In 1 Corinthians 7: 1 the apostle Paul states "Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman." This is a bizarre statement especially if it is shorn of its context and not viewed within the entire corpus of the Bible. And yet entire theological systems have been built upon the concept and the idea of love between man and woman condemned or at least disparaged. St. Jerome was reputed to have stated that the form of a woman was repulsive and disgusting. The fact that this point of view does not fit the Biblical narrative at all is discounted or ignored.
I offer this example as representative of something we call "cherry picking." Finding a statement and pulling it out of context to either discredit someone or to substantiate our belief system. If you find a statement shared and repeated over and over by people who oppose the one who made the statement be aware that you may be viewing an example of this very "cherry picking." We are most vulnerable to the toxicity of "cherry picking" when we don't know the field or have a scant knowledge of the topic. Ignorance is fertile soil for planting the seeds of slander and character assassination. This tendency is also seen in the fervent search for damning material regardless of date, context or accuracy. Something that follows the "cherry picking" is the willingness to believe scandalous purported statements without checking to see if they are true. I don't know how many quotes I have seen recently on FB that the person never said. It is so easy to check up on it and verify whether there is any chance the person said it. What is so horrifying about all this, is that the body of believers, who are called to "cast down the accuser of the brethren," have become his greatest fighting force. Our biggest enemy right now is not Trump, Bill Gates or Dr. Fauci. The gifts of the Spirit were given so that we could edify, exhort and comfort. I have to remind myself of this all the time.
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There has been some debate on celebrating July 4th and the founding of our nation. If you know history you know that the ratification of our constitution hung in the balance over the issue of slavery. It was finally ratified by keeping statements that allowed slavery in some southern states.
While we may hate this fact, reflect upon the truth that the Declaration of Independence contained the words that would ultimately bring slavery down. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,..." It is these words that have continued to direct our nation in the right course and allowed us to repent and correct our path. We will not have become the nation God created us to be until those words ring true for every human in our country--both born and unborn. By God's grace these words which spring directly from the Bible that man was created in God's image will be our final destiny. Last Friday I had a busy day. Traveled to Beaver, UT, which is about 120 miles from home and transferred 4 embryos into Angus cows and then another 60 miles to Centerville to put 56 Braunvieh embryos into Jersey and Jersey cross cows. What are Braunvieh cows? Glad you asked--Braunvieh means "brown cow." It is a breed originating from Switzerland that was originally a triple-purpose breed--milk, beef, and draft animals. I knew nothing of the breed. Always love working with farmers, definitely the salt of the earth, so I enjoyed my day albeit my left arm needed therapy afterward.🙂
I had an interesting experience when I filled up with gas in Beaver after putting in the Angus embryos. It was about 8 in the morning and I had already put in a half day's work so I was hungry. I bought a pint of milk (pasteurized but excellent) and two granola bars. Carefully keeping my distance I set the goods up on the counter so the clerk could total up my bill. When the amount flashed on the screen she gasped. The total read $6.66. She huffed that nowadays no one is Biblically literate so they don't know what that number means and who Satan is. Her foreboding look kind of scared me so I grabbed my food before she threw it in the trash. I thanked her and made my exit. The milk and granola bars were delicious. In many ways many of us seem to be afraid. Revelation definitely talks about a mark of the Beast and his number being 666. However, it connects the mark to the worship of the Beast and ties it to the hand and the forehead--what you do and what you think. It is clearly harking back to the tefillin which are bound on the arm and the forehead. They contain scriptures one of which is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength." I am just reminding all of us today that you are not going to accidentally take the mark of the Beast. It involves worship and is clearly intentional. Remind yourself today how much better you live than your parents and grandparents. There is a lot of bad stuff in this world but it doesn't define us--God does. Take time to enjoy your day. Many things that are helpful as we are growing up become limitations as we mature. Specifically I am speaking of the ability we have to label things and place them in categories. It is very helpful for a child to discover that Dad is a man, Mom is a woman, my dog is an animal, my cat is an animal but not a dog, etc. Knowing where particular things fit help us make sense of the world.
Unfortunately, many of us don't progress past the state of putting things in categories and then realizing more fine-tuning is necessary. In 2 Chronicles 35 King Josiah, easily one of the best kings in the Southern Kingdom's history, dies when he refuses to hear God's voice coming through Israel's historical enemy, Pharaoh Neco, the ruler of Egypt. His experience, his DNA, told him that Egypt was the enemy and must be resisted. In this case, God was telling him through Pharaoh Neco to just let Pharaoh through the kingdom's territory and nothing amiss would occur. He couldn't hear and so he was killed. An absolute essential for a grown-up is to be able to detect nuance and shades of meaning or function. We laugh at memes on Facebook but they often are bastions of stupidity. Jews don't all act alike, neither do blacks, Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, you name it. I don't always act the same in similar situations. Communism is generally thought to be a dictatorial type of socialism. There are many types of socialism that are not communist. Equating all socialists as communists or communists in embryo makes us look stupid and ill-informed. The richest thing I am now beholding is people using Putin as a force against socialism and communism. I like Putin a lot better when he is far from me and I am not doing something he doesn't like. His enemies seems to have abbreviated life-spans. I don't measure Putin by his politics--I don't care for his behavior. We need to learn to know people for who they really are. Not their group, their political party nor their religion. All of these contribute to the identity of the person but none determine who he or she actually is. It is lazy thinking to place people in boxes we detest so we don't have to think about them or learn to know them. The political rhetoric in this country right now is a great example of what to avoid. Because a person is a never-Trumper or an always-Trumper doesn't tell you much about that person except what Presidential candidate they will likely vote for. I am amazed how many people I truly like if I just make the effort to get to know them and jettison my labels and boxes. I have a list of names I would love to eliminate but I don't need everyone mad at me at once. (The "names" I would like to eliminate are not people--they are the names and labels we use to marginalize and demonize those we disagree with.) When the "right" and the "left" continually scream that the other side is ruining the country I sadly agree. Because after the "right" has eliminated the "left" and the "left" has eliminated the "right" we have all achieved a pyrrhic victory. The final blessing in the Aaronic benediction from Numbers 6 proclaims "the Lord lift up his face toward you and grant you shalom (peace.) May you enjoy a blessed Shabbat. I went for a run this morning early. Sky pitch black with the stars in such great abundance it was difficult to make out the individual stars. In 40 minutes there is a lot of time for thinking and so I indulged.
The tragedy of Kobe Bryant has been on my mind and those who were wary of eulogizing his memory because of some very unsavory events in his past. I can't comment upon these events other than to say his behavior was awful and he betrayed those dear to him. However, he appeared to work very hard to patch things up with his family and move on with his life. With his passing numerous stories have sprung up showing his tendency to help others especially in cases where no one knew what he was doing. One of the things we struggle with is letting go of the past--either ours or others. Sometimes you just have to let it go. Also just heard this week about someone hurt over 20 years ago that is not ready to move on. They are still not ready to give the other person a chance. I can't really judge other people I have a hard enough time taking care of myself. In our Triennial Torah cycle we are reading the story of Joseph. An amazing story of betrayal, treachery and yet ultimately redemption. The proud and arrogant Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers led by his older brother Judah. Joseph goes through incredible pain and unfair treatment before finally becoming the viceroy of Egypt. In this capacity he receives his brothers who are looking for the grain that only Egypt has. Joseph tricks them into bringing his brother Benjamin to Egypt on their next trip and then plants his silver cup in Benjamin's grain sack to test his brothers and see if they will abandon Benjamin the way they abandoned him so long ago. Joseph has made a break with his past. He has two sons and he has named them specifically to cut off his history. He named the first Manasseh which means "forgetting" because he has forgotten his father's household. He names the next one, Ephraim, meaning fruitful because he has been made fruitful in the land of his affliction. In other words he is done with home. Seeing his brothers is a wake up call and excruciating. God is forcing him to face his past and his home. When he sets Benjamin up and threatens to imprison him, Judah makes a valiant plea for Benjamin's freedom saying he can't watch his father die in grief after losing another son. He pleads with Joseph to imprison him instead and let Benjamin go. This breaks Joseph and he reveals himself to his brothers. What we often miss in the story is the breaking of Judah. After Joseph's being sold into slavery, Judah departs from his brothers and marries a Canaanitess name Shua. She bears him three sons. Heartbreakingly the two oldest sons die and then Shua dies. Finally Judah has a moral failure when he fails to offer the widow of his sons, Tamar, to his son Shela to maintain the family name and then ends up getting Tamar pregnant himself. When Judah comes to Egypt he is a different man. He knows the anguish of a Father who loses his son, a man who loses his wife and the deep sense of shame and loss that accompanies moral failure. His speech to Joseph is genuine and Joseph knows it In the end, they both had to let go of the past and move on. In a beautiful twist, Joseph, the man who wanted to forget his family and the land of his inheritance, instructs his family to bury his bones in the land of Canaan.At least sometimes, it pays to let go of the past and just move on. |
House of Aaron Articles/ TeachingsPlease remember that these resources represent the understanding of the author and the conditions at the time of their presentation. Any reference to particular groups or persons is for the purpose of illustration and explanation. Categories
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