Thursday, September 12, 2019

week 6

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Dave's confessions here



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I
   FIRST, Pick a case study from your signature assignment options (any one, and you will not be required to write your signature on the case study you choose today)
THEN watch  this "Lamb of God" video (captions may not work, if not, see notes here, or pay to rent it with captions here ) and be prepared to give a summary and response  below . Give major attention to the idea of what people then and now expected the Messiah to be, and how Jesus subverted their expectations.  How did they (and how do we misunderstand Jesus and his mission? His Kingdom?  How would a member of the party you are assigned to understand/misunderstand how Jesus acted in this video? How might the person(s) Jesus is  (or you are)  helping in your case study understand/misunderstand Jesus, if Jesus is how he is presented in this video?  
For help:
Read Matthew chapters, 9, 12, 15-17, 19, 22-28.
Read NOAB article, "The New Testament Interprets Jewish Scriptures" (Class Bible) pp.2204-2208


Temple Mount webcam HERE  or HERE or HERE

 What stories did I tell about this picture?




Fig Tree:

s to the significance of this passage and what it means, the answer to that is again found in the chronological setting and in understanding how a fig tree is often used symbolically to represent Israel in the Scriptures. First of all, chronologically, Jesus had just arrived at Jerusalem amid great fanfare and great expectations, but then proceeds to cleanse the Temple and curse the barren fig tree. Both had significance as to the spiritual condition of Israel. With His cleansing of the Temple and His criticism of the worship that was going on there (Matthew 21:13Mark 11:17), Jesus was effectively denouncing Israel’s worship of God. With the cursing of the fig tree, He was symbolically denouncing Israel as a nation and, in a sense, even denouncing unfruitful “Christians” (that is, people who profess to be Christian but have no evidence of a relationship with Christ).
The presence of a fruitful fig tree was considered to be a symbol of blessing and prosperity for the nation of Israel. Likewise, the absence or death of a fig tree would symbolize judgment and rejection. Symbolically, the fig tree represented the spiritual deadness of Israel, who while very religious outwardly with all the sacrifices and ceremonies, were spiritually barren because of their sins. By cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree, causing it to whither and die, Jesus was pronouncing His coming judgment of Israel and demonstrating His power to carry it out. It also teaches the principle that religious profession and observance are not enough to guarantee salvation, unless there is the fruit of genuine salvation evidenced in the life of the person. James would later echo this truth when he wrote that “faith without works is deadt also teaches the principle that religious profession and observance are not enough to guarantee salvation, unless there is the fruit of genuine salvation evidenced in the life of the person. James would later echo this truth when he wrote that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). The lesson of the fig tree is that we should bear spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), not just give an appearance of religiosity. God judges fruitlessness, and expects that those who have a relationship with Him will “bear much fruit” ( LINK



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SOREQ

Temple Warning Inscription:

 

The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was surrounded by a fence (balustrade) with a sign (soreq)  that was about 5 ft. [1.5 m.] high.  On this fence were mounted inscriptions in Latin and Greek forbidding Gentiles from entering the temple area proper.
One complete inscription was found in Jerusalem and is now on display on the second floor of the “Archaeological Museum” in Istanbul.
The Greek text has been translated:  “Foreigners must not enter inside the balustrade or into the forecourt around the sanctuary.  Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”  Compare the accusation against Paul found in Acts 21:28 and Paul’s comments in Ephesians 2:14—“the dividing wall.”
Translation from Elwell, Walter A., and Yarbrough, Robert W., eds.  Readings from the First–Century World: Primary Sources for New Testament Study.  Encountering Biblical Studies, general editor and New Testament editor Walter A. Elwell.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998, p. 83. Click Here

N.T. Wright, "The Challenge of Jesus":


His attitude to the Temple was not "this institution needs reforming," nor "the wrong people are running this place," nor yet "piety can function elsewhere too." His deepest belief regarding the temple was eschatological: the time had come for God to judge the entire institution. It had come to symbolize the injustice that characterized the society on the inside and on the outside, the rejection of the vocation to be the light of the world, the city set on a hill that would draw to itself all the peoples of the world. (64)

we watch (next class)the "Lamb of God" video and discussed how it was actually a nationalistic misunderstanding.  If Jesus showed up personally in your church Sunday, would you wave the American flag at him, and ask him to run for president? Post your answer in the comments section below...at bottom of this post



a)Van Der Laan:
Jesus on his way to Jerusalem
On the Sunday before Passover, Jesus came out of the wilderness on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives (just as the prophecy said the Messiah would come).
People spread cloaks and branches on the road before him. Then the disciples ?began, joyfully, to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen? (Luke 19:37). The crowd began shouting, ?Hosanna,? a slogan of the ultra-nationalistic Zealots, which meant, ?Please save us! Give us freedom! We?re sick of these Romans!?
The Palm Branches
The people also waved palm branches, a symbol that had once been placed on Jewish coins when the Jewish nation was free. Thus the palm branches were not a symbol of peace and love, as Christians usually assume; they were a symbol of Jewish nationalism, an expression of the people?s desire for political freedom   __LINK to full article


b)FPU prof Tim Geddert:
Palm Sunday is a day of pomp and pageantry. Many church sanctuaries are decorated with palm fronds. I’ve even been in a church that literally sent a donkey down the aisle with a Jesus-figure on it. We cheer with the crowds—shout our hosannas—praising God exuberantly as Jesus the king enters the royal city.
But if Matthew, the gospel writer, attended one of our Palm Sunday services, I fear he would respond in dismay, “Don’t you get it?” We call Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem “The Triumphal Entry,” and just like the Jerusalem crowds, we fail to notice that Jesus is holding back tears.
Jesus did not intend for this to be a victory march into Jerusalem, a political rally to muster popular support or a publicity stunt for some worthy project. Jesus was staging a protest—a protest against the empire-building ways of the world.

c)From Table Dallas:
Eugene Cho wrote a blog post back in 2009 about the irony of Palm Sunday:
The image of Palm Sunday is one of the greatest ironies.  Jesus Christ – the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the Morning Star, the Savior of all Humanity, and we can list descriptives after descriptives – rides into a procession of “Hosanna, Hosanna…Hosanna in the Highest” - on a donkey – aka - an ass.
He goes on to say it’s like his friend Shane Claiborne once said, “that a modern equivalent of such an incredulous image is of the most powerful person in our modern world, the United States President, riding into a procession…on a unicycle.”
          -Link 


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Article By Dave Wainscott
“Temple Tantrums For All Nations"
Salt Fresno Magazine, Jan 2011

Some revolutionaries from all nations overlooking the Temple Mount, on our 2004 trip


I have actually heard people say they fear holding a bake sale anywhere on church property…they think a divine lightning bolt might drop.



Some go as far as to question the propriety of youth group fundraisers (even in the lobby), or flinch at setting up a table anywhere in a church building (especially the “sanctuary”) where a visiting speaker or singer sells books or CDs.  “I don’t want to get zapped!”



All trace their well-meaning concerns to the “obvious” Scripture:

"Remember when Jesus cast out the moneychangers and dovesellers?"

It is astounding how rare it is to hear someone comment on the classic "temple tantrum" Scripture without turning it into a mere moralism:



"Better not sell stuff in church!”

Any serious study of the passage concludes that the most obvious reason Jesus was angry was not commercialism, but:




racism.



I heard that head-scratching.



The tables the Lord was intent on overturning were those of prejudice.

I heard that “Huh?”



A brief study of the passage…in context…will reorient us:


Again, most contemporary Americans assume that Jesus’ anger was due to his being upset about the buying and selling.  But note that Jesus didn't say "Quit buying and selling!” His outburst was, "My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations" (Mark 11:17, emphasis mine).   He was not merely saying what he felt, but directly quoting Isaiah (56:6-8), whose context is clearly not about commercialism, but adamantly about letting foreigners and outcasts have a place in the “house of prayer for all nations”; for all nations, not just the Jewish nation.   Christ was likely upset not that  moneychangers were doing business, but that they were making it their business to do so disruptfully and disrespectfully in the "outer court;”  in  the “Court of the Gentiles” (“Gentiles” means “all other nations but Jews”).   This was
the only place where "foreigners" could have a “pew” to attend the international prayer meeting that was temple worship.   Merchants were making the temple  "a den of thieves" not  (just) by overcharging for doves and money, but by (more insidiously) robbing precious people of  “all nations”  a place to pray, and the God-given right  to "access access" to God.


Money-changing and doveselling were not inherently the problem.  In fact they were required;  t proper currency and “worship materials” were part of the procedure and protocol.  It’s true that the merchants may  have been overcharging and noisy, but it is where and how they are doing so that incites Jesus to righteous anger.


The problem is never tables.  It’s what must be tabled:


marginalization of people of a different tribe or tongue who are only wanting to worship with the rest of us.


In the biblical era, it went without saying that when someone quoted a Scripture, they were assuming and importing the context.  So we often miss that Jesus is quoting a Scripture in his temple encounter, let alone which Scripture and  context.  Everyone back then immediately got the reference: “Oh, I get it, he’s preaching Isaiah, he must really love foreigners!”:
 Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord…all who hold fast to my covenant-these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:6-8, emphases mine)
Gary Molander, faithful Fresnan and cofounder of Floodgate Productions, has articulated it succinctly:
“The classic interpretation suggests that people were buying and selling stuff in God’s house, and that’s not okay.  So for churches that have a coffee bar, Jesus might toss the latte machine out the window.
I wonder if something else is going on here, and I wonder if the Old Testament passage Jesus quotes informs our understanding?…Here’s the point:
Those who are considered marginalized and not worthy of love, but who love God and are pursuing Him, are not out.  They’re in..

Those who are considered nationally unclean, but who love God and are pursuing Him, are not out.  They’re in.

God’s heart is for Christ’s Church to become a light to the world, not an exclusive club.  And when well-meaning people block that invitation, God gets really, really ticked.”

Still reeling?  Hang on, one more test:


How often have you heard the Scripture  about “speak to the mountain and it will be gone” invoked , with the “obvious” meaning being “the mountain of your circumstances” or “the mountain of obstacles”?  Sounds good, and that will preach.   But again,  a quick glance at the context of that saying  of Jesus reveals nary a mention of metaphorical obstacles.   In fact, we find it (Mark 11:21-22) directly after the “temple tantrum.”  And consider where Jesus and the disciples are: still near the temple,  and still stunned by the  “object lesson” Jesus had just given there  about prejudice.  And know that everyone back then knew what most today don’t:  that one way to talk about the temple was to call it “the mountain” (Isaiah 2:1, for example: “the mountain of the Lord’s temple”) .


Which is why most scholars would agree with Joel Green and John Carroll:
“Indeed, read in its immediate context, Jesus’ subsequent instruction to the disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain..’ can refer only to the mountain on which the temple is built!... For him, the time of the temple is no more.”  (“The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity,” p. 32, emphasis mine).
In Jesus’ time, the temple system of worship had become far too embedded with prejudice.  So Jesus suggests that his followers actually pray such a system, such a mountain, be gone.


Soon it literally was.


In our day, the temple is us: the church.


And the church-temple  is called to pray a moving, mountain-moving, prayer:


“What keeps us from being a house of prayer for all nations?”


Or as Gary Molander summarizes:


“Who can’t attend your church?” -Dave Wainscott, Salt Fresno Magazine

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the money changers  were in the Gentile courts of the temple..Jesus' action opened up the plazaso that Gentiles could pray."  -Kraybill, Upside Down Kingdom, p. 151.
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FOR ALL THE NATIONS: BY RAY VANDER LAAN:

 Through the prophet Isaiah, God spoke of the Temple as ?a house of prayer for all the nations? (Isa. 56:7). The Temple represented his presence among his people, and he wanted all believers to have access to him.
Even during the Old Testament era, God spoke specifically about allowing non-Jewish people to his Temple: ?And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord ? these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer? (Isa. 56:7).
Unfortunately, the Temple authorities of Jesus? day forgot God?s desire for all people to worship freely at the Temple. Moneychangers had settled into the Gentile court, along with those who sold sacrificial animals and other religious merchandise. Their activities probably disrupted the Gentiles trying to worship there.
When Jesus entered the Temple area, he cleared the court of these moneychangers and vendors. Today, we often attribute his anger to the fact that they turned the temple area into a business enterprise. But Jesus was probably angry for another reason as well.
As he drove out the vendors, Jesus quoted the passage from Isaiah, ?Is it not written: ?My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations??? The vendors had been inconsiderate of Gentile believers. Their willingness to disrupt Gentile worship and prayers reflected a callous attitude of indifference toward the spiritual needs of Gentiles.
Through his anger and actions, Jesus reminded everyone nearby that God cared for Jew and Gentile alike. He showed his followers that God?s Temple was to be a holy place of prayer and worship for all believers. - Van Der Laan

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Excerpts from a good Andreana Reale article in which she sheds light on Palm Sunday and theTemple Tantrum:
,, Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem actually echoes a custom that would have been familiar to people living in the Greco-Roman world, when the gospels were written.
Simon Maccabeus was a Jewish general who was part of the Maccabean Revolt that occurred two centuries before Christ, which liberated the Jewish people from Greek rule. Maccabeus entered Jerusalem with praise and palm leaves—making a beeline to the Temple to have it ritually cleansed from all the idol worship that was taking place. With the Jewish people now bearing the brunt of yet another foreign ruler (this time the Romans), Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem—complete with praise and palm leaves—was a strong claim that He was the leader who would liberate the people.
Except that in this case, Jesus isn’t riding a military horse, but a humble donkey. How triumphant is Jesus’ “triumphant entry”—on a donkey He doesn’t own, surrounded by peasants from the countryside, approaching a bunch of Jews who want to kill Him?
And so He enters the Temple. In the Greco-Roman world, the classic “triumphant entry” was usually followed by some sort of ritual—making a sacrifice at the Temple, for example, as was the legendary case of Alexander the Great. Jesus’ “ritual” was to attempt to drive out those making a profit in the Temple.
The chaotic commerce taking place—entrepreneurs selling birds and animals as well as wine, oil and salt for use in Temple sacrifices—epitomized much more than general disrespect. It also symbolised a whole system that was founded on oppression and injustice.
In Matthew, Mark and John, for example, Jesus chose specifically to overturn the tables of the pigeon sellers, since these were the staple commodities that marginalised people like women and lepers used to be made ritually clean by the system. Perhaps it was this system that Jesus was referring to when He accused the people of making the Temple “a den of robbers” (Mt 21.13; Mk 11.17; Lk 19.46).



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So Jesus is intertexting and ddouble pasting two Scriptures  and making a new one.
But he leaves out the most important part "FOR ALL NATIONS"...which means he is hemistiching and making that phrase even more significant by it's absence,
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"If anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done.'  (Mark 11:23). If you want to be charismatic about it, you can pretend this refers to the mountain of your circumstances--but that is taking the passage out of context.  Jesus was not referring to the mountain of circumstances.  When he referred to 'this mountain,' I believe (based in part on Zech  4:6-9) that he was looking at the Temple Mount, and indicating that "the mountain on which the temple sits is going to be removed, referring to its destruction by the Romans..

Much of what Jesus said was intended to clue people in to the fact that the religous system of the day would be overthrown, but we miss much if it because we Americanize it, making it say what we want it to say,  We turn the parables into fables or moral stories instead of living prophecies  that pertain as much to us as to the audience that first heard them."
-Steve Gray, "When The KIngdom Comes," p..31

“Indeed, read in its immediate context, Jesus’ subsequent instruction to the disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain..’ can refer only to the mountain on which the temple is built!... For him, the time of the temple is no more.” 

"The word about the mountain being cast into the sea.....spoken in Jerusalem, would naturallly refer to the Temple mount.  The saying is not simply a miscellaneous comment on how prayer and faith can do such things as curse fig trees.  It is a very specific word of judgement: the Temple mountain is, figuratively speaking, to be taken up and cast into the sea."
 -N,T. Wright,  "Jesus and the Victory of God," p.422 


see also:



By intercalating the story of the cursing of the fig tree within that of Jesus' obstruction of the normal activity of the temple, Mark interprets Jesus' action in the temple not merely as its cleansing but its cursing. For him, the time of the temple is no more, for it has lost its fecundity. Indeed , read in its immediate context, Jesus' subsequent instruction to the disciples, "Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea'" can refer only to the mountain on which the temple is built!

What is Jesus' concern with the temple? Why does he regard it as extraneous to God's purpose?
Hints may be found in the mixed citation of Mark 11:17, part of which derives from Isaiah 56:7, the other from 11:7. Intended as a house of prayer for all the nations, the temple has been transformed by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem into a den of brigands. That is, the temple has been perverted in favor of both socioreligious aims (the exclusion of Gentiles as potential recipients of divine reconciliation) and politico-economic purposes (legitimizing and
consolidating the power of the chief priests, whose teaching might be realized even in the plundering of even a poor widow's livelihood-cf 12:41-44)....

...In 12:10-11, Jesus uses temple imagery from Psalm 118 to refer to his own rejection and vindication, and in the process, documents his expectation of a new temple, inclusive of 'others' (12:9, Gentiles?) This is the community of his disciples.
-John T, Carroll and Joel B. Green, "The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity," p. 32-33


FIG TREE: FOLLOW SCRIPTURES WHERE IT IS A SYMBOL OF NATIONIAL ISRAEL/jERUSALEM/GOD'S BOUNDED SET:

=

  

    The usual answer to "Why did Jesus die on the cross?" is "To pay the penalty for my sin."  Indeed that is a biblical answer, it has come to be called "Penal  (legal) Substitution".
    But for the first 1500 years of Christianity the first answer was "To trick, trump and triumph over the devil" or "To play a practical joke on the devil, who was too dumb to realize the trick."  This has come to be called  the "Christus Victor" view.  
    Read this text  from Paul  in Colossians 2.  You should see both views.
     God forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross with Jesus 15 And having disarmed the evil powers and authorities of the devil, he made a public spectacle of them, tricking and triumphing over them by the cross.[


    --


    First they came and trashed my classroom and called me a blasphemer, overturned my temple tables (Wayne Jones acted like Jesus)....and then they apologized and said "Happy Birthday" ??  Video HERE

    Juan Rivera is with Dave Wainscott.
    A loose recreation of Matthew 21 turned Happy Birthday

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    Camp Sierra hit by the power outage . Glad it wasn’t when I was preaching . More importantly , I hope our friend Hezekiah the Bear has a flashlight on his phone 😇

    A getaway in the Sierra National Forest, perfect for…

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    Instagram Post by U2 Official • August 31, 2019 at 05:34AM PDT
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    Camp Sierra hit by the power outage . Glad it wasn’t when I was preaching . More importantly , I hope our friend Hezekiah the Bear has a flashlight on his phone 😇

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    Ask her what she remembers..if anything..about FPU Bible class.,which she tool several years ago...


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    --
    -OH, here's the live webcam on the Western Wall ("Wailing Wall") of the temple.  Why are people praying and LAMENTing there right now?

    soreq.

    The  SOREQ Temple Warning inscription, also known as the Temple Balustrade inscription or the Soreg inscription[2], is an inscription that hung along the balustrade outside the Sanctuary of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Two of these tablets have been found.[3] A complete tablet was discovered in 1871 by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau and published by the Palestine Exploration Fund.[1] Following the discovery of the inscription, it was taken by the Ottoman authorities, and it is currently in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. A partial fragment of the inscription was found in 1936 by J. H. Iliffe in Jerusalem's Lions' Gate, and is held in the Israel Museum.[1][4]  -MORE HERE
    Guest: Former DC student and current DC teacher:  Kristina Corona (soon to be doctora!)
    Ask her what she remembers..if anything..about FPU Bible class.,which she tool several years ago...


















    Katie Carson did a mind map:

    <table cellpadding="0" 


    Kuppajoy Coffee House in Fresno:
    https://firstcohortever.blogspot.com/2019/09/week-6.html

    STUDY QUESTIONS FOR The Contemporary World
    1.     How does Paul describe himself? Philemon? Onesimus?
    2.     Who else is involved in hearing this letter?  Does this put pressure on Philemon? How?
    3.     How are statuses described, reinforced and used to influence (verses 1, 9, 10, 17, 19 and 20)?
    4.     What is Paul trying to get Philemon to do? Is Paul’s focus on a larger group than just Philemon; if so, how does this change what you think Paul’s purpose is?

    5.     What does the book of Philemon have to say about the use of power?


    towels and keys





    Why would I hang towels and cardboard keys over my diplomas?

    I bring these items into class when I teach on leadership, and the way Jesus calls us to lead out of an Upside Down Kingdom kenosis.

    Towel story first:

    One of my professors (Bob Lyon of Asbury Theological Seminary) washed each of our feet in a moving foot- washing service. And as he wiped our feet each with an individual towel that he would later give to us as a reminder to…well, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit”….he spoke prophetic words over each of us. To me he said: “God has given you great compassion, Let it grow.“ I have not done well living out that word. But if I learned compassion at all the next seven years. it was from Carla. Sure, for all my years here at the church, I had that towel hanging over my diploma to remind me of what was really important in ministry. But I didn’t need that towel in my office when I could walk to the next office in see Carla Menagh, who lived out that word. I eventually lost that towel. link

    I also tell more of that story in this video (from a speech to graduating nurses at Fresno Pacific University).  See 8:52ff: 
    The  keys story? When I was ordained in the United Methodist Church (by the Bishop Kevin Clancey...that's another story), they had rehearased this production where the retiring pastors all had a key, and they were to walk from stage left to hand a key to a new pastor stage right. They spent some time making sure there was one key per person. Dick Bayard, who may not remember this, but he pointed at me during the rehearsal to say "you get my key.' But somehow when it was all over, I got three ke ys...and everyone else just got one. What is the moral of the story? Obviously, it is NOT that I am three times more holy than the others...three times as needy, maybe..(:
    Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · Edit · Promote · August 1, 2012


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    I am just trying to learn the balance of leadership:
    ]
    radical, foot-washing servanthood
                              and
                                                using the Kingdom keys.

    Maybe the only way to even use them is to wash feet.
    You can have more degrees than a summer day in Fresno, and still know nothing about servant-leadership.

    =emember how Paul..the same Paul who wrote Philemon..used the "S" word in Philippians 3?  In the original Greek he used the word "skubala," which your class Bible translates "rubbish,"  but the word is much close to the English S-word.  More on that word use here.
    Here's a post by Alex Heath:

    “Skubala?” The Apostle Paul Uses the Word “Sh--” in the Bible

    This shocked me. In Philippians 3:8 (KJV), the Apostle Paul says,
    “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”
    In our English translation of Scripture, we read several deviations of what was commonly referred to as animal excrement in Paul’s day. The NIV translation says “garbage,” the ESV says “rubbish,” and The Message translation says “dog dung.”
    Of all places, Urban Dictionary actually gives some helpful insight into the use of this word in this passage. The word that Paul uses was a Greek term called “skubala." 
    "This is a Greek word that is the equivalent to the modern English word "s__.” Skubala is a rare word, used only in Philippians 3:8 in the New Testament. Dung, rubbish, refuse, and a loss are various inaccurate translations of the Greek word. No translation accurately translates this term to its modern English equivalence: “sh--.” The word means “excrement” either animal or human.“
    Wait, so you’re telling me that the APOSTLE PAUL (one of God’s most anointed and renowned evangelicals in the history of the early church) used a CUSS WORD in SCRIPTURE? Hold the phone.  
    There must be something wrong with this. Paul would have never used such a dirty word in an inspired text. Or would he?
    I believe Paul uses the word "shit” in this passage because he is trying to create an incredibly stark and extreme contrast between the the “things” of the world, and the pursuit of Christ. It’s serious business.
    Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that this example automatically condones the use of foul language for Christians. Scripture is very clear that we are to not let any foul language cross our lips (Exodus 20:7, Ephesians 4:29).
    Paul used what would have been the equivalent of a “four letter word” in his time to help communicate the message of the gospel. How does that affect us? How do we rationalize through that fact?
    Just something to think about.  LinK
     
    Remember how Paul..the same Paul who wrote Philemon..used the "S" word in Philippians 3?  In the original Greek he used the word "skubala," which your class Bible translates "rubbish,"  but the word is much close to the English S-word.  More on that word use here
    Oh, here's a link to buy the T shirt (or bib or hat..or)
    I


    HIASMS
    Finish these sentences.  How did you know what to say?  
    • ------
    • The first shall be last...
    • When the going gets tough....
    • I am stuck on Band-Aid...
    • It's not the size of the dog in the fight..
    • You should do unto others...
    • God is good all the time
    • John F Kennedy; "Ask not what your country can do for you...."
    • Am I drinking wine, or is..
    • Accept rejection..
    • Whoever exalts themself will be humbled.
    • Never let a fool kiss you....
    • Zaccheus was a wee little man...
    • There's no understanding without...
    • Woe to those who call good evil..
    • They don't care about how much you know until ...
    • The right to bear arms is slightly less ridiculous than ...
    • Let us never negotiate out of fear..
    • The sabbath is made for man..
    • You come to be baptized by me, when..







      CHIASM 
      From the ridiculous:

      • "I am stuck on Band Aid..
      • "Never let a kiss fool you..
      To the sublime:
      • "Ask not what your country can do for you..
      • "God is good all the time.."
      • "When the going gets tough.."
      • "Accept rejection.."
      To the biblical:

      • The first shall be last...
      • Whoever humbles themself will be exalted...
      • You do unto others...
       Who found the chiasm on p74 of Grimsrud book ?
         








      Chiasm(definition) ).. once you are attuned to seeing them in Scripture (and most ancient literature) it seems they are everywhere.

      Sometimes they are.

      -
      CHIASMs they can grow larger, and the parallelism can be more general, thematic.
      And getting over VERSE-ITIS helps a lot in seeing chiasm in the big sweep.  This is Genesis 6:


      Or the tower of Babel in Genesis 11:

      link


      And we're only in the FIRST book of the Bible (:

      Sometimes chiasms  are are so large that they  almost become a genre..or encompass an entire book.



      In fact, they can become as large as life,  See
      James B. Jordan, “Chiasm and Life” in Biblical Theology Basics:


      Very much of human life is ‘there and back again,’ or chiastic. This is how God has designed human beings to live in the world. It is so obvious that we don’t notice it. But it is everywhere. This shape of human life arises ultimately from the give and take of the three Persons of God, as the Father sends the Spirit to the Son and the Son sends the Spirit back to the Father. We can see that literary chiasm is not a mere curiosity, a mere poetic device to structure the text. It arises from the very life of God, and is played out in the structure of the lives of the images of God in many ways and at many levels. It is because human beings live and move so often chiastically, that poets often find themselves drawn to chiastic writing. God creates chiasms out of His inner life, and so do the images of God.
      Biblical chiasms are perfect. That is, they are perfectly matched to the human  chiasms they address and transform. As we become more and more sensitive to Biblical chiasms, we will become more and more sensitive to one aspect of the true nature of human life under God. We will be transformed from bad human chiasms into good human chiasms. In this way, becoming sensitive to chiasm can be of practical transformative value to human life, though in deep ways that probably cannot be explained or preached very well.
      One further thought. We saw in our previous essay that chiasms often have a double climax, one in the middle and the greatest at the end. The food we bought at market is put away in the cupboard and refrigerator when we get back home. Moving forward to a final climax is what all literature does, whether it has a middle climax or not. (Shakespeare’s five-act plays always move to a climax in the third and in the fifth acts.) This is just another way that human life matches literary production, in the Bible as well as in uninspired human literature. Becoming familiar with the shape and flow of Biblical texts will have a transforming effect on human life.”
      James B. Jordan, “Chiasm and Life” in Biblical Theology Basics.
      ------------------------------





      Mike Rinaldi, a Visalian, and filmmaker (and Fresno Pacific grad) told this   story at the first "Gathering to Bless Christians in the Arts":
      Blake Snyder, the screenwriter behind the classicSave The Cat"  book became a Christian not long before he died. 

      Often at this point in such a story, folks ask "Who led him to Christ?" 

      Go ahead and ask. 

      The answer is: 

      Chiasm. 

      It happened in large part because Mike, not even knowing if such a well-known and busy writer would respond to his email,  asked him if he had heard about chiasm. 

      Turns out Snyder was fascinated with it all, and Mike was able to point out chiastic structure and shape in scriptwriting....and one thing led to another...and then in Scripture. 

      All roads, and all chiasms, lead to the Center and Source. 


      Mike, of course, learned chiasm in THIS CLASS.
      --

      video: Impersonation of me by Pastor D.J. Criner (who looks just like me..but more handsome)

      Pastor D.J. Criner
      Sometimes in a Bible class, I will leave the room for five minutes,
      and challenge the students to practice presenting anything they've learned.
      It's totally up to them: they can tea- teach it, one person can present etc.

      Sometimes I am even brave/dumb enough to say they can choose someone to impersonate (roast/toast( me and my style.

      I should have known that with  the delightful and daring Pastor D.J. Criner (of Saint Rest Baptist Church) in class, that  the class would choose him for that impersonation option (:

      It was caught on video ...
      I guess I say ":awesome" a lot.

      Be sure to catch his whiteboard artwork of me. as well:

      --------------------Thank you for this thank you:


      improv and bucketsl we didn't do this in class:







      --
      If Paul was in prison, and Onesimus came to him, where do you think he was?
      Rome is 1,200 miles away , and would be a grueling journey on foot and by sea ( 1,200 miles on land, plus daring sea voyages which would  themselves take 5-6 days)
      Ephesus is about 100 miles away, a common walk in ancient world (3-4 days) .
      map

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