So, two things:
1, the bizness:
2, I ran out of pages from issue 289/290 to run in front of Dave's Genesis Question commentaries. Dave suggested I use Jewish, Christian or Muslim religious images. But then, Superman's Frenemy: David Birdsong sent in a bunch of (so far) unused Cerebus in Hell? images and now I'ma gonna run them. So:The Jaka's Story remaster has a Starcode! APR191258 First month orders will be signed and numbered! "However many orders there are in the next 2 weeks[?], that's how many signed copies there will be. Diamond will order over the initial orders by some other amount, and those will become inventory books available after the initial order...but they won't be signed." [Thanks Sean!-Matt]
Greg Hyland is Kickstartering the second volume of the Monster Atlas, and if he gets another two hundred and seventy-nine bucks CAD ($209 USD), it'll have Gerhard art like the first volume. It'll look a little something like this.
There's more auctions up at ComicsLink (one day left). And there's a special AMOC auction for the cover of Green Dante/Green Virgil. (John Christian bid $250 USD and is winning.)
If you're waiting for a Indiegogo live for the Postcard Kickstarter, like the one for the birthday card Kickstarter, I don't know if there will be one. But all the postcards should be in the mail. So watch for the postman.
The remastered Volume 1 is available digitally for $9.99.
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28 December 14
Hi Troy & Mia!
Continuing with Mr. Ross' citations:
Psalms 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his
righteousness: for God judge Himself.
Psalms 50 appears to me to be a mixture of
God and YHWH, beginning in the first verse with "The mighty God, the YHWH
hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down
thereof." It would seem to me a
matter of inference as to whether the "God" in the first verse should
be "god" -- or, rather, "god" in quotation marks -- if, as
appears to be the case, it refers to the YHWH.
I would suggest, in fact, that 50:1-2
actually constitute a single coherent thought, expressing the dichotomy between
God and YHWH:
The mighty "god", the YHWH hath
spoken and -- called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down
thereof out of Sion, the perfection of beauty -- God hath shined.
That is, the two thoughts being expressed,
as I read them, are: a) the YHWH hath spoken and b) God hath shined. In between those two thoughts are attributes
which can be inferred as attributes of the YHWH or God. To me, they appear to be attributes of the
YHWH: the YHWH was called the earth --
in fact IS the earth; the YHWH is also "Day" which, by definition, is
"from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof"; the YHWH
comes "out of Sion" -- the Jewish Revelation that began in this epoch
with A Dam.
"The perfection of beauty" I
would also infer as an attribute of the YHWH.
God being Spirit, I don't think a physical attribute would apply to
Him. "No one has seen God at any
time" whereas "the perfection of beauty" would seem to me to
require physical sight to establish.
"God hath shined", I think, sums
up the nature of God as expressed in John 1:
"the light that lighteth every man that comes into the
world". It certainly can be
inferred as being physical: a physical
shining, but, personally, I don't read it that way. That, to me, is part of the dichotomy:
physical light is an eroded and degraded form of the Light which is referred to
as being OF God. Which seems to me to
fit the meaning being expressed -- at one end of the spectrum you have the YHWH
and at the other end of the spectrum you have God and God's spiritual
"shining" dwarfs that of the physical "shining" of the
YHWH.
Although we are certainly aware that the
earth is quite comely now that we've seen it from space.
I think 50:3 to the first half of 50:6 are
actually declarations of the YHWH:
Our god shall come, and shall not keep
silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round
about him. He shall call to the heavens
from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me: those that
have made a covenant with me by sacrifice [The KJV puts a period here, but I
think it makes more sense as a single continuous thought] and the heavens
shall declare his righteousness.
It strikes me as a series of sabre-rattling
provocations by YHWH toward God: "a
fire shall devour before him"; "very tempestuous round about
him". "He shall call to the
heavens from above" seems to me a misconstruction of the YHWH of the
limitations of his/her/its boundaries while remaining forensically
accurate: calling FROM above, where the
heaven/heavens/earth's atmosphere are -- just not from ABOVE THE HEAVENS (only
God could do that).
"Gather my 'saints' together unto me:
those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice" seems to me to be
the YHWH, again, being provocative by reminding God of the sacrifice of the
cattle over which man has NOT been given dominion. "for God, judge Himself".
Selah, usually signals the conclusion of a
thought or a Psalm in the Psalms, which I think is what this is: God, Himself, will verify that man has not
been given dominion over the cattle so everyone who has is one of the YHWH's
'saints", under the YHWH's dominion.
And, as I read it, then God responds, first
verifying that, yes, He will judge the matter just as the YHWH asserts:
Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O
Israel, and I will testify against thee. I, God, thy God
But then qualifies it:
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,
or thy burnt offerings, continually before me.
I will take no bullock out of thy house, he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest, mine, the
cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all
the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field with me [The KJV translates
the Hebrew "with me" as "mine" which I think misses the
distinction being made as the verse progresses -- that, yes, "every beast
of the forest is mine" -- God's possession -- but that God isn't
possessive OF them: they are WITH God
and God is WITH them, as God is with all his creations even -- not to put too
fine a point on it -- the YHWH] If I
were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world mine, and the fulness
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto
God thanksgiving and pay thy vows to the Most High. And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I
will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.
"Pay thy vows", I think, sums it
up. Vow what you are going to do TO God,
and then do it. Pretty simple. Difficult to manage, but simple. And, it seems to me, God is addressing this
as much to the YHWH as He is to His people, Israel: stop trying to create effects, manipulating
men into sacrificing cattle to prove a point.
Pay THY vows to God -- whoever you are.
Offer Him THANKSGIVING.
But, unto the wicked [not mentioning any
-- cough cough YHWH -- names] God saith, What hast thou to do, to declare My
Statutes or that thou shouldest take My
covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest
instruction and castest My Words behind thee.
And, as I read the text, the YHWH then
responds artfully and poisonously:
When thou sawest a thief, then thou
consendtest with him
Basically, what the YHWH is saying is that
God -- because He has witnessed the sacrifice of the cattle by men and hasn't
done anything to prevent it or punish it -- is consenting both to the thief of
the cattle and to the thievery, itself, of the cattle. Which is, technically, true. The point that the YHWH misses is that God's
interest is in the expression OF free will, not the imposition UPON free
will. If -- by means of Draconian punishments
-- God would dissuade men from the ritual sacrifices of cattle, all that would
prove is that God is powerful enough to impose Draconian punishments. Allowing the YHWH to declare God's statutes
and to take God's covenant into the YHWH's mouth makes for a very, very,
long-term bone of contention in the Temple sacrifices lasting thousands of
years and with drastic consequences.
But, ultimately -- thousands of years after
this exchange -- Judaism abandons ritual sacrifice and God wins his FREE WILL
point.
and thy portion was with adulterers.
If I'm reading it correctly, I think this
is equally artful and poisonous, referring to Judah's adultery with Tamar in
Genesis 38. Which requires a lot of
chutzpah on the YHWH's part since it would never have come to that point if the
YHWH wasn't counselling that Judah's son Onan should "raise up seed to his
brother": that is, basically commit
incestuous adultery in the
interests of procreation -- and if the YHWH hadn't then struck Onan dead for
"spilling his seed on the ground" instead of impregnating Tamar.
The YHWH, I'm pretty sure -- in the upper
reaches of his/her/its consciousness -- is aware of all this which only
accentuates the artful poison of accusing God of casting His portion with
adulterers. The capstone is:
Thou [Hebrew: sendest; KJV: givest]
thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest, speakest against thy brother:
thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
That is, the YHWH -- here taking literally
the "elder being/younger being" series of enactments and,
thereby, implying that the YHWH and God are literal brothers, like Jacob and
Esau and that there exists a Mother God to both -- is flatly enunciating the endlessly circuitous -- and blasphemous
-- he God/she God/it God argument.
To which God replies:
These things hast THOU done [emphasis mine],
and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy
self: I will reprove thee, and set in order before thine eyes.
Which, to me, points in the direction of
the long-term thrust of what it is that God is doing and the reason that God
doesn't interfere in actions borne of free will: either those of men or of the
YHWH.
Even sticking strictly to the Temple
sacrifice as subject matter, it is, ultimately "set in order" before
the YHWH's eyes and before everyone else's eyes who cares to look at it. It becomes a genuine reproof, not imposed by
God in His omnipotence but allowed to play itself out until it is "set in
order" as the clockwork order of creation unwinds. Reality will always
assert itself over falsehood because that's how God constructed creation.
The YHWH attempts a recovery:
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest
I tear in pieces and none to deliver.
Again, this is artful and poisonous: basically saying that anyone who forgets God
is prey for the YHWH and can be torn in pieces "and none to deliver".
Which is true, but avoids the point that the YHWH is largely disinterested in
men except insofar as men choose the YHWH -- or any form of "not God"
-- over God. The YHWH is manipulative
and false, but is concerned as much with free will as God is.
God's words have been directed at the YHWH,
but the YHWH appends the assertion to them as if God had expressed what He was
saying to men, generally, as a threat against men.
Which, if you believe that God and the YHWH
are the same being, the text would certainly support.
That is, if -- as Hugh Ross asserts --
Psalm 50 is a "monologue proof" of God's existence, it would hard to
infer in 50:22 anything other than a
threat by God to tear men in pieces if they forget Him.
God concludes by basically doing the same
thing: addressing men as if He hadn't
been addressing the YHWH -- while still including the YHWH in what is a general
observation of How Reality Works:
Who so offereth praise, glorifieth me: and
to him [Hebrew:
that ordereth way; KJV: ordereth <interpolated: his> conversation
<interpolated: aright] will I show the salvation of God.
Which restores the factual nature of the
text and the way that God works. The
Hebrew conveys the essence of the idea: you have to order way. There is obviously a subtext to the Hebraic
term that would include "conversation" (which you can only have
between two entities I would hasten to point out).
God's point: You have to do what you think
is right, high and low. Offer praise to
God because God is praiseworthy. Glorify
God because God is glorious.
Which, obviously, the YHWH isn't
doing. The YHWH's way consists in -- and
of -- artful and poisonous twisting of reality.
It would be one thing if the YHWH actually believed that God was
endorsing thievery or believed that God was casting His lot with
adulterers or believed that the YHWH and God were brothers, having a
common mother. There's really not much
that can be said to someone who a) doesn't actually believe any of that and,
yet, b) continues to find further artful and poisonous assertions of what that
entity already knows to be false -- no matter how often and how profoundly they
are proven to be false, as happened with the Temple sacrifice.
Particularly given that "time and
tide" will always refute each argument, self-evidently, without God having
to take any direct action.
Next week:
Psalm 85 (God willing)
A Very Happy New Year to you both and to
Drexel!
Best,
Dave
____________________________________________________________________________Next Time: Maybe I read some more Cerebus?-Past Matt
7 comments:
That drawing is amazing. It’s not often you see light and shade depicted like that in a line drawing.
Part 1 of 2
What I liked was the beginning of verse 1, 5, and the last verse. Knowing the scriptures in Hebrew and Greek are not necessary to understand them, but they do show how those scriptures came first to them in their showy way, which when over time by translation, the scriptures in a fashion still taste good like a food or wine, but if one wants to ask the Chef God what he used to prepare his feast, he will be glad to tell them in his own savoury way that can make one appreciate him so much more.
As I have said before, the Hebrew alphabet (Which comes from the first alphabet or proto Phoenician one, which scholars agree all other alphabets came out of, and which Egyptian hieroglyphics borrowed from.) are letters/words/and pictures all in one. What I liked about the ingredient words used in the 50th Psalm recipe, were how the word Psalm and that same word used in verse 1, are in Hebrew pronounced Mizmor (Our word mesmerize comes from this word.), and comes from the word zamor, which means to strike up (The band) in that musical way, because transliterated it is mzmwr, which are the Hebrew words mem, zayin, mem, waw, and rosh, which are pictures of waters, a plough, waters, a curtain hook, and a king, and mixed all together it shows like a menu description how the Psalm Special, is like a savory, sharp, juicy, spicy, and bitter tasting feast of scriptures. The zayin plough also gives the music its plucking of the harp or such quality to it, and once finished the reader or listener has been strengthened by all of their daily Spiritual nutritional requirements.
Asaph in Hebrew is pronounced as Lasaph, which means to gather, which transliterated is Lasap, which is lamed, (h-)aleph, samech, (h-)aleph, and pe, which are a shepherd’s rod, 2 yoked oxen, a grape vine trestle smock, 2 yoked oxen, and a mouth (Meaning communicating face to face.), which together imply Asaph means a guiding supportive advocate. Jews love such explanations to their language and names and hold it as a special heritage, but the more needful thing being pointed to with Psalm and Asaph, is how it pointed to Jesus coming, dying on his cross, and saving all peoples. Psalm points to Jesus’ gospel being both living waters, but also correcting, and by his lifting up (The waw curtain hook used for holding up Moses’ veil separating the way into the holiest of holies.), he the king’s cursed death saves us all. Asaph points to how Jesus is our teacher and good shepherd, lifted up as the cut off and harvested grape vine, who opened the way behind the veil to his Father. I like how Psalm and Asaph begin the Psalm, which together shows Jesus is the masters of assemblies, with his words of God being like goads and nails fastening our old laws and regulations to his cross.
The end of verse 1 ties in with the word mizmor kind of rhyming and relating with the other Hebrew words mizrach semes (Or Shemesh, and so this points to Beth Shemesh also in the scriptures, or also called Sychar (Which means darkness/night/sin. Our word sick comes from this)), which in English means from the rising of the sun, and so both words mean the irradiated rays of the sun rising (Striking up) in the East (As Dave likes rightly saying points to (In my opinion in part to it tying in with Sychar.) idolatry (Satan) worship coming from the east in scriptures.). What I like is how Dave in Spirit inference naturally saw this implied in the words, which he says points to YHWH, and which I say shows Jesus the Son (Sun) being manifested into the world to eradicate the works of the devil. The -ch in mizrach is the Hebrew letter shut (khet/chet), which is a shuttle to make 'shewy' curtains on, which points to the veil in the temple or the house of the rising son (From the grave). Mizrach also comes from the word zarach, which means more so the sun than the east, and its last appearance in the Old Testament, is for the scripture prophetically saying in the last book at the end, that soon the sun of righteousness would rise with healing in his wings.
Part 2 of 2
In verse 5 it says, "Gather together to me my saints those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." In Hebrew the word Gather is Asaph. The word saints means kindness in the shut, samech, and daleth (A door) way, and its New Testament equivalent is God's undeserved kindness that Dave loves saying from Romans. Picture the ark coming to rest on Ararat, and Paul reaching Appi Forum in Rome after his boat ride. "Those who have made," comes from the word karath and means God's not slack hand rent in twain the sacrifice, which points to the veil meaning Jesus' flesh. Our word karate comes from karath. "By" descends from the word alah, which means to ascend upon on high. When Jacob wrestled with the Man, the Man said, "Let me go it is the Allah Sychar (breakings of the day)." Jesus is Allah's Lamb offering that Jacob wrestled for out of season while also toiling with the unseen Satan (Like with Job) trying to kill him. Light and dark. In the last verse, God says praise for him like this is the type of acceptable sacrifice to him that he, will have him shew to them the salvation of God to. Salvation is from the word Yesha (Yeshua or Jesus). It is written, "God shall save his people."
Is there any way I can get all of these (48 and counting) letters in a single page? It seems incredibly time-consuming to go through the search engine/labels to try to make sense of this whole thing. I can't figure out context at all. I don't know what Dave is responding to. Didn't this start with him quoting some book?
I really want to follow along but am lost.
Dave, try clicking the little link labeled "Bible Commentaries" at the bottom of this post. You'll get them all, but in reverse chronological order - so to read them all in order (NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........) you'd have to scroll all the way down & click "older posts" numerous times.
Maybe there's a slicker way, but I'm a luddite.
I think the book Dave is quoting from is The Genesis Question: Scientific Advances and the Accuracy of Genesis by Hugh Norman Ross from 2001. Here is a description of it from the book itself:
""Everyone knows the Bible teaches scientific nonsense" is a commonly held misconception. When pushed for examples, many point Genesis 1-11. In this book, Dr. High Ross shows how those very chapters hold some of the strongest scientific evidence for the Bible's supernatural accuracy thus reinforcing its reliability as the authoritative Word of God. "The Genesis Question" takes up the challenge in an intelligent and scientifically accurate response."
In relation to Genesis 1 - 11, the 11th Psalm says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?," which more so points to how Jesus is the slaughtered lamb foundation of the gospel before the world began, and how his 12 disciples are the other foundations built upon that chief foundation, as the 12 foundations of New Jerusalem in Revelation, and how the 12 gates of it are the 12 sons of Jacob, how God and Jesus are its temple and throne (And, not an actual building or throne.), and how all of the other Saints are the living bricks, with Jesus as that cornerstone, that fitly holds the entire Spiritual house of God together. Your best bet or anyone's is to read the scriptures for yourself in a book of scriptures of your own and to pray about it.
If you want to be saved, call upon the name of the Lord, repent of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. My conversion was like Dave's and happened when I too was praying, when if felt like 5 swooshes also went up out of me, as like Dave said, and my stresses totally left me too and I felt brandnew, and I heard the Small Still Voice better than Cerebus did, when in the tent with Jaka, and Jesus told me,"Read my word and tell people your testimony!"
I tell you what. If you or any of the other readers, that are likewise intereted in God and Jesus like I, Dave, and others are (Al Nichols, Billy Beech, Troy and Mia, Trevor Grace, and others, are you listening?), if anyone, being the first reader who contacts Dave about the 11th Psalm foundation analogy, relates it to Jack Kirby's Asgard with its city sitting on a mountain, which to me points to Jesus as that Rock, with its rainbow bridge, which to me points to the scriptures saying a rainbow surrounds God, his throne, and New Jerusalem, because his Light reflects off the 12 multi-colored stone foundations of the apostles, which 9 of the such same stones use to belong to the other Son of Fresh Oil (Something Dave has been talking about lately.) beside Jesus (Satan), and covered him, while God's Light reflected off him, but now we get to cover God's glory with Jesus Lamb, in a better way Dave once said David had Abishag the virgin covered him,...
And, you can get Dave on one of his weeky updates to comment on how, all of this to him relates to how Jesus, Lazarus, and Mary sat together at the table in that fulfilled virgin way, while Martha served in that Bathsheba way, and to tie that in with Dave's recent Ezekiel commentaries about, how God said that the Levites would serve at his throne, but the Kohatite Levites, helping the others at it in that Martha way, and tie in that into the 144,000 virgins in Revelation, and tie all of this together into Dave's recent remarks, that a house made by hands can not contain God, and neither can his peoples be numbered like he promised Abraham, I will donate $20.00 to Dave to be used on groceries, if he at least promises to also use part of that money to buy one box of City Hall raisins (The kind that he gets from there every Saturday.), and shows it to us on Cerebus Live and reads off the address of the people who distributed it, and eats some on air.
Thanks again for the great comments everyone.
I am so sorry. The other comment here about Jesus marked unknown is by me. I thought using Bloggers suggestion to use my Google account to get notifications, would include my name but it doesn't and we're not suppossed to leave any unknown comments? Suggestions anyone? Thanks. If I can edit them, I don't know how or would a Blogger account fix this.
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