The goal

Last year I decided to read the bible in chronological order (i.e., the approximate order that the books are set or written, not canonical order). I was doing well until I had surgery and then I wasn’t really able to read anything while in hospital. Then when I got out and recovered, my routine was completely shot. Well, excuses excuses, I haven’t made much progress since then.

So, I was looking for a simple bible reading plan that I could add to my calendar to encourage me to continue. There are some nice bible reading plans on this ESV Bible site, and they’re available as calendar feeds, but they seem to start on the 1^st of January and I couldn’t find any way to change that. I want to pick up where I left off, or at least start from today.

My solution: CSV file

Google Calendar can import CSV files, so I thought it couldn’t be too hard to make a simple CSV file to import into my calendar. All I needed to do was:

• Find an ordered list of passages to read
• Copy the list into a spreadsheet under a column heading of “Subject”
• In the next column, with a heading of “Start Date”, add the dates on which to read the passages
• Import into Google calendar

Passage break-up

I got my bible reading plan from BiblePlan.org, where you can select to see the whole plan in undated form. I just copied the whole block of text from the web page. I could have pasted it directly into my spreadsheet and it would have populated my Subject column, but I pasted into Coda first to use the wildcard search to remove the day numbering.

Assigning dates

The magic of the dates is that you only need to type in the first two and then you can use autofill to populate the rest of the column. To use autofill (in most spreadsheet applications) select the two sequential date fields, grab the bottom right corner and drag down until you’ve filled as many rows as you need.

There are other columns that you can add to your CSV to import with your reading events. You can view an example in this Google article About CSV files.

Importing to Google Calendar

Finally, I exported my spreadsheet as a CSV file and imported it into Google Calendar (under Settings > Calendar). I added it to a new calendar called “Bible Reading”. I wouldn’t recommend adding it to your main calendar, because it will become harder to isolate all those events and make changes if you want to switch to a different reading plan or change from an all-day event to a timed event, etc.

Further improvements

Now, if I could find out if OliveTree BibleReader has a URL structure with which to open the application on the iPhone, I could add a link to each passage in the description of each event and open each passage straight from my calendar.

I hope someone finds this useful. I hope it ends up being useful for me!

At bible study a few weeks ago we were finishing looking at 2 Timothy. We were having some solo time to go over the book and see what we could summarise from it. Sadly, I missed about half of the studies from 2 Timothy and only got to the end of chapter 2 when I was summarising.

In order to try to get my head around what chapter 2 was talking about I did some sketches, or doodles.

first share of the crops, no crown w/out playing by the rules, soldier doesn't get entangled

I thought that perhaps verses 3–6,

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

might somehow relate to verses 11-13,

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself

Soldiers die suffer and may die, denying Christ would really not be playing according the the rules if we wish to inherit eternal life and whether it is us, Christ, the Holy Spirit, who works hard — someone will get the first share of the crops. Whatever those crops are!

I might be way off base with all of that, but I think the main point of 2 Timothy 2 is that we should be prepared to suffer and ready for every good work, that we might be useful to God for the calling of the elect.

Damn it’s annoying! It is so frustrating when people give you a bad name.

I was researching the previous topic and came across what seems to be a discussion blog. The title, the way to Christ is simple, caught my attention. It turned out to be an impersonal and uninvited summary of how to becoming a Christian… on a blog for atheists.

The verses from the bible used are fairly key ones that are used by lots of people because they’re simple yet comprehensive statements. I even think that what was said in the post was true. However, it’s unacceptable to beat people over the head with it. If they ask you to tell them then go ahead, if you ask to share what you believe and they let – fine. How can you preach on how to be forgiven by God to people who don’t believe there’s a god at all?
It’s pretty amazing and maybe a little small minded to call what Christians say “threats”. If you think of it as something that they believe then to them it’s a fact, not a threat. However, if some low-life is going around sending people violent bible verses that’s a little different.

Adding to the absurdity of the message, it seems to be spam for a “Christian” bookstore. I wonder if they know that people are getting these kind of messages.

It strikes me as curious, given the secular nature of our society, the extent to which biblical ideas and phrases permeate our lives.

In a lecture on Environmental Biotechnology last week one of the lecturers was talking about how strict environmental laws are, unless you’re the ones who make the laws. If you’re a regular joe they will “crucify you over a multitude of sins.” (or something like that). Most Christians would be familiar with this kind of language, I’m guessing most non-Christians would understand what the lecturer was saying. I don’t think a christian would use that kind of phrasing because it’s usually associated with something quite different to science.

It’s also extremely common to hear people saying “Oh my god!” Whether they’re shocked, surprised, excited… it doesn’t really seem to matter and it doesn’t seem to occur to anyone what they’re actually saying. What god? Whose god? Do you have a god?
Also common and even more unpleasant is “Jesus Christ!” It makes me want to look around and respond “Where?” Last year the Campus Bible Study mission had the catch phrase “JESUS is not a dirty word”. I would have loved to have one of the hoodies with that printed on the front!
People don’t go around saying “Oh Allah!” or “My Buddah!” Why is that?

There’s also a multitude of phrases that seem to come from the bible including: seek and you shall find; an eye for an eye; am I my brother’s keeper?; a good samaritan; ye of little faith.

Much of the western world has been built on a book that reveals the creator of the earth. His wisdom is woven into his creation, yet ‘there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away.’

I think many of the things I learnt at MYC can be summed up in the song We Belong To The Day by Michael Morrow.

The chorus says:

Strong as a mighty rock our refuge in the coming wrath.
The heart of the bride belongs to Jesus, Jesus.
The earth in its turning stops to marvel at the son of God.
And all of that day belongs to Jesus, Jesus.

The reason we feel the need for guidance is because we live in a broken world, a world that has been frustrated by our sin (Romans 8:20-21). I don’t know if the world will literally stop turning, but it does long for the day when it will be set free from futility and decay.

Some people see that God made the world and so it is to him that we should turn for guidance, but they think that God has an individual plan mapped out especially for them. So they look for signs of guidance to reveal what that plan is. It’s probably a concept that is taught from Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I think that should either be read as a promise to the Israelites in Babylon or as a broader plan, rather than individual plans of how your business and your marriage will prosper, for example.

The bride is the church, everyone who believes in Christ. God’s plan for mankind is that on the last day those who trusted in Christ will be “married” to him (Eph 5, Rev 21). That is, they will completely belong to him and he to them and they will share in everything he has achieved – victory over death and restoration to God.

The verses say:

We belong to the day, to the day that is to come.
When the night falls away and our Saviour will return.
For the glory of the King is in our hearts.
On that day we will be seen for what we are.

We belong to the day, let us journey in the light.
Put on faith, put on love as our armour for the fight.
And the promise of salvation in our eyes.
On that day the proud will fall, the humble rise.

We belong to the day, we were bought with Jesus blood.
Soon he comes as the Judge in the power of his word.
We must tell of his salvation while we wait,
For the day when Jesus comes will be too late.

We belong to that day and that day belongs to Jesus. Those who are married know that the time of engagement is all consuming, you are continually preparing for and anticipating your wedding day; it’s a very exciting time. Do we live with joy and anticipation for the day that we will be united with Christ and revel in his glory?

Those that consider faithfulness and monogamy something to be valued might also be able to put themselves in God’s place. The bible describes Israel (I’m sure us aswell, as people who’ve turned from God) as adulterous people. What do you think Jesus would think if you turned up on that day and said “I’ve made the rounds a little bit, but I’m sure now that you’re the one I want.” Or how would God feel to walk into the bathroom at the wedding chapel and to find you naked with someone else?
So even though we are promised salvation only by what Jesus has done, we have been bought out of slavery to sin by Jesus’ blood, which means we don’t have to give in to sin any more. We should live in anticipation of that day, preparing to be Jesus’ bride and telling others so that he might be their rock and refuge from the coming wrath.

Finally, the bridge:

Oh, if ten thousand years go by we will wait.
Let us tell of his great love.
He will come, for his patience means salvation!

I got an email this morning about my online Gen Ed, Graphics and Contemporary Society. I’m all registered in the system and I’ve made my profile on the site – it was our first task to write our profile and pick a graphic to use as an avatar and explain why we picked it. Then we have to comment on other people’s pictures and their descriptions. It looks like two other people have registered so far (more than that are enrolled I believe) and neither have made ther profile so I can’t start the discussions yet.

The other night at the Archbishop talk the minister of my church made such a point of telling me (twice) that he was going to reply to an email that I sent him months ago on some questions from sermons. He hasn’t.

For the last three Wednesday nights the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Philip Jensen has been doing a series of talks titled “Why I am a reformed protestant evangelical Christian.” (I’m not sure if commas belong in that sentence) I thought last night’s talk was really good and I wanted to share some things that were said. I might do the previous weeks’ talks another time.

Woah! I just discovered this is the last week of the “official” Thursday Thirteen. Thanks for the Thursdays everyone! Obviously Thursdays will continue, not sure about the thirteens though…

Thirteen things from the Archbishop’s talk on Evangelicalism. 1. The evangelical revival (18th and 19th century) was an extension of the reformation, or “the reformation coming to life”. The ideals of evangelical religion (to spread God’s word not out of obligation but purely because of the love God has shown us) are from and go back to the bible. Unlike a common impression given out (especially by we stuffy Anglicans) experience does matter, but scripture still reigns supreme. 2. We are “justified by faith”. Funnily enough this is a feature of the reformation and protestant religion and evangelicalism. We are saved by trusting that Jesus bore the wrath of God and set us free from sin on the cross, it is therefore nothing we have done that makes us righteous before God. One could claim that it’s us who chooses to trust him… well, this point would get far too long if I tried to discuss that (I don’t even entirely understand it). 3. An excellent consequence of the above point is that we can have complete assurance of salvation. There have been Christians that did not have such assurance (including Richard Johnson, the chaplain with the First Fleet and one of the first evangelicals to bring the word of God to Australiait wasn’t clear to me in the lecture but Samuel Johnson was the Johnson to not grasp assurance) and it can be difficult to maintain such trust. We can have it though because it does not depend on our ability to repent and obey. 4. A potential danger which can diminish points 2 and 3 is down-playing the seriousness of sin. We can start to believe in the good works we do, even if we only do them because of what God has done, even if they are God’s work, it’s not those or our morals or anything else that save us. By down-playing sin we could detract from the work Jesu did when he died. While Jesus death might be a good example of sacrificial love and it doesn’t show that God knows how we may suffer, first and foremost it’s God redeeming people – “while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:6) 5. Apparently and evangelical emphasis is a need for conversion. I’d never really thought about this before, not specifically. He prefaced this point by saying of course people were converted before the evangelical revival, the concept just wasn’t as emphasised or understood. He said that it was important that Christians be converted, to turn to God in trust and repentance, that infant baptism isn’t good enough. It seems sort of obvious that infant baptism won’t save you if you don’t trust God in the rest of your life, I don’t think he was saying that infant baptism means nothing and you should do it again either. I think this point was also related to a more Calvinistic approach where you gain faith through education and knowing what the bible says about salvation, where as many can know, but not all will trust. 6. “It’s not the amount of your faith, but the greatness of your saviour that saves you.” Sometimes I look at the bible and recognise my own lack of faith and am saddened. I should remember this statement and rejoice. 7. Romans 5:2-5 – “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” 8. Perfection is something that belongs to our future, Jesus will usher in a new age with a new heaven and a new earth. Until then we will not be perfect. In this and Romans 5 I should realise that struggling is good. If I cease struggling I will not build maturity and character. If I no longer struggle then I either think I’m perfect, in which case I’ve fallen away from the gospel (1Jn 1:8) or I have given up, I don’t know if giving up equals falling away or if it’s a just saved kind of life. 9. I used to have the urge to add a bunch of conditions onto my definition of a Christian. I’d say a Christian was someone who trusted Jesus and lived accordingly etc. These things I added were essentially the things that the bible describes as flowing from true faith. I think I added them because I object to someone calling themselves a Christian but living as if God bestowing his grace upon us didn’t cost him anything. Since God is the only one who can see our hearts and Jesus is the one who will judge I must force myself to remove these conceptions from my mind. A Christian is someone who trusts in Jesus alone for salvation. That’s all. We’ll all have our own struggles in our lives, failing at some things doesn’t make us any less saved. 10. God hasn’t poured out his love on us making us more loving (see no. 7). It’s just that he has poured into our hearts his love for us. Essentially so that we may know him and his love, we are given love so that we can understand his love for us. (Ephesians 3) 11. There are diary entries and records that Richard Johnson, chaplain of the First Fleet, was the first man to preach a sermon in Australia. Samuel Marsden the first to do so in New Zealand. Richard Johnson hated being in Australia but he stayed to share the gospel with the lost souls that needed it – Jesus came to save the criminals too. Thank goodness he did or our country may have a very different shape. 12. In this series of talks there was some comparison of beliefs, more so in the other talks, but in this talk as he spoke about how evangelism in the 18th and 19th centuries was closely related to looking after people who needed it and the development of societies to help, including RSPCA, Bernados, and an organisation for the protection of children. He made the point that many evangelicals were also Arminians (as opposed to Reformists whose beliefs differ on topics including election), it made me realise that perhaps some of the things that I get upset about when people differ in opinion on them really don’t matter. If people believe in Christ alone, faith alone and scripture alone (yes all three things alone and at the same time! :P ) then they are brothers in Christ. That’s a bit related to no. 9 as well I think. 13. There was some banter about the various millennial theories. The main streams of thought on the end times include Pre-Millennialism, Post-Millennialism and Amillennialism. I know I’ve looked at these topics at least twice. I don’t remember what they’re about! I hope to find a reliable reading resource on the topic soon. Peter Jensen is an Amillennialist. (Or am I adding an incorrect negative prefix to the word Millennialism?) Not part of the talk was a mention at the start of the night of three answers to prayer – prayers by other people that either affected the Archbishop, or people he knows. Hearing those things reminded how lacking my prayer-life is and how independent from God I am in that area. I struggle with this partly because I think God knows everything and what could I possibly say to him, partly because I know that God can do things, but there are some things that I think he won’t do. I hate these attitudes and want to be rid of them. If it’s a good thing to pray for then just pray for it and maybe God will answer with a “yes”, if he answers “no” then I have lost nothing and gained practice in depending on God. Put your Thursday Thirteen link here.

Tonight was the final of the Archbishop’s Abbotsleigh lectures for this year. The topic for tonight was evangelism. I thought it was excellent! I hope to write more about it tomorrow. :grin:

Found some interesting things that may be very boring to some but I thought I’d share them anyway.
Thoughts On Music
ESV Bible RSS Feeds
Uninspiring Vista – I thought this article was kind of funny, from an ex-die-hard-Windows-fan. I think many of the bugs described in the article are fixed, but Jun from work says Vista still sucks RAM like there’s no tomorrow – actually he would never say that, those are my words, but he said the memory gets used up quickly.

Sometimes I feel in despair because I’m not sure what to believe. It seems that I get mixed messages from people I want to believe. From one party I hear that the Bible is plain and can be understood, from another I hear that Genesis would have been plain if I were a 1500BC Hebrew, from yet another I hear that passages in the New Testament can’t properly be understood without learning New Testament Greek. So which is it and why should I bother? Is there one way to understand the words of the bible? Does it actually matter that people think differently about it. Can we truly agree with with the main message of the bible when we differ on the peripheral messages? How can we know that we got the message of Jesus correct if we don’t know whether we got the message of creation, or destruction correct?

I have a problem, in that I feel like things should be plain and there should be a right. Not that things are necessarily easy, I’m all for intellectual battle; I just want everyone in the room to agree at the end of the battle (not on all topics, but ones that are from a passage of scripture). When things are too hard and too many people disagree it upsets me because I feel like I don’t understand anything. Which isn’t really true at all, some things I understand (somewhat) and some things I don’t. It will always be that way I suspect. The main problem is that when things go belly-up in my mind I don’t know where to go next. If I’ve struggled through something and can’t understand it, I don’t say “okay lets set that aside and come back to it in the future” I just stop, I get lost, I don’t just start reading a different book of the bible. I feel like I have to do everything systematically. If I start a book I need to finish it and if I can’t then I stop. It’s not giving up, it’s more like a permanent state of confusion.

I need to change this. I need to be able to evaluate things for myself and not mind so much if people differ on a topic of little consequence. I need to just read the bible and let God speak – if something’s confusing I shouldn’t get bogged down in it.

Why, for something so important to me, can’t I just get it right? Why can’t I just read and pray and trust?

There’s a good song by Jeremy Camp called Understand:

To know that you are everything I need you to be
You’re my ever present help in time of need

I know you understand it all
So why don’t I get back on my feet again?

For something a little more light-hearted; there’s a “Klingon Language Version of the World English Bible” available for the Sword Project.