Jesus, by any other name would sound as sweet

This class has really made me appreciate the differences in the 4 gospels. The 4 pictures that Burrage talks about really illustrate the different personality each gospel has. This makes sense because they are written by different people and for different audiences. I have always understood this, but lately I have really been picking up on and loving the small details that make a big difference. For example, the only time Jesus is called "Son of David" in Mark is by blind Bartimaeus, whereas in Matthew he is addressed as "Son of David" by crowds and people who needed healing numerous times. Matthew also calls him "son of Abraham" which to a Gentile audience would mean little, but to Jews this is the Father of their nation. This makes him a Jew and a king. Jesus is really only called "Jesus" by Matthew in narration. I wonder if this means anything in regard to Jesus' power because they address him with an honor bestowing title. This really has no relation to the plot of each story, but in the book as a whole, these unique qualities are amazing and I am excited that I will recognize them more now.

Mark Never Ends

I have been given the pleasure of exploring how the book of Mark ends. Mark is a greater writer than we give him credit for. Of all the papers I've written I've enjoyed doing the research for this one the most. I've examined the possibilities of all the endings of Mark from the short ending to the lost ending. After the research I've done and based upon my conclusions I find that I am leaning very strongly towards the ending at Mark 16:8. Mark uses his skill as a dynamic writer to leave his Gospel with a suspended ending. We all know what happens after verse eight or else the book wouldn't exist. Mark ends his Gospel in the same abrupt way as it began. When reading the ending in light of the beginning light is shed upon that fact. Other factors play into the supporting evidence of verse eight but I have shared one with you. If you do take the longer ending as authentic then I would like to leave you with a quote from Word Pictures in the New Testament by A. T. Robertson. "The great doubt concerning the genuiness of these verses renders it unwise to take these verses as the foundation for doctrine or practice unless supported by other and genuine portions of the N. T.

Criticism textual

Though i myself don't believe that textual criticism is the profession i am going to pursue, it does interest me in that some people can look at a text and see its genealogical family from the style, punctuation, ect. I am though thankful for it and even though sometimes it may bring about more questions than answers; thankfully our faith does not require the complete understanding of everything in the Bible.
I do like being at a place in life where hearing all the questions about scribal errors and old a new manuscripts don't rock my faith, but can confirm it though the amazing preservation of the Bible.

I like resting in the mystery of the word, which in a since is like trusting God, who we don't fully understand... i mean it is "His Word".

Long, short, tall or fat

Why does our Bible have to contain such an argued portion of text. Is someone against Christianity trying to mess with our theology? Is God trying to help us learn textual criticism? I don't see why this can't be a starting point for textual criticism in our Bible. It is very obvious the wording and theology is very different from the rest of Mark. Maybe such an obvious part would lead us to be textual critics of more of the text to gain understanding of maybe the attitude of the writer as he wrote it. Which do I accept as the ending of Mark? I believe it ends at verse 8 pure and simple. The following verses are different that the rest of all of Jesus' teachings. I do not agree with the testing of God by grabbing snakes. If Jesus would not test God in the wilderness in Matthew then why would he challenge us to do so? Is there more that we don't even have in our Bible? I agree with Aaron when he says that if God wanted it in the scriptures He would have preserved it. So for today i rest on the conclusion that Mark ends on verse 8.

Is there more? Does it matter?

After class monday I thought about what I believed about how Mark ends. I decided if I had to pick one of the five choices that it would be out of the three most popular ones. I'm not a fan of the Longer Ending because I just don't think it sounds like the rest of Mark. So that narrows it down to two. As I thought more about it I wondered, "what IF there was more?!" I thought about what was accidently lost could have been important. Only a few seconds later I decided that if there was more and it's content was important, God would have preserved it like He did the rest of the text.
It reminded me a question a girl in my youth group asked me not too long ago. She wanted to know what if there were other books that could have gone in the Bible that were lost. I told her the same answer I ended up telling myself about the end of Mark. If they belonged in the Bible they would be there.

-Aaron Abbott

Indiana Jones

I was very excited to hear about the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The whole thing is very interesting to me, and I definately believe that they were divinely preserved. It seems almost like an Indiana Jones thing to find hundreds of lost scrolls tucked safely in jars hidden in caves. I was even more impressed that the older copies found only served to confirm the copies that we already had. I am not sure these scrolls have the answer to the ending of Mark question, but I am sure they help answer many other questions. I have heard the Dead Sea scrolls mentioned before and I really wish some class would talk about it more to answer some questions. Was there extra testimental literature with these scrolls. If so, could we be wrong in thinking they weren't divinely inspired if earlier Christians did, etc? I suppose I should do some reading on my own to fully understand this amazing modern miracle that connected us to the earliest Believers.

The Ending Of Mark

Well after finishing the excellent book of Mark in great detail, I'm pretty dissapointed that we don't know what was really the end of Mark. I haven't really discussed this ending anywhere else probably cause the church kind of hides this, not exactly Sunday School material. Right now to me the longer ending sounds quite foolish cause of the drastic change in the way it was written. So I'm actually stuck between Mark 16:8 is the intended ending and that we can't find the real ending, which is diffucult to determine. Is it out of the question that Mark himself never finished the book? Maybe he didn't know how to end it, so handed in the manuscript as is? Is this out of the question? If anyone else has an idea of their own put it forward to me; I'd love to hear it.