeply cynical, shamelessly irresponsible films ever.

I can't say for sure, as I haven't seen it, but it really doesn't seem appropriate for children. Mine are 5 and 10 and they sure will not see this movie. Not exactly Disney!

Genesis 1:4 - Light and Dark

The next passage is quite easy, if I should use that word:

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Not in the mood to think too much about this at the moment, but at least, I continue to read. How should you read the bible? Read it literally or as metaphors? Not sure, yet.

Genesis 1:3 - Light

A new day, a new passage. And I can also add, despite Easter and what might be appropriate right now, I will continue this way. Strictly chronological. First, the Old Testament, passage by passage. Before I finally go through the New Testament. Everything should be read and thought through.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Finally, some light. What does it mean? Light must have existed already, as the sun must have existed. It is possible that there has been something that has shadowed the light? Ash? If so, all of Genesis, and the Bible itself, can be filled with metaphors, in this case, for the earth's beginnings. Or should you take everything literally? Something that can be quite difficult. I find that hard anyway.

Light had to have been created before the earth, as the sun had to be in place for the earth to exist. However, the earth may very well have been covered in ash, dust and various gases, so that light actually never reached Earth itself...

But certain facts, one can not ignore. Earth orbits the sun. The Sun must have existed already and therefore also Light. God could not have created Light after he created Earth. But of course, everything can be metaphors, and most likely is, at least this is my conclusion so far. Besides, those who originally wrote the bible, whoever they may be, they did not know what we know today and most likely thought that the Earth was the center of the known Universe.

Genesis 1:2 - The Earth

I felt that I was well underway, so I continued. The next passage is quite incomprehensible:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

In Genesis 1:1 God had created the Earth. But was the earth withouth form? What is meant by this? Not round? God had to have created a lot of physical laws allready, if he had created space, planets, stars and the earth. Can such passages be the reason people once believed the earth was flat? Perhaps. 

The Earth was also empty, naturally no plants or animals, perhaps the Earth even was made entirely of gases - I don't know, I'm no astronomer. But still, the Earth had to be round.

But even stranger is the fact that is was darkness. Just darkness. No light. How could he possible have created the earth before the sun? After all we are in orbit around the sun. But it's not sure we are meant to take all this literally neither. 

Surface of the deep might even suggest what I thought, gases. Hydrogen and Oxygen. And God was hovering above. 

Why read the Bible?

Why start this blog and why should I read the entire Bible? Perhaps it's Easter that is to blame, or perhaps it's my personal life at the moment, or even the fact that I by chance caught a glimpse of the Bible on the bookshelf - not read, not opened and full of dust. 

I have had the Bible for a lot of years, got it from my grandmother who was a devout Christian, God rest her soul. She never got to convert me to Christianity, but she did obviously planted some seeds, after all, I have kept the Bible for all this years, right there on my bookshelf. 

And all of a sudden I got the urge to read it, to try and understand what it's all about. Well, I begin with an open mind.  I will read at least one passage everyday. When will I be done? Who knows. What will it do to me? Who knows.

Genesis 1:1 - God creates the Earth

It starts of pretty easy, I have to admit:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And with easy I mean, ok, it's easy to understand. It all started with God creating the heaven and the earth. But with heaven, does it mean space or heaven, as in the place God himself lives?