The Porter Variation™

Well, I'm a few weeks into my New Testament class, and it is just as tough, if not tougher, than my Old Testament class was.  The class is a lot bigger, which is good, but our online discussions are also a lot bigger.  I get maybe 20-30 emails a day that someone has posted something on the board.

(a little explanation - since the class is done online, we get questions every week which we respond to in about 500 words.  Then, we have to respond to at least two of our classmates posts with something relavent to say in about 100 words or so.  Some posts are more relavent than others, as we'll see soon)

I did finally get my grades for my Old Testament class.  Based on the scale given to us at the beginning of the year, if I had made 2 more points in the class, I would have gotten an "A".  Really, I'm cool with a "B", but I wish I didn't know I only needed 2 more points for an "A".  Its like that scene in "Happy Gilmore" where his golf ball is 2 inches short of dropping in the cup:

I'll take it though!  I made an "A" on the final that I was really nervous about, so I'm really glad.  My sermon got the lowest score (still a B).  It was confusing because where I used real-life stories to illustrate the text, the teacher wrote in the margin I should use more Bible verses, and where I used Bible verses, he said I should include more real life stories.

This week in New Testament, we are talking about how the Gospels were written, particularly Matthew, Mark and Luke.  There are a lot of similarities in those Gospels.  In fact, Matthew uses 97% of Mark's Gospel and Luke uses 88% of Mark's Gospel.  Besides that, there are about 235 verses that Matthew and Luke share that aren't in Mark.  (Good thing plagiarism wasn't a big deal back then!  Those guys would've never gotten published these days...)  So anyway, there are a lot of theories about how and when the Gospels were written.  Did Mark write first and Matthew and Luke copy him?  Where did those 235 shared verses come from?  Did Matthew write first and Mark and Luke copy him?  There are many theories and all are a little confusing.

One of my classmates posted a very good synopsis of the each theory and did a great job of it.  Sometimes I feel a little inadequate because my classmates are very intelligent and academic.  They use words I understand (sometimes), but would never use.  I keep it simple. Anyway, I replied to her post with this:

The teacher commented on my post with this:

So, there you go.  This guy has been teaching New Testament since I was in grade school, glad I gave him something new to think about.  By the way, watch for The Porter Variation™ in the next copy of Dr Sylva's book! :)

I do get complimented for thinking of things that no one else has, actually frequently, because I tend to think on a "street" level instead of on a "book" level, so I'm not just the goofy guy.  I guess maybe I should learn to be a little more academic though.  I got a few points taken off my research paper in Old Testament for saying that Eglon was probably more like Michael Clarke Duncan and less like Chris Farley.  The teacher said I should leave "pop culture" references out of academic papers.  I guess if I had done that, those few points would have gotten me an "A" in the class.  :(

But thats ok, I'd rather be understood than thought to be too academic.