Evolution Sunday is a comin'

Only nine days to go (ten in some places still) till Evolution Sunday.

Hundreds of churches across the country will celebrate Evolution Weekend on the weekend closest to Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12. Evolution Weekend is the day when religious organizations from all across the United States representing a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science.

Fantastic!  Nine New Zealand congregations are listed among the hundreds marking the day, with another eight across the ditch in a westerly direction.   You can learn more here.

One of the goals of Evolution Weekend is to provide evidence that evolution is sound science, that the science of evolution is central to the theology taught in most seminaries, and that the science of evolution poses no problems for people of faith. 

Alas, the majority of the clergy officers' corp, guarding the boundaries of what they can get away with without alienating those inclined to a monochrome fundamentalism, have been slow to embrace initiatives like this.  To those who have, may be Force be with you.

And what better way to prepare for the big event than a final dose of Lloyd Geering's series on Evolution: The Real Genesis.

The New Community Bible: A Review

The New Community Bible is a translation with a difference.  Where most English bibles are tailored for the American and British markets, the NCB has strong ties with the developing world.  This Catholic bible, based on Bernado Hurault's earlier Philippines-based project, the Christian Community Bible, has been produced primarily in India.  An international edition however was published in Australia by the Society of St. Paul at the end of 2012, and is currently being promoted in Catholic parishes there.

Catholic translations are better than most when it comes to reading scripture aloud, an essential quality where lectionary texts form an important focus in the church service.  And of course this is the way they were originally intended to be heard, given widespread illiteracy in the ancient world.  Here the NCB makes a strong showing, though perhaps not with the power of either the Jerusalem Bible or New Jerusalem Bible.  The NCB, as all Catholic bibles do, includes the deuterocanonical books, which are also becoming increasingly common in non-Catholic bibles, and were clearly influential in the formative years of the church.  More importantly, though it carries its own agendas, it is sound in its scholarship, and includes introductions to each of the books that are in tune with the current consensus about their authorship and origins, a task on which evangelical versions often prevaricate, or even mislead.

One significant change in this major revision of Hurault's work is the substitution of "the LORD" for Yahweh.  This seems a backward step given the associations Lord has with male gender and hierarchic thinking.  The reason lies in a 2008 Vatican directive that declared Yahweh unacceptable in Catholic prayer and music, citing sensitivity to Jewish scruples over the name of God.  Another emphasis in this translation, particularly in the footnotes, is an open approach to readers whose background in is other world religions, clearly a significant matter on the Indian sub-continent.  The notes to Matthew 6, for example, mention Hindu and Muslim fasting practices, Gandhi and parallels in the Bhagavadgita.

Artwork by Christopher Coelho

A further defining feature of the NCB however has nothing to do with the translation itself, but its artwork.  Both the Indian and international editions include calligraphy and illustrations by Christopher Coelho.  The benchmark for black and white artwork in modern bibles was set by Horace Knowles (appearing in various editions of the New English Bible and the Revised Standard Version) and later by Annie Valloton with her line drawings in the Good News Bible.  Overall the NCB seems less successful in this regard, and it seems strange that the very competent artwork in the Christian Community Bible was not used.

Here's Psalm 1 in the NCB.

The Two Ways

How blessed is the one
who does not follow the counsel of the wicked,
nor takes the way that sinners take,
nor sits where the scoffers sit;
instead, he finds delight in the law of the LORD
and meditates day and night on his law.
He is like a tree planted beside a brook
yielding its fruit in due season,
and its leaves never withering.
In all he does, he succeeds.
But it is different with the wicked, quite different,
they are like chaff driven away by the wind.
The wicked will not stand their ground when judgement comes,
nor will sinners be admitted into the assembly of the just.
Fot the LORD guards the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

 Overall the NCB makes a valuable addition to the range of English translations available with its developing world perspective and a concern to communicate respectfully with non-Christians.  Non-Catholic Christians may also find it intriguing.  It would be a shame though to see Hurault's CCB disappear.

Invasion of the Exclamation Marks!

Tomorrow's World and the Good News are two magazines with a lot in common.

They're free, attractively laid out, and published by competing splinters of the now defunct Worldwide Church of God.

But whereas The Good News is the domain of the rhetorical question mark, thanks to all those articles that expound on patsy questions (see this earlier post); Tomorrow's World salts as many exclamation marks as possible into its headlines.

- Resist Demons!
- Beware of False Prophets!
- When Nations Despise God!
- How Satan Seduces YOU!
- Jesus Christ is Coming to Rule!
- New Europe Rising!
- The End of the Age!

and my favourite: Become a Great Conversationalist!

Well, that's just a sample from last year. But there are enough of those cool GN-style rhetorical questions to have some fun with too. How would you respond to each of these?

A. Why Study Bible Prophecy?
B. Will Britain Leave the European Union?
C. Will the United Kingdom Break Apart?
D. How Would Jesus Vote for President?
E. Is Democracy the Answer?
F. Why Are We Here?

Feel free to send in your considered replies.

My suggestions: a. to make a fool of yourself in the same way Rod Meredith has; b. not all that likely; c. not before the Living Church of God does; d. Green; e. in most cases, definitely; f. to wise up enough to to recognise Rod's stuff for the hooey it is.

Good News - Answers to Questions

2012 was another cracker year for rhetorical questions in my favourite COG magazine, The Good News.  The problem, of course, is that even though you know the expected answer as soon as you read the headline, you still have to wade through mountains of text to find out how they get there.

So, as a public service in the public interest, Otagosh presents the answers to those great GN questions.  Not that we can answer the lot - and some clearly defy a logical response - but a representative selection appears below.  The format is simple.  First the question, then the predictable answer (without all the journalistic blather), and finally the real answer.  Just think of all the time you'll save by not having to hunt through the back issues!

Q. Europe's Woes: Setting the Stage for Bible Prophecy?
A. Yes.
RA. No.

Q. Does the Koran Promote Peace and Cooperation?
A. No.
RA. In about the same measure as the Hebrew Bible.

Q. What Can You do when Life Isn't Fair?
A. Read the free booklet at the end of the article.
RA. Not a lot, but stay positive.

Q. Planet Earth: Lucky Accident or Master Handiwork?
A. Master Handiwork.
RA. Uh, can we please have more than two options here?

Q. Do Science and the Bible Conflict?
A. No, as long as the Bible is understood to trump bad science.
RA. Yes, as long as you insist on fundamentalist assumptions about the Bible.

Q. Is Europe Going Under?
A. No, there's a prophesied resurrection of the Roman Empire on the horizon.
RA. Yes, continental drift should see to that eventually.

Q. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?
A. Yes.
RA. No.

Q. Would Jesus Attend Your Church?
A. Not unless your church is the United Church of God.
RA. He'd probable look up the local synagogue first.

Q. How Can You Understand the Rapidly Changing World Scene?
A. Keep misinterpreting Bible texts the way we do.
RA. Stay away from Fox News.

Q. Has America Lost it's Way?
A. Yes, just look at the moral decline under President Obama.
RA. No, it's more likely finding it.

Q. Is the Stage being set for the Fulfillment of Daniel 11?
A. Yes.
RA. No.

Q. Does Marriage Matter?
A. Yes.
RA. Yes.

Q. What's Behind the Gay Agenda?
A. Satan and the Democrats.
RA. Human rights and dignity for all.

Q. What's the Real Truth About Christmas?
A. It's pagan.
RA. It's a occasion to get together with family and affirm those values you keep preaching about.  Get over it!

The Bible as Conversation

This will be an experimental posting - the laptop is in Australia being attended to by the nice people at Acer, and I am floundering around on a tablet which, till now, has been used for purposes other than typing missives.  Anyway, until I'm safely back in the Windows "ecosystem" things might be a tad more "no frills".

A thoughtful piece on reading the Bible as a conversation across the generations appears on James McGrath's blog, but sourced from http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/imonk-what-is-the-bible

Genesis isn’t twentieth century science. Leviticus is primitive, brutal and middle eastern. The Old Testament histories are not scholarly documentaries, but religious and tribal understandings of God and events. Proverbs comes from a mongrel wisdom tradition throughout the middle east. Song of Solomon is erotic poetry, and not much else. The prophets spoke to their own times, and not to our own. The scholars who help me understand these books as they are, are not enemies of truth, but friends. Call it criticism, paint it as hostile, but I want to know what the texts in front of me are saying!

The Old Testament and New Testament Canon are the selection of those parts of our spiritual literary heritage that make up the Great Conversation about the Judeo-Christian God. The Bible itself is a human book, created and complied by human choices. There may be other writings that contribute to the conversation, but those who know and experience the God of Jesus Christ hear the conversation most plainly in these writings. Canon is that human choice of what to listen to. Inspiration- the next section- is the validation and expounding of that choice.

Worth reading in it's entirety.

The New Grandee from Arroyo Grande

As mentioned here earlier, Bob Thiel, tired of submitting to the Living Church of God mullahs in Charlotte, NC., recently unfurled his sails and set out on his own, paddle gripped firmly in hand, becoming in effect a one-man sect.  His new Arroyo Grande-based hobby-church is called the Continuing Church of God. 

Not that Bob doesn't have a few followers - I'm assuming though that we're talking the kind of numbers you can still reach on just fingers and toes - but he has adopted the legal strategy of incorporating as a "corporate sole."  So much more convenient than all that nasty bother of creating checks and balances in an accountable structure.

Bob's cogwriter website certainly once raked in a lot of visitors.  They came because he provided a fairly comprehensive news service about the many and various splinter groups that formed following the self destruction of the Worldwide Church of God, but funnelled through the rose-tinted glasses of a loyal Living Church of God apologist.  Trading on the popularity of his news page, Bob diversified into writing long, semi-literate position papers on various doctrines.  More recently he moved into self publishing the kind of books that titillate poorly educated prophecy-addicts.  Suddenly he was being touted as an 'expert' on the Mayan calendar and a variety of similar topics, and being fed patsy questions by cynical talk radio hosts hoping for a little diversion.

It all seems to have gone to Bob's head.  As the break from LCG opened up he was making strange claims about having hands laid on him for a double portion of the Spirit.  No matter that the minister who prayed for him had no intention in the world of feeding Bob's delusions, just of stringing some nice, edifying words together.

Now it appears that Bob is dancing around the idea that he is one of the Two Witnesses.  Despite never being ordained he now signs himself as "Bob Thiel, Pastor and Overseer."

As Dennis Diehl has frequently noted, candidates for the Two Witnesses are a dime a dozen.  The thing that Bob did do reasonably well, pass on the gossip about events in the WCG diaspora, has quietly dropped away.  Now that Bob has snatched the mantle of cult leadership he'll have other priorities.  Don't expect thousands - or hundreds - or even scores - of LCG members to follow this particular sideshow though; Bob is way out of his depth.  The wreckages of other ministries litter this path.  At best Bob can probably only become the Willie Dankenbring of a new generation.

One thing is certain.  2013 will bring yet more grief to the remaining true believers, former disciples of Herbert W. Armstrong.  Expect further spats and splits.  If you, like me, can see the funny side of it - a decades-long free soap opera that provides endless entertainment - then grab the beer and peanuts and settle back for the new season.  But if you're disillusioned, disappointed and hurt by it all, maybe it's time to start asking some critical questions and gaining some healthy distance from the drama.  There's life beyond the gulag!

Evolution: The Real Genesis (Part 3)

Continuing the recent lecture series by Sir Lloyd Geering.