bierkergaard

In my many years of reading devotional books, my favorites type is when the writer(s) use biblical characters' traits and decisions to illustrate a spiritual principle. It can be a positive thing or negative. We can learn from both. And the Bible does portray its characters flaws and all. Which seems to run counter to the hypothesis that the Scriptures are heavily edited by the powerful to control the minds of the masses. It would seem very odd to show the weaknesses, failings, and awful consequences of bad decisions by its heroes. Too many stones laying around to shatter the image of honor.  Why not just write inspiring hagiography and leave out the less than stellar material? Of course, the Bible also shows the positive end of the spectrum. In other words, the Bible has the ring of authenticity.    When considering anger since a couple of nights ago, I recalled the verses in Numbers where Moses is told by God to speak to the Rock to have it bring forth water in the desert

Anger is like a fire. Great care must be taken to keep it contained from becoming a conflagration, consuming the world.  Last night, in my hotel room down in Davis, West Virginia, I was watching CNN. It wasn't the 24-7 News Cycle programming but instead the CNN channel was showing documentaries. The first was of how the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, didn't fight by the war that we wanted to fight. Instead, they would attack and run, often hiding in elaborately dug tunnels underground. The U.S., when it had the opportunity to see the enemy and engage, inflicted heavy losses, like during the Tet Offensive. The U.S. military leaders were driven mad, and I am sure as were the ordinary U.S. soldiers, by the "now you see them, now you don't strategy." Never sure when an attack would come, then it would. And the attackers would disappear into the jungle. You can't usually hit what you cannot see, which explains why the U.S. military dropped so many bombs a