{"id":13274,"date":"2013-03-06T09:52:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T14:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=13274"},"modified":"2013-03-06T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T14:52:31","slug":"not-manna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/03\/not-manna.html","title":{"rendered":"Not Manna"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

A friend shared this cartoon from \u201cInherit the Mirth\u201d on Facebook. I was entertained by it immediately, but only later it struck me that it can also be used to make a serious point.<\/p>\n

The Bible and other ancient Jewish and Christian texts use manna as a symbol \u2013 for the word of God, for wisdom, and\/or for Jesus.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of religious believers who undiscerningly accept whatever is offered to them, as long as the one offering it promises them that it is manna.<\/p>\n

The Bible itself calls upon its readers to be discerning. Not everything that is offered to you as \u201cwhat the Bible says.\u201d Not everything that is claimed as wisdom is wisdom. Not everything that claims to be the bread of life or a depiction of Jesus is even close to that.<\/p>\n

Some of it is, in fact\u2026well, I think the cartoon gets it exactly right.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend shared this cartoon from \u201cInherit the Mirth\u201d on Facebook. I was entertained by it immediately, but only later it struck me that it can also be used to make a serious point. The Bible and other ancient Jewish and Christian texts use manna as a symbol \u2013 for the word of God, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,42,69],"tags":[1140,1625,5677,6955,13795],"class_list":["post-13274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-humor","category-numbers-bible","tag-bible","tag-cartoon","tag-jesus","tag-manna","tag-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"\nNot Manna<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A friend shared this cartoon from "Inherit the Mirth" on Facebook. 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