Biblical Worldview Series

I'm going to be starting a Biblical Worldview video series on YouTube that heavily focuses on the armor of God, particularly how parents can equip their children with the armor of God. 

        Photo 141216309 © Kevin Carden | Dreamstime.com

I'm really excited about this series. I'll probably post the videos here as well as on YouTube along with the text/monologue from the video (for people who are impatient like me and can read faster than a video takes to watch, lol). Here's the channel if you'd like to subscribe. 

 

Fiction Friday — Coffee

So, in between regularly blogging Biblical worldview and Biblical literacy content, I am going to start "Fiction Fridays" where I blog about something related to Chronicles of Time. Hopefully this doesn't scare off non-fiction only followers, lol.

 

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The ADHD brain, especially the unmedicated ADHD brain, cannot live without coffee.  The only two times in my entire adult life that I have not had coffee are the two mornings that my children were induced because, despite the fact that they wanted me at the hospital at the ungodly hour of 7 am, I had to have an empty stomach. 

Anyway, coffee. I have a mug that says All I Need is Jesus and Coffee. My homeschool planner is coffee themed. If I had a breakfast room, it be themed like a coffee shop. 

How does this post relate to my writing? Because my main character (Michael) is me. That is why he is so easy to write. He's the male version and the perfect version and the non-ADHD version of me of course, but emotionally and psychological, he is me. And so, he needs coffee, er, a hot beverage that tingles and awakens the senses every morning. Of course, this beverage is made from ground Manna beans.

So if anyone was ever wondering why the angels invented coffee a hot beverage to be drunk in the morning, now you know. Because I couldn't possibly write a character who doesn't understand the need for coffee. 

Missing Books of the Bible—The Apocrypha

Septuagint: Greek Old Testament. Public Domain.

Since I mentioned 1 Maccabees in the Old Testament post, I decided to briefly address the apocrypha in a post. 

The most important thing to remember about these books are that they are JEWISH, not Catholic.

They were written BEFORE Jesus' birth by Jews in the period between the Old and New Testament time (approximately 400 year timeframe).

Here they are:

Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Book of Wisdom
Sirach
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Additions to Daniel
Additions to Esther

Judith is brilliant in an Esther meets Éowyn sort of way.

Tobit is weird, but very interesting to see how Jews were beginning to understand how the supernatural (demonic) realm worked. A married couple pray all night long after leaving out smelly fish and when the demon haunting the wife is successfully exorcised from the house, they believe it was due to the fish odor.  (They seriously don't realize it's because they prayed all night?!?!?)

1 Maccabees is my favorite, and likely near-historically accurate. Some details differ from Josephus, but it's hard to say which is the more accurate account. Both are extremely similar. 

2 Maccabees records accounts of the Seleucid persecutions. Possibly (hopefully!) exaggerated, but none the less likely, they have a strong basis in fact. 

Book of Wisdom—several allusions made to this book in the NT. 

Sirach—several near-quotes from this book in the NT, namely by Jesus.

An addition to Daniel that I've read has the priests of Bel (a Babylonian god) hide the food given to Bel's idol to "prove" the god eats it during the night, and Daniel proves that it is trickery. 

I haven't read the rest so can't really comment on them. 

BUT . . . all these Jewish books were in the Septuagint—the Greek version of the Old Testament for Jewish and Gentile believers living in the Roman Empire outside of Israel. In general, only believers who lived in Israel were taught Hebrew. The Septuagint was the Bible of all the Jews living across the Roman empire as well as the Bible of all the Gentile (non-Jewish) believers. In fact, the Septuagint was the Bible that the Bereans searched to see if what Paul was preaching was true (Acts 17:11).

Neither the Jews nor the early Church believed these books to be inspired, but both did consider them historical and edifying. The Jews did not add them to the Hebrew version of their scriptures, but Christians (who were mostly Greek-speaking) naturally kept them. When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (for Western, Latin-speaking Christians), a version called the Catholic Vulgate, he marked these books as not inspired but felt that 1) they had historical and edifying value and 2) it was not his place to remove them since it was the Bible of the early church. 

Some of these books were criticized by early Protestants since they were not considered inspired but were being used to create doctrines. The Catholic church then declared that they were inspired. Meanwhile, Protestants continued viewing them the same as Jerome, and like Jerome, did not delete them. Protestant Bibles (including the King James) placed these books in between the Old and New Testaments.

Then, in the 1800's, when Bible printing became more common, one Protestant printing company (accidently?) published copies without the apocrypha. When no one complained, they realized how much cheaper it was to print Bibles without those books. Other Protestant printing presses soon followed suit. 

So, if you don't have a Catholic Bible (or Greek Orthodox or an original Protestant Bible), you have less books in your Bible than the Bereans. 

If you only ever get around to reading just one of these books, I highly recommend 1 Maccabees. Its inherent historical value is priceless. However, you could also just read Josephus, and you'd also get all the historical events that occurred both before and after 1 Maccabees, thus an even greater understanding of the history between the testaments. 

Paul Maier has a very easy to understand version of Josephus called Josephus: The Essential Works which I highly recommend.

The NLT (one of the easiest to understand translations) has a Catholic edition with these books. 

 

New Testament—Action-Packed, Battle-Ridden Love Story, part 2

Last post we looked at how seeing the Bible as His Story shapes a Biblical Worldview by exploring the story of the Captain of Jehovah's Armies chronologically through the Old Testament. In this post, we continue our theme on Biblical literacy as the Captain's story unfolds in the New Testament books. Again, the larger font represents historical events / action scenes.

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New Testament Books arranged Chronologically by Action

Mathew/Mark/Luke/John—the four accounts of the Captain of Jehovah's armies laying aside his immortality to enter into the natural realm ruled by his enemy. His enemy unwittingly enthrones him as king at which point He disarms Satan and his minions and then returns to heaven to have His kingship confirmed.

Acts—After the Captain returns to heaven, he sends the Holy Spirit who, now released from dwelling only in Jerusalem, is free to go into Satan's territory by dwelling within any who swear allegiance to the Captain as King. (Also Peter's visit to the Roman centurion, Paul's conversion and missionary journeys, and the Council of Jerusalem.)

Letters written by Paul during the events of Acts—Romans First Corinthians Second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians First Thessalonians Second Thessalonians First Timothy Second Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews
Letters written by other disciples/apostles during the events of Acts—James First Peter Second Peter Jude

Revelation -- The yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies of the Captain's return as king, at which time he will imprison Satan, ending his rule of this world. Then the world be subject to the Captain who will rule from Jerusalem until he eradicates evil once and for all, breaks the curse of death, and renews the world.

Letters written by John after (or just prior) to his banishment to Patmos where he wrote Revelation—1 John, 2 John, 3 John

Want to Read the Bible Chronologically?

If you've enjoyed seeing how the books of the Bible in chronological order, there are specialized Bibles arranged chronologically to allow you to read it that way. Most have you read things in duplicate (so for instance, you read about David and the Census in the Kings and then reread it in the Chronicles or you read Jesus being arrested in Matthew and then again in Mark and then again in Luke and then again in John). 

But there is one Bible that actually blends the duplicates to allow for a seamless reading experience. (I find this particularly helpful when the author combines all the priestly laws from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy on a particular topic). It's called The Daily Bible by F. LaGard Smith and is available in both the NIV and NLT translation (both are easy to read translations though the NLT is the easiest). If you decide to try it out, let me know what you think! It's designed to be read in a year. I have a copy of it and bought a copy for my in-laws who read it in 2020 and loved it, and this past Christmas bought if for my mom who is reading it through 2021 and is also highly enjoying it.  

Have you ever read through the Bible chronologically? What did you like about it? What, if anything, didn't you like?

Old Testament—Action Packed, Battle-Ridden Love Story, part 1

In the last post on Biblical literacy, we looked at how the books of the Bible are organized by theme. But it is much easier to see how the Bible tells His Story — that is, the story of the Captain of Jehovah's Armies (aka, Angel of the Lord/Jesus Christ)—when we arrange the books chronologically. Seeing the Bible as His story also helps shape a Biblical worldview. 

Old Testament Books arranged Chronologically by Action

(The larger font represents historical events / action scenes, whereas the smaller font represents letters or laments or poems or oracles.)

Genesis — The Captain of Jehovah's Armies creates a world in which he can dwell with mankind. Meanwhile, second-in-command, attempts to usurp God's throne and is banished. Seeking revenge, he possesses a serpent so that he can enter the natural world and tricks mankind into giving him coregency of their world. When that fails to kill mankind, and a prophecy foretells of a promised deliverer who will crush Satan's power and take back rule of the world. Satan then arranges for his minions to corrupt the human race, but his demon-human hybrids drown in a flood and mankind survives. (Also includes  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph).

Job — Satan wages war against a man loyal to Jehovah.

Exodus — Satan enslaves the lineage of humans through whom the promised Deliverer will come, but the Captain wages war on him and his minions and rescues His people from slavery.

Numbers — The Captain leads his people through the wilderness to the land he promised them.
(While in the Wilderness: Leviticus (priest's handbook) and Deuteronomy (summary of everything that's happened thus far since the Exodus)

Joshua — The Captain of Jehovah's Armies leads the people to victory against the child-sacrificing inhabitants living in the land He promised to give them.

Judges — The Captain repeatedly rescues his people from oppression despite their rejection of Him. He also defeats the demon lord of Philistia by executing the idol who represents him, terrifying his priests. 

Ruth — events leading up to the birth of David

1 & 2 Samuel (Saul and David) — The demon lord of Philistia constantly seeks war with the Captain's people, but He defeats him once and for all.

 
1 & 2 Kings (Solomon and the Divided Kingdom through the Exile) — The Captain's people allow Satan' minions to infiltrate His territory. The Captain repeatedly warns them that if they continue to do so, He will kick them out of the land in order to purify it. 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah: Prophets who warned the kings to follow God or they would be sent into exile / Lamentations — A lament written because the people went into exile

1 & 2 Chronicles (a post-exile summary of the kings of Judah, written from a 2nd Temple perspective)

Ezekiel & Daniel (prophets who wrote during the exile) — The Captain of the Armies is temporarily estranged from his people while the land is purified.

Ezra & Nehemiah — The Captain releases his people form Exile and now fiercely loyal to him, they return to the land He promised them.

Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi — prophets who wrote after the release from Exile

Esther — Satan realizes he is running out of time, and that the promised Deliver who will reclaim the world as His own kingdom will soon come. Thus, he seeks to annihilate the Captain's people, but his plan fails.  Events that occurred long after the return to the land of Israel

Bonus: 1 Maccabees* (events that happened between the Old and New Testament, also recorded by Josephus, a Jewish historian), which led to Hanukah, a holiday observed by Jesus in John 10:22) — Not one to give up, Satan tries again and again to annihilate the Captain's people, but each time He leads them to victory. At long last, they are victorious and set up synagogues all over the Roman Empire where they worship Jehovah side by side with Gentiles. 

The story of the Captain continues in the next post
when we'll look at the New Testament books chronologically. 

1 Maccabees is a Jewish book now found only in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, but which had been in both Catholic and Protestant Bibles up until the 1800's when they were removed.