tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72728915767152726912024-03-19T00:52:50.775-07:00LROMA blog about spiritual stuff.
New posts whenever I feel like it, gosh.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-29470446174949813692013-05-07T07:11:00.001-07:002013-05-09T15:11:00.845-07:00Why some young Christians are uninterested in the church communityI came across<a href="http://marc5solas.com/2013/02/08/top-10-reasons-our-kids-leave-church/"> this article</a> during my usual online browsing. It was about why kids who were raised in Christian homes hit college and then drop out of church in disappointingly high numbers.<br />
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The article gives ten reasons, which include the church trying too hard to be cool, kids not studying enough apologetics or knowing enough about their faith, kids getting tired of pretending to be Christians, kids' faith being based completely on feelings, they don't feel like they need faith, and they can't live by the Bible's moral teachings.<br />
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Basically, the article blames a) those lazy kids and b) watered-down theology taught in churches. I've been to dozens of churches, but I was mainly raised Presbyterian. I didn't find that <i>any</i> of them really watered down their theology. In fact, I thought most of the churches I went to had strong opinions and teachings.<br />
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I don't think that's the entire problem. Or even the main problem. I was one of those kids and so were many of my friends. I had zero interest in church during my last three years of college (although I made a huge effort to get to church...by bike...my freshman year). There was no animosity, just a feeling that going would be a waste of my time.<br />
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I know there are some people who feel like they fit in very well in church. This post is not for you. Know that I have not been to every church, and it's possible there is a good one out there that I should try. If you know one in Southwest Florida, let me know. But I HAVE been to a lot, and not just for visits either. I've been a member of youth groups, churches, and Bible studies, and I've been both staff and camper at <a href="http://kanakuk.com/">a famous religious camp.</a> I've had the exposure to write this.<br />
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This isn't about the kids who were just pretending, don't really believe, or aren't Christians. You can't do much about them. Churches don't convert others; the Holy Spirit does. This is about the young people who believe and who do have a relationship with God, but Ronald Reagan it when it comes to church attendance. So, without further ado, here is the (messy) post.<br />
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<b>Reasons the church is losing this generation</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>1) Some churches are country clubs-</b> This isn't a new complaint. Let's face it. Some churches are all about who's in and who's out. It's an exclusive club. If you pass the litmus test, appear clean and sane, don't have any sex outside of marriage (or don't tell if you did), vote for Republicans, and have the social acumen necessary to express a sweet heart, you are golden. Still, even if you fit in, there's an underlying tension that you could always fall out of favor or that you are not safe.<br />
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It's about looking perfect and then getting out of there to your "real" life. Even if you have no trouble doing this or even if you don't care what people think about you, it leaves the church feeling dead. When Jesus was on Earth, he talked about how religious people cleaned the inside of the cup and not the outside. They only cared how it looked. Young people see through that.<br />
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Also, churches are supposed to be about fellowship, but how can you get to know someone when they are always on their best behavior in the only place you see them? If young people have real friendships in the church, they are more likely to come back.<br />
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I think the number one way to get young people in church is to make them feel like church is a place where they can be themselves more than they can in the outside world. If they have to hide most of their personalities in the church, they are going to run out of will to be there.<br />
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<b>2) Large groups have no give-and-take- </b>In the early church, Christians met in houses. They knew each other and their community was based on actual relationships and friendships. They didn't sit and listen to one guy, every week, give his take and then leave without saying a word (or even saying hi to the guy). You can go to church, sit among hundreds of people, and leave feeling completely alone.<br />
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There is no way to build relationships in the large congregation setting. Churches know this and now they have people greet each other and shake hands during the service. THAT SOLVES EVERYTHING (sarcasm). Now, most churches have Bible studies or groups by age/gender/stage. But some of those are just a <i>smaller version</i> of the Sunday service. For example, all the women sit and listen to one woman teach. And then they leave (after some shallow small talk, of course).<br />
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Churches need more small groups and to have meetings at more houses. There should be little meetings going on throughout the week, and everyone should be welcome to most of them. When you split people up by category (single, married, youth group, men, women) ALL THE TIME, there are some people who won't fall into those neat categories. I was looking on the internet for a small, church-affiliated group in my town weeks ago and I came up short.<br />
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There was nothing for a single woman who was not a college student. I talked to a guy my age who is in seminary, and even he expressed frustration that you don't feel like there is a place for you in the church unless you are married or a student. Man, no one even invites a standalone person to come sit with them in church anymore! How are people supposed to go all alone? There's nothing more depressing than that.<br />
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Also, when you categorize people, they are unable to meet and learn from people who are different than they are or get to know the entire church. We worship according to race in this country. How gross is that? Churches need to make an effort to integrate, as studies show that worshipping with your own race actually makes you more racist. Seriously. Google it. Don't create cliques and ranks by only having small groups arranged by type. Have a variety so people stop comparing themselves to their peers and start getting to know other Christians.<br />
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<b>3) Most churches need to be more service-oriented-</b> Young people today are extremely socially conscious. I don't know if older people know that, but we are in the phase of our lives where we are still thinking about changing the world, giving food to the needy, and rescuing those in slavery.<br />
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We aren't thinking about what the neighbors think, our retirement plans, or our comfort. We are bored, and we want to be used. We want God and the church to use us for something great. Youth groups need to be less a club where we sing, listen to a guy talk, and then clique up, and more of a group with serious service projects.<br />
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Churches need to be so dedicated to making the community a better place that, were it to shut down, the atheists would be upset at the loss. You want young adults at your church? Tell them there is a job for them to do. A place for them.<br />
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Some churches have people working in the service and missions areas, but they only have the superstar Christians or paid church members doing it. You know the crotchety old man in the congregation who never talks? Find some way to use him, because I can guarantee you that if he is in church, week after week, he wants God to use him.<br />
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Don't screen people for the perfect attitude and hide the less gifted. Figure out everyone's gift and desire. We all have different skills. It's called a body for a reason. Everyone needs to have a place and opportunity to serve significantly in the church. You don't know how God is going to use someone. God used the lousiest people in the Bible. Moses couldn't speak, Elijah was depressed most of the time, etc.<br />
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Service is more important than having a building. Christians can meet anywhere. More money goes to the building than to the poor in your community or your church? That's a problem. Young people see it and seethe. It's all talk and strong opinions and polite niceness. No action.<br />
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<b>4) You can't be honest- </b>People are too quick to pounce on someone with a differing opinion, shutting them down, rather than respecting their right to think and question. Most people decide it's best to not rock the boat.<br />
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Also, am I the only person who thinks that churches equate extroversion, being bubbly, and gender-norm conformity to morality/spiritual maturity? There is a personality you have to have at church to be a leader, to be respected, or to be fully accepted. Especially if you're a woman. If you're a woman, you must appear sweet, humble, feminine, vulnerable, and social at all times.<br />
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In the ideal church, someone can disagree with a teaching, then someone else will politely ask him questions about that belief. He will fully air his opinion and someone might even agree. The worst thing someone will say is, "I disagree, but that's interesting. Thanks for bringing it up." And then that pot stirrer <i>is still allowed in the group.</i> No one says, "He's not a real Christian" or "he doesn't take the Bible seriously." They will agree to disagree and realize that we're not saved by the rightness of our doctrine. And then they will move on. They won't exclude them from projects.<br />
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<b>5) Yeah, churches are trying too hard to be hip instead of asking why young people object to content</b>- I'm mostly talking about the music. Adding guitars to a repetitive, lame verse doesn't make the song good or cool. Young people aren't morons. They know good music when they hear it. It doesn't matter what genre it is most of the time.<br />
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Remember when religious music was the most beautiful music around? Handel's Messiah, anyone? The stuff Bach would play in church? Classical music or deep hymns are better than a rip-off of current popular songs.<br />
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Don't believe the kiddies will like it? I was with three college students a few weekends ago and we had the opportunity to go to the same church to either a contemporary or a classical service. All three students picked the classical service because the music would be better.<br />
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When the church keeps stale, judgmental, culture-based theology and tries to cover it up with a terrible rock band, it just comes across as sad...and a little threatening. I can see some young people thinking, "Wow, this looks so great, but if that guy up there leading worship knew that I was gay, the music would stop and the faces pointed at me would be shocked and ugly." There's nothing worse than a cover up. It's the treatment of people and the delivery of the gospel that need an update, not the tunes.<br />
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<b>6) Churches worship the Bible, not God</b>- Quick question. What, according to John, is the Word of God? JESUS. What did the early church <i>not</i> have? The Bible as we know it today. And yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they were able to not only function, but to thrive. When a discussion actually gets on its shaking, fledgling feet in churches, it is often struck down with someone going, "Well, the Bible says this. Period."<br />
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There follows no discussion of context, interpretation, culture, time, place, or logic. It's just BOOM. Literally and wrongly taken, scripture can keep us from intellectual honesty, listening to the Holy Spirit, and spiritual growth. You can't use it as a bat to hit people over the head with. And you can't pay more attention/respect to the Bible than, you know, God himself. That comes across as dogmatic.<br />
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I love the Bible. Y'all know that. But I'm getting awful sick of hearing Christians plugging it. The Bible doesn't need to be defended. You don't have to demand that Christians respect truth. If it's true, it will ring true. If someone reads the Bible with an open mind, the Bible does a great job of plugging itself.<br />
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<b>7) Teach the actual Bible, not just the applicable stuff</b>- The quickest way to learn the Bible is cool is to start studying the parts that don't get much attention. Don't try to get people fired up or crying. Tell them how Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 on the cross. That's a real prophecy. That will get their attention. Don't just give out Hallmark-card anecdotes.<br />
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Most college group talks give you scripture verses on how to defeat a problem or sin in your life, and then they end with the gospel so you can apologize for not following the rules. You walk out with a piece of paper with everything the Bible has to say about lying. It's like self-help. I get that pastors think they need to make the word directly applicable to our lives, but...they really don't.<br />
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They need to teach the Bible as the story of God interacting with humans on this Earth. They need to teach it as history, as character study, as a cultural study. Bible stories aren't for kids; they are for adults. Young adults can actually relate to King David. A five-year-old can't. Bottom line, don't be afraid to just jump in and teach the Bible without trying to package it for the college life. Teach the hard stuff. Teach Leviticus. Teach us why God thought the Leviticus laws were necessary for that time. By looking at what God did, rather than what we should do, we get to know him better. That is what will affect someone.<br />
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Tell us how the gospel transformed the world or Paul's life, or how it changed the ancient culture from one of sacrifices and guilt to one of grace. Get students to love the Bible. After all, the rules are already written on their hearts. They don't need to be taught "don't lie" at this point. They need to be shown what God is like. The more you know about God, the less you want to sin, I think.<br />
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Also, churches fail to acknowledge truth from other sources. When a kid starts taking college courses that add to or contradict the Bible, they are going to feel like religion is constraining thought and progress. Early on, the church needs to validate and encourage sciences, scientific experiment, truth in other religions, the value of some of the advice Oprah gives, helpful teachings in psychology, and different points of view on the Bible.<br />
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If kids hear it from the church first, they aren't going to feel like the church is afraid of it. Also, it feels flimsy and dishonest when the church essentially says, "If it's not in our book, we don't need it." Remember, even if you believe everything in the Bible is true and from God, you must admit that not everything that's true is found in the Bible.<br />
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<b>8) Churches eat their own wounded-</b> I think Christians are pretty nice to nonbelievers. It's the other Christians they really crucify. If you make a mistake, people in your church will trot out the "they were never a real Christian" line. Or, worse, "they lost their salvation" (that's a Church of Christ thing). My mom got a divorce and lost nearly all of her Christian friends. Ouch.<br />
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If the church is supposed to follow Christ, what does it say when the secular world shows more grace and love than the church does to its own people? To me, it says Christianity doesn't work, and Christ's forgiveness to the sinners of his day is too audacious for "the real world" where people will "take advantage of" grace. That is an oft-heard fear that I don't think is that dangerous or prevalent in practice. Everyone tries to do what they think is right, God or no God.<br />
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Churches have this attitude of "once converted, you are fully converted." They don't think about Peter getting jealous of Paul's success even after he received the Holy Spirit, do they? No one is ever perfect, and Christians need love the most when they mess up. We're born with shame and feel guilt. One time, I messed up a lot, and it just felt good to hear my mom say, "We've all done that exact thing at one point or another."<br />
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Acceptance didn't make me "stop trying" or "take advantage of grace." It just made me feel loved. Instead of shunning a Christian until they get it together, put your arm around their shoulder and say, "Yeah, most of us have been there in some way. You'll figure it out. We love you." People don't care what you know until they know that you care.<br />
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<b>9) Spiritually dead rituals</b>- This may come as a shock to you, but the big buildings reaching toward the sky, the services, the one speaker, and many of the rote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pagan-Christianity-Exploring-Church-Practices/dp/1414364555">traditions in Christianity come from Paganism</a>. I don't know about you, but when people start lighting the stupid advent candles, I start playing with my phone. (Also, why don't we sing AFTER the sermon, when we know what we are singing about and are in the mood to worship?)<br />
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But I get serious when communion comes out. Even as a kid, it just felt important to me. That's because it's a spiritually rich tradition, started by Jesus. Churches can make their own traditions or follow old ones, as long as people know the meaning behind them or as long as it brings people together. Most of them are just a bunch of pomp and circumstance. That really turns a lot of young people off.<br />
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<b>10) Older people making you go and making you conform-</b> First off, no one wants to go to church if they are forced to go. Even if they are sitting there, they will naturally rebel against it. They will find fault with everything they can, argue mentally with the sermon, and feel happy to get out of it. When you're 13, you should have a choice of whether you go.<br />
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Also, older people don't realize that younger people have their own culture. All cultures have good and bad. Older people need to drop the insignificant stuff like hair length and color, slang, shoes, piercings, racial blending, etc. Older people need to accept a melting pot rather than making young people pretend to conform.<br />
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We had enough of the pressure to hide differences in high school. We're over that. It can't be stressed enough. Kids need to feel like they can have their own personalities and thoughts at church rather than some cookie-cutter norm.<br />
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<b>11) Too much pressure on one man-</b> I love the trend of rotating pastors. If there is a too-enormous pressure on one man, he is going to become a hypocrite. His sin is going to have to be hidden and then it is going to grow. Share the load. Share the power. He's way less likely to get caught in a torrid affair if he's part of a group of teachers. Also, we need to bring back the confessing of sins to each other, once the other Christian has earned our trust. Leaders should encourage that. Leaders should support each other.<br />
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<b>12) Emphasizing sexual sins over pride-based ones-</b> Enough said.<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">We’re not going to ditch our gay friends because church people get quiet and weird when we talk about them or bring them around. </span></span><br />
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<b>13) Gossip-</b> The ultimate church killer.<br />
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In total, young people are looking for a church to be based on real relationships/fellowship, genuine people and leaders, service to the community, fear-free and challenging teachings, beautiful music/art, and grace for each other. If I found a church like that, I'd go.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-56729034945593351232013-05-02T14:09:00.002-07:002013-05-02T14:09:44.615-07:00Job 3Job goes on a rant. All these people talk in these long poems or stanzas. You could make a GREAT opera of this book. I'm going to give you an abridged Message version of what he says. You can google the KJV or NIV or ESV for comparison later, if you want.<br />
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<i>"Obliterate the day I was born and blank out the night I was conceived. Turn that night into pure nothingness- no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever. May those who are good at cursing curse that day. May God forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books, rip the date off the calendar. Unleash the Leviathan on it. May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes. And why? Because it released me from my mother's womb into a life with so much trouble.</i><br />
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<i>Why didn't I die at birth? Why were there arms to rock me and breasts for me to drink from? I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain...where bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest? The small and great are equals in that place and slaves are free from their masters.</i><br />
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<i>Why does God bother giving light to the miserable? Why bother keeping bitter people alive? Those who want in the worst way to die and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death? What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense? When God blocks all the roads to meaning? Instead of bread, I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish. The worst of my fears has come true. What I'd dreaded most has happened. My repose is shattered. My peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever- death has invaded life."</i><br />
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I think that sometimes in modern Christianity, we are given the following messages: 1) Sad people and moaners are selfish, 2) it's best to pretend that you are perfect and your life is perfect, 3) emotional people are crazy, and 4) Godly people have all the answers to the meaning of life.<br />
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Notice that all that doesn't qualify as cursing God or a win for Satan. Job is showing great emotion and misery. He's not sitting peacefully like a nun or a saint in a cartoon, raising his glowing face while angel choirs back up his stoic meditations. He's upset, he's allowed to be, and he's not hiding it.<br />
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He's questioning the meaning of life. That's something we all deal with. Yeah, we have more information about the afterlife, Jesus, and the Great Commission, but we all want to know the details about what we are contributing. Life must have some meaning in addition to evangelizing, or the pre-Jesus people were just a waste of everyone's time. God doesn't create wastes of time.<br />
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Looking at his situation, it's easy to see why Job feels like his life has come to nothing. He doesn't even have anything left to leave on the Earth. (If it were the present day, you can just see some good Christian coming out of the woodwork with a five-step plan to get Job right with God. In many circles, they have all the answers. There's no mystery left.)<br />
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I want to note that, obviously, Job did not kill himself or attempt to kill himself. Even though the Bible is largely silent on suicide, we intrinsically know that we are breaking some sort of important rule. At least Job did.<br />
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Also, Job isn't specifically complaining about his health, the deaths, or his material losses. He goes right to the spiritual issues. "What's the meaning of my life?" "Why did God put me here?" "I have no peace." The agony mostly comes from the existential crisis these losses have brought about, not the physical problems.<br />
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There is also a question of whether Satan was attacking Job's mind, giving him depression and spiritual malaise in addition to sickness. I find this unlikely. The human mind can drum this stuff up without the Devil's help.<br />
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I think this passage is great for people who question whether they add anything to the world or whether they should have been born. Job thought this way, and he ended up having a great destiny. He won a cosmic battle between God and Satan, brought glory to God and goodness, proved his judgmental friends wrong, became closer to God, taught millions of believers important lessons, and ended up with more riches and family than ever before.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-17540582374542890422013-04-20T09:32:00.003-07:002013-04-20T09:49:45.665-07:00Women afraid to be themselves in the church? Um, absolutely.<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 15.199999809265137px;">“</span>I’ve had numerous conversations with women who are sincerely conflicted about how to legitimately bring their voice into relationships simply because of their gender. One woman told me she realized it was much easier for her to use her voice when she was single and working in the business world. In Christian circles, she felt all the relational lines had been redrawn to caution her against using her voice. “I felt a sense of energy when I showed up to a meeting at work where I was prepared to engage collaboratively. When I attend meetings at church, I don’t expect to contribute and often feel that it would not be my place to do so,” she said. The difference she noticed as she entered the room was predominantly internal. In one she felt integral, the other incidental.<br />
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Now, however, she feels a box had been drawn for her with four strong walls labeled, “Submission,” “Quiet,” “Gentle Spirit,” and “Authority Structure.” Sadly, she was led to question her value as a person more after she entered the church than before. When she inadvertently stepped over invisible lines by asking questions or starting conversations, she felt the message was clear that she had gone far enough..She felt often confused by the complicated, subtle messages that she had to be distant, cautious, and not engage too personally…</div>
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At church, the woman inferred from the leadership that she was to speak only when spoken to. Her attempts to conversationally engage matters of interest to her in the ministry of the church felt undervalued; often, her attempts were ignored completely. She began to realize compulsory steps were required of her in this dance, involving carefully nuancing her remarks, monitoring and measuring her tone, and speaking tentatively, in a hesitant voice so as not to appear “too strong.” One other woman told me that anytime she even asked a question, she felt church leadership viewed her as dangerous…She voiced a fear I hear often from Christian women, that of being blackballed. “I have known women who after speaking up were rarely asked to do anything again at church. Now I understand more fully why I feel more comfortable asking my husband to voice my thoughts than speaking of them myself.” Both she and her husband would agree that when he speaks, he is taken more seriously and is better received.</div>
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Strength seems to be valued when it’s an internal, unseen quality, but not so much when paired with a woman’s voice. It’s possible that being viewed as a strong woman appears to be a spiritual defect. When a woman feels compeled to hold back from revealing her essence, to withhold her voice, one must ask if the reason is fear. Is there more safety in hiding?</div>
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Pam Macrae</div>
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You guys would not believe how happy I was to read this. FINALLY, someone knew what I was talking about when I said I didn’t feel comfortable and accepted in the church. There are other people out there who don’t think I’m “silly”!??? It’s kind of healing to hear it’s not just me.</div>
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My aunt gave me this book, and I didn't expect to like it, but I do. It's all about how Christian women should have integrity (rather than just being quiet, social, manipulative, and sweet.</div>
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Whenever I'm in church, I feel like I'm in trouble, even if I don't say a word. I feel depressed. I feel unwanted. I followed all "the rules." Heck, who else is a 26-year-old virgin around here? But I feel like the defective, uncouth weirdo in any church setting and have since I was an adolescent. </div>
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I know mostly dudes read this blog, but if any women feel the same way...you're not alone. I wonder if dudes feel this way ever?</div>
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Also, I feel like this is less the guys' faults and more of the pressure from the "perfect" Christian moms and wives who need to make sure other women stay in line.<br />
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That's why I struggle with going to church. If I can't be authentic and make real relationships...what's the point? If I can sense that the other women are unnaturally subdued, how can I get to know them? If I leave feeling depressed, is it all on me?<br />
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Another quote from that book: Never did Christ nag, flatter, coax, patronize, or make jokes about women. He took their questions and arguments seriously, never mapping out their spheres for them. He simply had no axe to grind. He took them as he found them. Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man- there never has been such another. (Paraphrased from Dorothy Sayers)</div>
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Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-86448938813988494662013-04-17T13:05:00.001-07:002013-04-17T13:05:05.666-07:00Job's health is destroyed <b>Job 2- </b>I've heard it said that if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. I think that's true, to an extent, because you can't really do anything. How can you concentrate with a headache, a mind clouded by drugs, or surgeries to worry about?<br />
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You can't focus on anything but pain and discomfort. You feel out of control of your own body and your life. If the sickness is permanent, you feel as though your best days are behind you. And, of course, there are the mortality issues. We're wired to want to survive.<br />
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That's why it took Job to a super dark place when his health was taken. Satan came for another visit and God said, "Job still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason." It's interesting that God takes credit for the ruin and says he was incited against Job, even though he just took away the protection and Satan did all the actual ruining. He takes full responsibility for things that aren't entirely his fault. It also showed that God had full control of the situation and it only happened because God allowed it.<br />
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Satan says, "Skin for skin! A man will give all he has for his own life. Stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." Satan's theory is that Job stayed quiet so that he would not be killed as well, and that he was fine with losing his family because he was spared. "Skin for skin." He traded his kids for his own security, Satan thinks (and that's probably what Satan would do if he had kids, haha). So, the Lord allows Satan to cover Job with sores from head to foot.<br />
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Satan has failed in the emotional/mental attack. He is now going for the flesh. In my teens, I (wrongly) thought it would be fun to see if I could fit the family puppy's whole head in my mouth. I could, but I was in for a shock. I didn't know the puppy would perceive the situation as " I'm being eaten." She did, and she let out a scream such as I've never heard. That's the survival instinct. The instant scream and despair when your body is threatened. All animals fear this. Satan knows we're part animal. He knows a huge part of us is attached to our flesh.<br />
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It wasn't just sores either. Later in the book of Job, we find out that he also suffered from bone pain, skin that grew black and fell off, halitosis, itching, fever, and emaciation. Job scrapes himself with a piece of broken pottery, probably to help with the itching.<br />
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Job's wife advised him to give up his integrity, curse God, and die. On a shallow reading, it might seem like this woman is a godless villain, but she's just lost her home and kids. She doesn't know it's because she happened to marry Job. She's saying that death would be better than what Job is going through. She doesn't think there is a way up from this. Of course, she's wrong and Satan got her to abandon <i>her </i>integrity, but she's also pretty normal. Job didn't cave to his wife's influence.<br />
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Then Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to comfort him. When they saw him, they hardly recognized him. They started crying, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust on their heads. They sat on the ground with him for seven days, not saying a word. Later, we find out that these friends are frenemies, but their initial action was cool. If only they had kept their mouths shut, didn't start judging, and just continued to sit quietly, in the same position as Job was. But that's for later.<br />
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Job's wife didn't want to see him suffer; it would have been better to join their children in heaven then to live with what she probably assumed as an incurable illness. It's hard to say when someone's health is so bad that they should just go ahead and die. In Job's situation, death would have been the wrong answer, so he held on.<br />
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Does that mean euthanasia is the wrong answer, Biblically, for all or most people? Maybe this passage isn't about that at all, but it's interesting evidence for one of the sides that Job stayed, and he's seen to be a good guy with integrity. Either way, it must suck to lose your health. Maybe I'll go for a bike ride today and lay off the Taco Bell....Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-74249414442800014592013-03-21T14:50:00.005-07:002013-03-21T15:03:21.672-07:00BackSo, it's been a month. I didn't feel like blogging, because I was going through one of those existential crisis periods where I questioned lots of what I believe. Not the existence of God or the divinity of Jesus or anything huge. Smaller issues, but still significant ones (significant enough to make me a tad morose).<br />
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Surprisingly, it wasn't atheists or liberals or (horrors!) the new Rob Bell book, but a couple of Christian fundamentalists that made me question how much they (and I) have right about spirituality. As they were talking to me, they showed a lot of paranoia, closed-mindedness, and an exclusionary mindset that made me realize how ignorant they were about themselves, human nature, and the world in general.<br />
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If I agree with most of their doctrine...and if I was taught most of my doctrine by fundamentalists...how much of it can I really trust when it comes from such shallow, fear-filled brains? If Christianity WORKS, really works, then why is the church filled with more self-righteousness, scandal, and a focus on looking good than with love, compassion, trust, and openness.<br />
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Maybe that's a dumb reason to start questioning Christian tenants that usually make sense, but I started ruminating on specific issues and it all spiraled out of control. When I get to the passages in the Bible that touch on the issues, I'll let you know. I guess one good thing about this blog is it's a spiritual barometer for me. When I'm not feeling close to God, I don't even want to touch it. I've gotten to the point where I want to study/talk about the Bible again. So, onward. Back to Job soon. For now, check out this quote. It pretty much nails where I've landed:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren’t opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it’s alive and well and exploring and searching. Faith and doubt…are excellent dance partners….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fundamentalism shouldn’t surprise us. When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension and dodges the paradox and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are and gives black-and-white answers to questions, leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine, it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Especially when that person is really, really confident.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Certainty is easier, faster, awesome for fundraising, and it often generates large amounts of energy because who doesn’t want to be right?…Two people can believe the same thing but hold that belief in very different ways.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can believe something with so much conviction that you’d die for that belief, and yet in the exact same moment you can also say, “I could be wrong.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is because conviction and humility, like faith and doubt, are not opposites; they’re dance partners. It’s possible to hold your faith with open ands, living with great conviction and yet at the same time humbly admitting that your knowledge and perspective will always be limited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you believe the exact same things you did in the exact same way you did five years ago? Probably not. You’ve grown, evolved, changed, had new experiences, studied, listened, observed, suffered, reflected, and reexamined. That’s how faith is. We learn as we go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#fundies gonna fundie</span></div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-31670085293727500612013-02-11T07:29:00.000-08:002013-02-11T18:18:56.235-08:00Bet <b>The rest of Job chapter 1: </b>One day, the angels come “to present themselves before
the Lord.” Satan comes too, being equal to the angels, and God allows Satan to
be in his presence at this time. Satan isn’t the complete opposite of God, and
his power isn’t comparable. He’s the opposite of, like, the archangels Michael
or Gabriel. They are pretty tough and awesome, but they aren’t God. Thinking of
Satan as the other side of the power coin (where God is one side), power-wise,
gives Satan way too much credit. Satan takes a break from “roaming throughout
the earth, going back and forth on it.” Unlike God, Satan is not omnipresent.<br />
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God decides to brag on one of his kids a little bit. Yeah,
God brings Job up, obviously knowing what’s going to happen. God says, “Have
you seen Job? There’s no one on Earth like him.” Satan says, “Well, of course
he fears and obeys you. You’ve given him protection, riches, and blessings. If
things didn’t go his way all the time, and if life wasn’t so good, he’d curse
you to your face.” Satan has been watching people, so he throws down this
challenge. </div>
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Satan knows it’s easy to trust, be loving, and think you
have all the rules down when life is going well. He knows that it’s suffering
that makes or breaks you. Nietzsche was wrong. That which does not kill us does
not always make us stronger. (That which kills us makes us stronger.) There is
a personal choice element involved in that. Hardship can make us better or
worse. God tells Satan to take everything Job has, but not to lay a finger on
Job himself. Satan takes Job’s children and property. </div>
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When I was 14, I said to my counselor at Christian camp,
“Why would God do this to Job just to prove a point?” I got scolded for asking
the question, so I didn’t ever ask it
again. She said, “That’s a horrible way to think about it. If you want to be
like that and just be contrary, fine. You’re always so disagreeable. It’s such
a good example FOR US to live by.” Well, excuse me for living. I guess my
counselor was, like, 22 years old, so I’ll give her a break. </div>
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Now that I think about it, I’d say that the point was
important enough that it had to be proven to Satan and to us. It’s not JUST
that Job is a good example that we can emulate. It’s not like “we too can be so
so so good if we just try hard.” No. The point is that good always triumphs
over evil, faith can take you through anything, all hope is never lost, and you
can prove evil wrong. You can take a horrible situation and literally lay the
smackdown on the forces of darkness. And all of Heaven and Earth is watching. This
isn’t an earthly conflict, even though it seems so physical. It’s a cosmic
battle.</div>
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When you suffer, the picture is bigger than what is going
on. There’s more at stake than people think. The fight against bitterness after
loss has eternal implications. God chose us; he’s always betting on us. He’s
betting that the grace thing can actually work and that people really can have
a relationship with him if they also have free will. Because this is one of the
oldest books of the Bible, this is also one of the oldest, most fundamental
lessons God wants to teach us by having this writing preserved for so long. </div>
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One of the lessons here is that God doesn’t always do
what we think is fair or what we want him to do. He’s not a pez dispenser or
Oprah giving out cars. He does what he wants. He has his own reasoning. Like
Lewis said, God is good, but he’s not safe. We’re not always going to agree
with him. Another lesson that’s hard for us to grasp (since we like humble
heroes who glorify themselves accidentally) is that God is doing this for his
own glory. But God’s glory is the best thing for everyone. The entire universe:
plants, rocks, animals, us. We all need for everything that God is to be
affirmed. Is it enough to justify suffering? Job had to decide, as do we all.</div>
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My <i>favorite</i>
lesson from this story is that you can’t know why bad things are happening to
people. In this world, when people suffer, some are quick to point out that it
is their fault in some way. I hear lots of Christians say, “Well, God isn’t
blessing this man because he didn’t do such-and-such.” God is punishing them,
God isn’t blessing them, the law of attraction, etc. </div>
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People want to believe that they can control whether bad
things happen to them. To a degree, you can. If you live an unwise life, there
will be consequences. But you can’t judge people just because you are more
blessed than they are. I see it all the time. It’s prosperity gospel. I’m really glad I can say, “Uh uh, Job. And
also the blind guy in the New Testament. <i>Read
the Bible.</i>” You can’t know what's going on in the other realms. It's like Stephen King's Dark Tower books. None of the humans in our world know the what's important and being affected by Roland's world. (Okay, nerd aside over).</div>
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Also, you can’t know how much God is blessing and
protecting a person, even when their lives aren’t perfect. Whose lives are perfect?
In this story, God had a hedge of protection around Job, and he lowered it just
enough for this bet. He was still protecting Job from death (telling Satan that
he couldn’t kill Job). Later, Jesus tells Peter that God has a hedge of
protection around Peter that kept Satan from destroying him. Jesus tells Peter
that Satan wanted to do much worse things to Peter than God would allow. </div>
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I’ve failed Job’s test before, on a small scale. I
remember one time years and years ago, after losing something I worked for,
that I thought God owed me, my reaction was, “Well, then I’m gonna do THIS. I’m
not going to obey this rule anymore. What’s the point? You do everything right,
you get nothing. You break the rules and you get power, riches, attention, and
love from the world.” I had a setback; I was mad at God. I decided that “all
that bull” about him having “a plan for my life” was too good to be true.
Obviously, I changed my mind later. </div>
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When Job found out that his loved ones, who he sacrificed
and cared for, were dead, he tore his robe and shaved his head. He grieved. But
then he worshipped. He said the famous lines, “Naked I came from my mother’s
womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May
the name of the Lord be praised.” Job’s riches, life, health, children,
property, love, abilities, mind, breath, spirit, and everything else came from
God. God promises us things and gives us things. He protects and blesses us,
but we have no cause to demand anything. We don’t have birthrights.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-43077548145905789422013-01-28T19:25:00.003-08:002013-01-28T21:49:13.344-08:00Profile of Job: How to Handle Success<br />
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The first half of Job chapter 1- You guys you guys you guys!!!!! We’re not in Genesis
anymore. I want to go chronologically from now on, so Job is next. Job is
ancient, so much so that translators had trouble with it. Some of these words
have just been completely lost. Context saves the day with a lot of them.</div>
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Job probably existed around the time Abraham did. Some people think it
was around the time of Jacob and Esau. Either way, it was a long time ago. Job
is a book of Hebrew poetry. No one knows who wrote it, but I like to think it
WASN’T Job. If a rich dude wrote a whole book about what a good guy he was,
that would cause some serious eye rolls. It doesn't sound like him.</div>
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What made Job so awesome that God used him as an example to Satan of the best humanity had to offer? What did Job do and have that set him apart and awarded him the dubious honor of being this example of faith through hardship? </div>
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Tim Kelller said in a sermon you might remember that the two biggest tests in this life
are success and suffering. In chapter one, we see that Job has passed that
first one. He’s handled power, wealth, and blessings well. To whom much is
given, much is expected. Job was not a Jew, but he knew God.
Kind of like the first priest, Melchizedeck. This is one of the first recorded
relationships with God. </div>
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Job was one of those people who did the best with the
information he was given about God, even though he didn’t know the whole story.
People can have a good relationship with God apart from religion if their eyes are
open and they want to see it. That’s yet another reason why you can’t judge who
truly knows God. You don't know what they've heard and what they've accepted or rejected. You don't know how much they have sought or how much they can take in. </div>
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Job didn’t pray the sinner’s prayer or believe every part of
some church’s doctrine. But he was committed to trusting in a higher power and acting
in alignment with what is good and true. The Bible calls him blameless and
upright, saying that he feared God and shunned evil. “Blameless” doesn’t mean “perfect.”
It means that Job lived a life that gave him a good reputation. He's trusted. </div>
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Although he
doesn’t have access to the laws of Leviticus, Job knows, like many ancient
people, that sinning puts a human so that he is not right with God and a
sacrifice must be made. This is one of those universal truths that multiple
ancient societies picked up on. Job would make sacrifices for his children
after they threw birthday parties, so that they would be purified just in case they forgot themselves during the celebrations. </div>
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There's no evidence that Job's children partied too much or engaged in debauchery. This is just how careful Job was to not offend God. He made
these sacrifices as a precaution, thinking, “Maybe my kids sinned and cursed
God in their hearts.” Job served as a head of his household, a priest, and a mediator between God and his family. Job’s children invited each other to their birthday
parties, showing that they had close sibling relationships and enjoyed each
other’s company. </div>
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When we meet Job, he has ten children (which
was more valued in that culture than in this one and would give Job great status) and a large estate. The Bible says that Job was
the wealthiest man in the East. This is so impressive to me, because usually a rich
man’s heart is consumed by his money. Usually powerful people are oblivious to
others’ needs and the fact that they are not God. This also proves that you CAN
have money and success and still keep God #1 in your life. But man, that’s got
to be so rare. Camel, needle. </div>
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We find out later that Job was a generous man. We
find out that he took in orphans, argued against injustice and greed in local
courts, and personally cared for the sick, handicapped, and dying. Part of
being able to stay upright when you are rich is being generous. And don’t think
you aren’t rich: you are in the top 1% of wealth in the history of the world.
You’re sitting at a computer, reading this. Even if you have financial worries
or aren’t wealthy compared to others in your life, you’re rich. </div>
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God is about to give Job the other test, the test no one wants. The test of success is the one everyone thinks they can handle. The thought goes: "God should give me this position/resource. I would use it <i>for him, </i>unlike the worldly people I see with power. If I was just given this opportunity, I could serve God." People pray for God to use them. But I ask...and this is something I ask myself too...would we really do that well? </div>
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I was reading the new Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher (that I mostly hated, but the other books in that series are good), and the main character said, "See, that's the tragedy of the human condition. No one wants to be corrupted by power when they set out to get it. They have good, even noble reasons for doing whatever it is they do. They don't want to misuse it, they don't want to abuse it, and they don't want to become vicious monsters. Good people, decent people, set out to take the high road, to pick up power without letting it change them or push them away from their ideals. But it keeps happening anyway. History is full of it. As a rule, people aren't good at handling power. And the second you start to think you're better at controlling your power than anyone else, you've already taken the first step."</div>
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That line hit me because, deep down, I <i>do </i>think I can handle power better than most other people. But when I look at what I've done with the power I already have, that I often don't realize I have, I'm not impressed. I have the opportunity to brighten the days of others, to keep in better touch with my loved ones, to serve, to put time into my relationships, and to share. These are opportunities I pass up on a daily basis. I worry about losing what I have or not getting what I want. </div>
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I think I can handle power? I can't even be a good steward over my Toyota by keeping it clean. I don't take care of the body I grew up in because I stuff it full of Baconators and don't exercise. I cringe when I have to pay for my brother's meal at Burger King. I procrastinate and waste a powerful resource, time. And I'm rich. I have a car, clean water, an education (too much education, probably), freedom, choices, and health. Am I passing this test? I can't be certain. Sure, I've done good things too, but I can always do better before I start asking God for more to handle. It's fine to want God to use you and do great things with your life, but maybe he's already trying to more than you think.</div>
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As always, "trying harder" isn't the solution. Fearing God is. Remember what God did for you is. Trying to see others and material things as God does works better than beating yourself up. Letting God mold your heart and spending time getting to know him is what changes people, not guilt or pressure. Because the great tests aren't testing how good or disciplined you are; they are testing what position/place God has in your life and how much faith you place in him to take care of you.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-55583166098197706072013-01-21T12:11:00.002-08:002013-01-21T12:11:49.689-08:00The rest of Genesis, where the tapestry really comes together<br />
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This blog needs a kick in the bottom to get rid of the
writer’s block. I think finishing Genesis quickly and moving onto Job will do
just the trick.</div>
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In Genesis 43, Jacob and his sons ate all the grain they
brought from Egypt. They had to go back, and they had to bring Benjamin with
them. Judah takes personal responsibility for his little brother’s safety. This
is big, because it’s the first sign we see that Judah has gone through a heart
change. Whereas it was his idea to sell his father’s LAST favorite son, he is
doing the opposite here: protecting him. They left with gifts and double the
amount of silver. They arrived and Joseph invited them to lunch, bringing their
formerly imprisoned brother, Simeon to join them. Joseph was deeply moved when
he saw Benjamin and went into a private room to weep for a while. He had not
seen his littlest brother since Benjamin was a child. </div>
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They started eating. Benjamin got five times everyone
else's portion. This was yet another test from Joseph. He wanted to see if they
reacted angrily at Jacob’s favorite son being preferred again. He wanted to see
if they had changed. </div>
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It’s important to note that the Egyptian officials wouldn’t
eat with the Hebrews. Egypt was a racist society. That’s one of the reasons God
brought them there, most likely. No, really. God can use even racism to bring
about his plans. God couldn’t have his people mixing with the people of Canaan
and assimilating with those pagan nations. He moved his royal family to a place
where no one would ever have sex with them. Egyptians believed that they were
descended from great gods and others were descended from lesser gods. Whether
the Hebrews were allowed to marry Egyptian women (Joseph certainly was), it
would be rare, and they would still be set apart. They would never be equal. They
would never belong in that world. </div>
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Genesis 44- Joseph prepared to send the brothers away
with their food. The brothers were understandably relieved. But Joseph is not
done testing his family. There is NO WAY he is going to reunite with a hurtful,
abusive, and potentially murderous group. He has a good thing going, and there
is nothing good in allowing people to hurt you over and over, even family.
Joseph puts a silver cup in Benjamin’s bag. Also, fun fact, this chapter says
that this is Joseph’s divination cup. Joseph practiced DIVINATION. You don’t
hear that talked about often, do ya? What do you think of that?</div>
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Joseph’s servant catches up to them and accuses them of
stealing. The brothers are certain that no one in their group would take it.
The mission is too important. It also shows that there is more trust between
them than before. The cup is found in Benjamin’s sack. They are brought back to
Joseph, and Judah completes his redemption by offering his life in exchange for
Benjamin’s. He is now ready to be the ancestor of the Messiah. God shaped him
through the Tamar incident and his guilt over what they did to Joseph. He won’t
be making his mistakes again. This is finally enough proof for Joseph that his
brothers are different now, love their father, and love each other.</div>
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Genesis 45- Joseph reveals his identity. At first, his
brothers are afraid, but then they realize that Joseph has forgiven them.
Joseph assured them that God sent him ahead in order to “preserve life.” Joseph
sent them home to get Jacob. When Jacob hears the news, the Bible deliberately
calls him “Israel” again, because now he is a satisfied man who fully
understands that God’s hand has been on his life all along.</div>
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Genesis 46- The family comes to Egypt and settles in the
land of Goshen. </div>
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Genesis 47- Jacob meets Pharaoh and blesses him, which is
interesting to me. Even more interesting are Jacob’s words about his life. He
calls his life a pilgrimage. And even though his is more than 100 years old, he
calls his days “few and evil.” This shows wisdom we rarely see from this guy.
He knows that he is not at home during this life. He knows that his days are
short compared to God’s and compared to the time of the universe, even though
he’s had such a long life. And he knows he’s lived a life full of sin, regret,
bitterness, anger, yearning, folly, grief, and lack of faith. But he’s Israel.
Even in these short and evil days, God used Jacob greatly.</div>
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Genesis 48- Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons and adopts them
as his own. He gives the younger son the position of the firstborn, which is
understandable given his life struggle with his own father and Esau. Also, it
shows that God sometimes picks out a firstborn of his own and doesn’t much care
for cultural traditions in this world.</div>
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Genesis 49- Jacob’s 12 sons are…blessed. Some of these
blessings are weird. They are more like prophecies. Rueben “shall not excel,”
because of how he slept with one of his father’s concubine. This came true.
There was no messiah from that line, nor any kings or prophets . The second and
third-born sons, Simeon and Levi were to be scattered because of the violence
they wrought in anger after their sister was raped. Judah, of course, fared
better. </div>
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Jacob said Judah’s brothers will praise him and bow down
to him, his hand will be on the neck of his enemies, and the scepter shall not
depart from him until Shiloh comes (Shiloh being a name for the messiah meaning
“He whose right it is.” Judah is likened to a lion. In Revelation 5:5, Jesus is
called “the lion of the tribe of Judah.” We won’t go through all of them, but
another interesting prophecy is Dan’s because it says that he will judge his
people. Samson, one of the judges of Israel, came from Dan’s line. The prophecy
also said Dan’s descendants would cause trouble, and they did. After giving
these blessings, Jacob dies. </div>
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Genesis 50- Jacob is buried in Canaan. Joseph comforts
his brothers, assuring them that he isn’t going to turn nasty on them now that
Jacob is dead. Also in this chapter, Joseph dies. </div>
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Some of that I shouldn’t have glossed over. But if
boredom with the end of Genesis is going to keep me from this blog, it’s best
to just get through it. </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-41734325217180356932012-12-19T17:31:00.002-08:002012-12-19T17:31:31.779-08:00Thank God, it's all about to come outGenesis 42- Lots of people have secrets. Lots of people feel that reputation is everything, so every time there is a fight, a difficulty, or a mistake, they put a lot of effort into covering it up or at least making sure it's never talked about. Yet it's always there. Leaving it as the elephant in the room or the thing you can't tell <i>that one person</i> doesn't make it less there. It still affects people. It affects how you think about yourself and how you relate to others. Most of all, it creates distance from the person with the smudgy spot on their soul and all of his or her loved ones. You know what I'm talking about. If you're human, you have some experience with this. If it's not you, you know people with taboo subjects. If you mention one word, disease, act, city, or topic, they tense up, so you don't mention it.<br />
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But it's you too. Come one. Everyone has an incident they regret that they are trying to distance themselves from. Time will do it, to a degree, but in this age of the internet, nothing is permanently forgotten if it's big enough. People have long lives and long memories. That's why I feel really bad for Joseph's brothers who have carried the secret of what happened to their brother for two decades. The secret makes the guilt even worse, and the guilt by itself with be considerable. You always hear, "The truth will out." And it will. Everything that's hidden will come into the light, eventually. Because God is that good.<br />
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The famine affects Joseph's family in Canaan. They all hear that there is food in Egypt, and Jacob says to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" At first, I thought this was a "What are you standing around for?" statement, because the men should be heading down to get food. But the phrase in the Bible literally means "to look questioningly at each other." (Yeah, I looked it up.) They are looking at each other because any mention of Egypt brought Joseph to his brothers' minds, since they sold him to Egyptians. They would look at each other like, "Oh, Egypt. I wonder if Joseph s still alive." Egypt is a taboo topic. It brings The Incident quickly to mind. It's the stain on their lives. The thing that makes their hearts jump up to their throats.<br />
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Jacob continues, "I've heard Egypt has food. Go buy some, so we don't die."Jacob was always kind of a bad father, with favorite sons and everything. Now, he's also depressed! Yeah, he's all bitter and negative. He's faced hardship and loss. He lost his favorite wife and his favorite son, and now there is a famine. Jacob is careful to keep his other favorite son, Benjamin, from going on the errand. Benjamin had the same mother as Joseph, Rachel, the wife Jacob loved (as opposed to that cross-eyed other one). All of Joseph's brothers except for Benjamin leave for Egypt.<br />
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Joseph is in charge of selling the grain. When his brothers see Joseph, the don't recognize him. They bow down with their faces to the ground, fulfilling Joseph's pesky dreams from 20 years ago. Joseph recognizes them (they are, after all, all together and easier to recognize). Joseph decides to do something that, on first read, seems a little crazy, random, and cruel. It seems like he's playing games to see his brothers' reactions or to test them to see if they have matured. I've heard people say that God was guiding Joseph in order to make sure that the brothers got he proper correction and spiritual healing. That was certainly the result. It makes sense. Anybody else have other thoughts?<br />
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Joseph speaks harshly to them and says, "You are spies coming to see where our land is unprotected!" They deny it, claiming to be a simple family with a youngest brother back home. Joseph decides to put them in prison for three days (probably to get them to agree to his terms) and then to test them by saying, "You have to bring your brother, Benjamin here. Then I will know if you are telling the truth." The brothers start discussing how they are probably being punished because of what they did to Joseph. Rueben throws in an "I told you so," since he wasn't onboard with the plan to destroy Joseph.<br />
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This, and the strange looks they gave each other back in Canaan shows that this has been haunting them strongly for a large portion of their lives. They must think about it a lot. They jump to it quickly when they feel God is punishing them. But God is about to free them and teach them humility and service to their family. Being outed for a past wrong may seem like the worst thing that can happen. It can feel like dying. That's because something IS dying, but it's pride and lies and other bits of you that have to go, because God's not going to leave anyone in the bondage of secrets forever.<br />
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Joseph heard all of this and pretends not to understand their language. They are using an interpreter. Joseph goes away from them and cries. He comes back, takes Simeon (as collateral), and sends the rest of them back for Benjamin, their bags filled with grain. He takes silver in exchange. On the way home, one of the brothers sees his silver in his grain sack. The brothers tremble and say, "What is this that God has done to us?" They are worried that Joseph will think they stole from Egypt.<br />
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They get back to Canaan and tell Jacob what happened. They empty their sacks and see that each man's silver was in his sack. They think they haven't paid for the grain. The are scared. Jacob says, "You've deprived me of both Joseph and Simeon, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!" Wait a minute…did they fess up to selling Joseph? Nice. Or maybe Jacob just blames them because they went out and failed to come back with Joseph. That would make more sense with the beginning. I don't know.<br />
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Jacob refuses to let Benjamin go, even though Rueben promises to get him back and says Jacob can kill Rueben's sons if Benjamin is lost. Jacob says, "His brother is dead, and he is the only one left." REAL NICE, dude. "If harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow." It doesn't matter to Jacob that one of his sons would spend the rest of his life in prison in Egypt. Jacob needs the following drama to learn his own lesson.<br />
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God is going to prove that even when you think you've lost everything, you don't lose it forever. God has a bigger plan in mind. Joseph made the best out of his circumstances with as good of an attitude as he could, mentioning God every once-in-a-while and doing his best in difficult jobs. Jacob is in a "woe is me" limbo, thinking everything is against him. Of course, it's all about him in his mind. But God's working on a bigger project. It's not just about Jacob; it's about the whole family. It's about Israel, and then it's going to be about the world. It's not about how good you are looking, escaping punishment, or always living the good life. Just wait a minute. It's coming together.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-58785772802944833122012-11-26T20:48:00.001-08:002012-11-26T20:48:12.135-08:00Genesis is almost over. Wheeeeeee. <br />
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Genesis 40-41: Joseph meets a cupbearer and baker who offended Pharoah,
the king of Egypt, and were thrown into prison too. They each had a dream on
the same night told Joseph about those dreams. Joseph interpreted the cupbearer’s
dream to mean that the cupbearer would be restored to his position in three
days. Joseph asked the cupbearer to put in a good word for him to the king. The
baker’s dream wasn’t as good, but Joseph was bold and honest enough to give a
true interpretation, rather than comfort the baker and offer him false hope.
Joseph said that in three days, the baker would be beheaded by Pharoah. Joseph obviously
didn’t ask this guy to help him get out of prison.</div>
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All of this happened as Joseph said, but the cupbearer
forgot Joseph for two full years. This probably seemed like a real bummer to
Joseph, but it turned out to be God’s perfect timing. The cupbearer remembered
to mention Joseph after Pharaoh had two dreams that all his wise men and
magicians couldn’t interpret. Pharaoh summoned Joseph after hearing the cupbearer’s
story about him. Joseph said <i>he</i>
couldn’t interpret the dreams, but God could. Joseph is going to give a right
answer, but he’s not going to take the credit for it. Years ago, Joseph sought
to lift himself up by telling his brothers about his dreams where he was
glorified. He remembered that fall, and he’s not going through that again. </div>
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After hearing the dreams, Joseph told Pharaoh that God
was revealing that there would be seven years of abundance followed by seven
years of famine, so Pharaoh would have to store up food in order to get through
the coming bad times. Pharaoh recognized that Joseph had the “Spirit of God” in
him. This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Pharaoh made
Joseph his second-in-command and put him in charge of saving 20% of everything
that came in the next seven years. Pharaoh gave Joseph a ring, robes, a chariot,
and a wife. Joseph had two sons, and gave them Hebrew names meaning “forgetfulness”
and “fruitfulness.” This shows that he was determined to forget the pain,
grudges, and cruelty in his past, because his life has moved into a phase of
blessing. </div>
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During the famine, all the surrounding lands came to
Egypt to buy grain from Joseph. And so everyone was saved! This seems like a
complicated way to save people from famine. God was trying to speak to Pharaoh
so he would act, but wouldn’t it have been easier for God to, you know, just
stop the famine? There’s more to it. This whole story is also about getting the
Jewish people into Egypt so that lots of other, very important things can
happen to this group. Also, many have pointed out that Joseph is a lot like
Jesus. I'm not going to go through all the similarities, partly because some are real stretches, but one I thought was pretty random is the how the baker and cupbearer represent bread and wine, which kind of "foreshadows" communion. Then again, it could be just a coincidence. </div>
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On dreams: I don’t know whether God still communicates
this way, or if it’s vain to make too much out of your dreams. Maybe it’s an
important resource Christians haven’t been tapping. Maybe it’s best left to the
more colorful, reaching religious people. Crazy or not? How do you know if a
dream is from God? Surely we’re not supposed to be reaching for the Dream
Interpretation Books they sell at Barnes and Noble to divine messages from God.
Those are only for delving into the subconscious brain, right? </div>
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Is it only the dreams that really bother you or stay with
you that you should pay attention to? I’m inclined to think most of my dreams
are just silly, not messages from God, but maybe others have had different
experiences. It’s something we don’t think about a lot. I think these chapters
show that God CAN communicate urgent messages through dreams, but whoever
interprets them must have the Holy Spirit, or there’s no chance of getting
anything useful. These aren’t the sorts of things you can rely on your own
power and intellect for. </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-51010533047383556352012-11-19T10:44:00.001-08:002012-11-19T10:45:42.616-08:00Waiting and WorkingGenesis 39: I'm still waiting on my background check to come through from the Florida bar, and I'm anxious to start my career. In the meantime, I'm doing other things that I (and others) never saw myself doing. I'm letting you know this because I think it's going to influence this post. We return to Joseph, who is now a slave in Egypt. His
owner is Potiphar, one of Pharoah’s officials. Potiphar was in charge of protecting
the king/head of security. Because God was with Joseph, Joseph prospered. His master recognized the supernatural hand giving Joseph success,
so he put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. Obviously, Joseph was a hard
worker and aimed to do his best <i>even as a
slave.</i> Because of this, God blessed the entire household.<br />
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Sometimes we have to take jobs or undertake tasks that we find
beneath us. Sometimes we have to do work we’d rather not do. I think this story
is a good example of how God can still bless people and give them success in
these jobs. In these jobs, we can refine our character, humility, and gain a
reputation for being upstanding that will follow us all of our lives. Sometimes
these jobs are stepping stones to “better” or more influential work later. We
don’t know the future. Joseph certainly had no real hope to advance in society as
much as he does in the end (he was a slave), but it happened. </div>
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A job is a job.
Even if it’s school, we all have something we’re getting up every day to
complete. Maybe we don’t want to do it forever. But it’s important to have
integrity and try your best in everything you do. This isn’t for our glory, but
God’s. When you do good work and you are openly Christian, it is going to
reflect on your God. Everything good that happens gives glory to God. If your
main goal in life is your own advancement or how you are being perceived, you’re
missing the point. A Christian isn’t his own person anymore. He’s the living
embodiment of Christ on Earth at this particular time. </div>
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If you’re diligent, the
Potiphars will notice, and credit will go where credit is due (to God). Of course, we
can’t forget that when scripture mentions Joseph’s hard work and success, it
first mentions that God was with him. In America, we are enamored with personal
attributes, degrees, and will power, and we forget that without God’s power, we
will <i>always</i> fail to achieve what
someone relying on the Holy Spirit can do. You think you can achieve success at
work and bring glory to God simply through your own efforts? It’s a stupid
mistake to forego that help. Anyone who has read the book of Acts knows how fast God can move through regular people.</div>
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Joseph was hot, so Potiphars wife asked him to sleep with
her. Joseph resisted the temptation, citing Potiphar’s trust in him and his
obedience to God. Potiphar’s wife solicited him for sex daily for a long time.
Joseph refused to go to bed with her or “even be with her.” This is what
impresses me. It’s important to not be alone with an object of lust, especially
when he or she is married. Even if you think, “It’s alright because we are just
friends and neither of us would ever do anything/are thinking that,” hanging out or working one-on-one with a married person of the
opposite sex is nearly always a bad idea. At the very least, it can raise
eyebrows or jealousy in the spouse, which isn’t something you want to do to a
person. </div>
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One day Joseph allowed himself to be in the house alone with her (she
probably sent everyone else out of the house), and she caught him by his cloak
and said, “Come to bed with me!” He ran out of the house, leaving his cloak in
her hand. So Joseph still has a thing for distinguishing clothes, eh? Potiphar’s
wife cried rape. Joseph was thrown into prison, which was probably a mercy
because an Egyptian official would surely have the power and right to put
Joseph to death for this. Maybe Potiphar did this because of the good work
Joseph did for him. Maybe he feared the wrath of Joseph’s God. Maybe he suspected
that his wife might have been making it up. God was with Joseph in prison too,
so Joseph found favor in the eyes of the prison warden. </div>
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The warden put Joseph
in charge of all the prisoners and prison operations. That’s right: Even in
prison, God can bless a man, give him important work, and make him the best
inmate possible. There are many prison inmates who just become animals, go with
the flow of the new crowd, or see their lives as “over.” They give up. But as
long as you are alive, there’s a purpose and a promise. There are people in
prison (few, but some) who keep creating or adding to the world in some way,
like the inmates who yell at the delinquent teens in “Beyond Scared Straight”
or the inmates who write, speak, or work hard at the jobs given to them in
prison. </div>
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There’s no place or position in life where God can’t work, whether you’re
trapped by walls or the physical prison of sickness. It’s not over until it’s
over. There’s no place where you are “wasting time.” Not only can you do good
things where you are right now, you might be in training for something else. In
this part of Joseph’s story, he’s becoming competent, responsible, and able to
lead a large number of people. When he becomes Pharoah’s right-hand man, he’s
going to have the skills he developed while he might have thought he was in
limbo, wasting time. I think this story proves that you can go from any low to
any high. You can go from working at Dairy Queen to becoming President of the
United States (Obama). </div>
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I doubt there are inmates reading this blog, but if
there are, you have just as much opportunity to bring glory to God than any
other Christian, if not more. God delights in taking the so-called lost cases
and using them. It shows off his power all the more. And that’s the point.
Joseph’s success and blessings were not for Joseph. They were for God’s bigger
purpose. They were to save the family so that the Jewish people could bring
about Jesus. That way, Jesus could save the world, reconcile all things to God,
and…bring glory to God. Even when God is loving us, He’s still the point. </div>
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That’s
why whenever I read a Bible story, I don’t look for the heroes and villains or
the “moral.” I first try to ask, “What does this story tell us about God and
how he operates?” This supposedly depressing chapter encourages me a lot. One of my biggest worries used to be that God could never use me because I didn't have the same talents as other women in the church. I used to be concerned that I would always be bored, waste my life, and never be challenged. In light of the big picture, this story tells us not to sweat our current circumstances in life. This story tells us that God could have a plan for life's dead periods. I don't know if anyone else has felt this way or can relate, but we all want to be part of the big adventure, right? </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-28957174652442993912012-10-31T15:57:00.005-07:002012-10-31T15:57:54.543-07:00Very Nice. How Much?<br />
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Genesis 38:11-30 So, Judah has left his father’s house, probably because
he feels too guilty over what he did to Joseph and can’t bear to see his father
grieve. He goes to foreign lands (which is something God hates for this family
to do), gets a foreign wife, and raises morally defective sons. This chapter
interrupts the Joseph story to give us this side story about Jesus’s direct
ancestor. Something has to get Judah from a place of selling Joseph, blaming
everyone but himself, and running from his mistakes to a place where he would
sacrifice himself for Benjamin’s freedom and his family’s well-being.</div>
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After his older two sons were struck down by God, Judah blames
Tamar. He doesn’t want to give her to his last son, Shelah, because Judah figures
the marriage would kill him too. The trouble is, he owes Shelah to Tamar. He blames
the girl rather than himself for raising wicked sons. Maybe he thinks Tamar is
so wicked or cursed that God will not allow her to be happily married. </div>
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Judah says
to Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until Shelah grows up.”
So Tamar does. But Judah never calls her. Shelah grows up. Judah never releases
Tamar from her obligation to his family. Maybe he sees this as a fair punishment.
She’s under his authority, and she can’t go marry someone else. She is
childless, has no purpose, and is put on hold. It’s an injustice. </div>
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After Judah’s wife dies, he goes up to a place called
Timnah to visit the men who were shearing his sheep. He takes his friend Hirah
with him. Tamar takes off her widow’s clothes (which she had been wearing this
whole time), covers herself with a veil, and sits where Judah will encounter
her on his trip. When Judah sees the disguised Tamar, he thinks she is a random
prostitute, because her face is hidden. I guess this wasn’t rare for hookers in
the day. Maybe a lot of them were ugly, who knows? Judah's down for some sex. They agree on a young goat from his flock as the price, and Tamar takes his
seal, its cord, and Judah’s staff as collateral. </div>
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They sleep together and she becomes pregnant. She puts
her widow’s clothes back on and goes home. Judah sends Hirah back with the
goat, but Hirah can’t find the prostitute. Hirah asks around, but the men there
say, “There’s no shrine prostitute here.” Hirah tells Judah, and Judah thinks
it’s best to let it go, or they would “become a laughingstock.” Yeah, way to
keep the fornication on the DL, Hirah. Running around telling everyone. Sheesh.
Is that the first socially limited person in the Bible? Haha. It’s probably my
ancestor. <o:p></o:p></div>
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About three months later, Tamar starts showing. People go
to Judah and say, “Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and now she’s pregnant.”
Judah responds, “Bring her out and burn her to death.” Now, this was more
painful than the regular punishment at the time (which was rolling a large
stone on top of the person, crushing them instantly). This was overkill. Judah is
thinking, “First, she caused my sons to die. Then she gets pregnant. She’s been
nothing but trouble to me. All of this is her fault.” Tamar whips out Judah’s
property, showing that she tricked him into getting what she deserved. </div>
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Judah recognized his stuff and said, “She is more
righteous than I.” He gets it. He’s convicted. He did not sleep with Tamar
again. There were twin boys in her womb. During labor, one boy put his hand
out, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on his wrist to mark him as
firstborn. But he drew his hand back and his brother came out first. The
midwife said, “So, this is how you have broken out!” She named that one Perez,
and the one with the scarlet thread was named Zerah. Perez is the one who
continued the Messianic lineage listed in Matthew and Luke.</div>
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This story not only serves as a wake-up call to Judah, showing
that he is in need of a spiritual makeover, it shows a contrast between himself
and his younger brother, Joseph. Joseph resists sexual temptation in the next
chapter. Judah succumbs to it. I like that Tamar’s reaction to being charged
with harlotry was to imply that the man was as guilty as she was. The Bible
sticks a fork in the moral double standard here. Wherever that double standard
came from or however natural and universal it is, it isn’t approved by
scripture, Judah, Tamar, or the Genesis writer. </div>
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There are no real heroes in this chapter. It’s important
that we get that. Judah did. In this world, there are people who willingly mess
up a lot. Then there are people who act more righteously than others in some
situations. But, other times, they mess up too. Judah no longer lives in a
world where he could just blame Joseph, his brothers, or his father, or some
young widow for every conflict and tragedy. He can’t just take off either. “Wherever
you go, there you are.” </div>
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He has to face consequences when he deserves them. This
time, he learned to repent and own up to his unjust and slutty behavior. Soon,
he’ll own his past sin of selling Joseph by attempting to make it up to his
father. I like this story because it shows how much your character can grow and how self-sacrificing you can become if you first learn to recognize where you're failing. Just the realization can change you. </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-40060168190639818992012-10-24T10:14:00.002-07:002012-10-24T14:19:28.608-07:00Onanism. You’ve been warned/this might get too real.<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Genesis 38: 1-10</b> The Bible decides to leave us in
suspense as to what happened to Joseph in order to focus on Jesus’ ancestor,
Judah, and something weird that happened with him, his sons, and this woman
named Tamar. We’ll take the first part of the chapter this week and the second
part of the chapter next week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judah left his brothers and went to stay with another man.
He met a Canaanite woman named Shua and married her. In Genesis, this is
usually a bad move. God wants his people in a specific area, marrying a
specific people. Whenever this family branches out and marries foreign women,
they get crummy kids, strife, and other problems. Judah and Shua had three
sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah, and they aren’t what we would call a rousing
success for humanity. Judah arranged a marriage between his oldest son and a
woman named Tamar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But God decided Er was too wicked to live and killed him.
We don’t know what he did, but it must have been bad. Maybe he was greedy. God
has been known to smite the greedy. Then Judah told Onan, “Sleep with Tamar to
fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law, and raise up children for your
brother.” Onan knew the child would not legally be his. So whenever he slept
with Tamar, he’d spill his semen on the ground so she wouldn’t get pregnant.
God didn’t like this and put Onan to death too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is supposedly the masturbation portion of the Bible.
(Yeah, I’m going there.) Many people (still, shockingly) go, “See! See! Onan
masturbated and God didn’t like that and killed him.” Okay…sigh. It’s fine with
me if you believe masturbation is wrong. I believe porn and objectifying people
aren’t great (Matt. 5:27), and lots of people need to engage in
those activities in order to masturbate. But to use this passage as evidence
against all masturbation isn’t a strong move, logically. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, the old testament is obsessed with
procreation and heirs. They need to build the tribe, they need to continue to
the family line so that Jesus can be born, the oldest son is very important, it’s
taboo to marry a foreign woman (or a woman who isn’t related to you in some
way), and heirs are a man’s very future. None of that is the case today.
Secondly, I’m inclined to think that God was more concerned with the
selfishness and lack of honor shown by Onan that the act he performed in order
to avoid his duties. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third, would we ever make a legal surrogate son for a
dead sibling by sleeping with their widow? No. Does God necessarily want us to
do that? No. It was about Onan’s heart. There aren’t a whole lot of life rules
here besides “don’t be a sneaky jerk.” Tamar needed kids to support her in her
old, widowed age in the future. It was a legal duty among these people that
survived years later and was codified in Deuteronomy. It did not survive after
rabbinical law was dropped. Fourth, there is doubt as to whether this was even
masturbation. It sounds more like pulling out to me. Fifth, Onan used Tamar for
sex. <i>Hey, maybe THAT’S the capital sin here.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It may surprise you, but I don’t think masturbation is
that important, one way or another. We gorge ourselves on Taco Bell (gluttony).
Is that any different than…scratching an itch? Is masturbating worse than
having sex before marriage? A guy once told me that it will happen anyway in
your sleep if you don’t get that release. My mom had a kindergarten classmate who
would do it. All the kids called her “worms” because they thought she was
scratching at worms. BAH HAHAHA. Someone else told me that it’s actually sex
because it’s “sex with yourself.” I disagree with that. Sex is a mechanism that
helps people connect and become one flesh. I’m already one flesh with my flesh.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If God thought masturbation was a big deal, he would have
AT LEAST mentioned it in Leviticus where sex is extensively discussed. Even in
strict rabbinical law, masturbation doesn’t factor. It’s like God is saying, “Yeah,
that’s your business. You can’t police that.” How can it be a big deal or huge sin if Leviticus didn't even care about it? I don't think we need another Biblical rule that's nearly impossible to follow. I'm still working on "love your neighbor as yourself," thanks. Don't add things!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this is one of those issues where it depends on
the person (like watching rated-R movies; some people can parse them logically,
or know what’s going to disturb them or tempt them. Some people are moldable or
too young). What are you thinking about when you’re doing it? Is it an
addiction for you? Does it drive you away from God? Does it fuel inappropriate
levels of lust? What are you looking at when you’re doing it? Do you feel icky
afterward? What if you’re thinking about your spouse? What if your mind is
clear? Does it mean you are “mastered by the flesh” if you are not master of
your domain? If you spend all your time resisting and thinking about resisting,
doesn’t it master you then? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does Paul’s “I can do anything, but I won’t be ruled by
anything” assertion apply here? (Because if you’re addicted to it, yeah, that’s
not great). Have you pledged allegiance to a church that forbids it? Is it
hurting anybody? Should we necessarily assume that it negates purity? What’s
unpure about a Christian’s body if the mind is on allowable things? Does it
help your self-control to fight the urge? Does that make you a better person?
These are all things you have to think about. The Bible doesn’t talk about it.
It’s a grey area where you get to decide if it’s helpful or harmless. It’s
between you, God, and the fencepost… Actually, leave the fencepost out of it. Oh jeez, I swear this is a Christian blog you guys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you still with me?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shouldn't be allowed to talk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know some people are going to strongly disagree, and they have a point. Even if it's okay, there's a fine and mostly mental line between "natural" and "okay, now you're giving into lust too much." I don't like when people say, "Well, it could lead to actually having sex or adultery."</span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"> Of course you can find a link between something everyone does and anything a group does later in life. Hey guys, studies show that 99% of people who read books, ride bikes, enjoy ice cream, and enjoy frolicking on the beach masturbated in their teens?!!!! Well, now you know</span><span style="font-size: small; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;">. Even if you think it's a sin, you have to admit we have much bigger concerns. Still disagree? Then enjoy this useful article </span></span></em><a href="http://christwire.org/2010/05/how-to-spot-a-masturbator/">http://christwire.org/2010/05/how-to-spot-a-masturbator/</a></div>
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</span>Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-54289383973948430072012-10-17T15:25:00.000-07:002012-10-17T15:25:00.728-07:00I hope all that bragging was worth it, dude<br />
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I have two younger siblings, and I think I’ve mentioned
before that we are close. Why? We live by our “sibling code.” Most siblings’
codes are unwritten, but we’re anal enough to write ours down. The code is as
follows:</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>Keep each other’s secrets when asked</li>
<li>Never rat each other out, unless the sibling is in real
danger (meaning work your conflicts out with each other without involving “the
olds” as mediators)</li>
<li>Don’t throw them under the bus or make them look bad to
make thyself look good to thy parents</li>
<li>Have each other’s backs in conflicts, be they physical or
verbal</li>
<li>The enemy of my sibling is my enemy</li>
<li>Encourage thy sibling, let them know you are in their
corner, and let them know you have high hopes for their futures</li>
<li>Be your sibling’s friend and spend time with him/her</li>
<li>Inform sibling when someone is secretly mad at our him
and the sibling needs to fix it.</li>
<li>Give the sibling advice on how to handle specific people
or situations, when needed</li>
<li>Call thy sibling out when he/she is being a douchebag and
no one else will tell them</li>
<li>Be honest and keep promises</li>
<li>Trust thy sibling and know they have good intentions</li>
<li>Share thy car (and leave the keys on the table by the
door)</li>
<li>Don’t be greedy with money toward thy sibling</li>
<li>Don’t be a mooch</li>
<li>Keep the communal bathroom clean (ish)</li>
<li>Love everyone they date, unless they are abusive</li>
<li>If thou art forced to share a bed, like when travelling,
you must do your utmost to avoid touching them.</li>
<li>If sibling yells shotgun, but you beat them to it in a
race, sibling can go pound sand</li>
<li>If it’s thine own car, you get shotgun if you aren’t
driving</li>
<li>Nose goes</li>
<li>Give thy blood and organs</li>
<li>Don’t compete and control thy jealousy</li>
<li>Remember that the oldest sets the tone for the
relationships. If the oldest treats the younger ones like they are pieces of
crap, too young to hang out with, and only hangs out with their cool, older
friends, the tone will be lame.</li>
<li>Babysit their children and dogs</li>
<li>Give their TV shows, movies, and books a chance</li>
<li>Steal their fries when they aren’t looking</li>
<li>Keep in touch</li>
</ul>
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It boils down to respect. Siblings are humans too.
Infuriating humans sometimes, but humans. Jacob’s sons were codeless siblings.
This was mostly because Jacob had a favorite. It is a rare sibling code that
can survive a parent loving one above all the others. Joseph was 17, and he
seems like a spoiled brat. First of all, he “gave his father a bad report”
about his brothers. Talkin’ smack. Tattletale. Jacob rewarded him with an “ornate”
coat. </div>
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We can just see his jealous older brothers seething. “Who does this guy
think he is? Yeah, he was born when our dad was old to his favorite wife, but
he’s such a backstabbing pain.” Joseph sounds like an arrogant little dilhole. His
brothers end up doing him a favor by putting him through a lot of pain. It
molds his character. As a teen, Joseph has these dreams about reigning over his
brothers and them bowing down to him. Like a moron, HE TELLS THEM. Even Jacob
wasn’t too thrilled to hear about these dreams (even though he “keeps the
matter in mind.”) </div>
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Joseph’s brothers are always painted as the bad guys in this
story, with Joseph portrayed as meek, wide-eyed, and just telling the truth
about the dreams (like in the musical version). It’s possible that Joseph didn’t
have any tact or he had Asperger’s or something, but it’s more likely that the
Bible shows an unwise teenager in need of grace, baiting his family. After
getting a poor reaction from telling the first dream (one tellingly involving
food), Joseph goes ahead and tells his family about the second dream. Once
again, the Bible doesn’t have heroes and bad guys. It has people. It’s the
story of God interacting with real people. </div>
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The Jewish religious leaders didn’t
change these stories to make their ancestors look perfect. They were interested
in accuracy. The distasteful things and people in the Bible are evidence that
it’s true. No one would make this stuff up. It’s too nasty. It gets even worse:
Jacob’s many brothers plot to kill Joseph and throw him into a cistern. He’s
just too annoying and uppity to live, and that way his dreams won’t come true,
right? The oldest, Rueben, isn’t onboard. He says, “Let’s not kill him
ourselves. Let’s just throw him into a cistern in the wilderness.” </div>
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Rueben, like
your typical conscientious oldest, wanted to rescue Joseph later. He did not,
however, have the leadership moxie he should have. He should have been able to
just say, “No, that’s a bad idea. Let’s take the high road.” He might have
enjoyed being in the mob of brothers with an enemy to bond them. Rueben might
have felt belonging and didn’t want them to oust him too. When you take a stand,
you have to go all the way with it. Joseph shows up, the brothers take his
precious robe, and they throw him in a dry cistern (a hole). Rueben leaves and
the other brothers start eating dinner. Bad move leaving, Rueben. </div>
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Some
Ishmaelites show up, and one of the brothers and Jesus’s direct ancestor,
Judah, says, “Why kill Joseph when we can sell him as a slave? After all, he’s
our own flesh and blood. Killing’s probably too bad.” His brothers agree and
they do it. They didn’t even make a lot of money. Joseph is then sold to one of
the Egyptian Pharaoh’s officials, Potiphar. Rueben returns, sees the empty
cistern, and tears his clothes. The brothers cover Joseph’s robe in goat blood,
take it back to their father, and claim a wild animal ate Joseph. Jacob is
crushed. As usual, God will use all of this for good. Still, if this family
were functional, God probably would have brought the good about anyway. He’s a
Man with a plan.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-72111519220018291662012-10-10T12:55:00.003-07:002012-10-10T12:55:31.047-07:00Are tattoos sinful?My sister sent me this video, so rather than continue with Genesis, I'm gonna be lazy and post it. I'm knee-deep in a book right now, and I want to finish it, not blog. I mostly agree. What do you guys think of tattoos?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rN3voADV14Y" width="560"></iframe>Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-59575330264374895082012-10-03T15:17:00.001-07:002012-10-04T12:04:18.196-07:00Lovers of ViolenceGenesis 34-36: Dinah, Leah and Jacob’s daughter, left home to go visit
some other women. In ancient days, women had little legal protection, and it
was fine and normal for a woman to be raped if she was unattended. Leah and
Jacob shouldn’t have let her walk around alone, especially since she had so
many brothers. What happens is kind of their fault. Shechem, the area’s prince,
saw Dinah, took her, and raped her. Then the Bible says his heart was drawn to
Dinah and he loved her and spoke tenderly to her.<br />
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It’s funny that the Bible calls it love. Shechem said to
his father, Hamor, the ruler of the area, “Get me this girl as my wife.” When
Jacob heard that his daughter had been “defiled,” the Bible’s word, not mine,
his sons were in the fields. Hamor went to talk with Jacob just as Jacob’s sons
had come back. They were shocked and furious, because “Shechem had done an
outrageous thing in Israel…a thing that should not be done.” Hamor said, “Look,
my son has his heart set on Dinah. Let’s intermarry with each other. You can
live in our land, trade in it, and own property there. Charge me a high bride
price. I’ll give you whatever you want, just give me the woman.”</div>
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When Jacob hears the news, he doesn’t react in a way that
condemns Shechem’s actions. He doesn’t get angry, and he doesn’t ask for
justice. This is what happens when you sweep things like this under the rug.
Someone is going to get mad and possibly go overboard. They will think,
“Someone needs to do something, and I guess it’s me.” As the father and the
leader, Jacob should have made the confrontations. Jacob’s sons decided to make
something up to get revenge. They said, “You have to circumcise all your men
first, and then we’ll do it. That’s what our people do for our God.” Shechem
“lost no time in doing what they said.”</div>
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Shechem and Hamor
went back to their men and said, “Circumcise yourselves, and later Jacob’s
livestock and property will probably become ours. Let’s get them to come here
and settle among us.” Every male in the city agreed (that’s how greedy they
were) and was circumcised. Three days later, while the men were still healing,
Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, attacked the city and killed every male. They
looted the city and come home with all animals, property, women, children, and
their sister, Dinah. </div>
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The first time I read this story, I think I read it
wrong. The temptation is to think of what Jacob’s sons did as honorable,
clever, and manly, but it really isn’t. Still, we have some sympathy for them
because they stepped up where their father didn’t. It’s complicated. They did
use the sign of God’s covenant with Israel (circumcision) for their own
vengeful purposes. That’s kind of a perversion, right? Also, you’d have to be
very cold to do all of this. Those are some hard hearts; the same hard hearts that
will rise up against their own brother, Joseph, later. It’s also overkill (no
pun intended). Only Shechem hurt Dinah.</div>
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In this society, we still think might, violence, good
fighters, and “bad assness” are good traits. Are they? In some ancient cultures
(like Rome), strength and pride were good things. When Christianity started
spreading, it didn’t revolutionize culture right away. There were crusades and
holy wars partly because that mentality of killing for your religion, family,
and land were still embedded in the mind of society. That ego-driven bloodlust
twisted Christianity into the version of Christianity that would most please
the powerful. It took a while for us to value peace and meekness. I feel like
that love of violent strength is coming back. Just look at the movies. It’s <i>fun.</i> Everyone loves a good action scene
and admires the winner. So yeah, coming from this time and place, I was like, “Hell,
yeah. Levi and Simeon are real men.” I think I was wrong. But where is the line between sin and satisfying vigilante-ism? Is there one?</div>
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Jacob wasn’t
happy. The brothers replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a
prostitute.” Later in Geneis, Jacob has this to say of these two sons:
“Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not my soul enter
their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly. For in their
anger, they slew a man…Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and their wrath
for it is cruel.” Jacob said, “Let them be scattered throughout Israel.” This
came true. Simeon’s tribe was dissolved for a failure and became part of Judah.
In Exodus, Levi was scattered for a <i>good </i>reason
and ended up blessing Israel. So sometimes a curse turns out good?</div>
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Jacob shouldn’t have been in this area. Had he obeyed God
and not feared Esau, Dinah wouldn’t have been there to be raped. Now, God told
Jacob again to go to Bethel (where God had told Jacob to go in the first
place). God was more receptive to the instructions this time. He realized it
was time for this family to have a spiritual makeover. Jacob told everyone in
his household to get rid of foreign gods/idols, purify themselves, and change
their clothes. He said, “Let’s go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to
God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with
me wherever I have gone.” So they gave Jacob all the idols and their
earrings, and Jacob buried them. </div>
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When they set out, the “terror of God” fell on the towns
all around them so that no one pursued them. Despite all the mistakes, God didn’t
let this incident destroy this family. They arrived at their destination. There,
Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. They named her burial place “Oak of Weeping.”
Even though Deborah was never mentioned before or after this, she must have
been well loved. God appeared to Jacob
again, repeating old blessings. Jacob set up a stone pillar, poured a drink
offering on it, and he also poured oil on it.</div>
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Rachel was
pregnant around that time, but her childbirth was difficult. With her last
breath, she named her son Ben-Oni (meaning “son of my sorrow”), but Jacob
changed the name to Benjamin (meaning “son of my right hand”). Good call,
Jacob. Rachel was buried on the way to Bethlehem. Israel moved on again, and
his oldest son, Reuben, slept with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine. </div>
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I pointed out that Jesus came from Judah’s line, even
though he is fourth born. Sometimes God completely disregards the tradition of
favoring the oldest with the inheritance. Sometimes the oldest gives the
inheritance away (like Esau did). Sometimes they show that they can’t handle
it. Rueben slept with his father’s concubine, and Simeon and Levi kill a bunch
of people. The next in line is Judah. That’s how it happened. </div>
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Jacob went to Isaac’s location. Isaac lived until 180.
Jacob and Esau buried him. The Bible then lists Esau’s family line. His
descendents are many, and a few are rulers and other wealthy men. Even though
Esau didn’t get the blessing, he didn’t end up with nothing. It was the
spiritual legacy he gave up. His descendants have names meanings that include
“wicked” and one that incorporates the name of the popular ancient god, Baal.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-44306283030373367372012-09-26T15:12:00.003-07:002012-09-26T19:25:23.280-07:00Wrestlemania and the Baby OffGenesis 29-33: Let’s just finish the Jacob story in one post, even if it
will be the longest one in a while. It’s just bumming me out that I’m not Tim
Keller. Seriously. His Jacob sermon series. Listen to the whole thing if you
haven’t already. I’m going to rush the rest of this because my lack of Tim
Kellerness is making me not want to blog at all. I want to get to Joseph, if
only for the musical theater references.<br />
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Jacob arrives at his destination and sees Rachel, Laban’s
daughter, before any of his other kin. Interestingly, she’s a shepherd. You
mostly see male shepherds in the Bible. It’s love at first sight. Jacob shows
off how strong he is to Rachel by rolling the stone from the well’s mouth,
right after he sends all the shepherd boys on an errand to get her alone. Jacob
kisses her and starts crying. Jacob stays with Laban for a month before Laban offers
Jacob a job as a hired laborer. Jacob says he will work for seven years for
Rachel. Seven years was more than the usual dowry offer, so Laban saw that
Jacob was desperate and could be taken advantage of. </div>
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Jacob didn’t want her older sister, Leah, because there
was something unattractive about Leah’s eyes. Maybe they stuck out too far or
she was cross-eyed. Leah seems to be in love with Jacob in this whole story. Laban
gives a non-committal answer and Jacob hears a “yes.” The seven years Jacob
served seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for Rachel. Then
Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make
love to her.” Tim Keller points out that this is a crude way to put it for the
time. Jacob’s patience is at an end. </div>
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After his wedding, Jacob awoke the next morning to find out
that Laban tricked him and he had married Leah. Let that be a lesson to you
guys: always take a flashlight/candle to bed when you sleep with someone, and
raise that veil during the wedding ceremony. This is karma because Jacob
similarly tricked Isaac. God is correcting Jacob. Don’t worry. Laban reaps what
he sows as well. Jacob has to work another seven years to get both women, and
once he did, “his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah.” God saw
that Leah was not loved, so he closed Rachel’s womb, but made Leah pregnant. </div>
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Leah gave birth to three sons, named them, and spoke
words of yearning for Jacob after the birth of each boy, naming them according
to her wish that her husband would love her too. When the fourth, Judah, was
born, she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Judah is the child from
which Jesus’s line came. Jacob can still have sex with Leah, though his heart
remains far from her. This is not a foreign experience for lots of modern
women. One of Leah’s sons was also the root of the line of Jewish priests.
Those came from Levi.</div>
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The grass is always greener on the other side. Even
though Rachel is loved and beautiful, unless she can achieve the success as measured
by her culture, she feels she will die. Rachel has Jacob sleep with her
servant, Bilhah, to bear a child so that Rachel could build a family through
the servant. Bilhah bore two sons. Rachel says, “Bilhah will bear a child on my
knees.” This means that Jacob will impregnate Bilhah while Bilhah lies on
Rachel’s lap, making the offspring Rachel’s legal child. </div>
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Once again, I reflect on how interesting it would be to
practice law if these kinds of laws were still the norm. Ancient law seems to
be done with actions, rituals, cutting animals in half, and other things that
make contracts. They didn’t just write stuff down or shake hands. To emphasize
the legal aspect of this situation, when Dan (meaning “judgment”) is born,
Rachel says, “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given
me a son.” </div>
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Rachel’s next baby is named “wrestle.” Guys, we have a
Baby Off. It’s a baby competition between the sisters, and it’s not even a
semi-secret one. Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister and I
have won.” Nice sibling relationship there. They have no sibling code. The
competition brings Leah from the place of worshipping God right back to the
place of envy and discontent. Leah did
the same thing with her servant, Zilpah, and Zilpah had two boys as well. </div>
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Later, Rachel wants some mandrakes (mandrakes were
supposed to increase fertility), so she trades a night with Jacob in exchange
for them, and Leah gets pregnant. What, was he on some full booty embargo (no
sex unless both wives agree)? Did their sibling code forbid him from having sex
with his wives? Rachel thinks Leah stole Jacob from her. Was Rachel not fully
in on the plan to swap? Did she run to stop Jacob from marrying Leah? Did she
tell him about the trick? Did she try to? Did they guard Rachel in the tent? Leah
had yet another son after that and a daughter named Dinah. God then remembered
Rachel and gave her Joseph. Joseph means “may he add.” Rachel has had her first
biological son, but she wants to keep the contest going. </div>
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Rachel said, “God has taken away from me my disgrace.” Lots
of Christians worship traditional values, but you can see that when they are
elevated beyond their purpose, they distort lives and become people’s reason to
be proud of their lives. Ugh. We don’t see in excruciating detail the hurt,
bitterness, jealousy, anger, and competition of this family, but we get more
than we usually get from Biblical accounts. Just imagine living in that family.
You think you have a rivalry? You think your family treats you unfairly? Get a
load of this one. Remember that children are growing up in this house. The
boys’ futures reflect this strife-filled past. Thank God Leviticus banned the
polygamous marriage of two sisters in the future. </div>
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Jacob thinks it might be time to go home. Laban practiced
non-Jewish divination and found out by this process that God has been blessing
Laban for Jacob’s sake. Laban wants Jacob, so Jacob agrees to stay in exchange
for all the spotted and speckled goats. The methods Jacob used with his flock,
along with God’s blessing, netted Jacob more animals. Laban’s sons start to see
Jacob as a thief because they feel like they deserve to be the wealthy ones,
not Jacob. Laban starts to believe he got the short end of the stick too, even
though the original deal favored Laban. Jacob’s wives, to their credit, see
their father for who he is and have cleaved to Jacob. </div>
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God tells Jacob to go home. The sisters unite and support
the move. They don’t warn Laban that they are taking off. They all just leave,
even though God promised Jacob that he would be with him and his safety was
divinely guaranteed. This showed fear. Rachel got some back-up gods by stealing
her father’s household idols. Her motives are unclear. Maybe she believed in
them or maybe she wanted to keep Laban from using them (as a last parting gift
of concern for her father). Maybe she did it out of fear that her father would
succeed in catching them if he had the strength of his gods. </div>
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Laban came after them and caught them in seven days. But
God came to Laban in a dream and said, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob
neither good nor bad.” God doesn’t’ want Laban affecting Jacob in any way. He’s
protecting Jacob. At the end of their wordy confrontation, they make a deal to
stay on their own sides of the country. Their relationship has broken down in
such a way that they realize it’s best to just stay away from each other.
Sometimes you have to just kiss the in-laws goodbye. </div>
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Angels had been with Jacob on his journey, and God lets
him see them on his way to meet Esau. This is nice, but it doesn’t do that much
to diminish Jacob’s fear. This confrontation will be different. With Laban,
Jacob was in the right. With Esau, Jacob is the new Laban. Would God let Jacob
win a battle with Esau? Jacob takes measures to mitigate Esau’s anger, and
fortunately those include a prayer to God.
God waits until Jacob is alone and then attacks him…literally and
physically. God likes wrestling with us. He doesn’t like robots. </div>
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God has to beat the crap out of Jacob in order to conquer
him and send the message, “No, I’m God, not you. I love you and I’ve got this.
You’re fighting to know me and have the blessing I made you for. I’m going to
give it to you, but you can’t walk away from an encounter with me unscathed.”
It reminds me of the final battle in Warrior where the older brother in the
movie has to beat some sense into his younger brother. Sometimes fights are
conversations. </div>
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A Man attacks Jacob and wrestles with him until daybreak.
Jacob is winning, so the man touches the socket of Jacob’s hip, dislocating it.
The man said, “Let me go,” but Jacob refused to do so until the man blessed
him. The man renamed Jacob “Israel” because he “struggled with God and with
humans and overcame.” Jacob’s old name meant “trickster,” but God decided that
part of his life should be over. Israel is two words put together. They are
Sarah and El. Sarah means “struggle” or “rule” and El means “God.” Jacob asked
the man’s name. The man replied, “Why do you ask my name.” Maybe the Man didn’t
tell Jacob his name because Jacob already knew who it was. Then he blessed him
there. The words of the blessing are, unfortunately, unrecorded.</div>
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Tim Keller has this to say about this story: “Jacob
recognized who he was wrestling with—God himself. When he realized this, and
saw the sun coming up, Jacob did the most astonishing thing he had ever done.
He did not do the rational thing, which would have been to cry out, “Let me go!
Let me go! I don’t want to die!” Instead he did the very opposite. He held on
tight, and said, “I will not let you go until you bless me!” Jacob was saying
something like this. What an idiot I’ve been! Here is what I’ve been looking
for all my life. The blessing of God! I looked for it in the approval of my
father. I looked for it in the beauty of Rachel. But it was in you. Now I won’t
let you go until you bless me. Nothing else matters. I don’t care if I die in
the process, because if I don’t have God’s blessing, I’ve got nothing. Nothing
else will do. Jacob called the place Peniel because he “saw God face to face,
and yet [his] life was spared.” Peniel means “face of God.”</div>
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Esau met Jacob with 400 men. After facing God, Jacob
leads the procession to Esau. Facing a really scary, big fish makes the lesser
(yet still big) fish easier to face. That’s one of the scariest things to learn
through experience, but it’s one of the most useful hard lessons in life. Jacob
puts the maidservants and their children in front with him. Leah and her sons
get the medium amount of protection. Rachel is placed in the position of the
most protection. </div>
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Instead of trying to kill him, Esau ran to Jacob, hugged
him, and kissed him. Jacob gave Esau gifts, called himself Esau’s servant, and
his people bowed to Esau. Esau only accepted the gifts because Jacob insisted. I
love this happy ending. I love when siblings love each other. Jacob doesn’t go all the way to Bethel, where
God wanted him. He stops short of that area, still a little afraid of Esau and
not wanting to encroach on his territory. Jacob bought a plot of land, pitched
his tent, set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, meaning "God of Israel."</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-10765520657873120652012-09-19T11:52:00.002-07:002012-09-20T06:42:42.962-07:00Ladders and mirrors<b>Genesis 28. </b>This is the ladder to heaven story. It’s
popular because it’s <i>cool. </i>So much
has been said about Jacob’s first encounter with God that I didn’t even want to
touch it, and that’s why I just skipped blogging last week. (This kind of
behavior doesn’t bode well for when I finally get to the crucifixion does it?) Isaac
doesn’t hold a grudge against Jacob. He decides to bless him knowingly before
Jacob leaves. This is great because this is the last time Jacob will see his
parents. He told him to be sure to marry his uncle Laban’s daughters. Esau
heard about all this and it really hit home that his wives upset his parents.
So he went to Ishmael and married his daughter, Mahalath. Eventually, we see Esau
coming to his brother with love and turning into a better man. Despising his
blessing and learning a hard lesson is already prompting Esau to make better
decisions in the future.<br />
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On Jacob’s way to his uncle’s land, he stopped for the
night at sunset and used a stone for a pillow. Why is that detail in the story?
Did the stone have a hand in causing the strange dream? Are the hippies right
that rocks and gems might have some energetic power or spiritual significance?
Or was it just included to show how pathetic Jacob’s situation is right now?
Jacob dreamt that he saw a ladder to heaven and angels of God were ascending
and descending on it. God says, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever
you go, and I will bring you back to your land. I won’t leave you until these
promises are fulfilled.”</div>
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One of the coolest things about this dream is that it was
referenced by Jesus later. And He said
to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus
is the ladder. Tim Keller also points out that the angels of God were ascending
and descending on it, rather than Jacob climbing up the ladder to get to God. God
comes to us, through Jesus. The tracts fundies hand out always show us crossing
the Jesus Bridge (usually drawn as a cross) to get to God. Who’s doing the
crossing here? Who always does all the work?</div>
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Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this
place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other
than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” Jacob was afraid. Early the
next morning, he set the pillow stone up as a pillar and poured oil on top of
it. I’d like to know more about the significance of oil in the Bible, so maybe
I should read up on that. Anyway, Jacob called that place Bethel and made a
vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, giving me food
and clothing so that I may return safely to my father’s household, then the
Lord will be my God, and this stone will be God’s house, and of all that is
given to me, I will give God a tenth.”</div>
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This isn’t the only time someone has realized that God is
around and been surprised not to have known it. Rob Bell asks if we miss that
we’re on holy ground all the time. Psalms says that you can’t leave God’s
spirit or presence. Bethel crops up again later in the Bible. Was Jacob making
a deal here, or was he accepting the promise and showing gratitude? It would
make a difference to the origin of the tithe. We would love if the tithe came out of an
expression of gratitude for being cared for by God, rather than an obligation.
I tend to think the tithe is an Old Testament thing. The New Testament says
that we should give “generously.” The ten percent rule can be used as more of a
guideline. Today, it makes more sense that everything is God’s and it’s all
about the attitude with which we use and transfer money. </div>
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When I was a kid, I had a similar dream. I wanted to take
communion the night before, but my parents wouldn’t let me, since I hadn’t
prayed the Sinner’s Prayer. I was around seven, and I prayed the prayer so that
I could do what the adults were doing. It looked official and fun. It was a disappointment.
The cracker was stale and who even likes grape juice? I prefer when it’s
cranberry. When I went to be that night, I had a dream that angels were going
in and out of a mirror. I told my relatives the next morning, and one of them
pulled out the Bible and read this story. He read what God said to Jacob and
said that’s what God was saying to me. </div>
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Sweet thought, but even at that age, I figured that was
B.S. (Not that God would say the opposite to a child). I went along with it, believing
I was saved, but that a dream was just a
dream. I don’t think that’s how you accurately use the Bible (finding similar
dreams and saying your dream meant the same thing). Fortunately, I prayed my
own prayer when I was old enough to understand what was actually going on. This
story always makes me smile because it reminds me of being a kid. I never
worried about hell as a child because I was “saved” through passing a little
litmus test and saying the magic words. I don’t think kids should sit around
worrying about hell and being scared, so I guess, overall, it was nice. </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-83827622441027233552012-09-06T09:38:00.000-07:002012-09-06T09:38:00.129-07:00I'm not in the blogging mood this week, but...Enjoy this picture of an exorcism kit. Hilarious.<br />
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<br />Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-13258528296088659752012-08-30T12:59:00.000-07:002012-09-27T14:02:05.527-07:00Law school wills and trusts lesson #1: Your family will try to steal from you<br />
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Genesis 27. Isaac was old and blind, and he thought he was going to
die soon. He was wrong. But he called Esau into a private meeting and told him
to go hunting, cook food, and bring it to his father. Isaac said that he would
bless Esau after he did all this. Esau went out to hunt. Even though God made
it clear that he chose Jacob to bless, Isaac still wanted to give it to Esau.
In this, he was choosing the ways of the world over God’s plan, so let’s not
feel too bad for him getting cheated by Jacob here. Anything you have is given
by God and isn’t really yours. Isaac’s blessing was promised to another, and
that’s who was gonna get it. Esau must have liked his manly, hunting son, as
well as bought into the tradition that the oldest should get everything. </div>
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It looks like Isaac was doing this behind everyone’s back
too, because Rebekah overheard the plan that Isaac told only to Esau. If Isaac
had done it in front of everyone, servants and all, he might have gotten his
way. But he didn’t want to stir the pot and probably knew he was doing wrong
and wanted it to be secret. For their parts, Rebekah and Jacob should have
trusted God to bring Jacob the blessing, rather than deceiving and stealing.
This story might have gone a lot differently had they been patient and
trusting, but the end result would have been the same.</div>
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Rebekah overheard Isaac’s instructions and told Jacob, “I’m
going to make Isaac some food, and you’re going to bring it in there and
intercept the blessing.” Jacob said, “But Esau is a lot hairier than I am, and
when my father touches me, he’ll know it’s not Esau. Then I would appear to be
tricking him and I’d bring a curse down on myself rather than a blessing.” This
is Jacob’s mentality: He’s not worried about the fact that his family is
secretive and split, and that he may hurt his father or brother. He just wants
to know whether he will get away with it unscathed. Rebekah said, “Let the
curse fall on me. Do what I say.” She’s a true mother to Jacob, asking for the
curse to fall on her. So Jacob obeyed his mother. Rebekah covered Jacob with
goatskins to make him feel hairy. Goatskins? Dude, how hairy was Esau, anyway?
That’s a lot of hair.</div>
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Jacob went to Isaac, posing as Esau. Isaac was all, “That
was a pretty quick hunt.” Jacob replied, “Well, God must have given me
success.” Here, Jacob throws out some “God talk,” using God in this deception
to get what he wants. People do that a lot. Isaac was suspicious and asked to
touch Jacob. After feeling the hair, Isaac thought, “He sounds like Jacob, but
he feels like Esau.” Isaac asked again, “Are you really Esau?” Jacob said he
was. Isaac believed him and blessed him. Jacob had “scarcely left his father’s
presence” when Esau came in with food. Isaac and Esau realized they had been
tricked. </div>
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Isaac started trembling and Esau burst out with a loud
and bitter cry and said, “Bless me too!” Isaac said, “Too late. It’s gone.” Esau asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing
for me? Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then
Esau started crying. Isaac said, “Your dwelling will be away from the
earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will
live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you
grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck. ” This means
that Esau would not be under his brother <i>forever,</i>
but he’d probably be spending a lot of time in the desert. </div>
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Esau held a grudge against Jacob and planned to kill him
when Isaac died. Rebekah warned Jacob and told him to run to her brother
Laban’s land and stay with his uncle. Rebekah told Jacob that she would send
for him when Esau wasn’t angry anymore. She said, “Why should I lose both of
you in one day?” In
explanation to Isaac, Rebekah said, “I’m disgusted with living because of these
Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife, my life won’t be worth living.”
Isaac bought that. Rebekah was a good family politician.</div>
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What’s crazy here is all the scheming, diplomacy, power
plays, maneuvering, favoritism, control, jealousy, and secrets. It ripped this
family apart and turned them against one another. This was a GOOD family. They
knew God. Rebekah and Isaac loved each other a few chapters ago and had a long,
monogamous relationship. They had twins that they waited a <i>long </i>time for. They should have valued both of them so much. They
had all the pedigrees. They were wealthy and blessed by God. They lived a
peaceful existence. Yeah, Esau married some Hittite women that didn’t get along
with anyone, but why? Was he spoiled by his father or over-praised for his
hunting skills? Whatever happened, people got greedy and didn’t think according
to God’s will, but their own plans.</div>
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This kind of thing happens in lots of families even
today. Maybe even especially today. Just wait until someone rich dies and a
will is contested. You’ll find that, for most people, gold is thicker than
blood. And <i>everyone feels like they
deserve the reward. </i>They only see their own side, their own entitlement. Be
careful. Everyone in this story thought they were doing what was necessary,
when really they shouldn’t have been trying to control the situation. It’s hard
to see where you are wrong or where means-to-an-end philosophies don’t work. Once
again, outrage, greed, justification, the bad behavior of your opposition, and
your own sense of justice can work against you and blind you to where you are
wrong. </div>
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You always have to look, in any situation, at what you
did wrong, even if it’s 99% their fault and 1% your fault. Then you act as if
that 1% is just as serious as their 99% and make amends for that portion
without mention of the portion over which you had no control. I think the best
thing to do is be open with your friends and family. Have no secrets. When they
confess something to you, show them grace, listen, and repeat what they say so
that they know you’ve understood them. Don’t play games. Lay your cards on the
table, in the open. Tell them what you want, why you think you should have it,
and what you are planning. Encourage them to be open with you and reward them
for it. Don’t make alliances. This isn’t survivor. And if there's a dispute, err on the side of giving them their way. Family is more important than money or businesses or trinkets. God is in control of everything you have anyway. </div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-26189217659811792542012-08-22T16:11:00.001-07:002012-08-27T10:42:21.456-07:00Cycles, good and bad, are hard to break<br />
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I’m currently reading The God Delusion by Richard
Dawkins. He’s funny, if you don’t get offended by arrogance, sarcasm, overly
pretentious writing, and the mocking of religion. I really don’t. So far, it’s
making me understand the thought processes behind being an atheist and why some
feel so threatened and annoyed when exposed to religion. I agree with him that
there’s no such thing as a “Christian child.” They aren’t old enough to make
that decision yet. As for raising your child Christian being child abuse? Naw.
It’s the sort of thing you can reject as soon as your teens, if you want to. </div>
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I
think it’s good because it helps you understand religions people, religion, and
why anyone would even think in spiritual terms. It gives you the option to be
spiritual. The people I know who were raised agnostic don’t even think about it
or analyze those big questions much. They don’t know it’s something to think
about. I’d rather open that door to my kids. Do I recommend Christians read books like this? Absolutely, but only if they've studied the Bible and books written by Christians first so that they aren't swayed by the weakest arguments from the other side. If you have a good foundation, you can learn something and become stronger in your own faith.</div>
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I’m a good ways in, and so far I still believe in God. Should this belief be altered, it
will probably affect this blog, so that’s a heads up. Unlikely though. As
Socrates said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a
thought without accepting it.” And, well, I went to school. It’s fun to have a
mental dialogue with the guy though. I don’t argue with
actual atheists because they tend to get upset and think I'm trying to convert them. Everyone knows an argument usually doesn't convert anyone to another way of thinking. So I get all my arguing out in my imagination.
It’s a fun mind game. If he has a good point or is able to sway me, I want to
know. It’s better to know a cold, hard truth that would destroy you than to
live for a lie. So far, he’s debunked the lousiest arguments for the existence
of God. Good job, pick better ones next time. Dawkins has really sparked my
interest in physics though, weirdly. Especially since he’s a biologist. </div>
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Genesis 26 is not a popular or controversial passage. We see repetition, the
same promises, and some of the same sins and conflicts as in previous chapters.
There was a famine in the land and Isaac went to Abimelek, the Philistine king.
The Lord appeared to Isaac and told him not to go live in Egypt, but to stay in
the land God wanted him to live in. God repeats the big promise, saying, “Through your offspring <i>all nations on earth will be blessed</i>
because Abraham obeyed me.” Abraham wasn’t always obedient, but he did have
faith, therefore he was declared righteous. Isaac follows his father’s example
both in faith/following God and occasionally stumbling. </div>
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As a commenter observed, lies run in this family. It’s a
great family of faith and blessing, but man, they can’t stop deceiving. Isaac
was asked about his beautiful wife, Rebekah, and he went for his dad’s standby
lie: “She is my sister.” Abimelek saw Isaac caressing Rebekah and called him on
it. The King James Version said Abimelek saw Isaac “sporting” with Rebekah. So
we have absolutely no idea what the king actually saw them doing, and who
really wants to know anyway? It wasn’t platonic, that’s for sure. Isaac came
clean and Abimelek was upset. Abimelek ordered his people not to harm Isaac or
Rebekah, on penalty of death. Problem solved. </div>
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The Lord blessed Isaac with a
really good crop that year. He became rich and envied by the Philistines, so he
had to move. Eventually, the pagans saw that God blessed Isaac and decided it
would be smart to make a peace treaty with him. Esau got married at age 40 to a
woman named Judith (did you know that was a Biblical name?) and another woman
named Basemath (not one for the name books, I guess). Isaac and Rebekah didn’t
get along with them. They were both Hittite women. As Tim Keller often points
out, whenever there is polygamy in the Bible, things don’t go smoothly with the
family as a whole.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-74928993762190664992012-08-15T14:39:00.002-07:002012-08-16T09:06:34.518-07:00Jacob and Esau make a deal<br />
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We’re nearing the story of Jacob, and I don’t even want
to approach it because of how well Tim Keller handled it in his sermon series
“The Gospel According to Jacob." I’ll do my own, inferior take though. Abraham
takes another wife/concubines and has a lot more kids. He gives gifts to the
sons of his concubines and sends them away from Isaac, leaving the lion’s share
of his estate and the promised land to Isaac. Abraham died at the age of 75 and
“was gathered to his people.” Ishmael came back for the burial, which I think
is nice. He wasn’t totally shunned and didn’t hate his father. </div>
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Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah (wow,
that’s a long wait). Rebekah couldn’t have kids for a long time (Isaac was 60
when Rebekah finally gave birth), so Isaac prayed on her behalf. The babies
“jostled each other within her.” Jewish legend says that they were trying to
kill each other in the womb. Rebekah wondered why her insides were so stirred
and asked God. She probably didn’t know it was twins. God said, “Two nations
are in your womb. The two people inside you will be separated. One people will
be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” When they
were born, the first to come out was red and hairy all over. Which is really
weird on an infant, no? They named him Esau, an name denoting his hairiness.
After this, Jacob was born, grasping Esau’s heel. The name Jacob refers to the
heel catching, and it’s not a good name. It names him a con-man or trickster. </div>
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The boys grew and Esau became a skilled hunter, a “man of
the open country.” A man’s man. Jacob was more of an indoor guy. Most
second-born kids, when they pop out, take one look at the older kid and seem to
say, “I’m gonna be the opposite of THAT.” I know it’s true in my family. Jacob
sat around in the tents, but he liked wild game, so he loved Esau for bringing
them all food. Isaac liked Esau. Rebekah favored Jacob. So did God. That’s who
God is. He doesn’t pick the obvious candidate most of the time, he picks the
weak one and makes him great (like with King David). You also see God rejecting
the traditional, world-made selection of the oldest child over the younger
children. This is a practice that means nothing to God. Favoritism in families
based on birth order just doesn’t factor into God’s choice. </div>
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God’s choice also wasn’t based on moral character or the
choices of the sons. He knew which one needed to continue the line and gave the
birthright in grace. You see, Jacob wasn’t all that much better than Esau. You
see Jacob making lousy choices throughout his life. Esau comes across as
unsympathetic twice, but he has good moments (particularly one of forgiveness
years later). He has a problem with instant gratification, shown in both this
chapter and his casual sex habits. Hebrews 12 describes Esau as a profane person
and a fornicator. Still, Jacob has his faults too.</div>
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One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home
hungry and asked for some. Esau was also called Edom. Jacob said, “Sure, if you
sell me your birthright.” Esau agreed and swore an oath, his thought process
being that he was going to die one day anyway, so he might as well enjoy life
now. What good is a birthright when it all comes to nothing and you don’t keep
anything? Huge mistake. You see this kind of thought crop up a lot, and those
who know that life, gifts, and choices have permanence will reject this line of
thought. The birthright was eternally valuable, and Jacob knew this. In the Old
Testament, birthrights have spiritual consequences. It’s not all about
inheriting wealth. </div>
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The birthright passed the father’s spiritual inheritance
too. This would include the covenant between God and Abraham, in this family.
The son who holds the birthright becomes the head of the family and the
spiritual leader of the family. We don’t know if Jacob’s parents told him that
God said the younger would serve the older. Maybe Jacob already knew the
birthright was his and he was making sure he would get it. Because God said it
was his, it was already Jacob’s. If Jacob hadn’t taken matter into his own
hands, would things have gone differently? Would Esau have just fallen off a
cliff or something? Is the tricking and dealing the reason Jacob had to spend
so much time away from his family while God refined his character? </div>
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I think the lesson here, for us, in this little chapter
is to recognize what our spiritual birthrights and purposes are, know that we
already have them, and not “despise” them like Esau in favor of other, more
present and physical things. This is a common universal pattern. In order to
get long-term benefits, you have to have the long term in mind. Something to
reflect on. Not that Bible stories are intentional morality tales, but like
life, you can find the lessons in them. We people love a narrative.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-62597366216404514072012-08-09T10:05:00.001-07:002012-09-06T10:41:23.478-07:00Sex, Marriage, and Nose Rings<br />
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So, you know how I said this post was gonna be special? Well, in light of the Chik-Fil-A nonsense, I was going to use this week to talk about homosexuality and gay rights. When I finally get to that, it's gonna be fantastic, if only because it's so darn controversial/fun. But I still think it's better saved for Leviticus. I loooove Leviticus.</div>
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Genesis 23-24: Sarah died and was buried in the Hittites’ best tombs. Well,
caves. Obviously, this made both Abraham and Isaac sad. It was time for Isaac
to get a wife to replace the feminine energy he lost when Sarah died. Now, the
Bible tells us that Abraham was “old, well advanced in years.” Umm, when was he
NOT old in his Biblical story? This dude has been old this whole time. We know
he’s older now. Abraham had his servant (the oldest one in his household)
promise to get a wife for Isaac from Abraham’s land. In Genesis 15, this was
Eliezer, but it <i>might</i> have changed in
the following 60 years, so the servant is unnamed.</div>
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Half sister-lovin’ Abraham wanted Isaac to marry family
(as you do) and not the Canaanite women. The servant said, “It might be tough
getting your kindred to come all the way out there. Should I bring Isaac to the
land from where you came?” Abraham said, “No, God wants us to have this land.
If no woman will follow you here, then you can scrap this whole promise.” Then
the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh and swore. Well, that’s odd. Let’s
look at that. All I could find on this is that an oath made by this custom was
very serious. Notice that a servant was sent, not Isaac. No one wanted Isaac to
leave the promised land. What if he didn’t come back? </div>
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So the servant took ten camels and some gifts, and then
he want to Mesopotamia, specifically Nahor. The servant made the camels kneel
outside the city by a well in the evening, the time when all the women go out
to get water. The servant prayed to Abraham’s God, asking for the right/chosen young
woman to let him drink out of her jar while she watered his camels. Now, this
was a lot of work, so it would take someone with a real servant’s heart to do
it, especially since the servant brought other men and they would just stand
around watching her haul water. You know, like gentlemen. The servant doesn’t
pray for the wife to be good-looking; he wants someone nice.</div>
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Before the servant even finished the prayer, Rebekah came
out with her water jar on her shoulder. This happens with prayer sometimes.
Isaiah 65:24 says, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” The Bible can be pretty sweet.
Rebekah was Isaac’s second cousin, a virgin, and very attractive. Sounds
perfect for him. She gave the servant a drink and drew water for his camels. </div>
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The servant gave Rebekah a gold ring and two gold
bracelets. The ring was most likely a nose ring. Nose rings would make lots of conservative Christians these days
faint, but it was not a big deal back then. It wasn’t trashy or immoral in any
way for Rebekah to have a nose ring. It’s not something to worry about, in my
opinion. Let people have their nose rings. You can care about the trendiness of
your appearance and still have a servant’s heart, as long as you keep your
priorities in order. </div>
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The servant then went to talk to Rebekah’s brother and
mother, and they agreed that it was God’s will for Rebekah to marry Isaac. They
asked Rebekah what she thought, and she said she was willing to go. Isaac was
out meditating in the field toward the evening. He looked up and saw Rebekah
coming. The servant told Rebekah this was Isaac. She took her veil and covered
herself. When Rebekah met Isaac, she wanted to give the impression that she was
modest, moral, a virgin, and a servant. The servant brought Isaac up to speed
on the story and then Isaac immediately brought Rebekah into his mother’s old
tent and had sex with her. They weren’t seeking romantic love when God brought
them together. They were both serving and seeking God, living their lives as
they knew best, and then it just happened because it was supposed to. </div>
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After they had sex, the Bible says, “she became his wife,
and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” Lots of
people use this passage to justify premarital sex and still hold to conservative values. They say it's okay as long as the Christians
marry each other at some point afterward. They say, “The two didn’t sin because
they were married in God’s eyes and then stayed together. Rebekah and Isaac
were married after they had sex. There was no ceremony or legal document.”
Certainly intercourse is essential to marriage, and many cultures required it
as a part of marriage. No sex meant no marriage. It literally sealed the deal.</div>
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But I disagree with this line of thought because when
Rebekah and Isaac went into the tent to have sex <i>they had both agreed to be married to each other. </i>She said, “I will
go” to the servant, and Isaac was told that this was the wife God chose for
him. They had sex with the intention to be together forever, not with the
intention to love each other for the foreseeable future and maybe marry later.
The sex and the intent to marry happened concurrently, and that makes all the
difference. Sex does not equal marriage. It’s not the same thing. Marriage is a
choice paired with sex. </div>
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Hereafter in the post, I am proceeding under the assumption that the no premarital sex rule still applies today (even though we marry at 28 and not 13 now). Christians, you don’t “fix” your “mistake” by marrying
someone after you sleep with them. It doesn’t make the slate clean. You still
became one without the concurrent unselfish intention to give all of yourself,
forever. Don’t think that God wants you to marry the person you slept with to
fix something when you wouldn’t otherwise marry them. Marry for the right
reasons: Because you want to marry that person. If you love them and think you
should get married after sex, awesome. If you don’t want to…not awesome. </div>
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Two
wrongs don’t make a right. They don’t make for much of a marriage either. You didn't willingly make sacrifices for each other. You didn't willingly choose that life. It sounds miserable to me. The
temptation to appear perfect and not have other Christians think you committed
THE SIN OF ALL SINS (sarcasm, sex is not the worst sin) is huge these days. Have
the courage to move on. Let’s be honest: Most Christians have sex before
marriage. If you have, you’re not alone and you’re still under the law of grace.</div>
Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-78020938915896504652012-08-02T09:20:00.000-07:002012-08-02T09:20:18.217-07:00And once again...My dad has no internet in his house, and I can't write a whole post on my phone. I'll make it extra special next week, I promise.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272891576715272691.post-16844693366535438072012-07-19T17:17:00.001-07:002012-07-19T17:17:18.382-07:00Special not-so-lazy bar review editionswamped. ugh.Ern and Leeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222918254913939721noreply@blogger.com4