{"id":770,"date":"2013-03-22T17:29:20","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T21:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=770"},"modified":"2013-03-22T17:29:20","modified_gmt":"2013-03-22T21:29:20","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=770","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Isaac and the Promise Renewed: Part I &#8211; Held on Sunday, March 17, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Personal Note on Posting Timeline<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We will be meeting on Palm Sunday but not Easter Sunday.\u00a0 So I will post on \u201cGood Friday\u201d March 29<sup>th.\u00a0 <\/sup>There will be no post on the week following East; the next post will be no later than Friday, April 12.<\/p>\n<p><b>Gen. 26: 23 \u2013 25: Isaac and the Promise Renewed<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Review<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I began with what I intended to be a brief comment about one of the exchanges which occurred in the previous week\u2019s discussion and it ended going on for more than forty minutes.\u00a0 My opening comment dealt with a series of exchanges among Faryl, Roseann and myself.\u00a0 It all began when Faryl said that her take on the mess that the world is in is that God made the mess so as to fix it.\u00a0 I reflected that the both the Jewish and Christian take is that we made the mess.\u00a0 Faryl responded that she didn\u2019t mean to blame God for the mess.\u00a0 Roseann offered that God permitted the mess.<\/p>\n<p>This exchange offers quite a bit to reflect on.\u00a0 I preface my remarks below by saying that I could \u201chear\u201d so much in this exchange and wondered if or what any of the participants or you who are reading this post \u201chear\u201d in the exchange.\u00a0 Below are my \u201chearings\u201d and response.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The scripture is clear first that creation is good, in fact, \u201cvery good.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>It is often the case that we don\u2019t express at first the full meaning of what we intend.\u00a0 How often do we say, \u201cOh!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean that\u201d and then go on to offer further clarification. \u00a0This is what I think happened inside of Faryl but, as I said, it happens to all of us.<\/li>\n<li>Roseann\u2019s remark that God permits is both profound and theologically sound.\u00a0 It would take us too far afield to deal with the problem of evil in this post but Roseann\u2019s remark points to one of the significant elements in the solution to the problem of evil. At least this much can be said, \u00a0Though, God allows the human component of the \u201cmess,\u201d namely, sin or evil, God is neither the cause nor the author of \u201csin.\u201d\u00a0 If these points raise questions or comments for you, please feel welcomed to state you thoughts in the comment section at the end of this post.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Mark, who was not present at last week\u2019s gathering, but had read the post. \u00a0He wondered what Faryl meant by \u201cpda.\u201d\u00a0 His simple question continued the discussion for another ten to fifteen minutes.\u00a0 Before Faryl explained what \u201cpda\u201d meant, I asked those not in attendance last week if they knew. \u00a0Only two knew.\u00a0 Faryl explained that &#8220;pda&#8221; stood for \u201cpublic display of affection.\u201d\u00a0 The word \u201caffection, however, has overtones which came up a bit later in our discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Three follow up remarks elicited some reflections on my part. \u00a0Steve commented that \u201cpda\u201d was just part of the new language created by texting.\u00a0 Ken said that \u201cpda\u201d existed long before texting.\u00a0 Heber remarked that holding hands with your \u201cgirlfriend\u201d was as far as it went in the school halls in his day. \u00a0The kids today do a lot more than hold hands in the school.<\/p>\n<p>Here are my comments.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ken had a different \u201cwhen\u201d for \u201cpda\u201d than Steve.\u00a0 He was convinced that his \u201cwhen\u201d was true so he corrected Steve.\u00a0 His correction was a mere correction of facts.\u00a0 Neither the topic nor the exchange had any meaningful emotional overtones, no values involved.<\/li>\n<li>Heber, on the other, implied a judgment of value in his comments.\u00a0 He verified my read of his comment.\u00a0 Heber saw a difference too, but his difference had a direction to it and he didn\u2019t approve of that direction.\u00a0 They [the kids today] were going too far.\u00a0 There is both emotion and value involved now.\u00a0 More is at stake.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Rosemarie said that this conversation reminded her of how some young people she is acquainted with talk; every sentence seems to include, \u201cAnd he goes\u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBlah, Blah, Blah and then they say, \u2018And he goes \u2026\u2019\u201d Rosemarie\u2019s assessment is that the young people speak poor English, grammatically incorrect.\u00a0 \u201cGoing where?\u201d she asks herself.<\/p>\n<p>More commentary!\u00a0 Rosemarie\u2019s assessment reveals first that she, like all of us, have a standard within us by which we judge; in this concrete instance, a standard of proper English.\u00a0 We normally not only have a standard but think that our standard is correct.\u00a0 If we were to read Chaucer, Shakespeare, or Orson Wells, however, we would find different English, different grammar, different standards.<\/p>\n<p>The notion of a standard for Proper English offered an example of historical studies at work.\u00a0 Historical studies forces us to place whatever standard we wish to apply in an historical context.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make it relative but does make it much more both complex and rich.\u00a0 To Rise to the Level of our Times requires that we come to know at least that there is a historical context for our standard and maybe what that historical context is. \u00a0There is enormous consequences if we accept that our standards have an historical consequence. \u00a0Are you able to identify any?<\/p>\n<p>When the historical context is applied to the bible or our faith in general another question arose.\u00a0 Ken pointed out well that what God means, or the bible, or our faith is what it means to us in the context of our life.\u00a0 The people of the bible lived thousands of years ago in a different culture and at different places.\u00a0 Scripture resonates with us in our life and it resonated with them in their lives.\u00a0 Our two lives are very different and it is hard to put ourselves in their times, in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>I wondered if it is important to do that, hard as it might be, to understand what it meant to them, then.\u00a0 Ken though that it was important.\u00a0 Faryl said that it was important too because it is important to get it right, to interpret the scripture correctly.\u00a0 I wish that I could share her example from an exchange begun on the Internet but again, more than can be shared in one post.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard to disagree, however, with Faryl\u2019s observations.\u00a0 Unless we can approximate what the bible meant then, we are unlikely to transfer that meaning into our lives as we live them today.\u00a0 And there is plenty of examples of people of faith doing exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>Mark took us to another aspect of this issue when he claimed that it is both important and not important.\u00a0 He felt that in an \u201cadult\u201d study it was important but there was no way that such effort to understand the meaning as it once was could be taught to children.\u00a0 His remarks brought out the issue of education in our parish, in our church.\u00a0 I suggested that unless the adult had an adult understanding; the parent, the teacher could not faithfully teach.\u00a0 We cannot teach what we don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 If we understand, then we can modify our presentation in as many ways as it takes so that our children, the student, whomever, can understand.<\/p>\n<p>I drew our conversation to an end, though the conversation was not over.\u00a0 I also will limit this post to the \u201creview\u201d part of our discussion.\u00a0 In a second post entitled, <b>Isaac and the Promise Renewed: Part II<\/b> I will share the discussion we had on three verses, chap. 26: 23 \u2013 25.<\/p>\n<p>Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.\u00a0 See \u201ccomment\u201d link below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personal Note on Posting Timeline We will be meeting on Palm Sunday but not Easter Sunday.\u00a0 So I will post on \u201cGood Friday\u201d March 29th.\u00a0 There will be no post on the week following East; the next post will be &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=770\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15,7,18,19],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-historical-method","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}