Rock Connection?

Yesterday, I had a conversation about Caesarea Philippi. Picture a large rock cliff, a cave with water streaming out of the rock, a pagan temple, and the gates of the underworld. So, it's been on my mind. Today, reading I Corinthians 10 it came to mind again. Hear this:

¹For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

Moses struck a rock (he should have just spoken), water came out, and Israel was being established. Jesus is at a place where water is coming out of a rock and speaks of establishing his movement. Also, at some point he speaks of streams of living water flowing from a person. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, calls Jesus the rock from which water flowed. Paul is reminding us of the Exodus. Is Jesus as well? Is Paul referring to the Philippi event too? These seem to be some interesting connections to ponder.

Foolish wisdom

I met with a professor recently to talk about geomagnetic micropulsations and spent the first hour discussing marriage, my trip to Israel, and the Gospels. Concerning marriage, he made some interesting remarks regarding the civic responsibility of marriages to raise children to strengthen and maintain society. Concerning my trip to Israel, I whipped out my laptop and talked about my newly corrected view of "green pastures", the earthiness of Jesus' parables, and the Stanford of the Galilee--Capernaum. Concerning the Gospels, he brought up several times the numerous contradictions (a thread I hear often in academia and to which I will return to in detail at some point). The wisdom of academia...

This week I was reading Paul's first letter to the Corinthians where he discusses wisdom. He has strong words about the relying on one's personal wisdom. "Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless." These verses could explain parts of the anti-intellectualism that Thomas Frank discusses in "What's the Matter With Kansas". I haven't read it yet but a friend brought it to my attention. Do we blindly accept what we are taught, or what we read from particular texts?

I am not sure this is what Paul intended. Paul mentions the enrichment by God's love in Corinth as evident by their power of speech and depth of knowledge (I Cor 1:4-7). So, studying and knowledge are seen as good gifts. Also, Paul was a zealous rabbi who studied under Gamaliel (one of the greatest first century rabbis). Paul was clearly proud of his credentials. Do you know the amount of study it takes to be a talmid of Gamaliel? Paul likely had the Tanakh memorized. How much study did that take?!

Paul's discussion about wisdom is held in parentheses by a discussion of unity, and the following of one teacher over another. The Corinthian church had been fractured into those who followed different leaders (sound familiar?). This then must be central to his thoughts on wisdom. Does our wisdom puff us up and divide our communities? Or does it unite us in a common purpose? This brings us to the question then, what is wisdom? A topic for later.

Wisdom, her sweet voice is in the street. Love her and she will watch over you. Where does it begin? Reverence on a moon lit night. A shiver when diving in the rain, she'll explain. A smile like salvation. All I want is your face in a locket, a picture in my pocket.

On the side again?

Dear President Bush and Vice President Cheney,

I am alarmed today after reading Nicholas Kristof's editorial in the NY Times on May 3, 2005 concerning your request to delete provisions about Darfur from current legislation. As you rightly named the tragedy there as genocide, so other agencies are reporting hundreds of thousands of dead due to ethnic violence. Can we stand by on the side again as innocents are slaughtered?

As a person of faith, I respect your fight for life issues such as unborn children and Terry Shiavo. Concerning Terry, you called for us to "build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others." Does this not apply also to the innocent in Sudan? My heart breaks when I hear of the genocide in Sudan. I personally am limited in what I can do, but this great country, led by you, has the opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Please be consistent in your culture of life. You have an opportunity to lead in the world in saving, feeding, clothing, and hundreds of the "least of these". Please act on our behalf. For me and my family, this is far more important than the price of gas or social security.

Thank you for your time.

--James