{"id":799,"date":"2013-05-10T11:21:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T15:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=799"},"modified":"2013-05-10T11:21:53","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T15:21:53","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=799","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> The Birth of  Jacob\u2019s Children &#8211; Held on Sunday, May 05, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Personal Note on Posting Timeline<\/b><\/p>\n<p>With this post I conclude our Sunday Scripture Study for the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> year on Genesis. During the summer months some of our group and others will meet to discuss Evangelization at my place.\u00a0 The first gathering will take place on Thursday, June 13<sup>th<\/sup> from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.<\/p>\n<p><b>Review:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Because of the Bible\u2019s enormous richness, and the limit of our capacity to understand its meaning, achieving a balanced understanding of the Bible\u2019s meaning is a life time of reflection, action, reflection, etc.\u00a0 I offered a couple of pointers to assist in that balanced understanding.<\/p>\n<p>The first point requires us to distinguish between the history that happens and the history that is written about.\u00a0 The bible is history in the first sense but not in the second sense.\u00a0 It is literally impossible for any human constructions not to be historical in the first sense.\u00a0 And the Bible is a human construction, not only human but human none the less. One major consequence of this fact is that not everything written in the bible actually occurred although every act of writing its content actually occurred in history.\u00a0 At the same time it is equally not true to conclude that nothing written in the bible actually occurred.\u00a0 It is simply a mistake to assume either an all or nothing mind set.\u00a0 Both are mistaken.\u00a0 If this paragraph is confusing, your questions, observations, etc. would be more than welcomed.<\/p>\n<p>A second point requires us to make the following distinction.\u00a0 Imagine drawing a circle that \u00a0represents the entire world, universe, or universes; whatever actually exists. \u00a0 Then draw a line dividing the circle in half and naming the top half &#8220;Objective&#8221; and the bottom half &#8220;Subjective.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s make a few observations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The actual existing world, universe [s] is prior to the distinction between Objective and Subjective.<\/li>\n<li>Only human beings make this distinction and they make the distinction by asking questions and answering them.<\/li>\n<li>If their answers are true, then that answer is part of the objective world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">As I write this, I become aware of the complexity that I am attempting to write about and that I have not given it the time that the reader deserves.\u00a0 That having been said, I will stop at this point to allow any questions, etc.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The underlying point of this distinction, however, is to make clear that for the Christian, Jesus is the Savior of the world.\u00a0 Since the Christian thinks his beliefs are true, it is simply a fact that Jesus is the Savior of the world.\u00a0 On the other hand, for that to be a reality for an individual, it can be so only if that individual comes to believe.\u00a0 This is the fundamental requirement of evangelization.\u00a0 The very meaning of human life, its origin, and goal are different for the believer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mark was to ask a question about all of this.\u00a0 If intelligent life is found on other planets, how would we understand the role of Jesus then; a question by the way that could only have been asked in our modern era.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of anyone who has written on this question but it certainly is one of a multitude of questions that would pour out of humanity and presumably the other examples of intelligent life.\u00a0 I simply can\u2019t imagine intelligent life that is not capable of asking questions.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background: Gen. 29: 11 \u2013 30:24: The Birth of \u00a0Jacob\u2019s Children. <\/b><\/p>\n<p>Walter Brueggemann, in <i>Genesis Interpretation<\/i>, offers an outline of this literary unit running from 29:01 \u2013 31:55, p. 249<\/p>\n<p>29: 01 \u2013 04: &#8211; preliminary meeting \u2013 a kiss of meeting<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">29: 14 \u2013 20: &#8211; meeting with Laban and the contact<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">29: 21 \u2013 30: \u2013 deception of Jacob by Laban<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;\">29: 31 \u2013 30: 24: &#8211; <b>The Offspring<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">30: 25 \u2013 43: &#8211; trick of Laban by Jacob<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [31: 01 \u2013 16: &#8211; a theological reflection]<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a031: 17 \u2013 42: &#8211; meeting with Laban and dispute<\/p>\n<p>31: 43 \u2013 55: &#8211; covenant and departure \u2013 a kiss of departure<\/p>\n<p>As I wrote last week, from Brueggemann\u2019s outline, it is fairly obvious that \u201c<strong>The Offspring<\/strong>\u201d is the central focus of the entire unit as a whole.\u00a0 It probably represents an independent unit that may well have been an amalgam of authors expressing interests and perspective from the North and the South.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Reading: <\/b>Gen. 29: 31 \u2013 30:24. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/29\"><b>http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/29<\/b><\/a><b> <\/b><b>\u00a0and <\/b><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/30\">http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/30<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>A continuing story of the how God works with us as we are to fulfill his promise.\u00a0 A story filled with characters marred by envy, deception; family life that we would term dysfunctional.\u00a0 A story that ends with the birth of Joseph through whom the promise will continue.\u00a0 A story that can be the source of hope.\u00a0 If God can work with the likes of these to achieve his goal, why not with us.<\/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 With this post I conclude our Sunday Scripture Study for the 2nd year on Genesis. During the summer months some of our group and others will meet to discuss Evangelization at my place.\u00a0 The first &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=799\">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":[10,21,5],"tags":[15,7,18,19],"class_list":["post-799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-new-evangelization","category-scripture","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\/799","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=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions\/801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}