Here is a picture of a Lily nicknamed Naked Lady because it has no leaves. It’s also called Surprise Lily or Magic Lily. Its proper name is Belladonna Lily.

I thought I would post this picture I took recently and use the name to get more hits from Google. (smiley would go here)

And more importantly it goes so well with Scripture.

Matthew 6:28-34 NLT
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Photo © Scripture Zealot

Demystifying Bible Translation and Where Our Culture Is with Inclusive Language — by Craig Blomberg

Bible Translation Matters — by Esteban Vázquez

Bible Translation by Committee — by Keith Williams on the NLT Blog

Neglect by design: the Hebrew Scriptures in modern Christian translations — Iyov

The last three mention the first.

It was only yesterday, after laying down the Bible, that I wondered what kind of mind I would have had if I had not the Book of God, the Book containing the astounding idea of ‘from everlasting to everlasting,’ the development of all that is worth knowing … One would think, that as I have critically and, I think, devoutly read and examined every verse, every word in the Bible, some a score of times over, I should not require to open the pages of that unspeakable blessed Book. Alas, for the human memory! I read the Bible today with the same feeling I ever did, like the hungry when seeking food, the thirsty when seeking drink, the bewildered when seeking counsel and the mourner when seeking comfort. Don’t you believe all this? For alas, I read it sometimes as a formal thing, though my heart condemns me afterwards … I am yet astonished at my own ignorance of the Bible!

–Robert Moffat

HT: Challies.com

There is something about the Bible that can instill confidence in God in a way that nothing else can. God speaks to our hearts through his Spirit, and we come into closer relation to him.

–G.K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians

We have become so accustomed to hearing preachers or expositors, as important as that is, that many in the process have abandoned the grand privilege of personally hearing from God’s Word daily.

–Ravi Zacharias

Since the book of Esther doesn’t mention God I thought it would be interesting to see what it does mention so I Wordled it using the ESV. It didn’t turn out very interesting but since I took the time to do it I thought I’d post it. Click on the image to see a larger one.

Esther contains the longest verse in the Bible:

Esther 8:9 HCSB
On the twenty-third day of the third month (that is, the month Sivan), the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush. [The edict was written] for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

Esther Study on NLT’s Web Site

This is a new one for me. I found out about it at Theo Geek which is a blog I do not endorse. But for those of you who like to collect translations and didn’t know about this one, I thought I would mention it. You can find the NT as a PDF file here. I notice it has a lot of exclamation marks!

I thought I’d post a quick sample:

Romans 12:9-21 The Source
9-13 Your love must not be overly critical. Strongly detest evil! Cling to good! Your love for the fellow believers is to be affectionate and warm. Honor one another above yourselves. Do not hesitate to be eager. Be spiritually boiling hot as a slave servant to the Lord!

Be joyful when you hope, have endurance when you are oppressed,
persist obstinately when you pray! Be in partnership with the needs of the
people devoted to God! Go after opportunities to be hospitable!

14-21 Bless those who persecute you! Bless them and do not call down
curses upon them! Rejoice with those who rejoice, and cry with those who
cry! Think along the same lines as each other! Do not be high minded!

Rather, associate with those of low social standing. Do not become
conceited.

Do not repay bad with bad. Have a concern beforehand about what is
favorable in the sight of all people.

If possible on your part, live at peace with all people.

Do not take revenge, my dearly loved ones, but leave room for God’s
anger, as the Scriptures say: “’Vengeance is mine, I indeed will repay,’
says the Lord.”

On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed them! If they’re
hungry, give them a drink! For by doing this, you will heap coals of fire
on their head!”

Do not conquer by doing bad things, but conquer bad things by doing
good things!

The Real Jesus

Jesus on the radio, Jesus on a late night show
Jesus in a dream, looking all serene
Jesus on a steeple, Jesus in the Gallup poll
Jesus has His very own brand of rock and roll

Watched Him on the silver screen
Bought the action figurine
But Jesus is the only name that makes you flinch

Oh, can anybody show me the real Jesus?
Oh, let Your love unveil the mystery of the real Jesus

Jesus started something new
Jesus coined a phrase or two
Jesus split the line at the turning point of time
Jesus sparked a controversy
Jesus, known for His mercy, gave a man his sight
Jesus isn’t white

Jesus loves the children, holds the lambs
Jesus prays a lot
Jesus has distinguishing marks on His hands

If anybody walks behind the Good Shepherd
If anybody holds the hands that heal lepers
And if you recognize the eyes that see forever, please…

Jesus, Jesus
Oh, can anybody show me Jesus
Oh, let Your love unveil the glory, the real Jesus

Oh, can anybody show me the real Jesus?
Oh, let Your love unveil the glory of the real Jesus, the real Jesus

–From the album Wide Eyed and Mystified by Downhere, a free download down here.

The song begins as a commentary on Western culture’s numerous misunderstandings of the person of Christ, but it quickly reveals itself as a call to the church to proactively wrestle with what it means to live as Christ’s representatives in the world.

Galatians 5:6 HCSB
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

1 John 4:14-17 HCSB
And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God–God remains in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

17 In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; for we are as He is in this world.

1 John 3:23 HCSB
Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us.

Also see:
Jesus, Made in America

These are a little old and many of you have seen them but I thought I would point them out for those who haven’t.

Who Translated the New Living Translation? (And More Thoughts on Advocating English Translations) – Internet Monk (good comments too)

Speaking of the NLT, here is a feature on their web site where you can easily look up popular verses/passages. There are so many familiar passages making it easy to get a good feel for it. There are also three in-depth comparisons.

Update: And a newer post on the NLT.

One “Best” Translation? – living the crucified life (ironically, most of the comments may be contrary to what the post is about)

Psalm 12:6 TNIV
And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times.

Psalm 66:10 TNIV
For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

Proverbs 2:1-5 TNIV
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding–
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

Silver, in the form of electrum (a gold-silver alloy), was coined to produce money in around 700 BCE by the Lydians. Later, silver was refined and coined in its pure form. Many nations used silver as the basic unit of monetary value (see Silver standard). The words for ‘silver’ and ‘money’ are the same in at least 14 languages.

–Wikipedia

Photos © Scripture Zealot
Bible: TNIV Thinline
Flower: Impatiens

If you have a Christian/biblio blog, what are you really writing about? I’d like to issue a challenge. Wordle your blog.*

See what it looks like. Are the biggest (most commonly used) words a person you’re obsessed with, politician, ideology or something other than what you intended your blog to be about?

Please excuse this diversion from the regular programming here. This is something I’d like to put out there. I’ll leave it at that.

I hope this doesn’t appear to be prideful but I’ve included a couple of images of this blog. You can click on each one to see a larger one and then use your Back button.

All the text on the front page as of 7/15/08 (25 posts plus all the other stuff on the page):

The text from the RSS feed (10 days):

I think I will do this from time to time to make sure I’m on the right track. I was a little disturbed at all the translation references (this blog should be more about Scripture than its translations) until I realized that almost all Scripture references on this site have the translation cited.

*Go to the front page of your blog. If on Windows (I’m not sure how it works on other platforms but if you’re using a Mac or Linux you should be pretty smart) press Ctrl-A which will highlight all the text on your blog. Then press Ctrl-C to copy the text of your blog. Go to http://wordle.net/create, click on a blank part of the text box and press Ctrl-V to paste the text and click Go. Alternatively you can copy the link of your blog’s feed and use the next section down although the feed may only be for a certain amount of days. Obviously the number of posts on your first page will also affect the representation.

(You can do this with other people’s blogs too.)

Jeremiah 10:23 NET
LORD, we know that people do not control their own destiny.
It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.

Various people have been letting us know about the new NLT Blog (New Living Translation). Editor and contributor Keith Williams has posted on other blogs when translation issues come up and also has a blog called the NLT Study Bible Blog.

Other blogs that I know of are the ESV Bible Blog and TNIV Truth, an independent blog.

Updated:
NLT Study Bible Blog
NET Bible Revolution

Any others?

If you had to select only five or six verses you would pray every morning which ones would they be?

My choices as of now are:

Psalms 86:11 HCSB
Teach me Your way, Lord,
and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.

Luke 9:23 HCSB
If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Luke 11:3 HCSB
Give us each day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:33 HCSB
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness

Luke 22:42 HCSB
“…not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Colossians 1:11-12 NRSV
may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Psalm 19:14 HCSB
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to You,
Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

If you’d like to list your own, please do so here or make a new post on your blog and let us know.

Here are some books you may find interesting. The first is a leather bound edition of Spurgeon’s famous Morning and Evening devotional. (Affiliate links)

John 1:1-14 HCSB
In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
5 That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man named John who was sent from God. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Philippians 2:5-11 HCSB
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death–even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow–of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth– 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Colossians 1:15-20 HCSB
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; 16 because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. 19 Because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him, 20 and to reconcile everything to Himself through Him by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Hebrews 1:2-3 HCSB
In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe. 3 He is the radiance of His glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

How about memorizing all of them? I’m one for four so far.

“It is NOT supported by e-Sword at the present time because the Old Testament portion remains incomplete. We have tested this module, and except for a few cosmetic issues, the module appears to be functional…”

ISV v2.0 Preview Release E-sword Module

Most of the OT is there now.

Wordle has been getting popular among bibliobloggers. I thought I would do some smaller books of the Bible. Click on an image to see a larger one and use your browser’s Back button to come back.

Ephesians–TNIV on the left and HCSB on the right:

Malachi ESV:

Philippians ESV:

Titus ESV:

Philemon TNIV:

Jude ESV:

See:
The Bible, Wordled – ESV Blog
The Wordle New Testament – The Crazy Australian
Tag Cloud of My Colossians Translation – According to the Scriptures
Wordle – Make Your Own

Here are some posts related to a passage that doesn’t usually come up in comparisons.
Luke slips in predestination… – He Is Sufficient
Acts 13:48 – “Appointed” or “Disposed?” – I follow Christ
Acts 13:48: Arminian? Calvinistic? – Connecting
Acts 13:48 An Exegetical Study – Love Acceptance Forgiveness

For books related to this subject:
Arminianism and Calvinism Books: A Starter List

Arminianism:
Arminian Perspectives
Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Arminian – Roger E. Olson

Psalm 139:16 TNIV
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Acts 13:48 HCSB
When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Romans 8:29 HCSB
For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 9:14-16 HCSB
What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! For He tells Moses: I will show mercy to whom I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy.
and also:
Romans 10:9-10 HCSB
if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.

Ephesians 1:11 HCSB
In Him we were also made His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will,

2 Timothy 1:9 HCSB
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

How these two sides of God’s truth—His sovereignty in choosing us (Rom. 9) and our responsibility to confess and believe (Rom. 10)—reconcile is impossible for us to understand fully. But Scripture declares both perspectives of salvation to be true (John 1:12-13). It’s our duty to acknowledge both and joyfully accept them by faith.

–John MacArthur

1 Timothy 2:4 HCSB
who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 HCSB
The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

Ezekiel 33:11 HCSB
Tell them: As I live”-the declaration of the Lord God-”I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?

If you are interested in this translation here are some links for you:

• HCSB Web Site
• Interview with Dr. Ed Blum, General Editor for the HCSB
• It’s Here! The HCSB Second Edition Interview
• HCSB at Better Bibles Blog – see comments
• HCSB at THIS LAMP – scroll through for relevant posts
• Brief Thoughts on the Holman Christian Standard Bible
• HCSB Collection
• HCSB Apologetic Study Bible – Review
• Holman Legacy CSB Bible
• HCSB Apologetics Study Bible (review)
• A Comparison of the HCSB with Other Major Translations
• The HCSB Minister’s Bible : Published by B & H Publishing
• The Holman Illustrated Study Bible at Google Books (out of print but can be found used)
• Updated HCSB to Lose Lower Brackets
• HCSB 2009: A Brief Survey of Selected Changes
• 40 Reasons to Love the HCSB
• Holman Christian Standard Bible 2009 Updated Text

Updated: 11/16/10

A 12 Point Cure for Complaining

See other good articles at this site.

HT: CAMPONTHIS

In case you would like a list of Scripture mentioned:
Philippians 2:14
1 Thessalonians 5:18
James 1:2
Luke 13:2-3
2 Corinthians 4:19
1 Peter 2:23
Genesis 18:25
Psalm 34:4
Romans 8:28
Hebrews 11:35-39
2 Corinthians 12:9
Romans 8:35-39

Ephesians 4:15
…speaking the truth in love…

I always thought of this as synonymous with “tough love”. Which would be something like pointing out someone’s fault(s)–something they might not want to hear, but doing it with an attitude of love. This is the only way I’ve heard anyone use this phrase.

Is that what Paul means here?

First, the immediate context:

Ephesians 4:14-15 NRSV
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Paul is speaking about doctrine or teaching here.

Edit: Quotes from O’Brien’s commentary:

A sharp contrast…is drawn between the final words of v. 14 and this opening clause of v. 15. Over against the ‘crafty scheming’ stands the expression in love (a key phrase in the letter), while speaking the truth is set in opposition to the words ‘of error’. Thus, speaking the truth in love lays out a twofold contrast with the false teachers: the latter were presenting false doctrine in a deceptive manner, but over against this God’s people are to grow through proclaiming the truth in love.
…
…the apostle is not exhorting his readers to truthfulness in general or speaking honestly with one another, however appropriate or important this may be. Rather, he wants all of them to be members of a ‘confessing’ church, with the content of their testimony to be ‘the word of truth’, the gospel of their salvation.

What is the truth?

Colossians 1:5 NRSV
You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel

Galatians 2:5 NRSV
we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

Galatians 2:14 NRSV
But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Ephesians 1:13 NRSV
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;

A passage that is similar to Ephesians 4:14-15:

Philippians 1:15-17 NRSV
Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 16 These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment.

By proclaiming the truth and speaking sound doctrine (Titus 1:9, Titus 2:10) to each other “we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”.

Normally I would stop there and smugly think that now I know that speaking the truth in love isn’t about rebuking someone (edit: related to their own personal faults unrelated to doctrine or the gospel), which is addressed elsewhere in Scripture (although an example noted in Galatians 2:14 above). But the in love part is important and shouldn’t be overlooked.

When talking about doctrine to a fellow brother or sister, or proclaiming the gospel, it should be out of love. I don’t think I would ever do these things deceitfully, but selfish ambition of some sort is definitely a possibility. I could try to get somebody to come over to “my side”, convince them to have the same doctrine as me, show them how much knowledge I think I have about something etc. My attitude should be to have their best interests in mind (Philippians 2:4, Ephesians 4:29) out of love for them and most of all to glorify God.

Romans 15:5-6 NRSV
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we get a little cerebral and it’s nice to see some passion out there.

Don’t Waste Your Pulpit on Irish Calvinist’s blog (not just for pastors)

In Awe of What I Hold in my Hands on the blog I’ll call iFollowChrist

This blog’s name expresses how I feel about getting to hear from God through Scripture but it’s often difficult for me to put into words so I thought I would post a couple of links that I like a lot.

Psalms 19:7-11 HCSB
7 The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
making the heart glad;
the commandment of the Lord is radiant,
making the eyes light up.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are reliable
and altogether righteous.
10 They are more desirable than gold-
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey-
than honey dripping from the comb.
11 In addition, Your servant is warned by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.

Photo © Scripture Zealot