h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Slept. Long time.

The idea of investing in a small place somewhere far upcountry is again appealing to me. I think of somewhere like Vanrhynsdorp. Somewhere I can go and write without any interruptions or disturbances. I have 2 BDBs and I can make do with the Middle Liddell and there is another set of TDOT/TDNT on order, and I'm thinking of ultra minimalist interiors to contrast with the luxury of Shem Elohim. Just a chair to sit in, bookcases, a table, a microwave, that's about it. Nothing to steal, but ultra security for when I'm away.

I wrote a nice little piece on katapausis yesterday, and half way through another piece; and the piece on oun in John 8 is yet to happen - I found it difficult to write when I tried it before. I need to finish off Volume 2 of Words, that means I have to go through all the tracts from where Vol 1 leaves off, and weed out any duds.

I shall have it done cheaply, OR I might wait and see if Andrew can find any interest for the illuminated edition. We'll see.

Then Vol 3 is on the Law and the Prophets. I need to identify the central words enshrining the most fundamental concepts in the Mosaic revelation. This might involve more than 1 volume.

Volume 4 is to be on the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament and will be about reading the Bible. I shall use my ideas on Ecclesiastes in this volume. How to read the Bible - not as a series of propositions as in a rule book. Linear thought, no; circular thought revolving around the basic truths of God. Not from A to C via B. I have to think more about this.

I can make further volumes on themes such as the disciplines.

The vision is of a multi-volumed work called Words from the Word, basically teaching all God has given me by the way of looking at individual words in the Bible.

I couldn't face church this morning. I woke up in time, but felt awful in the pit of my stomach, I'm sorry I can't do it alone, it's as simple as that. I might ask that man at the junk shop on the Main Road if I can go with him.

But tomorrow I am going to go and book in somewhere self catering perhaps Muizenberg as I thought, I have to get away.

I will take a Netbook or possibly this machine, and a dongle, and Greek and Hebrew Bibles, a couple of reference books, and see if I can write more tracts.

My Ideapad needs fixing; perhaps I can take that in tomorrow morning, now I know where the computer shop is.

I must just wait until the right time to go upcountry in Wilfie and see about a place in the sticks.

Oh dear! I've only just noticed a mistake in the Afrikaans translation of Words from the Word vol. 1. He has translated "mercy" as "genade", which is the Afrikaans for "grace". That is quite a serious error, since although God's mercy and his grace are related, they are not the same thing. That's bad. Surprising too, because the man who did the translation is a believer himself.

Oh well never mind.

What is mercy in Afrikaans, then? From a quick look online, it seems that "genade" is mercy as well as grace. That's weird. My books are all over the place at the moment because the den is in the process of being done up, so I can't easily access my Afrikaans books... but that is a flimsy excuse.

From a quick look in my books, it seems genade does double duty for grace and mercy; but there is the word erbarming which seems to be 'mercy' more precisely than genade.

Mercy is often defined as that quality in God's nature by which he doesn't treat us as our sins deserve.

The Greek is eleos, which is mistakenly but commonly identified by Orthodox Christians with the word elaion, which means olive oil. When you say Kyrie eleison, you are calling on the Lord to pour olive oil on our wounds which we bear as sinners in a fallen world; just as the Good Samaritan poured oil onto the man's wounds in the parable.

But this is false etymology. Never mind; it has been repeated so often as to have taken o a life of its own, and the comparison between oil as balm and mercy is so appropriate that it seems churlish to insist on etymological precision in this instance.

So anyway, if we go with the Orthodox idea of eleos <> elaion, we have a better picture of God's mercy than merely the withholding of deserved punishment; it is the soothing of our souls' woundedness with the oil of his Holy Spirit, which is understood by the word mercy.

Now, grace is simply God's attitude to humanity - it is that in God's nature which makes him want to give us goodness and life and so on, freely, without our having to do anything to deserve it or earn it. That's grace: God's giving heart, his desire to lavish all his goodness on us freely, just because he loves us.

Many people have difficulty with this truth. They think they must do something to earn God's favour. Nothing could be further from the truth! God loves us so much that he gives us everything, even his Son, forgiveness of sin, holiness, eternal life. Grace is God's desire to give freely of himself to us, out of sheer love.

So grace is different from mercy. Mercy is more like compassion; by his mercy he is willing to endure our sufferings and by enduring, soothe them away with his divine oils. Whereas grace is his desire to give us life, because he loves us. Mercy is the soothing away of sin; grace is like undeserved, unearnt favour, whereby he lavishes on us the free gifts of his Son and his Spirit.

Here endeth the lesson.

Right I'll go to Stellenbosch tomorrow, Deo volente; I'll phone Gail's surgery tomorrow early and get an appointment to have my ear syringed. And I will see Zelda as well, and take her a copy of Woorde uit die Woord.

Perhaps I should have touted my work around the usual publishers here but I wanted to make it all free, so that no-one had to pay a cent to read my work on the Bible. I've been re-reading the Afrikaans translation and I'm pleased with it. I must continue; I must somehow get the incentive to write even though no-one is asking me to.

Must try to get the one on 'oun' in John 8 done; it put up resistance to formulation within 300 words when I tried to do it.

Just had a look and printed out 53 further studies, which will make up Volume 2 of Words. So I'll format those files, and put them on a disk or somewhere, and get on with Volume Three which will probably be on Genesis plus the Prophetic commentary of the Chumash.

The end of the premiere of the War Requiem - at this end there was complete silence, total silence - except for people crying.

Sold more copies than any other classical disc, the War Requiem with Pears, Fischer-Dieskau and Vishnyevskaya.

Oh, Stravinsky wrote in very bitchy terms about the Requiem. I wonder why.

The worm is causing great discomfort this eventune.

I am doing the Wisdom book next.

Words from the Word Vol 3

Wisdom lit is about how to read a text, and by teaching how to read a text you are taught how to live. I've been thinking about it since 2002 when I did my Honours dissertation on Ecclesiastes.