jovial_cynic

Genesis 31:14-15 is a veiled rebuke of a system that reduces women to property - a way of life associated with the wickedness of Laban.

Their statement paints a picture of how it should have been. Daughters should have a share in the inheritance.

To remember the place, he poured oil on the rock to mark the location so he could find it later.

The point: remember the moment God opens your eyes to see where heaven and earth meet. Remember the covenant. Remember the vows. Remember the promises.

Remember who you are.

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The word “Messiah” means “anointed,” and “anointed” means “covered/smeared with oil.”

This whole concept is rooted in Jacob laying his head on a rock and and seeing a vision of the stairs to heaven in Genesis 28.

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Jacob peeling bark and seemingly impacting the outcome of the breeding of the sheep and goats is perhaps explained in Gen 31:10-12. It wasn’t Jacob’s cleverness or familiarity with some esoteric breeding technique.

It was simply in response to a dream.

This phrase “taken away” has the same root as the word used by Moses when Israel “plundered” the Egyptians during the Exodus.

The word is natsal. It means to *deliver.*

We are God’s plunder, rescued and delivered into the hands of the shepherd.

It crossed my mind that an administration that strongly desires sovereign states’ rights would be quite successful at achieving that goal by sending federal troops to blue states, precisely because blue states oppose sovereign states’ rights.

I think so!

“Snoozeberry letters? Snodberry letters?”

“What?”

“You know, the letters you guys are reading.”

“… Screwtape letters?”

“Yeah, that!”

A real conversation between me and my wife, who hadn’t read much CS Lewis.

Multiplayer: same rules, but highest roll that beats the card wins the card.

Tie roll requires a reroll. Loser loses a card they’ve won. Player with no cards cannot reroll and loses that round automatically.

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Rules!

Deck of cards and two dice.

Flip a card and roll the dice. If the roll beats the card, take the card. If not, lose the card to the troll (discard).
You can reroll, but failure makes you lose a card you’ve won to the troll.
Score: cards you’ve won.

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Sometimes I get a little silly and want to design a game around an idea that popped into my head.

It’s a dice game, where you can reroll to try again. Roll twice. Two-roll. Troll.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten. But it’s gonna be a blast, I’m sure.

But the story of Abraham starts with being called to wander. Away from empire, to view many empires and to see the absolute irrationality of a theology built upon it.

The God of Abraham only makes sense to those who wander. An empire is an idol.

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A thought about Abraham:

The story of Abraham occurs during a time when nations had their own local “greatest deity.” That god was supposed to be the most powerful, thus “many gods.” As a kingdom grew, it “proved” the greatness of a particular deity.

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When possible, take goats for a walk.

Yup. Check my profile. Pics are there. :)

I've been married for 22 years now. I don't give out much relationship/dating advice, but... if you have many early relationships early on, you greatly increase your chances that the charge nurse in the labor and delivery wing where your grandson was just born will be one of your ex-girlfriends. 🙃

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

"Heaven" and "earth" are created in tandem, and I interpret that to suggest that one is a parable of the other. We are being shown a cipher: this is a story of stories. The stories of earth teach us the stories of heaven.

Thanks so much!

Thanks, friend. It’ll be fun having a new player at the DnD table. :)

We search for the dwelling place of God.

Perhaps one day we’ll discover that we are the dwelling place of God.

Neighbor: שָׁכֵן (shakhén) = one who dwells nearby.

Presence of God: שְׁכִינָה (Shekhinah) = the indwelling or divine presence.

“HOLY” isn’t a religious word. It’s a relationship word, for what person doesn’t understand selecting “the one” to be set apart in relationship, in unity, and in intimacy?

Today is National Good Neighbor day.

You know what to do. Go and do it.

Partriachal men are accompanied by women who quietly resent them, which breeds children who reject them both and suffer in guilt for feeling that way.

I suspect it’s meant to suggest a corrupting kind of harm - the kind that spreads, like abusers creating abusers.

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The cheating and wage-changing was bad, but not “harm,” according to Jacob. Harm here is “ra’a,” or “do evil.” It’s the same “ra” from the tree in the garden.

This same “do evil” is first introduced with the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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I am convinced that Jacob is not crafty nor clever nor manipulative.

I think he is slow. Simple. So dim-witted that even after hearing what Laban’s sons were saying and seeing Laban’s attitude, God still had to tell him directly that it was time to leave.

a man in a gladiator outfit stands in front of a crowd of people ALT: a man in a gladiator outfit stands in front of a crowd of people

The idea of people reading my posts out loud is wild.

But if you’re going to do it, do it Russel Crowe’s voice from Gladiator. Everything sounds better in that voice.

Those who have been forgiven have tasted life.

Those who forgive have tasted eternity.

The mystery of the power of forgiveness is that almost nothing else brings us closer to dying to ourselves.