Some Bible Verses, With Notes Following

(Job 19:21 KJV) Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Here is another (12-24-96 7:50 a.m.) moving verse, one that cries out to me the humanity of Christ, and the (seemingly) strange spirit that moved in the prophets. The repetition, I have read, is noteworthy in general. Faulkner wrote "Absalom, Absalom" in the frame of heart and mind that we too often fall short of in our daily lives, a spirit moved by spirit.

(Psa 8:4 KJV) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Truly a moving verse, one that reminds me of telling someone (maybe it was Sunday school at Heiks (sic)) that there didn't seem to be any doubt to me about trying to stand in that great and terrible day of the coming of The Lord; certainly expect to find me on my knees, I said.

(Eccl 7:7 KJV) Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
12/26/96 This is a verse I asked Wood about when I was in Rhode Island in '80 (for the birth of Matthew); today it is the oppression that interests me; it was the gift then. The verse appears to indicate a sad lack of wise men in the earth. Maybe it's a lack of wise men in the media. Anyway, we are told just a few verses back to marvel not at oppression in the land; here we are informed that it surely makes a wise man mad. I suspect it doesn't mean insane, though there certainly is that aspect to being mad. (see Isaiah 1.16-20)

(Eccl 7:16 KJV) Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
This has been, and remains, a mystery. (To me)

(Eccl 8:16 KJV) When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
More evidence of angels. (see Hebrews 13.2)

(Eccl 10:15 KJV) The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
Fifteen and sixteen are two verses that are mysteries to me; knowing not how to go to the city and princes eating in the morning...'sup?

(Eccl 11:1 KJV) Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
This is one my dad thought about, I think, as he fed the fish many times by casting "hog bread" on the water of the lake.

(Eccl 11:9 KJV) Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
May be it's time and chance and judgment that happens to us all.

(Eccl 12:8 KJV) Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
These references in Eccl. are what moved me to write what I did (All is [not] vanity) in the blank page between the two testaments. Verses 9-14 are a set which seem to contain a lot of truth in them, like we might hear "the rest of the story" if we just pay sufficient attention.

(Isa 1:16 KJV) Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
I noted (in Ecclesiastes 7.23) how The Bible lives, and changes as you live and grow in The Word. Today I opened to Isaiah 1.1 and was rather stunned by the immediacy and the relevance of that first chapter (at least as far as I have read, which is maybe 25 verses) to our situation today. Again, I don't believe that Baptist doctrine holds that the Law of the Old Testament (if you will) has any relevance to today. I have given quite a bit of thought to the possibility of Jesus writing Ecclesiastes and the early Christians somehow finangling it into the collection of writings which became the Old Testament (which contained, don't forget, until Martin Luther came along and cast them out, the books of the Apocrypha, which include some rather strange and eclectic writings).

(Isa 29:13 KJV) Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Another verse 13; actually verses 13-24 are quite relevant to our situation too. Do I speak of myself, or of the Spirit of God? I know not. Perhaps this thorn in my flesh will serve to remind me to look to the hills.

Jeremiah 5 Another awesome chapter, one I referenced when I wrote that outrageous letter to the Clarion-Ledger when I lived in the trailer park. I guess I never told (i think it was) Joe Rogers that I really didn't intend to pick on him, I realized of course that his column was kind of humorously? intended, and of course I used it as an excuse to type that diatribe which fell so completely apart at the end (brilliant but not blinding?). I wonder if people in the Sunday school class really do believe that the prophets’ inspired words are relevant, if they can see that references to Jerusalem and Israel and the Gentiles really live and change and follow those who are called to repentance. (see Mat 22.14)(see Jer 5.9)

(Jer 5:1 KJV) Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. (I don’t know where this verse came from; it could be that I indexed it, and didn’t write a note on it, and the index automatically collates with the notes?)
(see Luke 19.46) It was Luke, I believe, that I opened the Scofield to in Sunday school Sunday, with this verse in the top left of the left page.

(Jer 31:33 KJV) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The question here is, what are "those days"?. (I noticed this called the Second Covenant in one of your commentaries, XXXXXXXXXXXX, and I think no one would argue that this is a promise which hasn’t been fulfilled. 12/31 add)

(Zec 9:12 KJV) Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Prisoners of hope...turn you to the strong hold. Look to the rock from whence you were hewn. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the ? corner stone.

Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount. Awesome. His doctrine amazed the people, and understandably so. Very passive, very much opposed to ego (Babba Ram Dass correctly points out that egoless people have strong characters, but my experience leads me to say that most strong characters are based on strong egos.). This program is behaving much better tonight, for which i am grateful. I don't suppose I have said much about reading between the lines; perhaps noting that small things say a lot ( like the one loud shout the possessed man voiced to become a new creature, the one reference to the poor that might be intended to say so much about Jesus' priorities) is enough. Sometimes I feel I must be offending people by being so repetitious. I do feel that emphasis by omission is so great that the minor errors were allowed by the Lord to point people in the right direction. The amazement of the disciples at Jesus' talking with the woman by the well is a good example of this. But back to between the lines: actually between chapters is more important than, say, between verses. Consider the implications to that awesome commandment, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Mat 13.58) is another example that springs to mind. (This was what the program calls a chapter verse; for some reason they don’t display automatically on the screen when you are at, say, Mat 5.1, like the verse notes do [if you have a notes file open].)

(Mat 6:7 KJV) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
It's interesting to me that Jesus would say to not use "vain repetitions", and then, in verse 9, give a model prayer to pray. I believe if He had it all to do over again, there are changes He would make.

(Mat 6:11 KJV) Give us this day our daily bread.
There are a lot of references to food in the New Testament; many of them seem to point out the hand-to-mouth lifestyle Jesus and His disciples embraced.

(Mat 15:19 KJV) For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Also hypocrisies and strong delusions and many more. Notice that Jesus denigrates 2 Sam 22.21 and other references to the old "cleanliness is next to Godliness" adage.

(Mat 16:24 KJV) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Notice that He says any man who would follow Him should forsake His life, "for the Son of man shall come . . . and then he shall reward every man according to his works." If you aren't in His hand, if you just profess to believe, then it appears that you will be brought from the grave (if dead) for judgment. (I just highlighted this 12/31 as it struck me as particularly important)

(Mat 18:3 KJV) And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The "verily" is noteworthy, we are told, and it makes sense to me. Be converted, like "turn away" in repent's definition. Little children, Stephen Gaskins said, are pure; little babies are as pure as driven snow maybe__he did say the smaller the purer is the rule of thumb. Blessed are the pure in heart, for what? The Lord Jesus will judge the hearts and the minds. Jesus was meek and lowly of heart (Mat 12.29), but he was wise in the ways of God, and the oppression He saw made Him mad, and mad is not humble is how i see it.

(Mat 21:13 KJV) And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
(see Jer 7.11) (In QuickVerse for Windows these verses are links in the program to the reference; you double click on it and it pops up on the screen.)

(Luke 10:27 KJV) And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
addendum to note for "they who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (sic)" It might be Matthew where the man says love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind" and Jesus tells him, "Thou hast answered right." (don’t know what this means 12/31)

(Luke 20:17 KJV) And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
This was written in Isaiah, and apparently the people watched Him grow up, mostly with attitudes because He cried and must have been ugly, since Isaiah also says that He would be without beauty...

(Luke 21:19 KJV) In your patience possess ye your souls.
Prayed this during the drive to Jackson Sunday, where the preacher said something about our right to privacy in our prayers?

(Luke 24:41 KJV) And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
(see Mat 6.30 and John 21.5)

(Acts 10:34 KJV) Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Of a truth I perceive...the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom...

(Acts 28:30 KJV) And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
Writing in the third person was not something, I believe, that Paul indulged in very often. Two whole years. Not much thought for the morrow appears to have been a rule of thumb for him. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Another of those end-of-chapter lines. Don't forget to look between.)

(Rom 1:22 KJV) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
My fear for Israel/Amerika is that we have become proud in our imaginings, and professing ourselves to be wise (and, indeed, in the ways of the world we were [and are] wise) we became fools. Can you think of anything more foolish than believing the lies of our culture, believing in the rewards of conformity and diligence, and willingly handing over the reins of our hearts to dark riders? What if i speak through the spirit of truth here? I need to address my vision...(I believe I do this in the journal on about Dec. 30) 3/24/97 I looked for and couldn't find that account: waking up in the middle of the night, sitting up in bed amazed, seeing a huge tree with branches stirring in a breeze, and zooming in closer and closer and closer, it was beyond way way beyond amazing, I saw the limbs come into view, then closer and closer and I started like making out the leaves, and finally I saw that the leaves were naked children, very serious looks on faces, wrestling with each other. I stupidly picked up pencil and pad and wrote it down, like I might forget about it before morning. This was my second vision, by the way.

(Rom 1:25 KJV) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
This is a verse I wrote about in my journal last week, mentioning my visit to the Lincoln Memorial in 1980 as an example of worshipping the creature (see journal entry by clicking here).

(Rom 1:28 KJV) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
They did not like to retain God in their knowledge because custom and culture drove them. Tradition was strong in Jesus' day. There is no difference today. Reprobate, in a dictionary, says Theology. One who is predestined to destruction. Predestination makes me want to come up with doctrinal stuff, know what I mean? Free will is the obvious rule, but the matter of an omniscient God raises an interesting question. Filled with all that evil is the result of bad reins, of course. Reading verses 28-32 in church would result in a lot of rationalizations, people saying "I don't hate god, I don't fornicate, I never killed anyone, I have understanding (this is worldly understanding for the most part, which doesn't count), I have affection, etc. What scares me is how large the spectrum appears to be for what The Bible calls a reprobate mind, which means a heart full of evil, which portends a soul destined for destruction.

Romans 2: I just spent minutes running down maybe the majority of sentient beings walking the earth today (like roaring lions?), being quite judgmental of traditional, conformist thinking and being. Does that make me inexcusable? Jesus (not to draw any comparisons) said, "I judge no man, yet if I judge, my judgment is true." He said He didn't judge of Himself, but of Him who sent Him(self). Naturally I like to think I am led by the Spirit (and should we differentiate between Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost?) in thought, and word, and deed. I like to think I walk by faith (the just shall walk by faith) not sight. And it continues to reverberate in my brain not just that faith cometh by hearing, but that hearing cometh by the Word of God. What if all this doctrine (which is what all these interpretations of The Bible comprises [who knoweth the interpretation of a thing is something like what the Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes] is false, and has led people to worship and work and live in vain, suffering strong delusions and developing stiff necks and hard hearts toward the spirit and truth of God?.

(Rom 2:1 KJV) Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

(Rom 2:3 KJV) And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
The fear of the Lord is one thing I do not relinquish.

(Rom 2:11 KJV) For there is no respect of persons with God.
Glory in the Lord; don't be proud or happy about your relationship with Him. That which is highly esteemed by man is abomination to God. People will say they worked miracles in His name, and He will say Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I know you not.

(Rom 2:13 KJV) (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Another journal entry (or maybe the same one) references verses 13-15 (though 16 is important too). All i have to say now is a rumination on whether i can work with these notes and my journal entries somehow. Vanity I suppose.

(Rom 2:24 KJV) For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
This matter I've addressed before__to day's church doctrine has people not believing in God because the God who is taught is a false God, so false that even non-believers can discern it. (see Isaiah 52.5) (see also Isaiah 52.10__all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God) That same chapter, verses 13-15, might be a reference to both Jesus and the Comforter__shall deal prudently, many were astonied, visage so marred?, that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. That's another chapter break, another opportunity to read between the lines (though in truth, that opportunity always exists).

Romans 3: I suppose what we should read in verse 1is "What advantage then hath the Christian?" (Circumcision was a ritual with sanitation for an end, and I can't really think of a parallel to day.) Monster advantage: chiefly, because unto them were committed the disciples and the Son of God. For what if some Christians did not believe? shall that delusion [not really much of a subterfuge for the most part] make the faith of God without effect? God forbid, yada yada; as it is written (see Psalms 51.4, which says, be clear when thou judgest. Psa 51.10 is one of the great verses of The Book: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.) But if we, in our sin, praise God for His perfect light, shall we say that a God who is vengeful toward sinners is not pure love? (Paul assumes the voice here of a conformist__and who better to do this than the former Saul, a conformist among conformists) No, Paul concludes, we dare not say God is not perfect, because if He were not, He would be unable to judge the world. (An aside: Bear in mind here that scripture and doctrine [not all of which is false] maintain that it is Christ who will sit at the throne of judgment; I have to go along with that.) Verse 7 is an interesting one; is Paul revealing that he has lied, perhaps a lie of omission, in his writings on God, with truth about God more abounding as a result, but still thinking he sins through the lie? I don't know, I just wish I had some of those commentaries I denigrate so. Paul does distance himself from those who maintain that ends justify means in verse 8. The reference in the next verse is Psalm 14, quite an interesting chapter. Verse 11 is interesting: we know Paul sought after God, but he refused to claim understanding or seeking, and I'm sure that's the attitude we should cultivate. I have told the story several times of reading Adam Smith's Powers of Mind, in which he relates the story of Russian ascetics, who carry begging bowls for food, and devote their lives to a mantra something like, "Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," which they mentally repeat, and repeat and repeat. Vain repetition is how some have responded to this; but we are told how a contrite spirit is of great worth to the Lord, and that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Verses 12-17 are simple: If we would judge ourselves we would not be judged. Verse 18 has been a hallmark of Christian circles for years; the God we learn in church is a God of love for His church, we're all good people, too bad about all the heathens. Then we learn again that all men are guilty before the law, and that people NOW with the mind of Christ, people who live a life of the spirit, those people are not subject to the law. And more, that everyone who believes in Jesus can become a new creature and attain to the righteousness of God, and that everyone needs to do this, since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Jesus freely grants justification to all through His love for us__but only those who truly believe, and are converted (the matter of redemption: start with those "sold under sin", go to Jesus and His "purchase in the market" and "to buy out of the market", and note that Jesus paid the sin debt for all of us, but to believe in Him serves only to give us power to become sons of God). In verse 27 Paul says that works are superceded by faith (remember that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"), but then he says that we are justified by faith "without the deeds of the law", which just says we don't have to obey the law to obtain to righteousness. (Perhaps we should note here what James had to say on the matter of faith and works: "Faith without works is dead.") Paul concludes the chapter by saying that we don't make void the law, "Yea, we establish the law"; we make it matter, since following the letter of the law is at least a start toward developing a saving faith.

(Rom 10:13 KJV) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The key is the call. The first commandment is the reference here: Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (or something like that).

(Phil 2:12 KJV) Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
This verse is another that strikes me as being Paul speaking in the spirit of Christ. Notice verse 13, where Paul writes, "BOTH to will AND to do", when he speaks of God working in people, not like the book we got in the church library last week, which I read for exactly one sentence and quit in disgust (let me quote from "Live and Let God..." by James Duncan__"It is a tremendous release mentally to discover that we cannot live the Christian life."). It truly is a heavy cross to lift, albeit an easy burden to bear, but maybe that is after faith comes, which comes only by hearing and, sadly, hearing comes only from the Word of God which we have corrupted almost beyond recognition by our sad efforts at understanding.

2 Thessalonians 2: Before I went to D.C., maybe even a month, I remember commenting on re-reading this chapter. This was an occasion for a heavy sigh. We learn the day of Christ is at hand, but first, we are told, that man of sin must be revealed (who must/might be the anti-Christ). (Maybe this is saying don't worry about Christ coming until after the sin-man be revealed.) Seems to me that the revelation is simply that the devil is the ordinary mind that is in so many of us, worrying about tomorrow, stocking that pantry for the routine worship of the belly, being careful (some of those who call themselves not just called or blessed but chosen too) to save a percentage of that disposable income__let's talk about tithing those luxuries, what do you say?

(2 Th 2:11 KJV) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Don't forget that it's OK to be angry with your brother with cause. (see Mat 5.22)

(2 Th 2:12 KJV) That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Could it be that in America the priests (and preachers) bear rule by their means, and the people love to have it so? (see Jer 5.31)

(Here is the start of a second shorter group of notes I only began on the subject of offerings):

(Prov 15:8 KJV) The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
I remember discussing "wicked" at Heuck's Sunday school, and quoting the first part of this verse. What a wonderful end__the prayer of the upright is his delight.

(I’m going to insert my third set of notes here, what I had labeled bible.not in QuickVerse)

Genesis 1: My first doubts of the inerrancy of The Bible came as a child (I remember being on 23rd Ave) encountering the Genesis account of creation. The concept of evolution was not foreign to me, and it seemed grounded in truth. When a Sunday school teacher quoted "A day is as a thousand years to the Lord," even though it was not related to the creation story, it was a revelation to me because of that. I realized that, despite what might have been some kind of instinctive understanding of the doctrine of inerrancy of scripture, The Bible contained long passages that truly were not very relevant to my reality. (Yet I retained my faith that there was truth to be found in the Bible, like perhaps no other book; this faith has continued to grow. 12/31)
Since that time I have discovered several verses that contain errors, some of them deservedly quite famous (and naturally explained by "experts"), some of them perhaps less well known; rest assured that explanations and interpretations abound, and for that reason it is important that we exercise our abilities to discern truth from falsehood.
I told an associate pastor at a church I attended that, while I consider The Bible perfect, I also maintain that it contains errors. These errors appear to be designed to lead us to the mysteries of God. Perhaps you would like to go to the note at Gen 17.23.

(Gen 17:23 KJV) And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
"Ishmael his son" is what we want to notice, since our quest is for contradictions, errors. (see chapter note Gen 1.1 and note Gen 22.2)

(Gen 22:2 KJV) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Notice the direct contradiction to Gen 17.23. "Thy son, thine only son Isaac." Again, scholars (liken them to the scribes of Jesus' day) have produced exegesis after exegesis to explain every verse in The Bible, much of it (I'm sure) informative, even useful. But Jesus clearly warned that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God, and that the doctrine developed by the men of His day (let's liken it to the doctrine we've developed to day) led men to worship God in vain. (see Prov 1 chapter note)

Proverbs 1: (see chapter note at Gen 1) This is a book which I might liken to the teachings of Confucius: worthwhile instruction in the matter of daily living, but (with the very notable exception of the first seven chapters concerning wisdom) not particularly pertinent to the spiritual life. (We have a screen saver called Screen Savior that displays verses. Incredibly enough, after I wrote this it started showing all of these Proverbs in later chapters that are very spiritually oriented. Dead wrong?) The reading of Proverbs, in other words, strikes me now (as always) basically as a duty rather than a delight. I try not to neglect my duties.
It might have been early in 1986 that I discovered two identical verses in the book. They are in different chapters. My pastor at the time, when I told him about my discovery, said, "You pass Proverbs." (I think it was at this time I was taking a class on James under him.) Actually, there are different words italicized in the two verses, which arguably makes them different since the King James Version italicizes the words that the committee of 54 added. Given the strong consensus regarding "masterpiece" status that the version has attained, the length of time the version was the official translation of so many Christian churches, and the fervor with which a certain faction guarded what might be called the virginity of the version, I see no useful purpose served in pursuing such an argument (which I can see scholars pursuing regarding the Genesis contradiction).
I'm not going to list the verses in Proverbs which are identical at this time; this "puzzle" is on-line here.

(Eccl 5:8 KJV) If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
Marvel not at the matter, we are told. In my Harper version I crossed out the "moreover" in the next verse, and wrote in "On the other hand." (Not without trepidation at the warning at the end of Revelation) I think we should marvel at the fact that we have allowed this sad state of affairs to continue for so long. We pay tithe (after tithing we consider ourselves giving sacrificially, and we're talking about the best-case people here [though perhaps we should examine the function of the churches, and what goes on outside the gate, so to speak, where it is apparent to me that many do much]) and ignore "the weightier" matters of judgment and such. Jesus said that.

(Jer 17:9 KJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The heart is deceitful above all things is very straightforward. If we look at James 1.14-15 we see that, according to recent scholarship, we are enticed to sin when we entertain evil thoughts in our mind and then, allowing the mind to direct the heart we commit evil. "Out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts" etc. certainly is true, but this is when our hearts have been corrupted by the direction of our minds. Jer 17.10 tells us (and there are several other verses which say the same thing) that the Lord searches and tries the heart and the reins. In my journal I wrote that not much spiritual insight is required to recognize that the mind is the reins, and that the reins (naturally) direct and guide the heart. (And like I also noted there, our main concern should be the rider, the boss, who [like Bob Dylan sang], "might be the devil, and it might be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody".)

(Mat 13:58 KJV) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
My journal has discussed at some length the errors of omission which occur in The Bible. Seemingly, as I mentioned, the tiny contradictions and mistakes are aimed at getting us to question what we read, to try and discern the truth, which we are told will set us free. Reading scripture as a quest, searching for truth and spirit and thoughts and ways of God, will soon enough lead us to read between the lines. Since there is more space to search between chapters, we can sometimes see more. The chapter break between 13 and 14 is a natural one, but let's please examine verse 58 here. He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. In our Harper's I marked this passage in what might be called a strong manner, and in the margin wrote, "I know that guy." Church leaders of the day said something like "We know this man is a sinner."
Jesus said (and I basically place a lot of stock in the red words [though the Harper's, my favorite, doesn't have them]) "The powers of heaven shall be shaken." I'm sure He told the disciples about this, and apparently to never tell the truth about it. The truth must be that the ordinary mind of the people precluded His doing many mighty works; God doesn't/can't do anything for anybody but observe and love and will. I just read a reference I can't bring to mind/heart, something like the cry of the poor being answered in Christ. Where did He come from? When will He return? Who shall stand in that day?

(Luke 2:52 KJV) And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
This is another verse I have expounded upon at length in my journal. Basically, reading between the lines, we come to understand that Jesus increased in spiritual wisdom and, hence, in favor with God; however, this wisdom was foolishness to the corrupt hearts of His culture, and while He might have gotten some menial job and the people considered that favor beyond what He deserved because of His rebellion (against tradition and convention and conformity [of thought and behavior (leaving His parents for three days without word that time, e.g.)]) in His youth I certainly don't think He increased in favor with man, certainly not His with family and (near) neighbors.
Although He was announced by angels and visited by kings and favored with "God with us" comments, He was not named Emmanuel like Isaiah said He would be, He was not a perfect child apparently, He was not beautiful apparently, He grew up with His neighbors convinced He was not the Messiah. He did not grow in favour with man. (see Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Mat 13.58 note and Mat 5.48 and Mat 6.34 [these last two are Sermon on the Mount references, which makes them more important to me])

(John 10:9 KJV) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
I was really aiming for verse 10, but picked 9 for perspective. The abundant life of verse ten, I maintain, is the life of the spirit, not of the world. Jesus constantly preached obedience and sacrifice.
Entering in the door of Christ (the straight and narrow way of loving God with all heart, mind, soul/strength) is eternal salvation with the prospect of going up and down, in and out, to earth in the form of person but in reality an angel. (4-21-98: I just looked at this and realized how inappropriate it might have been to end my "original Bible notes" with such an obtuse reference to reincarnation, especially considering how important the concept could be to our reality when considered in the context of the vision I had of what I must call the tree of life, addressed perhaps too obliquely elsewhere on this site.)

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