(New Living Translation)

Wisdom for Life

1 A good reputation is more valuable than the most expensive perfume. In the same way, the day you die is better than the day you are born.
2 It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.

4 A wise person thinks much about death, while the fool thinks only about having a good time now.

(NIV) (NASB)

I recommend you read the original version of Luke chapter 2 for yourself (linked above).

Just a quick summary today:

So, the Romans are doing a census, and Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph go the 6miles up the road to Bethlehem to register. Everyone else in the house of David is in Bethlehem to register, too, so there’s no room at the inn, and they stay in a manger. They probably weren’t the only ones. Mary gives birth to Jesus.

An angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds in a nearby field and told them a Saviour, Christ the Lord, had been born. The angel told them where and how to find the Saviour. The heavenly host appeared briefly to sing of God’s glory. The shepherds went to see the baby Saviour and spread the word of what they had seen. Mary was unphased by the shepherds appearance, or what they said.

On the eighth day they went to circumsize Jesus, and they ran into Simeon. Simeon, you see, had been shown by the Holy Spirit that he would see the “Lord’s Christ” before he died, and was basically waiting around in the temple to see him so he could die. Simeon was “Moved by the Spirit” when he saw Jesus, sang a song praising God that he could finally die having seen the Saviour, then prophesized about Jesus’ life to come.

That same day another prophet, Anna, who had been widowed after 7 years marriage and who then spent the rest of her days fasting and praying in the Temple until she was 84 years old, came up to Mary and Joseph and Jesus and gave thanks to God and talked to everyone around who was hoping that God would send redemption to Jerusalem.

Finally, Mary and Joseph returned from Jerusalem, where the circumsicion et al had taken place, to their home in Nazareth. Jesus grew up a bit.

When He was 12 and the whole family went to the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus stayed behind when His family began the trip home. After a day’s travelling, Mary and Joseph noticed He wasn’t with them, and they turned back to try to find Him. Another day’s journey back, and a third day searching and they found Him studying at the Temple with the rabbis and biblical scholars. They asked Him why He’d treated them that way, and He asked them why they didn’t look for Him in His “Father’s house”. Then he was obedient again and went home with them and all was well and he grew up some more.

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Yep. That’s Luke chapter 2. Quickly, anyway.

So, that last post is the first of what I hope is a long, long list of posts I make as I try to study the entire Bible. I’ll try to study at least a chapter a day most days. This is something for me, for my own understanding, since I’ve never actually read every single book and chapter in the bible. The “summary” I wrote is also primarily for me; if I can re-write it in my own words, I not only know that I’ve gone through the whole chapter in enough detail to understand it, but I can go back in the future and see what I wrote, see what I was thinking. Then if I have an additional interpretation at a later date, or a more refined understanding, or if I personally want to cross-reference something, I can go back and add comments (or updates to the post) to extend what I’ve said.

And hey, if you read my summary and disagree, you’re welcome to comment yourself. And if you read part of it and want to read more, there are links to the original verses, so even people without their own bible can read along with the actual text instead of my interpretive summary of it. As always, I encourage you to read the bible for yourself in whatever (or as many) translations as you are comfortable with, and make your own choices about what it’s about.

Oh, and hey, if there is another religious text that you think I should be reading (such as the Koran or the Book of Mormon or the Mahabarata) and would like to donate a copy of the book to me (and/or link me to a website with the full and easy-to-access text), I will certainly consider reading up to three such texts concurrently at approximately the same rate, and with the same level of personal study, and with my own reading posted on the site as well as a link to (or quote of) the original source. I was raised Christian, but I’m glad to study other religions with an open mind.

(NIV) (KJV) (NASB)

I have just read Luke chapter 1 in three translations (linked above, though I read mine from paper editions), and I encourage you to read at least one version of it rather than just my quick summary, which follows:

So Luke starts by saying that many people have written accounts of Jesus’ life, and since Luke has investigated “everything from the beginning”, he thought he should put together his account of it for … uhhh… some guy named “Theophilus” whom historians don’t really seem to be able to agree was really a specific person and not “one who loves God” as is the meaning of that name.

Then he says there’s this older couple, living in the hill country of Judea, named Zecharaiah and Elizabeth. They are upright people, but they don’t have any children, so they’re looked down upon by their community. One day, when Zechariah’s name got pulled out of a hat (or however they chose lots back then), and he was changing the incense at the altar by the “Most Holy Place” in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he would have a son. Zechariah didn’t believe him, so Gabriel made him mute (unable to speak) until after the baby was born and named. Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would never drink alcohol and would be filled with the Holy Spirit before he was even born, and that he would bring many people back to the Lord. Since he was mute, Zechariah couldn’t tell anyone what he’d seen, but he tried to communicate with hand gestures. Elizabeth became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months, and was totally happy that she would no longer be disgraced as childless.

Then in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel went to Mary to tell her she would give birth to a son. And not just any son; her son would be named Jesus, would take the throne of David, rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom would never end. She was a virgin and was pledged to be married to Joseph, and she didn’t understand how that was possible at first. Then Gabriel told her she would be “come upon” by the Holy Spirit and overshadowed by the Most High. He also told her of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, as if to impress her. Mary was not phased at all, and had no more questions.

Mary went straight over to Elizabeth’s place, where she stayed until Elizabeth gave birth three months later. As soon as Elizabeth saw Mary, the baby in her womb jumped and filled her with the Holy Spirit, and Elizabeth knew that Mary was pregnant with the Lord and that Mary had believed Gabriel immediately and without question. Mary sang a song praising the lord.

When Elizabeth gave birth, everyone wanted to name the boy after his father, but Elizabeth said he would be named “John”. Apparently this was a ridiculous thing to say, but when they asked Zechariah, who still couldn’t speak, he wrote on a tablet that the boy should be named “John”. This was apparently even more ridiculous, because the entire region of Judea gossipped about it. Luckily, Zechariah was once more again able to speak, and he sang a song praising God and prophesizing about his new son.

Then, apparently Elizabeth and Zechariah died and John lived in the desert until he was about 30.

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Yep. Luke chapter 1. How about that?