Thursday; January 21
I like the Bible. Now that should be an obvious statement that all of us could make, but what I mean by my observation is that in addition to acknowledging its principles, I like the literature in the Bible. There are several differ literary styles in the Good Book, but one that fascinates me is the use of comparisons and contrasts – sometimes by the same writers and, other times, by different authors. The other day I was involved in a study that was discussing I Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead …”. The teacher challenged us to analyze this and contrast this living hope with something that might be described as dead hope. The first thing that came to mind was another passage, Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful,