Berean Bible Lady

What if I stumble, what if I fall? What if I lose my step And I make fools of us all? Will the love continue When my walk becomes a crawl? What if I stumble And what if I fall?   If you’re not familiar, these are lyrics from a song from 90s contemporary Christian music band dc Talk. I loved dc Talk. They had overtly Christian lyrics and they incorporated different genres of music including rock, rap, hip hop, and R&B. The members of the trio were gifted musicians who each brought something unique to the table, resulting in so many amazing songs. dc Talk members Tobymac, Kevin Smith, and Michael Tait went their separate ways in 2000. So where are they now? Tobymac-you may have heard of him-I think he’s had a decent career as a Christian rap artist. Kevin Smith is in the exvangelical camp-fully deconstructed, self-proclaimed universalist. And then there’s Michael Tait…oh Tait… Michael Tait became the lead singer of Newsboys in 2009 and continued in that role u...

 Did anyone catch that episode of The Chosen last night? I’m referring to season 5 episode 2 “House of Cards.” This episode depicts the famous moment when Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem and knocks over the tables of the money changers. I have read the gospels multiple times and was fully aware of this story before I watched the episode, but to be honest I never really pictured it happening that way. I thought, “A whip? Really? Did Jesus actually use a whip in any of the gospels ever?” Yes, he did. John 2:13-16 says, “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.” Okay, I have a lot of Bible-learning to do…and I always will. Many like to paint Jesus as a gentle, peace-...

 I’ll be honest, even though I’ve read the Bible several times, the story told in Judges 11:29-40 never caught my attention until I started listening to the Bible on Audible last year. “Wait, what? Did Jephthah really just offer his daughter as a burnt offering to the LORD?” I read it over and over trying to figure out what it even means. Did Jephthah actually kill his daughter? If so, why does it seem like she’s okay with it, just sad to be dying a virgin? And why is Jephthah later listed in the Hall of Faith? (See Hebrews 11:32-34) The thing is, we don’t really know what happened to Jephthah’s daughter. However, there are some clues from the text that indicate she was likely dedicated to God to live out her days as a virgin. (See this article from Stand to Reason for more about this story: https://www.str.org/w/did-jephthah-kill-his-daughter-to-fulfill-a-vow-to-god- ) The point is, not every story in the Bible is meant to tell us how to live our lives. When reading the Bibl...