by emma | Jul 16, 2006 | Books, Words
“All translation is inherently mistranslation. The particular genuis of a language cannot be carried over into another. By this criteron every translation is an adulteration of the original, a watering down, a reduction. And if the language being translated is the word of God, and translation by its very nature is falsification, then we’d better not do it.
Oh?
Preference for the literal has a long life. But I have come to believe that it is an unthinking preference. My experience… cautions me that the peril of the literal is that it ignores the inherent ambiguities in all language, takes the source language prisoner and force-marches it, shackled and chained, into an English that nobody living speaks. The language is lobotomized – the very quality that gives language it’s genuis, it’s capacity to reveal what we otherwise would not know, is excised.”
An excerpt from Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson.
(Interested in the title of this post? It is a quote by Luther, grandfather of reformation translators. Not what you expected, eh?!)
by emma | Jun 18, 2006 | Books, Faith, Words
We do violence to the Biblical revelation when we “use” it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide colour and spice in our otherwise bland lives. That always results in a kind of “decorator spirituality” – God as enhancement. Christians are not interested in that; we are after something far bigger. When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.
[Eat This Book – Eugene Peterson]
Can you picture God telling someone (maybe an angel in heaven or something) and including us in His story? Just a thought. I love that God is much bigger than I could ever figure out! Long may I continue to be woven into His story. What are we after? Simply… God. More of Him, less of me.
by emma | Mar 17, 2006 | Books, Faith, School
“Moses has been tending sheep in this region for 40 years… How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time? Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast… that we miss it?”
[Rob Bell – Velvet Elvis]
So I was reading through Velvet Elvis today and came across this passage, which has got me thinking about last week (One Way) again.
Last week I was completley blown away with Gods’ faithfulness and power and holiness. It just hit me all over again and made me feel so small (which I am) in comparison to God. So heres what I’m thinking about… God moved in a huge way in school last week, and I really felt like I was standing on holy ground on Thursday evening especially.
Standing in the assembly hall. In the same place I’ve stood for the last 7 years.
And it was holy ground.
Has it always been holy ground? Am I only noticing it now? Why haven’t I noticed it before? And if it has always been holy ground, then how should my attitudes change when I’m standing there?
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it…” (read more)
by emma | Feb 26, 2006 | Books, Words
“Because God has spoken, and everything else is commentary.”
So Ally lent me his Velvet Elvis book to have a read at, and wow. Rob Bell is a very gifted guy. I’m loving his insights into faith right now. The quote above is stuck in my mind, so I’m gonna be taking some time to figure out its impact on how I live.
The basic premise of Velvet Elvis is that faith is dynamic, not static. That we are constantly ‘repainting’ faith, because we are trying to understand better how to follow Jesus and what that looks like in action. It is understanding that methods change, that the principles (for example, church doctrines) we live by are someone’s interpretation of the Bible, and therefore could be wrong (i’m not saying they always are, but that they could be), and so they may change over time, as we understand the Bible more.
I guess thats why I love communities that let me ask questions. Because often the things I read in the Bible throw up more questions than answers. And so I question. For example, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Fairly simple statement, right? But… How do you define love? What if my definition of love is different from someone else’s definition? Who decides who is wrong and who is right? And who says their decision is the right one? And what does it mean for God to be love?
You see what I mean? Thats why I’m excited about this book. Thanks for letting me quesition. Thanks for joining me on the journey. Let’s keep adding to the commentary.
After all, the Bible was meant for community.
by emma | Jan 10, 2006 | Books
“I know I am not alone in this nagging sense of failing to measure up, a feeling of not being good enough as a woman. Every woman I’ve ever met feels it – something deeper than just the sense of failing at what she does. An underlying, gut feeling of failing at who she is. I am not enough, and, I am too much at the same time. Not pretty enough, not thin enough, not kind enough, not gracious enough, not disciplined enough. But too emotional, too needy, too sensitive, too strong, too opinionated, too messy. The result is Shame, the universal companion of women. It haunts us, nipping at our heels, feeding on our deepest fear that we will end up abandoned and alone.
After all, if we were better women – whatever that means – life wouldn’t be so hard. Right? We wouldn’t have so many struggles; there would be less sorrow in our hearts. Why is it so hard to create meaningfull friendships and sustain them? Why do our days seem so unimportant, filled not with romance and adventure but with duties and demands? We feel unseen, even by those who are closest to us. We feel unsought – that no one has the passion or the courage to pursue us, to get past our messiness to find the woman deep inside. And we feel uncertain – uncertain what it even means to be a woman; uncertain what it truly means to be femine; uncertain if we are or ever will be.
Aware of our deep failings, we pour contempt on our own hearts for wanting more. Oh, we long for intimacy and for adventure; we long to be the Beauty of some great story. But the desires set deep in our hearts seem like a luxury, granted only to those women who get their acts together. The message to the rest of us – whether from a driven culture or a driven church – is try harder.”
[John + Stasi Eldredge, Captivating]
Really long quote today guys I know, but bear with me. I started reading this new book this morning – I have been wanting to read it for a long time, but this morning a friend passed it on to me to read… and its strange. I cant put it down, and yet I have to at times, I come so close to tears (which is probably not a good idea sitting in school!). It feels like it was wrote just for me. Ever had that?
I mean, girls (women)… what do you think of this? I guess this is prob one of the areas I struggle with most often, trusting that I am made beautiful in Christ and He loves me and knows whats best for me – and has the best for me. So many times I’ve wondered what was wrong with ME for wanting more, was I wrong for wanting more, does God not have more for me?
Any thoughts?
by emma | Nov 12, 2005 | Books, Faith
“Religion is a big, beautiful, ugly thing. I read recently where Augustine said, “The church is a whore, and it is my mother.” And for reasons I don’t understand, Jesus loves the church. And I suppose He loves the church with the same strength of character He displays in His love for me. Sometimes it is difficult to know which is the greater miracle.”
[Don Millar]
You know, I finished this book about 3 weeks ago, and I have started a new book, but somehow I keep finding myself back at Millars’ words. I was thinking about the words above, when Millar says that it is difficult to imagine which is the greater miracle – God loving me, or God loving the church. And it’s so true. I’m sure we all grip about the church at some point, God knows I do – it’s not relevant, i’m not getting anything from it, the worship just isn’t my style… need I go on? The church is not perfect. As long as the church is filled with human beings, it will never be perfect. I think I forget that. I am not perfect, and I’m pretty sure no one in my local church is perfect. So then why do we expect our churches to be perfect?
Something else this got me thinking about was how Jesus loves me. Jesus really loves me. Did you catch that? Jesus really LOVES me. A friend painted me a picture of this a few nights ago,. heres how she put it… It’s like, God’s sitting in this big rocking chair, just rocking back and forth, as you do… and He’s just thinking about me. Thinking to Himself, ‘Wow. She’s so beautiful.’ ‘Wow, she’s just amazing.’ Can you picture that? God takes time to just sit and think about you. That thought blew my mind. How awesome. How loved.
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