Tag Archives: Hebrews

Walkin’ in the Desert (Satire for the Book of Numbers)

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Black Sabbath wrote a song, After Forever, asking if one ever stops to consider death without Christ. Metallica explored themes from Exodus in Creeping Death.

Inspired by an exchange on the X platform, we consider what a song based on the events in Numbers might look like in the hands of Guns N’ Roses. This is meant to be sung to the tune of Welcome to the Jungle.

Slash performing at the Nokia Theater in New York in 2008

Walkin’ in the desert, is not fun and games
We left everything behind
Moses, counted the names

We are the people God did find
enslaved by Pharoah’s greed
We took all his money, honey,
and crossed thru the seas

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Grace for All: What is Hebrews all about anyway?

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This post is a part of a series that is examining each essay in the recently published book Grace for All. 

This is the final essay in the book Grace for All, and the second entry by Grant R. Osborne, the author. In this essay, Osborne notes that there are numerous questions about the book of Hebrews. We don’t know who the author was, who specifically it was written to, and where the original recipients were located. The warning passages in this book are also a topic of great debate (see some thoughts on that here).

This essay focuses on the main theme of the book, concluding:

The writer [of Hebrews] argues against a static Christianity that is content to dwell in the assurance of final inheritance. Such a faith is not faith at all; it inevitably stagnates into immaturity (5:13-14; 6:1) and leaves itself open to apostasy (6:4).

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The West Wing Obsolescence (Applying Hebrews Today)

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There is a famous scene from the drama The West Wing in which President Bartlett rips into Dr. Jenna Jacobs, a conservative talk show host. The dialogue is based on an actual letter that was originally addressed to Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

At a press conference, the President accuses Dr. Jacobs (and by proxy all Christians) of cherry picking the Scriptures they accept and being inconsistent in how they apply them. Specifically, the scene makes it clear that Christians are acting hypocritical for holding to some parts of the Mosaic Law (ie regarding homosexuality as a sin) and not others.

Here is one example:

… we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean – Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves can the Washington Redskins still play football?

Unfortunately, this scene was cut from that episode. A young journalist steps forward.

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