Godverse

Snacking on Brim's cheesepuff curls the other day (which I had purchased from a local Dollar Tree discount store, where everything is in truth only a dollar!), I noticed on the back of the package the identity of the provider (i.e. Brimhall Foods of Bartlett TN) along with a little insert close by reading something like:

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

It sort of struck me hard, because usually brand-name food producers from local stores don't print what apparently are Bible verses on the cartons or containers of their products, and . . . if they bravely do . . . asinine anti-Christian "jews" and other satanic accursedly-impious-and-irreligious pigfeces-vermin of the ACLU/PAW/SPLC/AUSCS/HR and similar types (some of the type der Fuehrer and Stalin thankfully cremated in concentration-camp ovens or froze to death in gulags within Siberia during WW II) do their damndest to object to, disallow and prohibit.

So there was the verse:

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

I had no problem with it, but as I began seriously contemplating it, I thought about the exact words, and how an outsider who had no or very little viable working knowledge of Christianity would take it in terms of trying to figure it out.

For example (and, understand, I am not trying to be divisively critical nor blasphemously profane), why the sort-of-obvious reference to "lips?" How else would someone "confess" something? Why wasn't "tongue" mentioned instead or also? Inclusion of the word "lips" would seem kind of strange to someone not familiar with Scriptural semantics.

And what's that "confess" business? Is it meant only for someone to testify on trial in a courtroom situation? Or something most others would deem a fact that one should keep secret, be ashamed of, hide, and keep quiet about? Why not simply use the word "say" or "declare" or "proclaim?"

WHO is "Jesus?" The name has frequently been heard in vulgar and profane swearing associated with pompous-ass bullyboy and bullygirl belligerents in outbursts of big-shot-showoff bravado or adversarial and confrontational anger. What has this "Jesus" done to put Him in the center of importance in the "Romans 10:9" sentence? Is He vital for one to know about and associate with? Is He dead, or alive for a person to do so? And what a peculiar name: "Jesus!" Does not sound Swedish or Italian or Russian or Chinese or even African. Why not Bart or Harvey or Jack or Andy or Mike or Tom or Dick or Harry? And no last name given? Where is "Jesus" now, where did He live, and is He now around somewhere? What is His e-mail address or phone number? The company He has worked for or now employed with? Is He now retired and living on Social Security?

Faint recollections in the minds of hedonistic pagans and heathen relating to the word "Jesus" bring to mind various pervert-artist paintings and sculptures and pictures of some shepherd-like effeminately-mopheaded and barefooted guy posing while carrying some lamb in some pasture-background setting, and/or some pathetic near-naked man understandably looking rather unhappy while hanging on some Roman crucifixion cross for what he had committed or thought to have committed by the ones responsible for pinning Him there.

Generally-accepted public rumor has it that He voluntarily allowed Himself to be nailed and hoisted up on a hill . . . and the same guy who is said to have brought dead people back to life by simply speaking to them could have just as easily done the opposite to their prompt fatal demise, per:

Matthew 26:53 "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?"
John 10:18 "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."

. . . for His quasi-horrible crimes of healing scores (perhaps hundreds) of people from incurable diseases and handicaps, plus acknowledging that He was the Sacrificial-Sacrifice "Son of God," thus infuriating His lethally-jealous and arguably-insane enemies who mortally committed the blasphemous crime of questioning or contradicting that, and made themselves even more despicably filthy by lynching Him and maliciously conspiring with the Roman government to get Him illegally murdered.

So getting back to the wording of the verse at hand, and an ignorant outsider's view of it, what is that "Lord" business? People have heard that word with reference to medieval masters and Hollywood figures such as Lord Darth Vader in the Star Trek movie series. Was this "Jesus" some medieval lord one now has to be concerned about and deal with? Afraid of or appease? Why the capitalization of the word "Lord?" Doesn't that imply divinity -- something related only and exclusively to "God" (the Creator)?

What is this "believe in your heart" thing? What is a "heart?" To metaphorically memorize something "by heart" actually involves use of the human brain, not necessarily directly associated with the pump in the center of the chest which forces blood through arteries and veins of the body. Why wasn't "the brain" used instead of "heart?" Is some type of affection or emotion implied with the probably-euphemistic-and-poetic word "heart" in the probably-religious-sounding context?

The word "God" is generally understood to reference the Creator of Everything. But what has that Creator to do with that "Jesus," and why would He "raise Him from the dead?" What did "Jesus" do to positively or negatively deserve such resurrection? For what purpose was "Jesus" "raised from the dead?"

The phrase "raised Him from the dead" is sort of weird. What does that mean? At least one now knows that that "Jesus" was indeed supposedly dead. But does the "raised Him from the dead" phrase mean that the Creator caused a lifeless corpse to became alive again? Or merely be propped up in either a vertical or horizontal position for whatever purpose? Why would the Creator want and cause that "Jesus" to become alive again? For what cause(s)? What would that accomplish?

The ultimate objective of the sentence seems to imply that confessors mouthing the name "Jesus" in addition to being believers in the "raising" of Him by the Creator would result in those confessors and believers being "saved."

"Saved" from what? How? For what purpose? How long? Into what circumstances and environment? Why would they want to be "saved?" Would they instead be "lost" if they were not "saved?" If so, "lost" in what way or ways, and involving what? When "lost," could they ever be found again? Does it make any crucial difference if such are either "saved" or "lost" - whatever that involves?

Don't get me wrong. We live in a country of free speech, and anyone can reasonably utter and write whatever they reasonably want, just so it does not maliciously hurt anyone, be a public nuisance, or cause a disruptive disturbance. There is the possibility that utterances like such mentioned can be confusing to certain ones, perplexing to others, and cause overtly-annoyed reactionaries to alert psychiatrists and mental health workers against utterers who persistently and selectively target those reactionaries with non-solicited and even allegedly-"freakier" comments perhaps misconsidered "unlawful."

However, the verse is quite benign. Albeit rather strange, to an outsider. Kind of weird to him or her. Sort of borderline-silly or needless or irrelevant to others. But well within the bounds of civil legality and acceptability (as most everything else is), and (for all practical purposes) harmless, especially if the utterers lipping such are trying to tell some mythical legend or imaginative fairy tale or something like that for well-intentioned purposes and the overall well-being of society in general.

Finally, what is that "Romans 10:9" referencing? Where did that come from? Are there any other references similar to it? If so, where can they be found? Should they be found? Is it a matter of utmost importance to discover? We all have busy schedules, and appointments to keep.

The word "saved" sounds rather important. Just a few things needing to be saved are: money, the car, the bank account, the kids, the wife, the house, the country, gasoline, groceries, stuff purchased in grocery and hardware stores and service stations, and a lot more - for starters.

More background information is needed. Google search is in order.