Why Does the Bible Have So Much Disturbing Stuff in It?

I recently read through Deuteronomy and was reminded of how confusingly harsh and disturbing certain parts of the Bible can seem at face value. It made me grateful again for the New Church teachings about how to understand scripture.

In the most recent issue of New Church Connection there's one of the best short explanations of these teachings that I've come across. Even if you're familiar with these teachings I recommend taking a look at Rev. Thane Glenn's article about this, "Real Challenges: Biblical Contradictions".

Good Articles About Grief and Suicide

Nothing works to totally make sense of death and suicide but sometimes words and ideas can help. Here are a couple of articles that I found helpful and useful.

Here's an article that Rev. John Odhner wrote about what we can learn from the Writings/Swedenborg about suicide: "Reflections on Suicide". (You can also download a Word doc version of it here.)

And here's an article that Rev. Brian Smith wrote about the wounds that come from losing a friend: "Tearing".

And here's a post that Rev. Mac Frazier wrote about despair.