aliens and the bible...

...you think they wrote it?... thats actually not what this post is regarding...

two independent thoughts that are fresh in my mind... i have thought a little about each...

first, aliens... i just picked up this devotional book that my wife's company designed... they design that kind of stuff from time to time... some of the stuff is good, some of the stuff is the same christian-junk that i grew up with... but anyways, i picked up the devotional cause it had cool design and the first entry is how in the new testament paul told some christians that they were like aliens, strangers in this world... so i am thinking about this and how a palestinian jew of that time might think about this notion... because i mean, most christians think that means that earth is not our home and that we should escape and thank god that hes gonna rapture us and leave all those bad people behind... this kinda stuff, you know?...

but i am remembering in reading the old testament how the jewish people were not a pure-blood, closed-off nation, right?... i mean, they took care of the alien and even made ways to help him to integrate into their society... i mean, aliens were people who were at the mercy of others, not people who were running away from others cause they 'spoke a different language and lived by different customs'... i really dont know where this is going except that some of the jews round jesus time were getting all high on themselves cause they were god's chosen people (sounds a whole hell of a lot like many christians i know!...) and here paul tells that in this new way of existing/being/living, that they would be aliens, strangers... perhaps this is from christ's law of inversion... you know, that the last would be first, and now they first are being told that they will be last?... hmm...

another thought (bear with me)... and then i have to get my sister at the airport... so, this is thought two... the bible thought...

so, i was asked to read the statement of faith to see if i agreed with it and there was a part that really bothered me... it is not uncommon of church creeds... it said that the bible is the only inspired word of god... that this book is gods only authorized biography and history... this is common in most parts of the christian church, i know... but i have had issue with this for some time now...

anyways, i am reading 2 timothy 3.16 the other day... this is the classic passage that 'confirms' (by some peoples guess) that the whole of the bible as we have it today was written by god, so its innerrant, infallible, and perfect in its original manuscripts... the passage says that all scripture (which i think means the hebrew bible, not the gospels and epistles) is god-breathed... read that a couple times... all scripture is god-breathed... anything strike you as odd?...

would you say that god 'wrote' the bible or god 'writes' the bible?...go with me here... probably that he 'wrote' the bible, right?... i mean, you would use the past-tense... but paul uses some form of the present... that all scripture is god-breathed... so what if its less about that god 'wrote' or 'breathed' the bible, but more that he 'breaths' the bible?... i mean, that what is holy and perfect and amazing is his breath as we read these ancient texts?... or perhaps this is way out of context... i tend to do that from time to time...

crap, gotta go pick up my sister at the airport... cheers...