Picturepocket's Blog

Category: Bible

  • John 6: Everlasting Lunch

    In the last chapter Jesus speaks of living water, and now he talks of bread. Bread is the daily sustenance we all require. In a time of chronic carb overload, we may forget that there was a time when the most basic food was not guaranteed for most people, but a daily struggle. The crowds…

  • John 2: Wedding Crashers

    Jesus attends a wedding with his Mother and disciples in Cana. The reception runs out of wine and Mary asks Jesus to do something about it. What could he possibly do? What does she know about him? He says his hour is not come yet, but he tells the servants to fill six stone jars…

  • John 1: Our Light in the Darkness 

    “In the beginning was the Word” starts the book of John, the fourth and final gospel account. John says that the Word was with God and was God and was life that became the light. He introduces John, Jesus’s baptizing cousin, not to be confused with John the disciple and author of this book, as…

  • Jesus, the Mark Version 

    Today I read the book of Mark. There is no Christmas story in the book of Mark. We just jump straight to cousin John carrying on out in the desert. He’s loud, he’s weird and giving everybody a dunk in river. He’s addressing sins and calling out everyone on their BS. Jesus shows up and…

  • DEI in the NT

    Apparently, I was wrong to assume that Christianity was considered by most to be Diverse, Inclusive and Equitable. I am not clear on the confusion as many stories that feature these values are evident by the women (Matt 27), men (Acts 8:12), Jews, Samaritans (Luke 10) and Greeks (Acts 16:1) in the ministry of Jesus…

  • Big, Big House

    In John 14:2  Jesus says, ”In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” I think the main interpretation of this scripture is that heaven is really big, like a mansion and there’s lots of place for all…

  • The First Family

    A couple months ago, I was reading the fourth chapter of Genesis and I got tripped up on the part where Abel gets killed by his brother. My burning question was, “If Abel was in good standing with God, why wasn’t he protected or at least warned about the wrath of his brother?” Why didn’t…

  • Silence

    I just watched the 2016 Scorsese film about the persecuted church of Japan in the 17th century. Historically, the number of Christians in Japan fell through direct, intensive violence. Many of the conversions had come through Portuguese Catholic missionaries who not only brought faith, but also emphasized Western practices, traditions and language that threatened the…

  • ArmorAll

    There are certain Bible passages that are more popular than others because they distill truths from scriptures and are easy to remember. One if those is Ephesians 6:11-19 where Paul uses the metaphor of Roman armor to help visualize spiritual concepts. I have heard many sermons about this and even participated in a summer-long women’s…

  • Halfway Out

    I managed to listen to Jinger Duggar Voulo’s book “Becoming Free Indeed” while being a stay-at-home mom this week. Billed as a tell-all book, it barely covers any of the behind-the-scenes of the Duggar household, but instead is focused on being a takedown of Bill Gothard’s Institute of Basic Life Principles. The audiobook is read…