On a quick side note - one downside of doing this blog is that all my other pursuits and hobbies have taken a back seat because most of the free time I have is dedicated to this project. Specifically my video game playing has gone down significantly. I would usually play games after Jilly goes to sleep. That time is now dedicated to the blog. This is probably a good thing though - I think it's much better for me to be reading the Bible every day than playing Final Fantasy.
The other hobby that has fallen by the wayside is photography, and this is a little more upsetting. It's one of my only "artsy" pursuits since I've stopped playing guitar. Although, I suppose that my writing has naturally improved by writing every day. For the regular readers - do you think my writing has improved since I started this thing?
Reading for May 12
1 Samuel 12:1-13:23
So I found the pictures I made for the Saul talk I gave at ORB a few years back. Here are a few:
Our Main Characters
Saul cuts the oxen in pieces
So in this section of the story, Samuel officially hangs up the judge role by giving his farewell speech to the Israelites. He warns them again about the error of asking for a King, and that they will likely get what's coming to them if they continue to ignore and disobey God. There is a compelling line in here though. The people realize their mistake and then ask Samuel to pray for them because not only are they sinners, but they have essentially spat in the face of their true king, God. Here is how Samuel replies:
"You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.The thing that strikes me about this is the fact that the worst possible thing someone could do - based on this message - is worship something other than God. Also, doesn't it seem a little backwards that God's prime motivator to restore his people is "for the sake of his great name"? I mean, I would suppose that we should be thankful for whatever reason God chooses to save us, but shouldn't it be out of love and not self glorification?
OK so then there are these two groups of soldiers - one led by Saul and the other led by his son Jonathan. Now, Jonathan attacked an area belonging to the Philistines, but because Saul was king, the action was attributed to him. A message went out across the land saying "Saul attacked Philistine".
This leads to a whole "we're screwed" scenario where the Israelites are outnumbers, Saul ignores a command from God, and then the entire army is without weapons. This is either a set up for God's greatest victory, or Israel's biggest failure.
John 7:1-30
There is a lot of text in here about how the Jews want Jesus dead. If the Bible is nothing else, it is a collection of stories of God's people misinterpreting, or outright ignoring God's instructions and continually ruining things for themselves. Yet, as I've mentioned before, Jesus' death is completely necessary for Christianity to take hold and for God's love to finally be able to once again be part of everyone's life.
So this may make you say that God is all knowing. As you know, I have recently theorized that he is in fact not all knowing. If you have a group of people who continuously screw everything up, it's a safe bet that they'd screw up the savior of the world, or at least act in a way that would seem like screwing up. I think God just bet on the fact that the Jews would not accept Jesus and try to murder him. Jesus' betrayal and murder was prophesied and written about in many of the latter books of the Old Testament, so it was a long time coming.
This paradox does stick in my mind though. The evil thing that was done to Jesus was actually the most beautiful thing that occurred in human history.
Psalm 108:1-13
12 Give us aid against the enemy,
for the help of man is worthless.
13 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
Very interesting here. As you know, I often theorize the "what if" situation of this whole thing being phony. So, the psalmists belief is that the help of man is completely worthless, but the help of God is what they need to succeed. So again, let's pretend that God doesn't actually exist. Well, the psalmist's idea of God being essential to victory must have come from experience. So maybe in the past they prayed to God and subsequently won a battle, but as I've theorized in the "what if files" before - prayer could simply be a placebo effect. Something happens because you believe with all your mind that it will happen. Mind over matter kind of stuff. My belief is still in God, but I'm just trying to look at it from all angles.
Proverbs 15:4
4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,
but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
Great. And with that, it is 7:40 PM and I am probably going to sleep. I feel like absolute crap and I need to catch a 7AM train tomorrow morning. Thanks friends.
i remember that talk. Epic slides.
ReplyDeleteWhen I atheistized, that's how I always explained prayer. Just a placebo effect, and people seeing what they want to see based on what they prayed.
ReplyDeleteWhich, to be honest, I still imagine happens a lot. Especially in our suburban life styles, where we have so much material-good abundance, and you have to wonder how much God really wanted us to have, even if we prayed for it.
But anywho, whe I was an atheist, there was also the reverse of your what-if -- well what IF someone is actually answering prayers?
I remember one of the first times I really wanted to pray. I was near the end of a relationship that was not going very well, and I felt like a complete failure. I didn't know what I believed about God. I was starting to question my long-held beliefs about atheism.
But I knew in my heart that I needed so bad to be rescued. That there had to be something more. That I needed help from SOMETHING.
I have a feeling we all feel like this sometimes, no matter what we believe. And I don't present this as any sort of proof.
But that in retrospect was when I first thought -- maybe we were meant to not be alone getting through this life.