ChatGPT's Book-By-Book Overview of the New Testament

1560 Geneva Bible

Have you ever wondered why the various books of the New Testament were written or what they are about? I asked ChatGPT for a one sentence description of each and found it enlightening.

Today seemed like a good day for an exercise like this, because Pope Francis is addressing the G7 Summit (A first for a pope!) to make an appeal for more regulation of AI. I'm sure that even Pope Francis would have no problem, however, with using Artificial Intelligence for an assignment like this one.

For those unfamiliar, there are 27 "books" in the New Testament canon. (Canon is defined as a collection of sacred books accepted as genuine.) The first five New Testament books are historical, four of them about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. The fifth details the formation of the early church. The majority of the rest are letters from the early apostles.

Here is a list of the contents of each of these 27 books. 

Matthew

Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah and King of the Jews, emphasizing His teachings and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies to prove His divine authority and role in God's salvation plan.

Mark

"Ecce Homo"by Antonio Ciseri. 

Mark offers a fast-paced account of Jesus' life and ministry, highlighting His miraculous works and servant leadership to demonstrate that He is the Son of God who came to serve and sacrifice for humanity.
Luke

Luke provides a detailed and orderly narrative of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, emphasizing His compassion and inclusion of all people, especially the marginalized, to show the universality of the gospel.

John

John's gospel focuses on the divinity of Jesus, presenting Him as the eternal Word of God who became flesh to bring light, life, and salvation to those who believe in His name.

Acts

Acts chronicles the birth and expansion of the early church through the work of the Holy Spirit, detailing the apostles' missionary efforts and the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Romans

Paul's epistle to the Romans presents a comprehensive theological exposition on salvation, faith, and righteousness through Jesus Christ, emphasizing that both Jews and Gentiles are justified by faith.

1 Corinthians

Paul addresses the divisions and moral issues within the Corinthian church, urging believers to live in unity and purity, grounded in love and the resurrection of Christ.

2 Corinthians

In this follow-up letter, Paul defends his apostolic authority and encourages the Corinthians in their faith, highlighting themes of reconciliation, generosity, and the power of God's grace in weakness.

Galatians

Paul passionately argues against the necessity of following Jewish law for salvation, affirming that faith in Christ alone justifies believers and sets them free from the law's bondage.

Ephesians

Paul writes to the church in Ephesus about the unity and richness of the Christian life, emphasizing the church as the body of Christ and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and integrity.

Philippians

In this letter of joy and encouragement, Paul thanks the Philippians for their support, urging them to rejoice in the Lord and to live humbly, following Christ's example of selflessness and service.

Colossians

Paul warns against false teachings and emphasizes the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, urging the Colossians to live a life worthy of the Lord and rooted in His truth.

1 Thessalonians

Paul expresses his gratitude for the Thessalonians' faith and encourages them to continue living holy lives, providing hope and instruction regarding the return of Christ.

2 Thessalonians

Paul addresses concerns about the Day of the Lord, reassuring the Thessalonians of God's justice and urging them to stand firm and continue working faithfully until Christ returns.

1 Timothy

Paul provides Timothy with guidance on church leadership and sound doctrine, emphasizing the importance of godliness, prayer, and proper conduct within the church community.

2 Timothy

In his final letter, Paul encourages Timothy to remain steadfast in his faith and ministry, warning against false teachings and highlighting the importance of Scripture for teaching and guidance.

Titus

Paul instructs Titus on appointing church leaders and teaching sound doctrine, emphasizing the need for good works and godly living as evidence of faith.

Philemon

Paul appeals to Philemon to accept his runaway slave Onesimus as a brother in Christ, highlighting themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, and Christian love.

Hebrews

This letter, written to Jewish Christians, presents Christ as the ultimate High Priest and perfect sacrifice, urging believers to hold fast to their faith and persevere despite persecution.

James

James emphasizes practical Christian living, calling believers to demonstrate their faith through good works, wisdom, and ethical behavior.

1 Peter

Peter encourages suffering Christians to remain steadfast, reminding them of their hope in Christ and urging them to live holy and exemplary lives despite persecution.

2 Peter

Peter warns against false teachers and reminds believers of the certainty of Christ's return, urging them to grow in knowledge and godliness.

1 John

John reassures believers of their salvation, emphasizing the importance of love, obedience, and the rejection of false teachings as evidence of genuine faith.

2 John

John warns against welcoming false teachers into the community, stressing the need to adhere to the truth of Christ's teachings and to walk in love.

3 John

John commends Gaius for his hospitality and support of itinerant missionaries, contrasting his behavior with that of the prideful Diotrephes who opposes them.

Jude

Jude urges believers to contend for the faith and warns against ungodly individuals who have infiltrated the church, encouraging them to remain firm and build themselves up in faith.

Revelation

John's apocalyptic vision reveals the ultimate victory of Christ over evil, offering hope and encouragement to persecuted Christians by depicting the final judgment and the establishment of God's eternal kingdom.

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Your thoughts on this use of AI?

Cancel Culture Is Nothing New: Examples Ancient and Past

12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. 
--John 7:12-13 (NIV)

While reading from the Gospel of John recently I was struck by the statement highlighted above. They were talking about Jesus, of course. Their response--fear of expressing their thoughts publicly--seemed to encapsulate our moment in history these past three years. People are afraid to speak publicly about many issues out of fear. Jobs have been lost for expressing the wrong point of view on a hot topic. Many are ridiculed simply for having honest doubts.

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When I was growing up my mother used to say, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Nowadays people are bullied and bludgeoned for questioning the current pop creed. This is not the way people are "won over" to a new idea that goes contrary to their beliefs or experience.

Then again, this is nothing new. Read the story about the man born blind whom Jesus healed. It's found in the Gospel of John, chapter 9. The religious leaders tried to corner his parents, but the parents knew it so they played it coy and gave evasive replies. 

20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” --John 7:12-13

One of the things I like about these stories from the Bible is that the behavior of these characters corresponds with the behavior we see in people today. Insecurity, alertness, political pressure, sorrow, confusion, fear of those in authority... It's nothing new.

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Throughout history there have been numerous instances where freedom of speech has been abridged by both governmental actions and cultural norms. Here are some historic examples:

Sedition Acts (1798): The United States passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, which included laws aimed at curbing criticism of the government. The Sedition Act criminalized false, scandalous, and malicious statements against the government, leading to the prosecution of individuals critical of President John Adams and his administration.

McCarthyism (1950s): During our Cold War with the Soviet Union, the government's fear of communist infiltration led to witch hunts that cost people their jobs simply by being accused. When you can't express honest doubts or ask honest questions due to fear of repercussions, it's an abridgement of our feedom of speech.

Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918): In the context of World War I, the United States passed these acts to suppress dissent and opposition to the war effort. They were used to prosecute individuals who spoke out against the war. Hundreds, and maybe a couple thousand, were imprisoned for expressing anti-war sentiments. At the same time, the government was allocating money to create propaganda in support of the war effort. 

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To be fair, censorship of free speech has not been limited to the United States. Nevertheless, the degree to which social media and government agencies justified the repression of contrary voices during the Covid lockdowns (and other ethical concerns) has been quite alarming.  

 

Related Link

He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People

The Opening Idea in Thomas Merton's Opening the Bible

"What kind of book is this?" Such a question cannot be answered without taking into account the very peculiar claims that have been made for the Bible by Christian, Jewish and even Muslim believers: claims which, to many modern men, are outrageous. Claims that this book is unlike any other, and that man's very destiny depends on it.

We cannot understand anything about the Bible unless we face the fact that these claims are made seriously, and that the outrage taken at them is also fully serious. Neither can be discounted. It is of the very nature of the Bible to affront, perplex and astonish the human mind. Hence the reader who opens the Bible must be prepared for disorientation, confusion, incomprehension, perhaps outrage.

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Thus begins a little volume by Thomas Merton titled Opening the Bible.

What I like about Merton's opening setup is that for many Christians the Bible has ceased to be a challenge or a problem. We (and I include myself here) can easily fall into the trap of reading the Bible in a non-engaged way, superficially grazing its contents on auto-pilot.  

This weekend I was looking again at one of my journals from our year in Mexico. (My wife and I worked at an orphanage south of Monterrey beginning in late 1980.) I noticed that my approach to daily Bible study at that time included (1) identifying a passage, (2) recording the message it contained, (3) identifying the larger context, (4) questions it raises, and (5) application.

When I look at the questions I was asking myself, I saw honesty and real searching. For example, in an Old Testament passage from I Kings  we read that God raised up an adversary against Solomon from the royal line of Edom because Solomon's heart had turned away from God. 

Among the many questions raised then (4 November 1981) I find these of special interest: "Was Solomon being punished, or disciplined? If Solomon was so wise (he was called the wisest man on earth) then how did he fail so badly?

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For those unfamiliar with Merton (1915-1968), his book Seven Storey Mountain was a worldwide bestseller. I remember being introduced to the book by a social studies teacher who lived across the street from us in Bridgewater back in the 60s. Like Saint Augustine, Merton was a roustabout in his youth. When God got hold of him he joined the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. 

In the 1990s, while doing research for my story The Unfinished Stories of Richard Allen Garston, I had a desire to visit Gethsemani in order to accurately portray the setting. The central character in my story had escaped to this place for murky reasons that can be deduced from the story's ambiguous end. While there I saw where Thomas Merton's remains are buried. The memory is still vivid. (What my children probably remember most is the stinky cheese I bought there, something akin to Lindbergher, which I ate in the car, much to their displeasure.)

Thomas Merton spent 27 years here in this remote community of ascetics. Daily Bible reading and reflection left him a changed man. He writes, "The Bible is without question one of the most unsatisfying books ever written--at least until the reader has come to terms with it in a very special way."

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Trivia: Thomas Merton died 10 December 1968, 54 years ago this weekend.

Here is a link again to my story The Unfinished Stories of Richard Allen Garston. Feedback welcome. Maybe one day I'll publish an anthology of my own unfinished stories. 

Curiosity and a Canary: How Ordinary Events Become Extraordinary

The introduction to a book on Andre Gide and Curiosity begins like this: "In the autobiography of Andre Gide, the 15-year-old Andre is walking down a Paris street when he sees a canary flying toward him like the Holy Spirit. It lands on his head, designating him, he believes, as a writer."

The author describes how the young Andre is both curious regarding the canary, and simultaneously an object of the canary's curiosity. This statement from the book's description especially stood out for me: "Curiosity was a credo for Gide. By observing the world and then manifesting in writing these observations, he stimulates the curiosity of readers, conceived as virtual conduits of a curiosity once his own."

Reading these few lines brought several moments from my own life back into view, the first being that specific moment in time when I myself felt called to be a writer.

Other memories also came to mind of encounters with nature, or experiences in which I witnessed something unusual that seemed to have special significance for me. Like Gide's encounter with the canary, one of these involved an encounter with a fawn. The incident occurred in the fall of my junior year at Ohio University, 1973. I'd gone for a walk with my sketchbook as sunset approached, seeking a place to sit and draw. I found a quiet open space that overlooked a vast expanse to the west, hemmed on both sides forest, delightfully peaceful. I still remember the vivid colors of that red and gold sky, the swoop of the valley's architecture, the silhouettes of the trees as darkness approached.

Drawing, like any creative endeavor, becomes timeless when you've lost yourself in it, and on this occasion I must have been in the zone as it were, quietly absorbed in the moment. Suddenly I became aware of a young fawn that had evidently been creeping along the path, curious about this strange person sitting in her way. Her head bent forward below her shoulders, she kept approaching me, tentative and uncertain. Our eyes locked as I studied her face, each of us expectant, though she was no doubt more wary than relaxed.

Suddenly, two rifle shots echoed in the distance and my curious friend became alert but she didn't run. Eventually she sauntered back to the woods in the direction from which she came.

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I've been re-affirmed by the presence of a dove.

The incident must have made an impression on me because a couple years later I woke one morning with the first stanza of a poem tumbling and swirling in my head, along with the other images from this experience. The poem that I crafted became As A Young Fawn, I, a retelling of this incident from the point of view of the fawn.

During the night as I lay thinking about these things I was also reminded of the story of the Magi from the East written about in the Gospel according to Matthew in chapter 2. These priest sages who had been students of the heavens recognized a star of major significance and connected it with the birth of the anticipated Messiah spoken of by Jewish prophets. The Bible never says there were three, as the song "We Three Kings" suggests. It does, however, acknowledge a connection between nature and our human story, both individually and collectively. There are moments when something breaks through from Beyond that our modern scientific minds tend to dismiss, disregard, ignore.

Bringing this all full circle, the Magi were men whose mystical inclinations made them curious about the greater meaning of things. How they learned about this miraculous birth isn't explained in this passage, its historically documented that Israel's Northern Kingdom had been overthrown by Assyria circa 720 B.C. and the remaining Jews of the Southern Kingdom taken captive by the Babylonians circa 587 B.C. The Magi were undoubtedly familiar with, and curious about, the sacred texts of these peoples. Their arrival in search of the newborn child was no coincidence. 

Psalm 19 begins, "The heavens declare the glory of God." Open your mind. Sometimes a canary, or a dove, is more than just a bird.

Merry Christmas.

Northern Lights courtesy John Heino Photography.

Religion in the Public Square

Yesterday I mentioned a few themes from the book Founding Brothers, but I avoided the issue of religion in the public square because there was insufficient space to make a point I wanted to explore.

The manner in which the slavery issue was debated throughout early American history exemplifies, probably more than any other, the challenge of bringing religion into public debate. The Quakers were quite vocal against it from the beginning, but their voices were dismissed because they were also pacifists who had been against the revolution itself. To some extent there was a condescending attitude toward the Quakers because although they were "nice" and "good" their views were not practical.

The tragedy (one of many, actually) with regard to Christians bringing the Bible to bear upon political issues like slavery is that the slaveholders were themselves church-going Bible-believing Christians who quoted the Scriptures to defend their way of life. Even after the end of slavery, these same believers went on to defend racist policies and fight against the very principles of freedom for all which the revolt against England was all about.

This unfortunate misuse of the Bible within the context of politics is not a uniquely American phenomenon. In Britain, during the Irish potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century Christians in Parliament argued that the people of Ireland should not be fed or helped in any way because it was a judgment of God.

Does this mean Scripture does not apply to political battles? Am I suggesting that Christians should have no voice in the political process? Absolutely not.

My personal belief is that the Ten Commandments, for example, are not true and good because God said them. Rather, they are true and good because God is a loving God and He understands how the soul works and the human social order works, that murder and adultery and lying are behaviors that damage communities and ourselves as well. It is in our best interest to live in harmony with the underlying rules of the universe we find ourselves in.

This may be an oversimplification for the sake of brevity, but I take it to the public square in the following manner. When arguing our case, whether it be for life affirmation or against the wrongfulness of treating humans as property, we must speak into the culture without the religious jargon and hardline arrogance that says, "My view is God's view." As mortals, can any of us have an absolutely perfect understanding of the ramifications of every situation, every piece of congressional legislation?

In point of fact, everything is easy in the ethereal realm of ideas and ideals, but it gets messy when you pull it down into the broken mess that is our world today. First, being a hardliner makes it very hard to find common ground to negotiate solutions with your enemies. Second, a thing may be "wrong" to one person but all the solutions are equally bad. Numerous examples can be cited.

Bottom line: our philosophical approach as Christians in the public square must be one of being Biblically informed, but we can't march into the arena spouting Bible verses and expect to have influence. Bible-wavers have been on both sides of nearly every ethical issue, from slavery to Viet Nam.

Our attitude must be one of humility and teachableness. The real need in the public square is for truth, compassion and justice to prevail. These are values for which banners must wave and for which all Christians must speak up. Our world is broken. How can we not make some attempt to be agents for healing and restoration?

Interpretations

In 1980-81, when Susie and I were working at an orphanage in Mexico, a missionary organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM) had organized an outreach South 'o the border in the vicinity of where we were, Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leone. Due to "bad luck" with regards to timing, the semi loaded with Bibles was held up at the border due to an unannounced meeting between the newly elected President Reagan and Lopez Portilla, president of Mexico. The presidential summit took place in the border town where the semi had spent the night, so all traffic going north or south was held in limbo for a day. The problem is, there are two checkpoints to pass, the first when you enter Mexico, the second twenty miles in. This allows people to cross into the border towns for shopping, putting fuel in their diesel trucks etc. If you are going deeper into the interior you had to cross the second checkpoint within the same 24 hours as the first.

When the YWAM teams arrived in Monterrey from all over North America the Bibles they were planning to disperse did not. You can imagine how this might have been interpreted. The devil did not want those Bibles to get into Mexico.

When we learned of the assembly of 600 young people in Monterrey looking for something to do, we set about to meet with them and invite them to the orphanage where we were working. There were plenty of needs. We had approximately 120 children between the ages of three and fifteen and a whole lot of run down buildings badly in need of repairs, chiefly due to the belief that saving souls was more important than upkeep of facilities.

Our cordial invitations succeeded. Many of the YWAM teams did indeed come out to the children's home and heartily pitched in to paint the buildings, repair screens on the cafeteria where disease-laden flies were landing on children's meals, to repair the roof of the chapel and carry out other practical tasks. I especially remember the team from California who said that on the way to the YWAM outreach here they had seventeen flat tires or blowouts on the trailer that hauled their supplies.

What struck me about this was the interpretation of the cause of the blowouts. They said it was the devil. Clearly, by grit and determination they had come all that way, despite delays, and made it by God's grace to Monterrey. The Lord clearly had them there for a purpose, because the devil was unable to stop them.

I mean no disrespect to the faith in this matter, but I have to stop here and ask one question. Why did it never enter anyone's minds that the reason they kept blowing tires, seventeen in all, was not a spiritual warfare issue but a physics issue? They had too much weight in the trailer and the tires were not designed for the use to which they were put.

Events happen. How we interpret those events will result in our being able to bring resolution to the problems we encounter in life, in our relationships, in the workplace. By interpreting every little thing as a matter of spiritual warfare, we never come to grips with the real problems we're dealing with, or recognizer the simple solutions to the issues we face.

Many religions profess that the mind is the enemy of enlightenment. "Kill the snake," said Guru Majaraji, the snake "deceiver" being our minds. Similar sentiments are expressed in other Eastern religions. For me, Christianity's appeal is built on a foundation that corresponds with sense and a certain intellectual satisfaction. Knowledge and understanding should not be entirely at odds with common sense. Nor does Christian meditation mean emptying the mind, rather it means filling the mind with truth and contemplating the richness of this good content, the bread of life.

That's my interpretation on these things. But as Paul states at the end of I Corinthians 13, "We see through a glass darkly." I am willing to be proven wrong.

What's your take on these things?