Friday, 04 November 2011

  • Our Favorite Old Testament Stories

    What are your favorite Old Testament passages or stories? Why are they your favorite? What resonates with you? What do you learn? How does it challenge you? Is it Daniel in the den of lions, Hosea and his redeemed marriage, David defeating Goliath, the walls of Jericho falling down from trumpet sounds, or something else? What is your favorite? I want to know. 

Comments (20)

  • officeconfidential@xanga

    I love the story of Joseph. He was strong and faithful even when he had to wonder where God was and what He was doing. His brothers sold him into slavery, he was wrongly imprisoned, and he held on and trusted God through all of it. Such a good role model as we face difficult things in our own lives. 


    I also love the passage at the end of Joshua 5 (though it's not an epic story like so many in theNee Testament, it gives me chills). Joshua meets the Angel of the Lord's Host and asks which side He's on. The Angel of the Lord's Host replies that He is on God's side. He then commands Joshua to take off his shoes, because the ground where they're standing is holy. The first time I read that, it just took my breath away. As I've thought about it more, it's helped me to remember that God doesn't take sides in the way we sometimes wish He would, or think He should. The question isn't whether God is on our team, but are we on God's team?
    Well. This is a long comment. 
  • alterEGGO@xanga

    Jacob wresteling with God. Means I can argue with hhim even when he is right.

  • too_pretty_to_die@xanga

    Ezekiel 23:20.  our families might coerce my SO and i into a Christian wedding... if it happens, that baby is so being read aloud.  

  • greene_lily@xanga
    I like the story of Noah's wife. No, she really doesn't have her own story but if you consider what that poor woman went through....Told by her husband that he had heard the voice of God and was told to build a huge boat in the middle of the desert (lugging lumber from who knows where in the process), gather animals and food, and wait for the annihilation of the world...Another woman just might have called him looney and left. Not to mention, who do you think the sons and their wives went to for comfort when the rain began? Mama Noah (woman who doesn't even have a name) was the one to keep the family sane, knowing that everyone else they ever knew was dying. AND she was also told she was going to be required to start back over and have and raise babies again in her old age, when her own children were already grown. Plus she was going to have to be midwife, nurse, and matriarch to a brand new clan. I sincerely admire that woman!
  • TheGreatBout@xanga

    @too_pretty_to_die@xanga - When people ask me about my "life verse" I tell them that reference. It's my favorite funny out of context verse.

  • Crossed_Out_Name@xanga

    I love every one in which God is a grade A dick to humanity... too many to choose!

  • Syphan@xanga

    The one where a woman is gang-raped and then cut into pieces.  Lovely.

  • TheGreatBout@xanga

    @Crossed_Out_Name@xanga@Syphan@xanga - What are stories you sincerely enjoy and profit from that aren't from the Bible? What tales or testimonies inspire you, make you want to improve, and instill hope within you? Why do they have this affect on you? I'd love to know.

  • Syphan@xanga

    @TheGreatBout@xanga - I'm moved and inspired by many stories, but one in particular is "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde.  I've read it at least once a year since I was a child.  It is a beautiful story of selflessness, compassion, and sacrificial love.

  • TheGreatBout@xanga

    @Syphan@xanga - I've never read it. I'll pick it up!

  • Syphan@xanga

    @TheGreatBout@xanga - Here's a link to the story if you want to read it now::  http://fiction.eserver.org/short/happy_prince.html .  It's quite short, but very beautiful.

  • TheGreatBout@xanga

    @Syphan@xanga - That was wonderful! Thanks for sharing. :)

  • Watanuki10@xanga
  • kamrandolph@xanga

    Hagar - abused, she ran and hid yet God was the God who SEES her.  He saw me during my abuse and when I was hiding.  He sees me know and how I am learning to deal with it. 

  • pb49r@xanga

    Definitely the story of Abraham bringing God down from "50 righteous" to only "10 righteous" in Genesis 18.  Who says we cannot influence God (or do we)?  Too bad Abraham left it at that.  We have no record of him having a relationship with Lot, after that scene.

  • JulieMillerFan@xanga

    Few people realize just how powerful the book of Daniel really is.  It clearly shows how a life lived in Godly manner can have serious impact upon the lives of those around you. 

    Here's something you may have never realized about Daniel --- he's never ONCE... in the whole book... shown to have sinned.  Not once.  And yet he counts himself among Israel and Israel's sins in his godly prayer of Daniel 9


    The Lord is merciful and forgiving, though WE have rebelled against Him; WE have not obeyed the Lord our God, or kept the laws He gave US through His prophets. ( Dan. 9:9-10)


    I think no other life outside of David can be said to have had so great and vast an impact upon the lives of so many.... Old Testmant'aly speaking.

  • corporatecrow@xanga

    @officeconfidential@xanga - the joseph story is one my favorites too, good choice :)

  • theericbailey@xanga

    My favorite Old Testament story is the story of the Judge named Ehud, as told in Judges 3:12-30. The story has violence, humor, a great tale of God's deliverance, but I like it particularly for its portrayal of a strange man, a pariah in his society, someone whom most would not have found of use for as a friend... but God used him to deliver Israel from subjugation and, following his heroic acts, the land had peace for eighty years. Eighty years! Imagine if an American did something so heroic that America had no wars for eighty years. Awesome.

  • voxparker
    Genesis 19:30-36

    30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

     33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

     34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

     36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

  • Syphan@xanga
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