This is a public Blog space for learning about the Bible in an open and non-dogmatic way. It has two phases. One is this main website which contain straight forward posts and comments. Further discussion (comments, questions, arguments) can then be found on the Azotus Forum under “Popular Hermeneutics” (which means “regular interpretation).
“Hermeneutics” simply means “the science of interpretation”. It is therefore of interest to both believers and unbelievers alike (and will be presented as such!)
There are no bad questions and all topics are open. I detest censorship of any fashion so my simple request is that you try to communicate and not bash. Just because some “Bible-Thumpers” have done it to us does not mean we should return in kind (and the fact is they need to learn how to read the Bible more than most).
As for the meaning of “Azotus” ( a name I use everywhere, from my business as a Internet Jedi to blogs and websites .
AZOTUS
It comes from the book of Acts in the New Testament. A rather obscure text where an Ethiopian Eunuch (and his entourage…he served the Queen quite well) has come all the way to Jerusalem to seek spiritual enlightenment. He has left and is traveling across the desert when Philip (a disciple) comes running up and asks what he is doing up there in his chariot (this is the kind that is powered by “dudes”). He answers that he is reading from the Old Testament. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asks. “How can I?” says the Ethiopian, “unless someone explains it to me?”
He invites Philip up into the chariot (no doubt the “dudes” are not pleased by this) and he begins to explain the relationship between the Old Testament passages and what has just occurred in Jerusalem.
In this case, I guess the “Light comes on” for the guy and he spies some water and asks “what keeps me from being baptized?” Since the “Church” has not yet had time to make this a complicated question requiring classes, questionnaires and decisions about dunking or sprinkling, Philip says “um..nothing. Let’s do this thing.”
After the Ethiopian comes up out of the water, Philip is “spirited away” to the city of Azotus. I guess that is like being “beamed” over or doing that body travel stuff the guy did on Fringe last year, only without it messing up his DNA.
So, to me, Azotus embodies a certain openness, a seeking but not just wanting easy answers (no doubt the Ethiopian had been given many reasons and rationales).
And Azotus is also a cool name. Some day I am gonna open an Azotus Cafe. Really.
The Azotus Icons
The three circles are simply icons representing the world we live in; that we have limited time (each one of us); and that at the center (“Info-Man”) is Christ Who informs all. No more, no less. So don’t go Proctor & Gamble on me. The three icons are meant as a reminder of our daily “context”…that and they look kinda cool.
Pitfalls
With even the simplest of agendas (teaching folk how to read and study the Bible) there are always gonna be pitfalls. In our current age the two areas are politics and gender issues. They are ripping open the social fabric (which was not in any great shakes to begin with) and gender issues have done similarly in the Church (when I use Church capitalized I mean the whole of the Church…Catholics, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Non-Denominational, etc…) That stance alone is enough to alienate some who think their brand of Christianity is the only true one. Well, stick around and make your case..biblically.
I have to personally refrain from my usual diatribes politically and I will tell you why. Just as “Jesus plus anything is a subtraction” (J.V. McGee) so attaching a political agenda onto study of the Bible assuress tainting it. How scripture informs our view of political issues is another matter, but that is for each to come to as the read and study.
Also, it is a core biblical understanding that the “Kingdom of God” is not nationalistic. You can make some argument for Israel being an exception..but then the question is whether that is the physical nation, or the mystical Israel that transcends (even somewhat ignores or sees them as a “drop in the bucket”) all nations. If I allow my own political leanings, no matter how couched some of those ideas are in scripture to taint a clear presntation of biblical interpretation then I will have failed.
And like the person who is interested in Christ is turned off by side agendas that seem to come as part of the overall package, we do peole a disservice by not simply equipping them to study and learn on their own. We have to have some simple trust in God’s self-revelation and the Holy Spirit’s ability to take clear readings and allow them to nourish, inform and change/renew our minds.
So at anytime that I use a politically based issue to be used as an example, it will only be to show savage twisting of scriptures that need to be rejected. I will also point (at those time) to this explanation.
If you disagree, or feel I am abusing my space, then write that as a comment (which will NOT be deleted ever) and I will respond. I have no problem being wrong. Happens every day.
