Juggling Fire

Have you ever known anyone who uses baptism to get away with every dirty deed he or she does? Like, they do something “sinful,” and their first response is, “Well, I’ve been baptized, so I’m already forgiven.” If you know someone like this, or if you have been someone like this (I confess I’ve thought… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 29

Have you ever noticed that you can hear 10 good things and one bad thing, and that one bad thing seems to overshadow the 10 good things??? Weird, isn’t it? What is it about those bad things that make them stand out. Moses does kind of the opposite here: he lists about 10 bad things… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 28

Since I’m trying to pick out a few little details from these chapters, I chose today to focus on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. If you get out your Googler, you can see that the mountains lie just over the Jordan River just 39 kilometers apart in present-day West Bank, smack-dab in between the cities… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 27

What is it about a declaration - speaking something out loud - that makes it so binding? This chapter shows us four declarations that the Israelites were required to make upon entering the Promised Land and then later when carrying on the traditions. Each declaration is written out here, and I suppose these are the… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 26

If you’re struggling to find something super meaningful to say or feel or write about this chapter, you’re not alone! I got a chuckle out of a couple verses, and I scratched my head while reading a couple others. Let’s just skip to the point today. Writing prompt: freedom Enjoy a free day of writing.… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 25

Moses seems to be wrapping up a few loose ends here and answering some unanswered questions. Like in past chapters, I’m just guessing that these are real-life situations that have come about in the Israelite camp, and Moses is offering the judgments in these paragraphs. It’s kind of like a Q&A session, if you’ve ever… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 24

Let’s just start off talking about testicles and penises, shall we? I don’t really want to talk about testicles and penises, though, or about the spade each soldier was required to carry so that they could bury their poo. What I do want to talk about is the fact that things like slaves and prostitution… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 23

Ok, weird, right? As we’ve discussed in the past, chapters like this one make modern-day Christians cringe. Take verse 5, for instance, don’t wear clothing deemed appropriate for the opposite gender. Well, think what the Israelites wore back then. It probably would have been super weird to see them swap clothes. And what about verses… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 22

Do you ever get the sneaking suspicion (or underlying hope) that God gave the Israelites a lot of weird rules just to see what kind of people they really were? For instance, if your son were a big, fat, lazy drunk, would you be able to turn him over to the elders to be stoned… Continue reading Bible studies for writers | Deuteronomy 21