Verse

I 've never understood why people ask what a verse means to me. God does not set out to confuse us, and if the all knowing God wanted to confuse us there would certainly be more efficient ways than to write his sacred book in code. The Bible, then is intentionally written in a way that is understandable to those who know, and seek to know, the God who wrote it. It seems to me that we get so caught up in figuring out our own subjective view on what a given section of scripture says that we all…

How important is someone’s name? Coming from a person who has her name serially misspelled and mispronounced, a name is incredibly important. Names hold immense power. They hold the power to strike fear in the hearts of those who hear it and the power to foster hope and happiness within the listeners. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, the villain strikes such fear in the hearts of the citizens that they refuse to give him a name. He goes by “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”…

When looking at verses 4-14, Jesus in essence is trying to both calm his disciples’ fears as well as temper any expectations they might have concerning their questions in verse 3. Jesus is basically saying, “Guys, don’t let your mind wander too far and come up with wrong conclusions.” Jesus tells the disciples that there will be birth pangs before the end. In saying this and describing the birth pangs, Jesus is not telling his disciples when He would come back. Also, although many want to…

I chose the poem “Free Verse” by Robert Graves to display an example of free verse. Robert Graves was born in 1895 and died at the age of 90 in 1985. Graves was born in Wimbledon, near London. He was raised in an upper middle-class, patriotic, educated and strict household. Graves enlisted into the military at the onset of World War 1 and fought on the front lines, where he was severely injured. He developed an early reputation as a war poet using his front line experiences to develop realistic…

Surah 2 verse 30-34 is piece of religious text from the youngest of three major religions, Islam. The text that this piece comes from is the holy book of Islam, The Qur’an. A surah is identified as a chapter in the Qur’an, and they are ordered by largest to smallest in length. At the beginning of each surah, there is a line that reads “IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE” to emphasize Allah is the all empowering. Along with the most gracious and the dispenser of grace…

are in conflict with. Our actions speak louder than words and sometimes causes us to look like hypocrites. We should not react to conflict without seeking God’s provision and guidance. (Matthew 5:38-48, Proverbs 15:1 NKJV) In Romans chapter 10 verse 3, Paul asserts how men, who do not believe in God, look to their own goodness and establish their lives based on their own works. In pride, fallen man wants to set up his own righteousness as good enough, but it falls short of God’s…

In Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Verses on the Burning of our House,” the speaker discusses her attempt to reconcile the loss of her earthly possessions with religious tenets and, in doing so, highlights the struggle of Puritans to maintain the religious ideal of valuing only spiritual worth, as depicted through the concept of weaned affections. Frequently in her poem, Bradstreet emphasizes the dichotomy between her emotions as she experiences the transpiring events and what she wants to feel through…

Discussing the plight of one who remains entangled in the web of vices throughout his earthly existence, and thus failing to adhere to the Satpanth (True Path), this verse compares the lifespan of such a person to the unseasonal and useless downpour of rain during summer. The term sehastra in the opening line is the same as the word sahastra, which means ‘thousand’ in Gujarati and pachās means ‘fifty’. Therefore, sehastra pachās is ‘fifty thousand’. The term āvīyo denotes a continuous tense…

Verse 29-30 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it many benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Historical The believers in the church of Ephesus were struggling with lying, anger, stealing, unwholesome speech, hard feelings and bitterness. These are things that all Christians have had to deal with but people…

the attitude and actions of a fool. One verse in this chapter is confusing. The verse states, “The fool says in his heart ‘there is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Ps. 14:1). This verse makes David sound arrogant because it appears that he claims that he is the only one who is righteous before God, and therefore he can wisely depict the state of the people around him. On the other hand, I wonder if this verse serves to foreshadow the coming of…