I was reading the story of David and Goliath to my five-year-old son a couple of days ago. When I was finished, I thought: something’s missing. It clicked that I was reading the children’s version. Since the Old Testament can be brutal, we must sanitize children’s Bible school stories so that we don’t traumatize our youngsters.

After my son went to bed, I got my Bible out and read the story of David and Goliath. David cuts off Goliath’s head with a sword…how sharp that sword must’ve been to sever Goliath’s head! It sounds so bloody and brutal. Plus, in the Bible I was reading it kept referring to David as being a boy…I wondered how old he was? Around fifteen or sixteen, maybe? Then, I kept thinking of David walking around holding Goliath’s severed head in his hand…

What’s the point to this blog post? I’m not sure! I know I keep thinking about this story and I have no idea why. Maybe because when people talk about it, they don’t recall the brutality of what happened. The Lord was with David and gave this youngster the power to overcome this giant whom everybody feared, but, it was so grotesque and bloody…I don’t think people recall that part of the story too much. I’m not sure when kids will be old enough to know the full story of David and Goliath…How old do you think kids should be before they hear the full story of David and Goliath?

I’ve copied and pasted a few verses from 1 Samuel chapter 17 below.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

1 Samuel 17: 48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled…. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?”
And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”
56 So the king said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.”
57 Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
So David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Photo courtesy of Aleksandr Kutsayev

Exodus 2:8-10
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

There’s something that I’ve wondered about Moses’s upbringing. Pharoah’s daughter took in a Hebrew baby and raised him as a son. Her father, the Pharoah, was trying to kill the new-born Hebrew male children because the Hebrews were multiplying so quickly. I also gather that the Hebrews looked much different from the Egyptians?

Wouldn’t her father have objected to his daughter, raising one of his “enemies” under his own roof as her son? I’m wondering what kind of dialog went on between father and daughter? Did Pharoah finally relent and let her keep the baby just to appease her? Did Pharoah figure that keeping this one child alive could bring no harm? What do you think happened between father and daughter on this day?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Genesis 5:27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

When you read through Genesis chapter five, you’ll notice that people lived much longer than they do nowadays. Why did people live for hundreds and hundreds of years? Had the physical imperfections of man not yet occurred, allowing people to live longer lives? Why do you think people lived for so long back then?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I’ve been blogging and commenting on Facebook lately about the Old Testament. I blogged about Adam and Eve here, and if you’re on my Facebook Friends list, you’ll see that I placed my comment about Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves here.

Here’s the scripture I wanted to talk about:
Genesis 7:2 (New International Version)
2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,

I’ve been thinking about the Old Testament lately because our five-year-old son is in kindergarten at a Christian school. They’ve been learning the Old Testament Bible stories and he was telling me about Noah’s Ark the other day. He said, “He had to take two of every animal on the ark.”

I then said, “But what about the clean ones?”

He said, “Huh?”

I went on to tell him that Noah had to take two of every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal. He looked puzzled, stating his teacher didn’t tell him that. As I thought about it, I noticed that when children are taught about Noah’s Ark, the story usually focuses on the two animals, and doesn’t mention Noah taking seven of every clean animal. I wonder why?

It makes sense to tell it like it is…I’m just sayin’….

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Genesis 3:1-6
The Temptation and Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

What would our world have been like if Eve had resisted, and not eaten the fruit? What would our world have been like if Adam refused to eat the fruit, in spite of Eve doing so? Would we be living in a Garden-Of-Eden-like planet full of beautiful scenery and trees heavy with luscious, mouth-watering fruit? Would it be a natural place with no buildings or concrete, just pure natural perfection? What are your answers to those questions? This inquiring mind wants to know!

I think our earth would be just like the Garden of Eden if both had resisted eating the fruit. If only Adam resisted…well, it’s hard to tell what God would have done! Would Eve have been banished out of the garden, by herself, if Adam had obeyed God? But, if Adam and Eve had both resisted and had children while living in the Garden…well…the serpent could have tempted the offspring, I guess, then there’s no telling what would have happened! Tough question to ponder, but it would make a great discussion!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I read Jason Boyett’s blog regularly, and this blog post brought back memories. I’ve talked about my Jehovah’s Witness upbringing a little bit on my blog. I was raised a JW, had to stop attending when I was twelve. I recall when I was a freshman in college, I started to study with the JWs again and the person who studied with me told me that: “I was wasting all of my time on my education and I wouldn’t get a chance to use it.” After all The New Order (A JW term for an apocolyptic event) was coming, we needed to be prepared for this. The generation of 1914 would not pass away before this big event happened, and I was not even ready – I hadn’t dedicated my life to Jehovah (their term for baptism) and I wasn’t doing enough works for my Eternal Life On Paradise Earth (another JW term).

At the time, the JW philosophy was that higher education was not necessary and that it was a waste of time and not recommended. I was eighteen, and told that I needed to put more time in in order to gain my Eternal Life. It boiled down to: stop spending so much time in school and start knocking on doors and help us to gain new members. I was glad I didn’t take their advice. My life would have taken a deep dive if I had. It was also disheartening that the JWs didn’t share the fact with new converts that they’d had false prophesies in the past and the current 1914 generation prophecy was part of this pattern. I had to discover this myself reading literature about the JWs that they wouldn’t approve of my reading. (JWs don’t like for their members to read other literature about them. They only want you to read their literature published through the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society). Sometimes, when members leave or get kicked out of the organization, they publish what the current JWs call apostate literature. A current JW is forbidden from reading the writings of a former member. The apostate literature will sometimes tell of the past false predictions that the current JWs don’t want new converts to know about.

Anyway, it makes me sad when people try to predict Christ’s coming. For the false prophets that scour the earth – I just wish they’d stop with the prophesying because they’re not very good at it and they’re always WRONG!! After all, the scriptures state:

Matthew 24:36-44

The Day and Hour Unknown
36″No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42″Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

I just wish the false prophets would remember that scripture before they attempt their next prediction!

~Cecelia Dowdy~