Does Al Gore know about this?

Some friends loaned us a DVD of a Canadian comedy called “Corner Gas”. It is kind of a mix of Seinfeld and Drew Carry. Takes place in Dog River Saskatchewan and is loaded with dry sarcasm. In a Seinfeld fashion, the shows are usually about nothing. The Drew Carry side is that the lead is just a normal guy. He runs a gas station in a small town 40 kilometers from nowhere. Mostly clean humor with a Canadian accent. I just found out that you can’t order the tapes here in the US. They only ship them to Canadian addresses. So, if you know any Canadians, have them record the show for you!

A while ago I began to suspect that the mark of the beast was not an actual physical mark, but rather it represented mental ascent (mark on forehead) and/or physical conformity (mark on hand) to the ways of the beast. I first came across this in some literature from the World Wide Church of God (back before they abandoned their heresy) and it got me thinking. It made sense but I really didn’t have anything to support such an interpretation, I just liked it.

Well this morning when I was reading Exodus I came across this:

And when in time to come your son asks you, “What does this mean?” you shall say to him, “By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.”It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. – Exodus 13:14-16 ESV

What shall be a mark for them? Was it a phylactery? No, it was the redeeming of the firstborn and the telling of it to their children. Doing and remembering or passing it on. It seems reasonable that John would have this kind of thing in mind since he often used Old Testament images in Revelation. This also makes sense since he said that this calls for wisdom to understand. Wisdom is more than just knowing or being smart, it is knowing the right thing to do and doing it. Wisdom involves action.

So it seems that despite the paranoia, bar codes are not the mark of the beast. Neither are chips implanted under the skin or any other physical mark. How can a physical mark condemn you? We’re saved by grace through faith, not by grace through lack of a tattoo.

Dr. Grant Osborne made an interesting observation in class last week. He was lecturing on the temptation of Jesus and how Jesus responded to Satan. He said that the lesson was not “memorize Scripture so that you too can defeat Satan” and I agree. That doesn’t seem to be what we’re supposed to take away from the story. What he said was that you need to go back and read the passages Jesus quoted in their context. All of them were of Israel failing and yet the story is of Jesus succeeding. The point is that the New Israel, that is Christ, succeeds when Old Israel didn’t. Jesus is the Messiah and he redeems failure.

Now, I haven’t gone and looked them up yet and I don’t necessarily follow the “Jesus as the New Israel” line, though I have heard it before. But it is still an interesting observation.

I was reading Exodus 1&2 this morning and I noticed something I had overlooked before. I remembered that Pharaoh ordered the destruction of Hebrew baby boys and that Moses was saved by being put in a basket and placed in the Nile. What I didn’t remember was how Pharaoh had ordered their execution: “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile” (Exo 1:22 ESV). I find it interesting (but not earth shatteringly important) that the method of destruction was also the way of escape. It was a way of escape for Moses and Moses was a way of escape for the Hebrews. God delivered them through Moses.

I just really like it when God works those little details like that. I mean Pharaoh could have commanded that they all be killed in some other way. Or he could have specified no method at all and left it to the desecration (or lack of) of his soldiers. But God ordered it to be like this. He is Lord of the details as much as he is of the major events.

Below are two responses from two different religions to the tsunami. I’ve edited them slightly to make it a bit less obvious and to get to the heart of the issue in each one. See if you can identify which is the Christian.

Response1: It is through the will of [God] that this has happened but then the positive side is the way mankind has reacted. People will question why it is taking place,why the enormity of loss of human life, but it is that aspect which is beyond us and it is our firm belief that any such disaster, anything of that nature happening, is through the will of [God]. [God] knows best. We certainly have the right to question. It’s a time for us to really think of ourselves, our deeds, our acts, and we need to ponder over this. It’s a sign that none of us are going to live for an indefinite period, therefore it is a sign for us to do something very positive. Death always takes place. When a person is born one thing guaranteed is death but what form it takes is always beyond us. People of faith need to have a very firm belief in [God], that at the end of the day it is through his will and it is for the betterment of mankind at large.

Response 2: In this litigious age we are always looking for someone to blame and in the absence of anyone else we look to blame [God] because it is a “natural” event. It’s quite clear the world is riddled with inequality but I don’t accept the idea that [God] is sitting up there mischievously tweaking the strings. In the case of the tsunami, [people of our faith] are challenged to live out our response. Until now at least, we have not been found wanting in our response. [People of our faith] have been among those at the forefront of the relief effort.

Okay, for bonus points, identify the religion of the both quotes.
Once you think you have it, check your answers at the source.