Camels - watch out they spit

We started our new class this morning, called "Engaging Contemporary Culture." It should be really interesting...this week's readings were about the role Christianity plays in art. The readings included writings by Begbie, Steve Turner, as well as the speech given by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn after winning the Nobel Prize in literature.

We also started How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth, which was very interesting. Betty Douglas, our instructor, thought it is a good read for ALL books, not just the Bible. It brings up the idea of reading with exegesis, which is "the careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning." I recommend reading this if you ever struggle with reading the Word. Which is most of us! The example they gave in the book is the story in Mark, Matthew and Luke of Jesus saying that it is easier for a camel(watch out, they spit) to go through the eye of a needle rather than for a rich man to get into heaven. Fee and Stuart(the authors) say that in reality it is widely believed(and I had thought so as well) that there was a gate in Jerusalem known as "the Needle's eye." But apparantly according to the authors there is no historical evidence to suggest any evidence supporting this myth until after the 11th century. Therefore Jesus most likely was in fact referring to an actualy needle, which of course it would be impossible for a camel to enter. Just an example of the importance of "exogesis."

The one "take-away" I had was something Professor Douglas said to us. She referred to her apporoach to Christianity, which is very similar to my belief, but she worded it beautifully. She quoted Matthew 18:3 -

"And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'"

How wonderful. We MUST live our lives like 5-year olds. What Mrs. Douglas was referring to is that we must be willing to accept the fact that we are going to get ito trouble...as children often do, in the kind of trouble that we would need help to get out of. Jesus gets us out of that trouble.

Well I need to run - all nighter with the youth group! Movie, ice skating down town, bowling, lazer tag, and Hopefully some ritalin for the kids! Oh who am I kidding, I'll need some too.

UPDATE: - pictures from the night that ended at 7am...I'm still tired. And I definitely acted like a 5 year-old. Me and The Raj-mahal