Welcome!
Have you taken a cruise lately? Perhaps you traveled to Alaska, or Europe and Greece, or even to the Holy Land. Of course cruises cost money, sometimes a lot of money. I would like to invite you to come with me on the cruise of your life…FOR FREE. Our journey will start from your key board or iPad. It will take you ugh the pages of the Old Testament. There you will encounter so many eye popping things that at times you may not believe your own eyes. You will wonder if some of the things you see, some of the people you meet, some of the events you read about are real or mere mirages.
I cordially invite you to come aboard, and allow me to be your host. Who am I? Well you can call me THE BEAD. My mentor was a great philosipher, theologian and scholar of the Scriptures by the name of John Bedard. We affectionately nicknamed him “The Bead”, and I was privileged to spend many years at his feet. In these pages and the blogs which follow I will share with you The Bead’s wisdom and insight. So come along and Bon Voyage!
Before we embark I would like to tell you who I am NOT. I am not a teacher, a preacher, a lecturer, a priest or deacon, or an elder. You will not find my name on a long list of biblical commentators. I am not Mathew Henry, John Calvin, Warren Wierske, John MacArthur or Michael Voris, just to name a few. I do have a bone to pick with the likes of Victor Hafichuk, Paul Cohen or Gary Armirault, (again just to name a few), but at some other place or time.
So I am who I am, a student of “The Bead” I am a student of the Bible. The books of the Old Testament are my favorites, so packed full of mysteries, kings, wariors, saints, sinners, beautiful ,and some not so beautiful! There is something is these books for everyone: for the historian, the scientist, the archeologist, the soldier, the doctor, the farmer, the teacher, the believer, the doubter, the atheist, the theologian, the philosopher, and yes, perhaps for you and for me.
Do the books of the Old Testament (OT) contain fact or fiction or both? Are the stories original or copied? Why is this anthology called THE HOLY BIBLE, and not simply the bible with a small b? And if it is so Holy, how can we explain away the inconsistencies and inaccuracies it seems to contain?
Are you ready for this? Are you coming along for the ride? For sure you can disembark at any port along the way. The Q&A lounge will be open 24/7, because The Bead understands that you will not always see eye to eye with him.
Bonus: Now and again I will throw in a few little goodies, just for fun. In fact, while you are trying to decide if this is for you, here is a tidbit for you to munch onlittle goodie for you to munch on:
As you know the OT has inspired many poets over the years like Milton, Dante and even John Wolfgang von Goethe, who penned the following verses called “The Reunion”. The first and last stanzas probably refer to the reunion with his long lost lover Charlotte von Stein. But what about stanzas 2,3,4 and 5? Do I detect a pagan Genesis there? You be the judge.
THE REUNION
CAN it be! of stars the star,
Do I press thee to my heart?
In the night of distance far,
What deep gulf, what bitter smart!
Yes, ’tis thou, indeed at last,
Of my joys the partner dear!
Mindful, though, of sorrows past,
I the present needs must fear.
When the still unfashioned earth
Lay on God’s eternal breast,
He ordained its hour of birth,
With creative joy possessed.
Then a heavy sigh arose,
When He spake the sentence: — “Be!”
And the All, with mighty throes,
Burst into reality.
And when thus was born the light,
Darkness near it feared to stay,
And the elements with might
Fled on every side away;
Each on some far-distant trace,
Each with visions wild employed,
Numb, in boundless realms of space,
Harmony and feeling-void.
Dumb was all, all still and dead,
For the first time, God alone!
Then He formed the morning-red,
Which soon made its kindness known:
It unravelled from the waste
Bright and glowing harmony,
And once more with love was graced
What contended formerly.
And with earnest, noble strife,
Each its own peculiar sought;
Back to full, unbounded life,
Sight and feeling soon were brought.
Wherefore, if ’tis done, explore
How? why give the manner, name?
Allah need create no more,
We his world ourselves can frame.
So, with morning pinions brought,
To thy mouth was I impelled;
Stamped with thousand seals by night,
Star-clear is the bond fast held.
Paragons on earth are we
Both of grief and joy sublime,
And a second sentence: — “Be!”
Parts us not a second time.
John Storer Cobb, translator, first published in Goethe, Political Works, vol II Boston, Francis A Nicolis & Co, 1902
