becoming

That the “Beloved Disciple” was Lazarus and not John Zebedee?
According to BW3, YES!

What I am talking about is of course Witherington’s article entitled “THE HISTORICAL FIGURE OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE IN THE 4TH GOSPEL“. It was first presented at SBL last year and is made available online recently.

To start, Ben says:

If you want to cause Biblical scholars to get their knickers in a knot there are two sure fire ways to accomplish that end: 1) you can skewer a sacred cow whether a liberal or conservative one; 2) you can propose a theory that requires one to believe in the possibility of the miraculous to even entertain the thesis. If you can accomplish both with one theory, well, you’ve created a Mallox moment! I seem to accomplished this at the last SBL meeting in November when I gave the following lecture. I’ll let you decide whether you find it illuminating or inflammatory. Flame On!

And as he concludes, he says:

If I am right about all this it means that the historical figure of Lazarus is more important than we have previously imagined, both due to his role in founding churches in and round Ephesus and of course his role in the life of Jesus and Jesus’ mother. Jesus must have trusted him implicitly to hand over his mother to him when he died. Lazarus was far more than one more recipient of a miraculous healing by Jesus. He was “the one whom Jesus loved” as the very first reference to him in John 11 says. We have yet to take the measure of the man. Hopefully now, we can begin to do so.

To follow-up my sermon last Sunday, I hereby invite you to attend the “Walk as Jesus Walked” conference with me on Feb 16 & 17 (optional worship on 18th).

If you want to understand the Jewish context in Jesus’ time, you MUST come with me! This is going to be an eye-opening experience! (Talk to me so that we can arrange ride and other details)

[Peggy, this should partially fulfill your wish #85]
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Think Hebrew.

The language of the Bible comes from a culture, time and place much different from our own.

This conference seeks to present God’s Word in its Jewish context in order to make the Bible intensely relevant and our calling to be Jesus’ disciples more urgent.

Walk as Jesus Walked

Exploring the Bible Conference

with Ray Vanderlaan

February 16, 17 & 18, 2007

Ray Vanderlaan, best known as the host of the seven-part video series “That the World May Know,” has been intrigued with the meaning and message of Jesus Christ since childhood. Since he received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary in 1976, he has been actively involved with studying and teaching Jewish culture using the methods of Jewish education. “My life goal is to be of unique service in the kingdom of Jesus Christ,” he states, “by sharing my knowledge of the Jewish context of the Bible. I have a special interest in using my teaching ability and background to encourage young people to confront our culture with the message of God. That message is most clearly seen in its original Jewish context.” Vanderlaan received his Bachelors’ degree from Dordt College and his Masters from Westminster Seminary. He has been a teacher for 26 years and is currently a religion instructor at Holland Christian Schools in Michigan. He is also an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church.

Conference schedule and registration details can be found here.

門徒：耶穌與門徒的教與學

講道錄音：

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補充：

有關第一世紀猶太的教育制度，可參考以下資料：

1. 丘恩處，拉比耶穌。
2. Kehilat Sar Shalom, Discipleship to Rabbi Yeshua.
3. Ray Vander Laan﹐Rabbi and Talmidim.
4. Shmuel Safrai, The Jewish People in the First Century.

Jan 28 2007 課堂錄音:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

筆記:

1. 加拉太書2.1-21筆記(pdf)
2. 加拉太書2.1-21經文(pdf)

延伸閱讀:

1. Paul E. Koptak, “Rhetorical Identification In Paul’s Autobiographical Narrative.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40 (1990): 97-113.

下週經文:

1. 加拉太書3.1-9

Jan 21 2007 課堂錄音:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

筆記:

1. 加拉太書1.11-24筆記(pdf)
2. 加拉太書1.11-24經文(pdf)

延伸閱讀:

1. Paul E. Koptak, “Rhetorical Identification In Paul’s Autobiographical Narrative.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40 (1990): 97-113.
2. N. T. Wright, “Paul, Arabia, and Galatians.” Journal of Biblical Literature 115 (1996): 683–692.
3. Torrey Seland, “Saul of Tarsus and Early Zealotism Reading Gal 1,13-14 in Light of Philo’s Writings.” Biblica 83 (2002): 449-471.

下週經文:

1. 加拉太書2.1-21

True in some many levels.

Link here.

過去一段時間，我們常因Jocelyn的一句說話甚為不解和不悅。不知為甚麼，她常在我和Cc面前說要「打哥哥」、「打媽媽」、「打」這個、「打」那個…

最奇怪的是她說這話的時候，又沒有甚麼暴力或不高興的表現。還是笑微微的，卻不段重複說「我要打哥哥呀、打哥哥呀…」

當然，為人父母，聽見她每次如此說，我們都極力禁止。 每次她說「打XX」，我們就說「不是，是錫XX」。甚至，我開始留意那些她要「打」的人，對她有沒有甚麼奇異的行為（or vice versa）。但始終也留意不到甚麼。

昨天晚上，我照常從保母家中接她。回家的時候，又聽見她說「我要打哥哥呀、打媽媽呀、打姨姨呀、打爸爸呀…」

跟著，她說：

「我要打波波呀。」

就在那一刻，我才明白她這樣說的真正意思。

「我要打波波呀」是她表達要和波波玩。對她來說，「玩波波」既然是「打波波」；那要和哥哥、姨姨、媽媽爸爸玩不就是「打哥哥、姨姨、媽媽和打爸爸」嗎？

一切就是如此簡單。

對她來說就是如此的理所當然。

還是我們硬要她說「錫XX、錫YY」，顯得更加不倫不類、答非所問。

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人與人之間的溝通豈不也是如此？多少時候，我們以為自己明白對方的意思，或者對方明白自己的意思。誰不知，到頭來，大家也只是一直在自說自話。

越熟悉的關係，我們的要求就越高，可寬容的空間就越少。

直至有一天，我們從那些「想當然」的假設中醒過來。

原來彼此的了解是如此的少。

到那時，我們還有這樣的耐性、這樣的面子、這樣的坦白，從頭來過嗎？

對自己的子女，或者我有。

那教會中弟兄姊妹之間呢？

還有嗎？

教會肢體問我可以怎樣在弟兄姊妹中間提及翻版，非法下載的問題。

坦白說，我也不知可以用甚麼方法鼓勵他們不要如此作，因為每當討論這個題目的時候，沒有人會有耐性和興趣拿出厚厚的法例來讀。而就算讀了，我們也有太多的「似是而非」、 「似非而是」的原因為我們的行為護航。我們有太多的「我知不對…但是」去合理化一切。

在這裡我只想提出另一個出路（至少是電腦軟件的出路）：那是open-source的出路。之前我們會說，幾百元幾千元的軟件實在貴得不可理喻，但現在，絕大部份的電腦軟件類型中，已經出現不少免費的另類選擇，而功能上是真的和收費那些大同小異。好像之前Anson向我們介紹過的那些。

另外，SfSS更是一個一站式的package：

Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized for students (but available to anyone). We’ve gathered a list of best-in-class programs onto one CD (one disc for OS X, one for Windows), including a fully-featured office suite, a cutting-edge web browser, multi-media packages, academic tools, utilities and more.

至少，從此我們不再可以說我們沒有「不非法」的選擇。