I want you to know that I am writing this first response here WITHOUT having read your last three entries. I am purposely not reading them before writing what I am about to write because I don’t want to write in “response” to yo…ur latest three responses, but rather some thoughts I believe the Lord brought to my mind and heart. First, I believe you said in an earlier message that you are finding the Bible to be more difficult to read and understand than you thought it would be. This does not surprise me at all. Spiritual truths can only be understood by the spirit within us. You are reading it simply as a book, without the revelation of the Holy Spirit because your spirit-man within you, at this point, is still not alive. Therefore, the spirit behind the book is nonsense to you because you cannot comprehend what God is revealing through His written word only with your intellect. Which brings me to a second, I hope related point. I remember in one of your responses that you want everything in life to be objective and tangible and measurable and anything that is not that is stupid and foolish and should not be trusted or believed in. You mentioned that subjectivity is wrong. This surprises me a bit because of the major you chose in university. You were an English studies major. My understanding of that is that you had to read many authors and their imaginative writings and thoughts which are not based on science but on subjective experience. Do you simply think they too are insane, foolish and stupid because they don’t look at the world from a naturalistic, “objective” perspective? And really, you are a living contradiction of yourself. You say everything must be objectifiable….i.e. must be scientifically measurable to be true…yet you yourself do not live that way. How do I know? Because you love. You hate. You feel. You have a personaliity. I know, I know, you will try to explain that scientists can measure the brain and see that when you love there is a chemical reaction…of course. However, why did you choose to love your girlfriend? There had to have been some subjectivity in that decision. So, to say that you live by and believe only those things which are objective is not being true or honest about your own life and the way you live. Plus,  subjectivity is ALL around us. There is both objectivity and subjectivity and one is not “better” than another, they are simply different and all a part of the great human existence.

Judges 19

1 It happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. 2 His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there the space of four months. 3 Her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys: and she brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4 His father-in-law, the young lady’s father, retained him; and he stayed with him three days: so they ate and drink, and lodged there. 5 It happened on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart: and the young lady’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way.” 6 So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together: and the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” 7 The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. 8 He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady’s father said, “Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines;” and they both ate. 9 When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night: behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home.”
10 But the man wouldn’t stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus (the same is Jerusalem): and there were with him a couple of donkeys saddled; his concubine also was with him. 11 When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.” 12 His master said to him, “We won’t turn aside into the city of a foreigner, that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.” 13 He said to his servant, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.” 14 So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. 15 They turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah: and he went in, and sat him down in the street of the city; for there was no man who took them into his house to lodge.

16 Behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening: now the man was of the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?” 18 He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the house of Yahweh; and there is no man who takes me into his house. 19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there is no want of anything.” 20 The old man said, “Peace be to you; howsoever let all your wants lie on me; only don’t lodge in the street.” 21 So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder; and they washed their feet, and ate and drink.

22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him!” 23 The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man is come into my house, don’t do this folly. 24 Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.” 25 But the men wouldn’t listen to him: so the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning: and when the day began to dawn, they let her go. 26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was light.

27 Her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, and let us be going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place. 29 When he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 30 It was so, that all who saw it said, “There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

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Deuteronomy 30

1 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2 and shall return to Yahweh your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; 3 that then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 4 If [any of] your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there he will bring you back: 5 and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.
6 Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 You shall return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. 9 Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you shall obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

11 For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” 14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

15 Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 in that I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce to you this day, that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land, where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed; 20 to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

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2 Samuel 14

And Joab the son of Sarvia, understanding that the king’s heart was turned to Absalom, 2 Sent to Thecua, and fetched from thence a wise woman: and said to her: Feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and be not anointed with oil, that thou mayest be as a woman that had a long time been mourning for one dead. 3 And thou shalt go in to the king, and shalt speak to him in this manner. And Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 And when the woman of Thecua was come in to the king, she fell before him upon the ground, and worshipped, and said: Save me, O king. 5 And the king said to her: What is the matter with thee? She answered: Alas, I am a widow woman: for my husband is dead. 6 And thy handmaid had two sons: and they quarrelled with each other in the field, and there was none to part them: and the one struck the other, and slew him. 7 And behold the whole kindred rising against thy handmaid, saith: Deliver him that hath slain his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother, whom he slew, and that we may destroy the heir: and they seek to quench my spark which is left, and will leave my husband no name, nor remainder upon the earth.

8 And the king said to the woman: Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee. 9 And the woman of Thecua said to the king: Upon me, my lord, be the iniquity, and upon the house of my father: but may the king and his throne be guiltless. 10 And the king said: If any one shall say ought against thee, bring him to me, and be shall not touch thee any more. 11 And she said: Let the king remember the Lord his God, that the next of kin be not multiplied to take revenge, and that they may not kill my son. And he said: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.

12 Then the woman said: Let thy handmaid speak one word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak. 13 And the woman said: Why hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, and why hath the king spoken this word, to sin, and not bring home again his own exile? 14 We all die, and like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth: neither will God have a soul to perish, but recalleth, meaning that he that is cast off should not altogether perish. 15 Now therefore I am come, to speak this word to my lord the king before the people. And thy handmaid said: I will speak to the king, it maybe the king will perform the request of his handmaid. 16 And the king hath hearkened to me to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of all that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17 Then let thy handmaid say, that the word of the Lord the king be made as a sacrifice. For even as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is neither moved with blessing nor cursing: wherefore the Lord thy God is also with thee.

18 And the king answering, said to the woman: Hide not from me the thing that I ask thee. And the woman said to him: Speak, my lord the king. 19 And the king said: Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? The woman answered, and said: By the health of thy soul, my lord, O king, it is neither on the left hand, nor on the right, in all these things which my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he commanded me, and he put all these words into the mouth of thy handmaid. 20 That I should come about with this form of speech, thy servant Joab, commanded this: but thou, my lord, O king, art wise, according to the wisdom of ail angel of God, to understand all things upon earth.

21 And the king said to Joab: Behold I am appeased and have granted thy request: Go therefore and fetch back the boy Absalom. 22 And Joab falling down to the ground upon his face, adored, and blessed the king: and Joab said: This day thy servant hath understood, that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king: for thou hast fulfilled the request of thy servant. 23 Then Joab arose and went to Gessur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 But the king said: Let him return into his house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned into his house, and saw not the king’s face.

25 But in all Israel there was not a man so comely, and so exceedingly beautiful as Absalom: from the sole of the foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26 And when he polled his hair (now he was polled once a year, because his hair was burdensome to him) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred sicles, according to the common weight. 27 And there were born to Absalom three sons: and one daughter, whose, name was Thamar, and she was very beautiful.

28 And Absalom dwelt two years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face. 29 He sent therefore to Joab, to send him to the king: but he would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and he would not come to him, 30 He said to his servants: You know the field of Joab near my field, that hath a crop of barley: go now and set it on fire. So the servants of Absalom set the corn on fire. And Joab’s servants coming with their garments rent, said: The servants of Absalom have set part of the field on fire. 31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said: Why have thy servants set my corn on fire? 32 And Absalom answered Joab: I sent to thee beseeching thee to come to me, that I might send thee to the king, to say to him: Wherefore am I come from Gessur? it had been better for me to be there: I beseech thee therefore that I may see the face of the king: and if he be mindful of my iniquity, let him kill me. 33 So Joab going in to the king, told him all: and Absalom was called for, and he went in to the king: and prostrated himself on the ground before him: and the king kissed Absalom.

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