"It's the only way!"
Are you sure about that?

"It has to be done this way! It's JUSTICE!"
Do you really think so? Or is that your anger talking?

"It's the only language THOSE PEOPLE understand!"
Nonsense. It's the only language YOU want to speak. It's not the language that God taught you. It isn't what was decreed. It's not at all what you were told to do. It's just what you want. And, in the end, you'll convince yourself that all that blood on your hands was necessary and just and right, even though it isn't.

And you'll find that nothing you do or think or say can get it off.

This week, the timeless tale of a man who put his trust in wealth, status, power, and walls. And when his life was to be weighed on the scales of justice, he paid a great amount of wealth, granted an unsurpassed level of status, and ceded a portion of power equal to his own to tip the balance. To what effect? Join us today for this, the second of 2025's Horror Stories from the Bible, and find out.

Every year at about this time, we spend a few weeks examining horror stories from the Bible. This year we revisit one of my favorites: The Day of the Dead.

Is there something to be learned from the stories of unnatural or even terrifying things in scripture? The earliest sages certainly thought so! They carefully included these tales in their accounting of the interactions between God and humankind and used them regularly in their teaching. I think we need to do the same.