Saturday, August 15, 2015

How Do We Know?

How do we know which accounts in the Bible are closest to what Jesus really taught? If we examine the four closely we notice something strange. They don't agree on many points. If we read each of the birth stories, we notice many differences and even the resurrection stories differ from gospel to gospel. And John is completely different and presents a more "spiritual" Jesus and so different from the synoptic gospels in that in John, Jesus declares himself "God".  In the synoptic gospels Jesus says he is not God. What witness can we accept? So what to we do?

We look at those other three sources and see what they all/or at least two agree on. That’s called checking the seven sources or pillars of scholarly wisdom. 

The first pillar is the distinction between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith encapsulated in the first creeds. The second is realizing the first three gospels are much closer to the historical Jesus then the fourth gospel, which presented a “spiritual” Jesus. The third is recognizing that Mark is prior to Matthew and Luke and is the basis for them both. The fourth pillar is the identification of the hypothetical source “Q” as the explanation for the “double tradition”…the material Matthew and Luke have in common beyond their dependence on Mark. The liberation of the non-eschatological Jesus of the aphorisms and parables is the fifth pillar. The recognition of the fundamental contrast between the oral culture and a print culture is the sixth. The gospels are now assumed to be narratives in which the memory of Jesus is embellished by mythic elements that express the church’s faith in him, and in plausible fictions that enhance the story for first century listeners who knew about divine men and miracle workers firsthand. That's the seventh. 

At least they thought they did.

It was not unusual for the emperors of the day to declare themselves gods. The Greeks who preceded them and the Romans who followed them all had many gods. That's one reason why the very earliest Christians and even the Jews were tolerated.  They had just another god to add to those already declared gods.  It wasn't until they refused to also worship the Caesars that the persecution began.  

Also talented magicians were also around and they could perform what appeared to be miracles. So such miracles were also attributed to Jesus. 

It is realized that there are grains of reality in the synoptic gospels. For instance...Jesus' teaching of the Kingdom of God on earth...which got him crucified. 

People were challenged by Jesus to take care of one another. In their book, "Saving Paradise",  Brock and Parker note that for several decades following that teaching, the thing that drew people to Christianity in great numbers was their pledge to take care of the poor, sick and hungry. That was unheard of in that day.

Saturday At Last

Finally, it's Saturday! I had quite a night. I went to bed at 9:30 or so and woke up at 12:00 sick. I have a hard time throwing up so I was just sick. I ate chocolate covered peanuts last night before bed and I should know better.  My old stomach just can't stand it anymore.  Plus that, my left thumb ached terribly.  I took some Aleve but that didn't seem to help. Finally I moved in to the recliner and slept until 3:00 when I went back to bed. Missy followed me through all this activity.  I finally went back to sleep until 6:00.

This morning when I took Missy out on the carport, I discovered the white pickup the older boy used when he lived across the street in the house with that family, was parked in the drive behind the young kids car next to Marilyn's. This is the same truck they had the "music" blaring BOOM, BOOM. BOOM a week ago before the eviction. This is all in the fourplex.  Not only that..but the Nissan the woman who was evicted drives, was parked in the drive across the street again. She and the children had been evicted but they're back....at least temporarily. I texted all this to Betty, the landlady. I am getting very sick of all this. As Merrill (Wayne's son) says, it's become a circus.  If I could find another apartment with a carport of garage, I would be tempted to move.

More later....

I just got back from breakfast at Sirloin Stockade.  Because of the Interstate Fair and Rodeo, they had quite a bit more business and the group that sat near us were noisy. Breakfast was "all right" but not as good as usual. Bob came back to my apartment to read the paper.  I will take him home shortly.

I texted Betty, the landlord, about this newest development here at the apartment and the house across the street. She was not happy. She said she hated a liar.  I don't know what she's going to do...probably nothing... since she and her husband are down at the lake.

I went through my closet in the bedroom and found some stuff I am never going to use again that I could donate to the church's rummage sale.  I then took it all out there and put it in the storage room.   There's quite a bit accumulating there.  We will have to go out there the Thursday evening before the sale starts on Friday and price everything.  It will be a big job. I will need to get some more price stickers at the Dollar General Store soon.

I baked cookies this afternoon and Bob came over for a little while. It's 5:00 now and I'd better go get my yogurt.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Friday Again

I am always so glad to see Friday come. By then my left thumb joint is terribly sore. It aches most of the time. I haven't heard a word from the college either.

I slept very well last night. I did wake up at 4:30 and just got up. I can get a lot done before daylight...including this blog. It's 5:30 now.

Yesterday Katie decided I would not scan any more of the genealogy. So much of it isn't in the system. She's not sure how she's going to handle all of that. Elaine is looking into the solution but so far they just have left all the items I pulled that had no bar codes, sit in Katie's office. She's afraid all the car manuals are the same way so I won't start those either.  In other words, we're pretty much finished with the inventory at this time.

I need to divide the ham I bought yesterday into two packages. One of them I will use today in my ham and potato casserole and the other I will save for my cornbread and beans next week.  I will fix a veggie and we will also have Bob's jello salad. We didn't eat the pudding yesterday so we will still have that for today.

I don't know what I will do tomorrow at this point. I need to go through my bedroom closet to find what I can donate to the church's rummage sale. I have some old luggage and also two coverlets that I have used for my bed in the past. There may be even more.  I have a month to get that done. I also need to go through the dining room closet and cull it out too.

More later....

I went to Wal Mart and bought a few things. I've noticed lately that my Brita pitcher is leaking along the bottom. I bought that at Wal Mart. I have to fold a paper towel and put under it and even then, I only get about half a pitcher of water. I notified Brita and they asked for some information.  I don't know whether they will replace it or not.  I did not have the receipt.  I did have all the other information including the date I bought it. It's only two and a half years old. I paid almost $40.00 for it and it should have lasted longer then that. I will just have to wait and see.  If they don't, I will buy a new one. I can't drink this water without filtering it.

Well, lunch was good and I'm getting ready to go to work now.  Still no call from the college.  Maybe next week. Bob just left so I will leave for the library.

More even later....

Bob called. He is not coming over this evening. He will see me when I pick him up for breakfast in the morning. I will take my bath at 7:00. ...as usual.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Thursday and Housecleaning Day

Well, I got started fairly early today with my cleaning. It's 9:00 and my last load of laundry is in the dryer. I had just two loads. But I got the whole apartment cleaned and even took the air return for the furnace off and cleaned a ton of dust and dirt out of there. I notice there's another one in the hall and one behind the TV stand but those will have to wait for another day. I'm bushed. I've cleaned and washed the bathroom and kitchen floors and vacuumed the other four rooms.  I also stopped long enough to go to the market and get some ham pieces for my casserole today. I will need to divide it into two servings so I can also use it for ham and beans later.  I already have a cornbread mix for then.

Right now I'm resting.

A lot has already happened today. At 7:30, the woman that was evicted from 1806, across the street, returned to the apartment and knocked and knocked a long time before someone finally answered the door. She went in and was only in there a short time and then came out with a t-shirt over her arm and got in her car and left again. Bob and I were sitting on the carport when that happened. I had taken Missy out. In a little while, Marilyn came over and said yesterday afternoon the woman came over to 1806 and got into an argument with the husband that still lives there. He twice told her in a very loud voice that he was the boss! She evidently left then.

She has the car...a fairly new Nissan. This woman works at a taco place and how she can afford car payments for that nice car and rent and utilities is anyone's guess. She and the children were evicted over the weekend. I don't know where they are living. But the teenage girl's boyfriend moved his clothing over across the street here to 1811 in our fourplex. He's stayed there for two nights now. Betty, the landlady, says he can stay a week and then if he doesn't leave, she will evict the kids that live there too.  They were supposed to have taken the trampoline down over at 1806. Betty says they are going to get their insurance cancelled on the house if they don't got that thing out of the yard.

Merrill has it right. He says all we need is a tent and we'll have a circus.

More later....and still no word from the college......

I heard from Aime this morning and she says we are having our hours cut from 20 per pay period to 18 hours per pay period. I will take the two hours off... one each of two Fridays, I guess.   There goes about $14 a pay period. I guess I will survive though.

I got the bed remade and everything from my laundry put away.  

Karan had Bobby bring over a container of goulash for our lunch today. Their timing couldn't be better. How nice!  I am very tired from my cleaning and laundry chores. Now I won't have to cook until tomorrow.  I will just heat it up and put some broccoli in the microwave. I may also put some garlic toast in the oven and make some pudding up. I still have cookies too. 

More even later....

We had a great dinner and then I went to work. It was a slow day and I did a lot of dusting and shelf reading....boring, boring, boring.

After work Bob came over for awhile and then we went over to Braum's and had an ice cream cone. He came back with me until 7:00 when he went home. I took my bath and then Missy and I sat in the recliner for awhile until I got sleepy.

Still no word from the college....

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Wednesday Again

Soon it will be light enough to go outside. Missy is certainly interested. I just filled the hummingbird feeder and she sneaked out the back door.  I got her to come back in because she is so cautious.

I slept really well last night and awoke close to 5:00...my regular rising time. Today, once again, I am halfway through the work week.

We plan to have hamburgers and homemade french fries for lunch with Coke. That's one of the rare meals we have soda. I try to drink very little soda since it is made with high fructose corn syrup in the United States.

Mexico and Canada  make it unlawful to use it. It is so unhealthy. Our pancreas cannot process it so it flows right into the blood stream unprocessed. I am convinced, along with much of the scientific world, that it is a major cause of diabetes and perhaps other health problems. That, along with the unhealthy fast food we Americans eat, is one of the primary causes of American's obesity.   Portion control is one way to control that tendency. Every time I eat out, I am appalled at the size of the portions and often bring half my food home for another meal.  It is loaded with sodium and sugar too..to enhance the taste.

It's light out now and Missy is crying to go out so I will get back to this later....

We did go out and Merrill came over again. I texed the landlady and she told me they had evicted the rest of the family leaving only the older man who sits on the porch and talks on his phone very loudly. But at least he doesn't play loud music.

We had our hamburgers and french fries for lunch with Coke and they were good.  I plan to have ham and potato casserole tomorrow with a broccoli veggie and a salad that Bob will bring.

The boyfriend of the young teenager girl that was over there moved in at least temporarily with the kids who live here in the fourplex where Bob used to live.  The three of them went to the market last evening and brought home six or seven sacks of groceries. The landlady said he could stay a week and then after that they would evict all of them if he was still there after a week. What a mess!

I had a relatively light day today and only had to put away DVDs and Blue Rays and games. I did do some shelf reading before I left. I left at 4:50 since I had come in at 12:50.  I was caught up. Bob should be over later this evening to watch the news and Nature and Nova on PBS.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Tuesday and Haircut Day

I am looking forward to getting my hair done today. It is a mess. It grows very quickly and gets all out of shape...one of the problems with wearing very short hair.

I slept really well last night after taking two  Aleve for the pain in my left thumb area. That stuff works. The pain is back this morning but at least I got through the night without it.

I will leave for Independence with the cakes about 8:20. First I will pick up Bob so he can go too.  He will visit his sister, Betty, while I'm getting my hair done.  We will go out to Wal Mart and buy a few things after my hair is finished. Then we will eat lunch at Big Cheese. We both really like Big Cheese.

Missy is patiently waiting for daylight so we can go out on the carport. She is lying her beside my chair waiting...waiting...waiting.

I made up my menus this morning after I had my breakfast. I like to do the whole week at one time and that way I know what I need from the market.

I am hoping for the phone call from the college this week with my interview.  This is only Tuesday and they did tell Aime it would be the last of the week.

More later...

I just got home from Independence and taking Bob home and Marilyn, my neighbor, called me to tell me the police are across the street talking to the younger boy who lives there in the house and a police van is further down the street talking to the kids who live at 1811 Morgan where Bob used to live in this fourplex. I have no idea what is going on. They are leaving now.

It's about time for me to go to work so I probably won't know what's going on.

More even later....

I worked all afternoon on putting away DVDs and filing the cases. The only other thing I did was check the microfilm over for the missing information. I managed to find it all in the Journal files. Thank goodness.

Tonight I hope there is something decent to watch on TV.  I will check it out.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Monday and Back to Work

I slept really well last night after staying up and reading until 9:30.  I had downloaded a murder mystery from Amazon onto my Kindle.I woke up to rain. That was refreshing!

I will warm up our spaghetti for lunch.  Bob will bring salad and garlic bread. I will try to remember to cook the green beans. Then we have pudding for dessert with whipped cream and peanut butter cookies.

I dread going back to the library this afternoon. My hands still hurt from Friday. It seems most everything makes them hurt now. I took two Ibuprofen yesterday at church but they didn't make a dent in it.  I will take two Aleve before I go to work. They usually help. The college is supposed to call at the end of the week to give me an interview there. We will see.

Missy and I went out at 7:00 and stayed out while I read until 9:30. She stayed right close by. I had brought her mat out for her to lay on and that helped a lot to keep her close by me. I finished the book. It was pretty grizzly.  Bob came over until time to go to his exercise group.

Missy is lying here on the daybed behind me as I type this. What a cat!

I will have the Living the Questions group here on Sunday the 23rd at 7:00.  We finished up the material we had been studying last night at Bobby and Karan's.  We will start again with "Saving Jesus" that evening.  There were only seven of us last night. There were Bobby and Karan, Marilyn, Richard, Joyce, Bob and me. That was a nice sized group. We were home by 9:00.

More later....

Well lunch went fine and I gave the rest of it to Bobby.  Then I went to work. Again, I spent the afternoon putting away DVDs and filing the cases.

When I got home I put my cake in the oven and it will be out in about ten minutes.  I will ice it in the morning. I will take all five of our cakes to Independence tomorrow to the Christian church.  Then I will go to get my hair done while Bob visits his sister.  Then we will go to Big Cheese and eat lunch.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Sunday and Church Again.

Today is Sunday and I will go to church this morning. Bob will pick me up at 9:00. I will need to make some copies of our church school material today. We will be giving out our backpacks and school supplies today to the kids from the trailer park down the road. What they don't need, we will take to the Caney school. After church, a group of us will eat out together. That's the plan, at least.

Before I sat in my chair this morning, I had to clean the cat hair off it. Missy spent the afternoon while I was gone yesterday...in my chair.  Now she is waiting patiently to go out on the carport and watch the birds. It's not light yet. I don't take her out in the dark. I never know if that stray cat is out there under my car. That's where he was when he attacked her a couple of weeks ago. That one sore on her back still has not healed. I hope it doesn't turn into a cyst.

My hands are aching again...especially my left hand. When I got up this morning my back was sore. After I'd been up awhile it worked out. I only take meds for it if I simply cannot handle the ache. I like to avoid taking any unnecessary medication. Everything has side effects.

We have our  "Living the Questions" group at Bobby and Karan's home this evening.  It is at 7:00 PM. Bob and I will attend. It's the last of our present DVD lessons and then we will begin again with the "Saving Jesus" DVD. There are some of our group that started attending long after we watched that DVD.  We have lost so many of our group. Howard and Judy moved to California, Gretchen moved to Florida, Richard dropped out after Gretchen moved to Florida. He still comes every once in awhile. Jack and Keith and my Bob died. Everything changes.

It will be interesting to see if the college calls me this week for an interview to work there.

More later....

The services were good this morning and Leslie and I used oil and laid hands on and prayed  over Melissa who is having surgery on Thursday. I'm sure she will be fine. She's young...about 43...and besides, she is a doctor. But it is reassuring to her to be administered to.

Bob and Phyllis F. and I went to Independence after the services hoping to eat at Great China but they were still closed for the month they go back to China. So we went to the Railroad Inn and had Italian. We had pretty poor service so I did not leave a tip.

I came home and did the congregational newsletters and also played a few computer games just to kill some time. I'm doing a load of laundry now.  Surprise! The mower came this afternoon and mowed and the yard looks much better. It had gone to seed.

Bob will be over at 6:00 to watch 60 Minutes and then we will go to the group meeting.