Reading from Tuesday, June 29

The new job has begun. I have moved into my new cubicle, decorated with various toys and gizmos that bring it from "office drone filing space" to "office drone filing space with toys in it". As I mentioned, I am extremely excited about this new jim jam and have already finished my first project. How's that for efficiency?

I am slightly behind in my blogging because I was in barf city yesterday. I was up all night the night before upchucking and downchucking, then I slept it off all day yesterday. I probably should have stayed home today, but I didn't want to miss my first day.

Bubble Bobble Bible Time.

Reading for June 29
2 Kings 15:1-16:20


This entire section focuses on the revolving door that was the throne of Israel. There is a paragraph on each king that took power. It's worth noting that Israel's throne changes hands five times in this section while Judah's throne changes hands only twice. All of this occurs in a period of about 100 years.

Since there's not much story going on here, let's think a little more about the big picture. A few weeks ago, I brought up the idea of thinking of the Old Testament not as a story about God, but rather a history of the human race. If that were to work, we would obviously have to think of Israel as a cross section of the human race as most other nations aren't visited in much detail. I think Israel, however, is probably a pretty accurate cross section of humanity for that time - including religion. They had essentially dumped the Great I Am and worshiped whatever they wanted. 

So if you look at this enormous book in the light of what humanity was like, and not what God was like you start to see a pattern. And that pattern is "people are terrible." As a whole people are awful, despicable creatures. We are still waging wars, we are still killing each other for profit and I don't think that will ever change. Obviously there are some exceptions to the rule today, as I'm sure there were back when this book was written. It's just not as interesting to read about someone deciding to not go to war. We do read about shining examples of good people in David, Elijah & Elisha, Abraham and eventually Job and others. But even those people, in most cases, did some terrible things.

I think what's really cool is thinking about Jesus in that context. He became one of these awful beings and was able to overcome whatever is within us to live an absolutely perfect existence. Which should inspire us to try and do the same thing.

Acts 19:13-41
Here we see Paul and the disciples at the center of a riot in Ephesus. The people of Ephesus worshiped a goddess named Artemis. Artemis is described as a "man made god" and there is a silversmith who is mentioned in this section who profits greatly from the sales of statues of Artemis. So when the disciples roll into town and start saying that these people are worshiping a false god, the silversmith's business is threatened and he incites a riot amongst the people.

Going back to the idea of the Bible as a history of humanity, we see another example of people being jerks that is clearly reflected today. The almighty dollar is the god of many many people these days. Decisions are made with the only deciding factor being profit. Not safety of employees, not safety of consumers, not preservation of the environment, purely cash money. Even companies that are implementing these "green" or "consumer safety" practices are doing so because people care about those things now and will give them more business if they think they're dealing with a morally conscious company. Look at McDonalds. Right after Super Size Me came out, they all of a sudden became all health conscious and had a huge emphasis on salads and being fit. Now what are they doing? Right back to the awful (but EXTREMELY delicious) burgers and fries. Companies don't care about people, they care about money. It's the same now as it was 2000 years ago. People are awful.

Psalm 147:1-20
Here we see a proclamation of God's love for Israel and Israel only. There's some beautiful imagery here:
⁴ He determines the number of the stars
       and calls them each by name.
 ⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
       his understanding has no limit.
⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;
       he supplies the earth with rain
       and makes grass grow on the hills. 
¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool
       and scatters the frost like ashes.

This imagery brings back the idea of God as the great creator that we saw in Genesis. With care and love for how things look and fit together. He makes these things for us to enjoy. I was talking with Jilly the other day about fruit. How is it that if we're all here by accident that there's things like peaches and bananas that are so plentiful and so delicious? I don't think that's undeniable proof in a creator, but it makes me think that there is at least something up there that loves me.

I do have to point out one more thing:
 ¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
       Who can withstand his icy blast?

Who can withstand his icy blast?! Sounds like God is a cape wearing super hero. No one can withstand his icy blast. Or if I could even further reveal my nerdiness - it makes God sound like a Pokemon.

"God - I choose you!"
"God! God god!"
"God - icy blast now!"
"God god!"
BOOOM
"No one can withstand God's icy blast! I can't wait until God evolves into Godizard"

Wow. I made myself laugh there.

Proverbs 18:4-5
 ⁴ The words of a man's mouth are deep waters,
       but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
 ⁵ It is not good to be partial to the wicked
       or to deprive the innocent of justice.

Yes sir. Can you withstand his icy blast?