# Blogging the Bible Becomes a Book



## py3ak (Mar 4, 2009)

Here is an article where David Plotz summarizes his blogging about reading through the whole Bible, which has now been turned into a book. It's a sad article, but it has some interesting statements, such as this one:

Of the major Jewish and Christian groups, only evangelical Protestants read the whole Bible obsessively.​


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## OPC'n (Mar 4, 2009)

py3ak said:


> Here is an article where David Plotz summarizes his blogging about reading through the whole Bible, which has now been turned into a book. It's a sad article, but it has some interesting statements, such as this one:
> 
> Of the major Jewish and Christian groups, only evangelical Protestants read the whole Bible obsessively.​



Hmmmm! I didn't know all the reformed people had just now been raptured! I feel like I'm still here read PB. No offense, but please tell me this isn't heaven.


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## py3ak (Mar 4, 2009)

I think we'd be categorized as evangelical Protestants.


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## OPC'n (Mar 4, 2009)

py3ak said:


> I think we'd be categorized as evangelical Protestants.



Hmmmm, I really don't consider myself evangelical. Maybe if the term held the same meaning as it did many, many years ago...but the meaning has changed. So I'm not sure to which meaning he refers.


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## Calvinist Cowboy (Mar 4, 2009)

Interesting article.


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## Laura (Mar 4, 2009)

Yes, very interesting in a sad way.


> If God made me, He made me rational and quizzical. He has given me the tools to think about Him. So I must submit Him to rational and moral inquiry. And He fails that examination. Why would anyone want to be ruled by a God who's so unmerciful, unjust, unforgiving, and unloving?



What would be your first response to a statement like that? To say that a depraved understanding _would_ find fault in His actions, or to "defend" each action particularly, or what?


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## py3ak (Mar 4, 2009)

I think I would point out that he is assuming _himself_ as an acceptable starting point. "I am rational and quizzical so God has to correspond to that." But if he's been reading the Bible he _ought_ to have noticed that there is something wrong with humanity. His comments about the flood, though, revealed that he has an underdeveloped sense of sin.

Sociologically we are evangelical protestants, even if we don't like the term.


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## DMcFadden (Mar 4, 2009)

sjonee said:


> py3ak said:
> 
> 
> > I think we'd be categorized as evangelical Protestants.
> ...



I fully understand your problems with the term. However, when the nomenclature alternatives to Roman Catholic are liberal/mainline and conservative/evangelical, I am HAPPY to be an evangelical.

"Evangelical" in the broadest sense (as Ruben indicated) includes a number of groups that would otherwise not play too nicely together in the same sandbox: Pentecostals, Charismatics, Weslyans, conservative Presbyterians, conservative Baptists, LCMS Lutherans, conservative Mennonites, conservative Quakers, seeker-sensitive Willowcreekers and Purpose Driven Warrenites, etc.

However, look at the alternative! Frankly, there are more points of similarity between mainline Presbyterians, Baptists, and Lutherans then between any of them and their "evangelical" counterparts. For example, you and I both co-exist on the PB despite our ecclesiastical differences. I would love to see you try to hang out or dialog with a typical PCUSA type! 

Like it or not, in the rarefied world of sociological definitions, you ARE an evangelical.


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

I also notice that he doesn't seem to have come in contact with any robust Christians, if his Christian friends are telling him that the OT is "just setup" for the New.


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

Why love a God that is so unmerciful, etc...

How do you support calling God's actions immoral without presupposing God for the source of objective moral values? If there is no basis for objective moral values, then what God does is not objectively evil and his critique amounts to "I don't like God!" But who cares? But if there is a basis for objective moral values, and that basis is the word of God, then God is excused from judgment because he cannot be immoral.


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## panta dokimazete (Mar 5, 2009)

This is what you get when you worship yourself instead of worshipping Christ.


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

steven-nemes said:


> Why love a God that is so unmerciful, etc...
> 
> How do you support calling God's actions immoral without presupposing God for the source of objective moral values? If there is no basis for objective moral values, then what God does is not objectively evil and his critique amounts to "I don't like God!" But who cares? But if there is a basis for objective moral values, and that basis is the word of God, then God is excused from judgment because he cannot be immoral.



It seemed to me like he had some recognition of this dilemma.

I think what I found most grieving is that he won't really consider Christ, on the pretext that he is Jewish (though what good being Jewish while either disbelieving in or despising God does I don't know). James Adams told me about how he prayed at a city function one time, and of course he prayed in Jesus' name. A lady plucked at his arm and said she was offended about that because she was Jewish: he had to move on to other things, but at that moment all he could think of to say was, "So was Jesus".


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

He doesn't understand total depravity; his reasoning that God is unmerciful, for example, is the filthy result of a debased mind.


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

No, he doesn't understand total depravity. Thus he didn't see any real reason for God to send the Flood, nor was he sure whether we really have any need for the 10 commandments. That's why I noted above that his sense of sin is underdeveloped.


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

I didn't notice your comment on it, sorry for restating it.


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

Don't worry: absolution can be obtained through the appropriate penance. I see you are in Phoenix, so going outside for five minutes in July should cover it.


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

py3ak said:


> Don't worry: absolution can be obtained through the appropriate penance. I see you are in Phoenix, so going outside for five minutes in July should cover it.


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

Excellent advertising!


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

It's a dry heat...


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## a mere housewife (Mar 5, 2009)

We lived there for a few months a couple years ago -- our car broke down in July and we had no money to fix it and not much for busses, so we had to walk everywhere -- laundromat, grocery store, etc: it was so hot that R got a blister pushing one of those metal buttons to cross the street . I started wondering about getting a rolling IV thing to keep us hydrated while walking around. Oddly enough those are happy memories (for me anyway).

-----Added 3/5/2009 at 07:52:15 EST-----






(How to stay hydrated if you are a pedestrian in Arizona

Rolling IV pole, will conveniently drag along behind you by IV tube [not included]: holds two bags: one for you, one for a friend. Or two for you. Or if necessary, get a second IV pole and have four for you.)


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## steven-nemes (Mar 5, 2009)

I don't mind living in Arizona; I suppose I enjoy the warm and dry weather but I also wish that it was cooler and perhaps a bit more wet in the winter...


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## py3ak (Mar 5, 2009)

Well, I posted a reply to Mr. Plotz on Slate's discussion area. I'm sure it could have been done better, but I post it here in case it will remind people to pray for him as he comes to mind.



> Hi Mr. Plotz,
> 
> I am one of those Evangelical Protestants (specifically of the Calvinistic or Reformed variety) whom you mentioned in your article. Thank you for the (from our point of view) good press with regard to our Scripture reading habits.
> 
> ...


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