Basic Bible Commentary: Genesis

 I started to read the Basic Bible Commentary series published by Abingdon Press. This is an older series from the late 1980’s that I have been wanting to read for a while. I started with Genesis which was wrote by Linda B. Hinton. She has a Masters of Theological Studies from Emory University. She wrote a few other commentary books in this series as well.

The first thing that caught me off guard was her explanation of Genesis 1, verses 26-27. (26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.)

On page 18 the author states, “The plural our may refer to God alone as an indication of divine majesty. Our may also refer to a heavenly council or court with which God talks over this significant part of the creation process."

Interesting. I am not sure where she is going with the heavenly council or court discussion, but all of the commentaries I have read refer to "our" as the trinity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I understood this to be the case even before reading any commentaries.

The next thing that really stopped me in my tracks was on page 24. This is in reference to Genesis 3:1-13. (1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”).

The author states, "The serpent is not Satan or a symbol of evil or of death." Really? Let's jump ahead to Revelation 12:9,  "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

So the author claims the serpent is not Satan, but in God's own word it refers to the serpent as the devil or Satan. 

Again in Revelation 20:2,  "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Once again, God's word refers to the serpent as the devil or Satan.

I am not sure how valuable a commentary series will be if they can't even get the facts correct directly from the Bible. The author was clearly not comparing Scripture with Scripture in this instance.

Still reading here at Doe Valley.

Letter to Rep Struzzi

Below is an email that I sent to Representative Struzzi regarding the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement law that will be implemented.



Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement

I can't imagine that this program will be upheld in the court system. There is no way to prove who was driving, so why should the owner of the car be penalized? Other states have done similar programs like this and the courts do not uphold the tickets.

Let's make no mistake about this program, it is not about saving lives, it is about making money.

Part of the reason why people speed through work zones is because they have traffic blocked off for months at a time when there is absolutely no work being done on the road.

A good example of this was 119 through Indiana (286 to 422) last summer. It was coned off for about 4 months and they only worked on it for maybe 2 weeks.

Make a law that says once they start a road project they need to work on it 24 hours a day until it is completed. 

Book Review: Figure Drawing for kids

Figure Drawing for kids by Angela Rizza

This book provides a nice overview for drawing figures. It starts with the basic shapes and then gets into some more detail of the figure. I would probably put the age range at 12+, but I'm sure there are talented younger kids that would appreciate and learn from this book as well.

Overall, this is a nice guide to help kids draw figures.

Note: this book was sent to me as a review copy from the publisher prior to its release date.

Book Review: Pocket Prayers

Pocket Prayers by Max Lucado with Andrea Lucado

This is a brief book by Max Lucado with prayers in it to help you grow closer to God. The subtitle to the book is: 40 Simple Prayers that Bring Peace and Rest. The book starts with a brief chapter about prayer and then has a prayer for the next 40 days. Each day there is also a Scripture that goes along with the prayer.

This is a quick book that will help you pray better. Ultimately, a prayer should be about praise, thanksgiving, and asking God for help for yourself and others. Following the examples in this book can lead you to a deeper, stronger relationship with God.

Book Review: The One Year Book of Christian History

The One Year Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten

This is a one year daily devotional book that is focused on people or events that God has used throughout history to spread the gospel and advance His Kingdom.

Each day the devotion describes someone or something God used for His purposes. There is a brief reflection and scripture passage that ties into the person or event of the day. The time frame of the events is a solar eclipse on June 15, 763 B.C. to James Montgomery Boyce announcing his cancer diagnosis on May 7, 2000 A.D.

There are the usual figures you would expect to find in a book such as this: Billy Graham, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A.W. Tozer, D. L. Moody, etc. However, there are also other people that you may not expect like: Susan Atkins (a member of the Manson family), Kurt Warner (Super Bowl MVP), Muhammad (founder of Islam).

Overall, this was an interesting daily reading about people and events that God has used over the years. I recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Christian history.

Book Review: He Fights for You by Max and Andrea Lucado

He Fights for You by Max and Andrea Lucado

The premise of this “booklet” is to provide the reader with encouragement to face life’s challenges. The book starts with a rather confusing story about the walls of Jericho and then launches into 40 meditations. Each meditation consists of words of worship, scripture, and a prayer.

Overall, I didn’t get much from this booklet. The words of worship, scripture, and prayer didn’t always seem to match up with each other.

I usually enjoy reading Max Lucado’s works and recommend them to others. This booklet, however, can be skipped. 

Comment Regarding Article in Dec 19 Kiplinger Magazine

There is an article in the December 2019 issue of Kiplinger's magazine that describes the small cost of living increase that Social Security recipients will receive in 2020. Below is my comment to the editor of the magazine.



As I read “A Stingy Raise For Social Security Recipients” by Sandra Block in the December 2019 issue, I thought of my own raises for the past few years. They have been 1.42% for 2018, 1.21% for 2019, and will be 1.2% for 2020. Social Security for the same time frame has been 2%, 2.8%, and 1.6% respectively. I guess stinginess is everywhere these days.




Always thinking at Doe Valley.
Wes

Book Review: My PreSchool WorkBook

My Preschool Workbook

This book contains 101 pages of activities to prepare your child for school. The topics covered include:

• Colors
• Letters
• Shapes and Patterns
• Numbers
• Words

Each page challenges the child to help them develop the skills and knowledge they will need in school.

Overall, I recommend this book to help your child learn and practice their skills. 

Note: this book was sent to me as a review copy from the publisher prior to its release date.

Book Review: Super Cool Space Facts

Super Cool Space Facts by Bruce Betts

This is a book about space for kids. It is separated into five chapters:

• The Universe
• Stars and Constellations
• The Solar System
• Comets, Meteors, and the Sky Shows
• Rockets, Satellites, Astronauts, and more

The author writes about space in a way that is easy for children to understand and keep them engaged in the topic. The book is good for learning more about space and a great resource for a project, paper, poster that a child may have to complete for school.

The author also provides a resources section to learn more about space. There is also an index in the back to make it easier to find the information you are looking for in the book.

Overall, I recommend this book to be added to the kids collection / library for a pre-k to maybe 3rd grade student.

Note: this book was sent to me as a review copy from the publisher prior to its release date.

Book Review: None Other by John MacArthur

None Other: Discovering the God of the Bible by John MacArthur

This book briefly explores six of God’s attributes:

• God’s Graciousness
• God’s Sovereignty
• God’s Goodness and Power
• God’s Holiness
• God’s Love
• God’s Salvation

Most of MacArthur’s works go into great detail about the particular subject of the book or message. This time, however, MacArthur attempts to briefly cover several of God’s attributes to help the reader understand more about God. True to MacArthur’s style he takes Scripture and explains it without twisting it to fit our society today.

Personally, I found that this book did not hold my interest. To me, it was too much, too fast. I know MacArthur has written books about all of these attributes of God and I would rather read an entire book that thoroughly explains that attribute rather than just touching the surface.

I also think that a new believer might lose interest in this book as well. Again, to me, MacArthur moves too fast in this book without giving the reader enough time to really understand that characteristic of God. This book is only 123 pages and MacArthur could easily write that much about a small portion of Scripture.

Overall, this is certainly not MacArthur’s best work and I think most people can safely skip it and instead read some of his other books.