They actually walked into a radio studio and debated the Old Testament on Justin Brierly's Unbelievable show on Premier radio.
The radio show came hot on the heels of the premier of The Bible tv series currently being aired on channel 5.
Rabbi Josh Levy, Christian lecturer Chris Sinkinson and an atheist you may well have heard of, Richard Dawkins were discussing the rights and wrongs of the Old Testament stories, including Abrahams near sacrifice of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah.
Most surprising for me was that Dawkins very much encouraged the reading of the Bible - albeit as a wonderful work of literature not a historical document; a lot of his atheist contemporaries are very much against any form of Bible teaching/RE lessons within schools, yet it was at school where Richard came to the Old Testamant which as a work of literature he enjoys. So there you have it, Richard Dawkins encourages the reading of the Bible.
If you have been watching the tv series as I have, this radio show was a helpful addition to further unpack some of the more difficult passages that Christians and non Christians alike find unpleasant, I found particularly helpful Chris' observation that in the OT times they were only just getting to know God and the sort of God he was and what he wanted for them and from them.
I can also recommend Chris' book Time Travel To The Old Testament, it is written in such an easy to understand way, that the intellect with which it is written doesn't overwhelm you and the historical and archaeological facts don't bore you, moreover it makes you want to pick up your Bible and go travelling yourself with God and his people!
Did you listen to the Unbelievable show? Are you watching The Bible? What do you think about it? I enjoyed episode 2 more, it is growing on me! I think I may buy the dvd set as I still can't stand all the ad breaks and that ridiculous sponsor puppet Buck Denver!
So, as some of you know myself and a few chums are taking part in the Bristol 10k on 20th May in aid of the causes that Love Running are supporting.
Well with not long to go and quite frankly very little ability of 'running' anywhere I thought I better take the opportunity to go out and do a bit of training. I usually do this with my friend and it consists of fast walking and chatter with a bit of a token downhill sprint if the gradient obliges.
But today I decided to go out on my own and see if I could really push myself. Well I did - onto all fours, but we'll get to that in a minute.
I am a little nervous of 'running' because my body doesn't seem to understand the concept of remaining upright at all times, on my first attempt I took a tumble and got 'baddies' on my knees.
So today while out I was repeating the mantra in my head 'pick your feet up, pick your feet up'. I started off walking briskly, made sure no-one was looking and broke out into a run, I must've
covered at least 15 yards before I had to stop and catch my breath. I was a little disappointed I hadn't gone further, but not to worry; I picked my landmark, the start of a long straight road and started to run again. I ran for a minute and didn't need to stop so I carried on to the first junction, crossed the road, didn't need to stop, so I carried on. I'd been running for about 2 1/2 minutes without stopping and didn't feel like I needed to 'I'm Forrest Gump' I thought, 'there's a chance I might actually be able to do this run' I started to feel really confident, thoughts of half marathons filled my mind and which charidee's
I would like to raise money for.........the next junction came and went, I didn't need to stop, so I didn't.
Then into my vision came the incline 'don't panic' I told myself, 'you've done really well, just slow down and walk for a bit' so I fixed my sights on the landmark at the bottom of the hill 'if i can just make it to the dog poo bin........' then it happened.
The toes of my left foot stubbed into the pavement and down I went, resulting in baddies on my hands and very bruised pride.
It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that running and me aren't natural bed-fellows and there would be nothing for it but for me to humbly withdraw from the race. I started to compose my apologetic resignation in my mind and did some quick calculations as to how I could match the money already raised so as to soften the blow.
Clearly the fact I have two left feet is a divine message from God Himself that He doesn't want me to run for the 'poor, oppressed and needy' who am I to ignore that sort of intervention...........or maybe it was a message from God telling me that things aren't straightforward, you are going to hit obstacles (in my case, usually the pavement) but the end goal is in sight and if you persevere you will reach that goal and your commitment to it will be rewarded.
Fortunately I started to believe the latter, only this morning I had been looking at Exodus to Deuteronomy, where the Israelites faced many trials and wandered for years until finally reaching the promised land of Canaan, which goes to show that studying the Old Testament can be relevant to today! God had made a covenant with them that He would bless them with land and descendants and that covenant although it took time was realised.
And our sponsors have made a covenant with us, that they will donate to the worthy causes we are supporting if we complete the race. So I may stumble and trip my way through the whole thing but I will will reach the promised land on 20th May!
