The images of Mary are ubiquitous in Italy. She occupies a more important place than either God or Jesus. Perhaps that’s because Mary is actually human like us whereas neither God nor Jesus is really like us according to Trinitarian ideas. This image is from the ceiling of a very small chapel in Parma named…
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 21:22 NASB No temple – As you know, I rarely write about verses from John’s apocalyptic vision. The reason is simple: Apocalyptic literature is filled with ambiguous images, symbolic words, and suggestions. This is intentional since apocalyptic literature is not predictive…
At least some are allowed to travel. 🙂
“Riposo a casa” said the banner hanging from the balcony on Via Goito in Parma. “I rest at home.” The world on hold. Annoying, disturbing, disruptive, perhaps deadly, we experienced the results of a pandemic of fear. Isolation is not a fundamental human condition. In fact, enforced isolation is a method used in torture. Brené…
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. Exodus 12:21 NASB Go and take for yourselves – You probably didn’t know this, but translators of the Hebrew text into English make decisions about which rabbi they will follow. That’s…
Finally, it’s starting to feel like Italy.
So the last shall be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:16 NASB Billboard Advertising – Iron Gate Some things look better when they age. Some things just become garbage. At the beginning, it’s hard to tell. But give it time and the differences become obvious. That’s like us. Hard to tell what life will…
“We’ll just connect on Skype.” “We can do a ZOOM conference.” “All the classes are on-line now.” Oh, did you think that the issues fostered by the COVID-19 virus were limited to medical and economic? Did you believe that human isolation as a preventative measure was really a good thing? That it “saved” innumerable lives?…
And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” Mark 8:29 NASB Who – Most of us realize that virtually all the followers of Yeshua in the early part of the first century were Jewish. That means Jews thought Yeshua was the Messiah long…
“One shall not sell a thing to a Gentile,” The Babylonian Talmud, Regulations Regarding Transfer on Shabbat Gentile – We have often noticed that paradigms determine interpretation. Investigation is governed by what we expect to find. It is never neutral. Even in hard science, the theory defines the category of discovery, and as the history…
