Be true; never mind the crowd.
The only people mad at you for speaking the truth are those living a lie.
Wait ’til they see that the truth you speak is the flavour of your people interactions!
Month: October 2019
Mumbo jumbo love
We have seen the games religious people play with talking love and public policy people with trying to legislate respect and good interpersonal attitudes. The entire experience has been a ready source for some of the silliest explanations of the glue of the human family.
In a still unfinished work I will share a better way to increase the quality of the human love experience. In it jumbo is nor the twin confusing companion of mumbo. Jumbo will discuss the size of the love we need if we plan to thrive.
Please watch eejoseph.com for Mumbo Jumbo Love.
On law and order
When US Attorney-general Barr threw out Special Counsel Mueller’s summary and gave the American people his own chlorinated version of the Mueller Report he showed himself an Eli.
Don’t know Eli? Meet him here in this interaction with Samuel, his youthful successor as judge and priest. If you utter an OMG you are in good shape.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
1 Samuel 3:11-14
What General Barr needs to do – restore the bar
He needs to deliver a stern rebuke to the GOP and Tea Party clans that makes it clear that (a) facts alone make America safe and (b) lies are abominable in every circumstance, not just in FBI interactions.
Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.
1 Samuel 2:24
Need more graphics? Here’s a blind and aged man in 1 Samuel 4:15.
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
Here’s the overweight Eli in I 1 Samuel 4:18
And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
Need more graphics? Here are two snapshots to remember: the capture of the ark by the Philistines and family reaction.
1 Samuel 4:19
And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
The outcome of Eli’s slipping – the glory question
1 Samuel 4:21
And she named the child I–chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. ee kabôd means where is the glory?
Perhaps this woman felt that she had been robbed by the nepotism of the Eli family just as an entire nation feels robbed of its vital participation in the nation’s choice making without interference. There is so much crime following the crime busters that we have to conclude that the greatness has departed. If greatness has anything to do with officers and administrators of justice it had better not bar the people from the unvarnished – redacted is fine – truth.
no bold engaging – love’s on strike
Same what?
The things of yesterday are gone. Each day has it’s own mercies and evil. No two days are the same. There is only one Jesus Christ so we have to do a better job of avoiding affirming yesterday, today, and forever as the same.
We have heard it. We have seen it. The desire to recapture yesterday has gone to ridiculous extremes. I mean deserving to be ridiculed not puzzling or bewildering.
- Singing and believing that what God has done for others he will do for you.
- Mixing up a fatal concoction from the menu of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah
- Making Solomonic wisdom (for government) a thing for saved people
- Finding a safe ID card in miracles, signs and wonders while handling the gospel with a 10ft pole
- Condemning people for falling short of the law when Christ offers pardon for every sin
- Labeling faith as dead when there is actually no life apart from faith
- Making law a lifegiving meal
Christ/God does not change but yesterday is not today, and neither the past nor the present are forever. Is not conflating past, present and eternity the same as denying the need for learning, growth and maturing once we have interfaced with the Eternal God?
Remember Tree of Life Synagogue
A year ago the peace and joy of worshipping God in a dedicated place turned into death and misery.
I urge everyone to love and respect all neighbours and reject hateful language because it turns quickly into unspeakable violence. Let us remember our sacred duty to stand in solidarity with the still suffering Jewish people.
Constrained – changing the course of God and man
But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
Luke 24:29
Luke 24:29 gives clear picture of the disciples changing the course of the master. One cannot say that he was meant to stay so no change really occurred.
What they saw convinced them he intended to continue on his journey (vs 28). They, according to the writer, changed that. Luke was probably not there.
We can add to this pattern the Saviour’s amazement and turnaround when he saw the faith of the Syrophoenician woman who pleaded with him to rescue her child (Mark 7:26-29).
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
This is a powerful illustration of an insider trying to keep people away from the benefits of the group. Here we have to wonder why is it that people still think that only Christians or believers have the right to God’s gifts of healing and deliverance. It is a sucky and change-resistant attitude to maintain.
The case of Lydia illustrates the same thing. We must assume that the missionary team were not disposed to be the guest of a new convert. The new child of God changed their lodging plans.
And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
Acts 16:15
Feeling too set to change. Think again. What heights have we attained that signal we are through growing or learning?
Why Yahweh loves Israel
Deuteronomy 7:7 sets out to explain why Israel was a target of divine love.
The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
Deuteronomy 7:7
Love, an oath, and redemption
- But because the Lord loved you,
- and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand,
- and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:8
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 