Religious differences
I am going on inspection, and as such, I need professional business pants with no cuffs, and I would like professional shirts that don't gap or do other stupid things at the breast line. So, armed with gift cards we've had for a while, 
wanderingfey and I head off to the downtown Nordy's, on the assumption that if it's in a Nordy's in western Washington, it'll be there, and I want a quick-and-dirty shopping experience. (I'd forgotten about the Rack on 2nd, or I would have stopped there first.)
After trying on probably every 14W cuffless pant in the store,
wanderingfey found the one 14W Petite in the store, and it fit pretty much perfectly. And just as I was on my way out, the incredibly helpful and awesome clerk Margit pulled a breezy, cool white blouse from the sales rack that just only a very slight pulling on it. So, all in all, an extremely successful shopping trip. Except that I thought there was a Lane Bryant in downtown Seattle. Turns out that there's not, but there's one in Alderwood, and at Northgate. So I may go there later this week.
On our way back to the car, over by Macy's, there were a group of born-again Christians with signs. They made their positions very plain with the largest sign (and the only [IIRC] hand-done one) that asked "Who Will Jesus Destroy?", which I thought (but did not say) was a very sad and saddening take on the WWJD? meme.
But it was the sign next to it (we were across the street and waiting for the light) that caught my eye. It said "You shall fear the Lord your God." And my mind kept pulling out Debbie Friedman's music for the V'ahavta, the prayer for which the beginning line can be translated as "And you shall love Adonai your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your being." And I noticed (long light) that the young lady's sign had, in the corner, "Deut 6:13". And I was thinking, "Isn't the V'ahavta from Deuteronomy? Is it from 6:13? Is this sign a really bad translation?" Finally we cross, into the edge of this group (of which two of the Real True Christians are engaged in yelling at a group of teenagers/college kids who are dressed interestingly about how they are right, and the kids are snarking back.) I wait by the young lady with the sign, who is quite occupied in trying to save the soul of a tall African-American man who seems to enjoy the discussion of religion, but is not terribly interested in being saved.
After a minute or so of this, I notice a woman in the same t-shirt ("Trust Jesus") who is not actively engaged with anyone. So I (
wanderingfey amusedly in tow) walk over to the lady and ask a)if she is with the group, and b) if she might have a Bible so that I can see the context of Deut 6:13. She does not have a Bible on her, but she has the Bible on her phone, and is more than happy to do this for me. After a bit, she finds it and reads ~6:13-6:15. It is a very angry paragraph, and it seems that it is a bit where G-d is being particularly pissy at Israel. But it you read the Tanakh, there are a lot of places where G-d is really angry, so I figure that this is just one of those spots, and the V'ahavta is taken from a more happy section. So I thank the lady, and she asks me why I wanted the context. "Oh, I thought I remembered where it was from, but I was wrong." Then she asks me, "Do you believe? Like us? We're born again."
And I say, very politely, "Um. I believe, but not like you do. I'm not born again. But thank you." And I hustle out of there (wanderingfey a little disappointed that we are leaving just as the interesting part starts) and she continues to yell after us, quizzically, about why we don't believe, halfway up the block.
It's still a little on my mind this morning, so I go and find the V'ahavta citation online and look it up in my copy of the Torah, which is very much a different translation than the NIV (which I'm guessing is the one the lady had -- I didn't ask.) It turns out that the V'ahavta is Deuteronomy 6:4-9, so I was not all that far off. So I look up the hellfire angry passage of 6:13-15, and wow, do I find the translation different.
Revere only your G-d Adoshem and worship [G-d] alone, and swear only by G-d's name. Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you -- for your G-d Adoshem in your midst is an impassioned G-d - lest the anger of your G-d Adoshem blaze forth against you, wiping you off the face of the earth.
And here's the NIV passage:
13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
It's probably just me, but I like my translation better. G-d is still really angry, but there is a focus to the anger; to me it feels like the NIV G-d is a ball of free-floating anger. But then, I don't tend to think of G-d as angry so much as disappointed. And is it any surprise that I'm going to seek out copies of the Tanakh that support that type of viewpoint? Unfortunately, my copy of the Torah doesn't have any footnotes from 13-15 that talks about why they chose "revere" instead of "fear," so no insights there from the translators.
But I am tempted to learn the entirely of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding"? and just sing it the next time I happen upon this sort of group.
wanderingfey and I head off to the downtown Nordy's, on the assumption that if it's in a Nordy's in western Washington, it'll be there, and I want a quick-and-dirty shopping experience. (I'd forgotten about the Rack on 2nd, or I would have stopped there first.)
After trying on probably every 14W cuffless pant in the store,
wanderingfey found the one 14W Petite in the store, and it fit pretty much perfectly. And just as I was on my way out, the incredibly helpful and awesome clerk Margit pulled a breezy, cool white blouse from the sales rack that just only a very slight pulling on it. So, all in all, an extremely successful shopping trip. Except that I thought there was a Lane Bryant in downtown Seattle. Turns out that there's not, but there's one in Alderwood, and at Northgate. So I may go there later this week.
On our way back to the car, over by Macy's, there were a group of born-again Christians with signs. They made their positions very plain with the largest sign (and the only [IIRC] hand-done one) that asked "Who Will Jesus Destroy?", which I thought (but did not say) was a very sad and saddening take on the WWJD? meme.
But it was the sign next to it (we were across the street and waiting for the light) that caught my eye. It said "You shall fear the Lord your God." And my mind kept pulling out Debbie Friedman's music for the V'ahavta, the prayer for which the beginning line can be translated as "And you shall love Adonai your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your being." And I noticed (long light) that the young lady's sign had, in the corner, "Deut 6:13". And I was thinking, "Isn't the V'ahavta from Deuteronomy? Is it from 6:13? Is this sign a really bad translation?" Finally we cross, into the edge of this group (of which two of the Real True Christians are engaged in yelling at a group of teenagers/college kids who are dressed interestingly about how they are right, and the kids are snarking back.) I wait by the young lady with the sign, who is quite occupied in trying to save the soul of a tall African-American man who seems to enjoy the discussion of religion, but is not terribly interested in being saved.
After a minute or so of this, I notice a woman in the same t-shirt ("Trust Jesus") who is not actively engaged with anyone. So I (
wanderingfey amusedly in tow) walk over to the lady and ask a)if she is with the group, and b) if she might have a Bible so that I can see the context of Deut 6:13. She does not have a Bible on her, but she has the Bible on her phone, and is more than happy to do this for me. After a bit, she finds it and reads ~6:13-6:15. It is a very angry paragraph, and it seems that it is a bit where G-d is being particularly pissy at Israel. But it you read the Tanakh, there are a lot of places where G-d is really angry, so I figure that this is just one of those spots, and the V'ahavta is taken from a more happy section. So I thank the lady, and she asks me why I wanted the context. "Oh, I thought I remembered where it was from, but I was wrong." Then she asks me, "Do you believe? Like us? We're born again."
And I say, very politely, "Um. I believe, but not like you do. I'm not born again. But thank you." And I hustle out of there (wanderingfey a little disappointed that we are leaving just as the interesting part starts) and she continues to yell after us, quizzically, about why we don't believe, halfway up the block.
It's still a little on my mind this morning, so I go and find the V'ahavta citation online and look it up in my copy of the Torah, which is very much a different translation than the NIV (which I'm guessing is the one the lady had -- I didn't ask.) It turns out that the V'ahavta is Deuteronomy 6:4-9, so I was not all that far off. So I look up the hellfire angry passage of 6:13-15, and wow, do I find the translation different.
Revere only your G-d Adoshem and worship [G-d] alone, and swear only by G-d's name. Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you -- for your G-d Adoshem in your midst is an impassioned G-d - lest the anger of your G-d Adoshem blaze forth against you, wiping you off the face of the earth.
And here's the NIV passage:
13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
It's probably just me, but I like my translation better. G-d is still really angry, but there is a focus to the anger; to me it feels like the NIV G-d is a ball of free-floating anger. But then, I don't tend to think of G-d as angry so much as disappointed. And is it any surprise that I'm going to seek out copies of the Tanakh that support that type of viewpoint? Unfortunately, my copy of the Torah doesn't have any footnotes from 13-15 that talks about why they chose "revere" instead of "fear," so no insights there from the translators.
But I am tempted to learn the entirely of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding"? and just sing it the next time I happen upon this sort of group.