Saturday, April 1, 2017

Why Normal Christianity Found In The Psalms Is Needed Today

By Mark Reed


Poetry had an important role in communication for ancient human societies, acting as a mnemonic device with meter and rhyme. History used to be oral or spoken, and it was vital for a mnemonic system to be in place, while beauty entered as a later standard. Fortunately, the techniques for poetry also allowed for beauty to come into the picture for expressing abstruse concepts.

From these early humans, Christians inherited the laws of reason, the laws of the hearth and laws of the highest universal order. And most of these, when accessed through their original system of expression, will sound like the normal Christianity found in the Psalms. And it is no surprise that the concepts here share a pride of place with the most important precepts of the modern testament.

Modern, in this sense, was probably Iudea, a Palestinian kingdom that worked under the Roman proconsul. The ancient laws were revamped and made more applicable to the present tense. And beauty came with it, with all that the roseate human brain could think of in those terms, in the sense of heaven and the highest order of civilized life deserved by a faithful and law abiding people.

The concepts being discussed probably needed two Christian millennia to be accepted as a normal way of seeing for all humans. However wars had to be fought, generations wasted and misfits born, evil taking over kings and emperors and their retinues before people realized what was wrong. The correct concepts could have been hardwired on the racial consciousness by mountains of dead bodies and rivers of blood running from them, and many wastelands.

Normal Christianity is all about celebrating life, happiness and love. The exact values that David tried his best to make strong every time he sang, and even through the dark lens of nations committing murder as an accepted way of life throughout the Fertile Crescent during his time. This last Christian redaction before the second Christian millennia was perhaps the most important.

Normal Christianity is tasked to accomplish a very hard task, that of being the steadfast connection to the historical continuity of living as peacefully and harmoniously as possible, something that is probably well accomplished. But contemporary concerns still have need of more things done. It means that Psalms is still the most basic dynamic for all Christians to access.

The book can be studied with excellent scholarship and commentaries. The possible redaction has also made it worldly, and people will compare it as a wiser, more mature book when put beside other OT books and their histories, most of which are versified. To make a related point, modern poetics made a vital turn here, dividing works into poetry and verse, of which the old histories became, because they lacked the beautiful letters of Psalms.

Literature went many ways from that time forward, even as its life was strongly entwined with Christian history. For true believers, continuous study of Biblical works in question is highly recommended. Most will not miss the opportunity to go deeper and broader into the philosophy.

Some of the most relevant Bibles to use in these times are the NRSV and NASB, with perhaps some passages taken from the King James Version. Most Bibles being distributed today are considered standard for all Christians. Copies can be gotten for free from mission groups.




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