Romans // Judaism // Brazil

Romans 12-16

12

So serve God with your life in the body of Christ, loving one another and blessing your persecutors.

13

Obey your government when they are carrying out God's design, to encourage good, and punish evil.  Love one another, and put away sensual immorality.

14

Don't condemn each other based on what you eat, or what days you observe.  Try not to offend those who think more is unclean than you and I do.

15

Seek to build each other up, in like-minded harmony.  Jesus has called and received Gentiles, so you should, too.  I'm headed for Spain, and want to see you on the way.  First, it's Jerusalem, and pray I am preserved there.

16

Be kind to Phoebe, bringing you this letter.

Say hello to all the saints I know living there with you.

Avoid divisive men.

My team here says hello to you!

I've been trying to finish off one book at a time, of the 15-20 I have started right now.  I settled on James Michener's The Source, a wealth of historical information on the land of Israel and Jewish history in story form.  I'm in the chapter on the Jewish city of Safed (Safat) in the 1550s, when three leading rabbis followed different paths.  The German Ashkenazi codified the law.  The Spanish Sephardic rabbi pursued the mysticism of Kabbalah.  The Italian rabbi pursued the common man's piety and pastoral charity.  All in the same town at the same time.  Interesting it was during John Calvin's time...

On Brazil - a book review of Bolsonaro in First Things.

This article was more a survey of Brazil for the last 100 years than a biography of Bolsonaro, which was probably more helpful to the general reader - it was to me.