An Observation

Well, isn't that what most writers and bloggers do, make observations? This one occurred in one of my favorite writing locations, a Christian-based coffee shop. They have one of those chalk boards that they post a question on and then get responses.

The question one day was

What is your favorite verse this week?

At the point I was there it had only 14 responses, The observation I made was that of the 14, 10 were from the Hebrew Bible and only 4 from the New Testament. That is just barely over a quarter (28%) of the responses were from the Christian Scriptures.

No, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with quotes from the Hebrew Bible being the favorites. In my own Moravian tradition in our devotional history of "The Daily Texts", the "Watchword for the Day" is to be from the Hebrew Scriptures. The New Testament text is a "doctrinal" text that in some way expands on or enhances the watchword. That's why the "Watchword for 2015" over there on the right sidebar is from the Hebrew Bible. (By the way, the watchwords are chosen by lot. I basically looked at my birthday in the Daily Text for 2015 for my watchword for this year.)

But I found it interesting that the favorite verses were not from the New Testament. A couple of thoughts on that.

• First, 14 responses is not a large number. Low responses are often not representative of the overall response rate.
• Second, if the first few verses were from the HB then the thought is placed in the next person's mind and they also pick from the same Testament.
• Third, it is the same kind of reflection that has, over the years, elevated the Ten Commandments above what the NT strives for. You know, Jesus saying, "You have heard... but now I tell you." Things like thinking evil of someone is as bad as killing them or lusting in your heart is the same as actually doing it.

In any case, That's what I noticed.